You must be proud that before this year comes to a close, you’re finally working your way to achieve one of your big scary goals—to quit your job, build an e-commerce site and become a full-time digital nomad just like a true millennial would always choose. You know it’s not and will never be an easy journey for you, but it has been your dream for so long and you wish to make it happen for real no matter how challenging it becomes along the way. Read more here about the other ways you can make money as a digital nomad.
Before this year ends, you want that eCommerce store to be up and running. And because you hope to nail it right, you need to ask yourself a serious question: What features should you include in your site to increase your chances of higher traffic, conversion rate and sales?
Elegant and Visually Arresting Site That’s Still User-friendly
We judge websites on whether they’re trustworthy or not or whether they’re worth our time and curiosity or it’s the other way around by just looking at how elegant and visually arresting they are. Everything changes though when we experience several technical issues as we navigate our way through it. If it’s not user-friendly, we’re done. We look elsewhere that can provide us with easier and more convenient browsing experience.
Robust Layers of Security
eCommerce sites in particular should have strong layers of security. It’s where you keep all of your sensitive data—about your products, about your consumers, financial transactions and more. If you’re unsure what to do in this department, you need to consult an IT professional to give you advice on how you can boost and make the most of your site’s security features.
Prioritizing your website’s security benefits both parties: you and your customers. Customers would feel that you do your business seriously and that you value and protect their privacy and sensitive data. Meanwhile, doing so will help you avoid scammers, bogus buyers and other bad guys who are always out there looking for opportunities to outwit online entrepreneurs like you.
Convenient Payment and Shipping Options
People buy products online because they want convenience. Part of the convenience you can offer your target customers are the various payment and shipping options that would be ideal for them. To find out, you need to conduct a thorough market research.
As the business owner, you also wish to integrate a simple yet seamless payment processing application on your website. NMI gateway is a very good example.
Mobile-Friendly Version
Stats reveal that 50% of online transactions on eCommerce sites are done via the mobile version of those sites. We don’t have to spell out what that means for you. Sure thing, you understand the importance of optimizing your eCommerce site’s mobile version. By simply doing this step, you’ll realize the huge difference it can make on your conversion rate and sales. After all, everything’s done now on your smartphone, right?
High-Resolution Product Images and Videos
If you’re on the shoes of your consumer, what can spark your interest on products being offered in a particular online store? Product description and specifications are a must-have. However, if the visuals are missing, your potential customers could easily lose interest. Learn more why product photography is important: https://www.weebly.com/guides/product-photography-guide/how-important-is-product-photography
So, for example, you’re selling gadgets. Make sure you provide multiple images that showcase the product’s different angles and everything that a buyer would probably wish to see. Videos that provide instructions and other useful information about the product would help a lot to persuade potential buyers.
Wish Lists and Related Items
You’ve probably observed eCommerce stores having that wish list feature. It’s actually a basic, non-negotiable feature, but why do we feel delighted like it’s a nice surprise every time we see it’s there?
Most of us go through tight budget cuts from time to time, but we can’t help but fall in love with a particular item that can actually serve our needs. Since we don’t have enough money to spend for it, we can save that particular item on a wish list first and get back to it when we have saved enough budget to make the purchase.
The related items feature, on the other hand, makes us feel like someone else knows what’s in our mind. Your target customers will thank you for that, especially if they don’t want to waste the next hours scouring the internet for that particular item.
Real Reviews from Real Shoppers
Should you filter out negative reviews so that only positive reviews are left? At times, doing so could be counterproductive. Wise shoppers know that there is no such thing as a perfect product. We’re only looking for something that satisfies most of the previous buyers. But of course, a product with too many bad reviews would raise a red flag.
The point is, your site should display honest reviews from real buyers. You’ll earn your potential customers’ trust by doing that.
Is your eCommerce site is currently a work in progress? Create a plan on how you can include all of these seven important features. What are the specific steps you’re going to take to achieve all of those? That’s a good question to consider.