Visitors to your online store need just as much attention as visitors to your physical location. In the absence of personal attention from a real, live human you can fill that gap with some basic attention to optimising your site so visitors more readily convert to customers.
1. Maintain focus on your market base.
In an online store with a specific focus, the wrong type of marketing and product selections serve more as distractions than points of sale. Never lose sight of your customer’s expectations and provide them with a website that meets their needs.
2. Reinforce the integrity of your brand.
Branding doesn’t stop at the point of sale. Your customers expect a uniform brand message throughout their experience and the same representation you provide at your physical location.
3. Empower customer participation.
The online world thrives on social interaction. Your customer’s peers are their first and most important source of credibility for your brand and your products.
4. Make purchasing intuitive.
A simplified purchasing process drives far more conversions than a complicated checkout procedure. Frustrated customers do not buy merchandise.
5. Promote trending products.
Popularity rises and falls with the seasons. Purchasing patterns allow products to go viral with alarming speed. Trending products drive sales.
6. Encourage impulse purchases.
Related products, suggestions from other customers, and targeted advertising all play a big part in boosting your bottom line. The checkout station should be the customer’s last chance to boost their ticket with a final selection.
7. Organise your inventory.
Products must be organized into logical categories that are easily browsed and intuitively understood. Visitors who cannot find a satisfactory selection never convert into customers.
8. Control customer browsing.
Just like the displays in your physical store control the flow of customers through the aisle, the layout of your online store controls the visual emphasis of visitors. A customer with direction is a customer headed for the checkout lane.
9. Cite your sources.
No one ever believes the salesman. Expert testimony and the experiences of other actual customers fill new customers with confidence and reinforce the integrity of your brand. Don’t make visitors take your word for anything!
10. Remind your customers to buy!
With the sheer number of distractions in the online world, customers may find themselves pulled away from the shopping cart for any number of reasons. It’s your job to remind them to make that purchase!
