Does Your E-Commerce Website Have These Necessary Features?

Digital stores have a lot of competition in nearly every niche. You can compete with other businesses by paying attention to your e-commerce website features. The more customer-friendly your site, the more likely you’ll see a higher conversion rate.

According to Etail Insights, there are around 9.1 million online stores globally and 2.5 million in the United States alone. You’re competing against a lot of noise to be heard. If you want customers to stay on your site and develop loyalty to your brand, you must include certain e-commerce website features.

1. Find Your Focus

Many online stores offer multiple products. If you don’t find your website’s focus, it’s easy for users to get lost in the massive amounts of data. Know the purpose of each page and get rid of any elements not pointing to the objective.

Instead, make sure every element on each page points to the goal. For example, a product detail page might have an objective of converting browsers into buyers. Everything should culminate toward a call to action (CTA) button that encourages users to add items to a shopping cart.

2. Optimize Listings

Little changes help optimize product listings so people have all the answers to their questions and are more likely to buy. For example, you should include relevant photos from all angles, use specific keywords and add details such as size. You may want to hire a third-party consultant to ensure you’re hitting all the right notes.

3. Offer Discounts

Coupons and clearance items might attract new customers who otherwise would be reluctant to try your brand. It’s also an opportunity for you to move merchandise you have sitting in the warehouse. Clearing out the old makes room for the new.

You’re competing with mega digital stores such as Amazon and Walmart.com. You might not be able to afford the fast, free shipping they do, but you can offer other perks the big guys likely can’t.

4. Provide Contact Information

The pandemic brought more online shopping opportunities faster than expected. In some places, e-commerce grew a whopping 79%, with a global growth rate of about 14.3% overall. Not all these new companies embrace the same customer service model or reliability.

Customers have no reason to trust you and your product. You must convince them you provide a quality product and your customer service is top-notch. One way to gain their trust is by placing contact information in expected locations, such as the top of the page and in the footer. Make it easy for them to get in touch with questions or feedback.

5. Initiate Conversations

Engage your users in conversation to keep them on your site longer. Add a live chat so they can ask any questions from a live person and get immediate feedback. Try to offer an incentive to get them to share their email and continue the chat.

Make Small Changes and Test

You can add dozens of features to your e-commerce website. Start small by making a few changes and seeing how they impact your target audience. You can then add additional elements and improve your site over time.

Eleanor Hecks is editor-in-chief at Designerly Magazine. She was the creative director at a digital marketing agency before becoming a full-time freelance designer. Eleanor lives in Philly with her husband and pup, Bear.