We’re not going to be brave enough to say the high street is dead or anything like that, but we’re more than happy to say more and more people are choosing to shop online. It’s the convenience of it all, the freedom, the not needing to get dressed up to go to the shops or run the risk of getting there only to be met with a sold-out sign and an unhelpful store assistant.
However, capitalizing on this gold rush of online shoppers is easier said than done. Sure, in theory, it is way more convenient, but that’s can only be the truth if you make sure your website is built with the buyer’s convenience in mind. If you don’t, you’ll find your visitors leave your store sharpish, much like they do in tangible shops, the only difference being they won’t have to say, “what time do you close, sorry?” to make it look like they are going to come back later.
Read on to see our top tips on creating a successful e-commerce store:
- Leave The Design To The Pros
We know how tempting it can be to take on the design of your e-commerce store, especially with DIY web-making sites like Wix out there. But recommend you focus on the other business bits and leave the website to the pros. That’s because there is more to it than you might think. There is having an expert building the site, there is hiring a conversion optimization agency, hiring a creative copywriter to do the copy and descriptions, a marketing whizz that knows about SEO and all sorts. Basically, the design is just a small part of the success puzzle.
- Attractive Designs Only
When someone comes to your online store, they want to love what they see. They want to be attracted to it. They want to feel your personality bursting through at every turn. They want to feel in touch with it. But they also want to find it easy to use and easy to find what you are selling. That doesn’t just mean having a search function either. It helps, but it isn’t enough on its own. You need high-quality imagery, user-friendly navigation and maybe even a dollop of lazy-scrolling.
- Responsive Design Needed
You may be looking at a laptop-slash-desktop when it comes to the designing side of things, and even when it comes tweaking it, but most people (read: everyone on planet earth) surfs the internet on their smartphone or tablet. It’s the way the world has gone. After all, no one wants to get back from work, hit the sofa with an exhausted sigh and then wait for their computer to start up. Nope. They want to pull their phone out of their pocket or their iPad out from behind the sofa and crack on. That’s why you need to focus on your website being responsive or, better yet, mobile first. If it isn’t, you’re going to lose a lot of potential customers.
- (Unique) Content Is King
When you head into a store, you can touch, feel, look at, try on or test something before you buy it. This is a luxury that doesn’t transcend to the online world. People are relying on your images and descriptions and nothing else. That’s why you need to make them as attractive as possible. Our advice: hire that creative copywriter we mentioned earlier to make your product descriptions come to life and, well, do anything that will persuade visitors to become buyers.
* This is a collaborative post and may contain affiliate links
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you are a woman of so so many talents! you inspire me to strive and get the best out of my blog and your tips are so so helpful!