Nowadays, online shopping is one of the fastest growing and most thriving industries. In 2015, e-commerce sales worldwide amounted to $1.55 trillion, and revenues are expected to grow to $3.4 trillion in 2019.
Moreover,80% of the online population has bought something online at least once in a lifetime.
This statistics shows that, indeed, a wide range of users prefer to shop online, granting e-shops’ owners an excellent chance to earn well off.
However, it’s not so easy to start running a store in the Internet as it seems: it’s indispensable to gain customers’ confidence and entice clients by using an array of features/incentives and by avoiding some typical errors that make users abandon their carts.
So, what are those mistakes and what should businessmen NOT do?
1) Don’t grudge money on website design: For some e-shops’ owners, re-design and logo creation may seem a waste of time and funds. However, it is not really true. People get accustomed to “judge a book by its cover”, and the same with your store.
Try to present newcomers an appealing and tasty-looking website design and place your products nicely. More and more people prefer mobile shopping: in 2014, global mobile e-commerce revenues amounted to $184 billion and are expected to reach $669 billion in 2018, that’s why bear in mind that it’s really vital to implement a responsive e-shop design for mobile devices by engaging experts in custom e-commerce solutions.
2) Don’t puzzle customers with shopping fees: According to this survey, users will likely cancel the purchase if they face unexpected fees that were not mentioned at the very beginning. It doesn’t mean you should deliver goods for free, just inform your clients of additional charges beforehand, i.e. at the very first stage of the purchasing process. Furthermore, it’s a bright idea to install a calculator to save purchasers’ time on making additional calculations.
3) Don’t make clients create an account: No one has a desire to spend additional 10-15 minutes on your website, entering manually personal data. What is more, it’s not a game “Join the club” – your customers will decide themselves whether they want to use a membership signup option. You can also facilitate the process by integrating your online store with social media so that clients can log in via their social networks accounts.
4) Don’t underestimate online reviews influence: According to a Markting Land survey, 90% of customers admit that their final decisions on buying something depend on online reviews, and 86% are influenced by negative opinions. Quite impressive, isn’t it? Beyond that, don’t underestimate the influence of the online reviews posted on trivial and somewhat irrelevant web portals, because any review can be unveiled thanks to a well-thought search query.
5) Don’t limit the number of payment gateways providers: Of course, it’s impossible to run an e-shop without giving customers a possibility to pay for the purchased products online. So, think of suitable providers and use the secure payment gateways integration with your store. Furthermore, to feel comfortable with possible glitches you’ll need a couple of different gateways. You can choose such popular providers as PayPal, Authorize.net, PaySimple, Dwolla, Paynova, Intuit, etc. More info on payment gateways can be found here.
6) Don’t ignore search optimization issues: Any steps and efforts made to boost sales may turn to be impractical if your online shop isn’t optimized. So, remember to build back links and use suitable key words in headlines, title pages, and product descriptions. What is more, your product descriptions should be unique, informative, and not too long. Before advertising your goods, check which search queries are the most popular and try to use them while creating content. That will allow you to entice users, generate targeted traffic, and your e-shop will be ranked higher.
7) Don’t pass over your social accounts: If you have them at all… It’s well-known that 75% of Internet users actively employ social networks, their number now is 2.3 billion and it is expected to grow to 2.95 billion by 2020. That’s why it’s obvious you should create social media accounts that will help you to attract new potential customers. Creating a couple of accounts isn’t enough; mull over the full integration of your online store with Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest, Instagram, etc. (their choice depends on the type of products you sell). Display social comments on your online store and allow clients to share news about purchasing your goods. Check additional info here.
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Conclusion:
Of course, there is the huge amount of other handy tips and useful advice that would help promote products online, increase sales, and entice new users. So, don’t doubt to ask help of savvy online store owners and specialists in business software development who will certainly share personal experience on booming businesses and managing online reputation thanks to modern technologies usage.