Recent numbers from Statista report there will be over 2 billion digital shoppers by 2021, that’s up from 1.66 billion in 2016. With those numbers, you’ll want to be sure to understand these ecommerce best practices.
Ecommerce Best Practices
Master Mobility
First off there’s no way around having the kind of mobile capability that will let customer’s buy and pay for items from their phones as well as laptops. If you haven’t tweaked for website for mobile yet, get it done. Also, there’s some industry leaders that can set you up with the right app.
Use Images on Your Homepage
There’s an old saying about a picture being worth a thousand words that translates well to ecommerce. You’ve only got seconds to capture a visitor and make a sale online so a pic on your homepage is a must. If you’re planning on taking you own shots, consider the rule of thirds where the subject needs to be off center.
Understand Content Marketing
If you’re going to sell goods and services online, you need to believe that Content is King. All kinds of content. Infographics, blogs, videos, images or a host of other choices are possible. However, here’s an important spoiler. Not all kinds of content work for every business.
Find a good marketer who can match what you’ve got sell up with the right ecommerce best practices.
Keep Your Website Simple
Don’t get taken in by the bright lights and glitter of all that the Internet offers when it comes to website design. Simple is better here because simple sells. There are even some great templates you can sort through to move forward quickly.
Find a Good Hosting Service
You need to a have site that loads quickly. Turning visitors into prospects and prospects into sales is all about making sure they don’t need to wait more than a few seconds to see what you’ve got to sell. Every second counts and research even demonstrates how a one second delay translates into a double digit decrease in customer satisfaction. This is a foundation of ecommerce best practices.
Consider taking on some of the extras the best of these places offer like ecommerce shopping carts and web building capabilities if you don’t have the time to do that yourself.
Don’t Ignore SEO
Even when you’ve got great website simple and easy to navigate, and a good hosting service, you need that little extra push to get your small business to the front of the pack. Quite often that can be having good search engine optimization (SEO) capabilities.
SEO uses keywords and a host of other techniques to help match people who are searching through search engines for what you’ve got to sell with your website. It’s a set of rules and tools that steers people looking for what you’ve got to sell to your homepage.
Don’t Forget A Search Bar
You need to be thinking about your customer’s experience and that means considering a search bar. There is no need to put fancy ahead of functional here. That’s why we’ve included a link to some user friendly templates.
Think of these like the signs that hang over the aisles in a grocery store telling you what’s inside.
Get Mobile Payment Solutions
Variety is the spice of life and that applies to payment options and ecommerce best practices. Keep an eye on the transaction fees charged here. There might even be a monthly fee for maintenance. There’s good mobile apps available from the industry leaders like PayPal.
Combine Video and Text
Video and text can work together. One hand washes the other and the best applications use the text to drill deeper into the embedded video or vice versa. You should always be ready to get professional advice for the best results.
Provide Excellent Product Descriptions
Not only will these help you to sell your goods and services, they should be included when your customer’s put items in their shopping cart. Any list of ecommerce best practices needs to make everything as user friendly as possible. People buying from you will consider adding more when they see these descriptions as they add to the cart.
Photo via Shutterstock
This article, “10 Ecommerce Best Practices for Small Business” was first published on Small Business Trends