4 Non-Negotiables Your Ecommerce Site Needs Right Now
What do you need for a successful ecommerce site? That’s the ultimate question, isn’t it? With over 30,700,000 e-commerce sites worldwide being successful and not in the 90% that fail within the first 12 months, you need to fully understand what your e-commerce site is and what it needs to be successful.
The top reasons e-commerce sites fail are insufficient customer engagement, poor product content, poor or nonexistent customer retention strategies, and cash flow issues.
With this in mind, there are some non-negotiables that all ecommerce owners need to know about and employ when operating a digital store. These practices are not just for success but to avoid the pitfalls that lead to the failure of many e-commerce ventures. They are the key to staying in the 10% of successful ecommerce ventures and away from the failure zone.
For instance, Amazon, with its hyper-personalization, and Apple, with its seamless checkout process, are prime examples of how these non-negotiables can be effectively implemented.
Responsive Design and Mobile Optimization
Having a mobile site is not enough. You need a design that fits all screens and provides a positive user experience. With Google prioritizing the mobile experience and more users accessing the internet via mobile, a responsive design is not just a choice; it’s necessary for your ecommerce store to rank well in the algorithms.
Put simply, you need your store to be easily accessed via desktop screens, smartphones, and tablet devices, and users to have the same smooth experience regardless of which one they choose.
Clear Media
There is no excuse in this day and age to be posting poor quality grainy or pixelated images on your ecommerce store. You need crisp, clear photos depicting the item in question as well as other media and graphics you have on your site. Everything needs to be clear, precise images must be shot in good lighting, and graphics must be designed with the correct size and dimensions in mind so they look professional and befitting of your brand and give out the right impression. This is not just about quality, it’s about representing your brand professionally.
Multiple Payment Options
If you want to avoid the all too common trap of the dreaded abandoned cart, then one of your non-negotiables should be to provide a simple checkout process featuring an array of different payment options using a trusted payment provider. When it comes to checking out, only one-fourth of customers actually trust online businesses to keep their data safe, so if this is apparent on your site, then you need to address this sooner rather than later. If the checkout process is too complex or requires customers to jump through too many hoops, they’ll simply click away.
In addition, not allowing an array of payment types to be used can be extremely off-putting. Not everyone wants to enter their card details every time, and they want more flexible ways to pay. This includes currency options for international customers.
You need to allow customers to pay how they prefer, whether via Apple or Google Pay, PayPal, or anything else they prefer to use. This is where finding the right payment processing for ecommerce businesses is vital to enhance your checkout process and make things as simple as possible.
Personalization
If you’ve seen this floating around and you’re not investigating it more and how it impacts your ecommerce store, you’re missing out. Personalization in this context means that you are using customer account information and data on online habits to offer the customer a more personalized experience. This is done via recommending products for them, selecting frequently bought products on display, or allowing them to pick up where they left off when they revisit your site.
Amazon is a prime example of how personalization can lead to significant growth and success. The ecommerce giant does hyper-personalization really well, and if you’ve been on Amazon, you can see this in its full glory. The question is, can you emulate and adapt this level of personalization to your site? The answer is a resounding yes. According to a report by SalesForces, customers were 4.5 times more likely to complete their checkout, and sales were 500% larger for websites that used these personalization techniques. This success story should serve as a powerful inspiration for you to implement personalization as a non-negotiable for your own significant growth and success.
There are multiple aspects of an ecommerce site that can make or break your success. These non-negotiable aspects play an important part in the sales process and are instrumental in helping you avoid failure.
4 Non-Negotiables Your Ecommerce Site Needs Right Now
