E-commerce is the practice of selling goods and services electronically over the internet and it is projected to become more popular both in terms of e-shop counts, consumer counts, and sales growth.
Some numbers:
- In 2023, an estimated 2.64 billion consumers will have completed at least one purchase online.
- Total global e-commerce sales are projected to grow by 50% over the next three years.
That means opportunity on the one hand, but more competition on the other.
Make your e-shop stand out and drive sales, and growth, by focusing on these essential features.
An AI-driven intelligent search engine is what can make your e-shop differentiate from your competitors.
It will drive sales, and make a great improvement on the e-shop’s user experience.
Popular systems you can utilize to create such a feature are Algolia, Elasticsearch, and their open-source counterpart Typesense.
Give your customers a way to navigate straight to the discounted items, a.k.a. the Sales section, in the form of a designated menu.
Then give your customers ways to filter according to product category in the sales department and sort according to preferences.
Prominently display verified reviews on your site, preferably showing a total satisfaction factor.
That could be shown in a horizontal reel on every page of your online shop, as shown in the graphic.
PRO TIP: Encourage customers to leave reviews for their purchases, using point systems and vouchers, and display them on the related product pages. This builds more trust and encourages sales.
One very popular system you can utilize to create such a feature that is intuitive to embed and use is Trustpilot.
Customers need information before, during, and after making purchases from your online store. Create a well-organized knowledge base, giving answers to frequent questions in an organized manner, while also providing an intelligent search engine to assist with first-facing customer care.
You can also utilize the strengths of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to help with customer service automation.
Chatbots are especially popular in adressing this need in modern ecommerce.
One very popular chatbot system is Solvemate, but I would encourage you to do more research as they are more popular options.
Frequently asked questions pages and chatbots are becoming pretty standard in modern e-commerce but old-fashioned customer service is still the King.
Create a banner that points to your customer service front desk and place it strategically around your e-commerce website.
PRO TIP: Include a smiling face and a name!
Customers need to be in control of their order status.
Designate a page for it, create a form as shown in the graphic, and also provide easy access to the customer service of your business.
Then include a link to this page in your FAQ section, your Chatbox, the Profile Pages of the Users, and the list goes on.
You can’t go wrong in making it easy for your customers to be able to track the status of their order easily and effectively.
Don’t underestimate the power of content marketing for e-commerce.
Create and maintain a useful blog for your niche.
A blog will help you develop your brand voice, attract traffic from new sources, help with SEO, and help visitors easily share parts of your website bringing you back more traffic and building authority, opening doors to more sales funnels.
This section is also usually included towards the footer of your e-shop, it sometimes pops, or even both!
I’ve seen it often neglected, but it shouldn’t be so. Email marketing is thriving, and with the right incentives you can have a rather large following of subscribers and returning customers.
Due to GDPR concerns, don’t forget to include your privacy policy, and also give your subscribers the option to unsubscribe at any time.
Make crucial information (like free shipping, delivery expectations, and phone number) visible on all pages, preferably towards the top of the page and certainly “above the fold”.
This section is also crucial as the above and is usually included in the footer section of your e-shop.
It is very important, as it informs your customers of the way they can pay for their goods, and also provides information on the security of payments that are processed.
Important!: Your payments need to be secure, not only proclaimed to be so!
Last but not least, your e-shop’s about page, I’ve seen so many times neglected. This is the section where you have the chance to build your brand. Take advantage of it.
Bottom line
Making your customer’s journey to purchase, from discovery of your products to placing their order, to tracking their order status, building your brand and authority, and creating a loyal customer base, takes careful consideration and time, but it needn’t be rocket science.
Image Credits
The images in this article come from one of my favorite e-shops, https://hobbii.com, that I have trusted myself with for purchases.
For the main article image, credit goes to John Schnobrich.
Thank you.