15 tips for developing an effective online store
More and more business owners are transferring businesses to the Internet. This trend of 2017 has a logical explanation: most entrepreneurs do not want to face the problems of offline trading. Therefore, they pay their attention to developing a turnkey Internet store.
The development of an online store is not a simple event, a detailed story about this will be in another article. The theme of our today's article will be an already working online store, or rather, 15 tips on how to boost the efficiency of your ecommerce project.
In this article, we will start from the understanding that you have done preliminary work and launched a project that works and "little by little" brings in revenue. The project works, but you always want more profit and sales? So it's time to make changes that will help in this!
1 tip: Feel yourself a buyer.
Simple truth: If you want to understand "What does your client want?", Then become them. It's simple, start thinking not as a business owner, look at your product as a buyer.
Answer yourself honestly to three questions:
1.Would you buy it from yourself?
2. If so, why?
3. If not, what pushed you away?
Answering these three questions, you will get a real layout of the current situation. The first question will allow you to soberly assess the state of your business. The second, will show the strengths. The third one will help to see mistakes and shortcomings. This is a kind of mini SWOT analysis for your online store. Based on the information received, you will already take real steps to correct errors and improve the benefits of your resource.
2 tip: Take a closer look at the design.
Many owners believe that if they ordered the development of an Internet store in Moscow, in the top web studio, then the question of design is closed (or in the best studio in the US). The statement can be true, but only for a while. Even the best design becomes obsolete, boring and playing against you. Do you want to increase the number of sales? Think about how to add new colors to the design.
3 tip: Simplify the buying process.
This advice is losing its relevance and probably in 5 years, it will have to be removed from the list of improvements (everywhere they shout that it is necessary to simplify all the processes on the site). However, there are still resources where you need to go through "Fire, water and copper pipes" to buy yourself a bouquet of flowers. You have probably come across such Internet shops where you need to enter your login, password, confirm email, download a scan of a savings account, attach a photo of your grandmother ... Yes, the situation would be funny if it were not sad (maybe someone was sad when he found out his site in this description).
4 tip: Promotions and discounts.
People need discounts and special offers. No matter how you relate to this, a simple user can buy impulsively after stumbling upon a special off-set with a limited period of validity. Try to add a special promotion on the site with a discount on the category of products, give discounts to regular customers, etc.
5 tip: Free shipping.
Try to include the cost of delivery to the buyer in the cost of the goods. Indicate that the goods will be delivered free of charge. If you work in a certain region, then it will be easier. The main rule is do not add too much margin for shipping.
6 Tip: The "Similar Products" feature.
You probably saw this in many online stores. Under your purchase or the product that interests you, you display similar products or those that you bought right after that. Think it does not work?
Think about this: You ordered a laptop in an online store. As a user, you do not like to work with the touchpad (it's really uncomfortable). What is the likelihood that if I show you an offer to sell a computer mouse, can I make a sale? I think that the probability is great enough.
7 Tip: Use the "OTO".
OTO or One Time Offer - offer with a short life, at a bargain price. This approach is already in full use abroad, but we have so far few (we need to use it!) With him. An example might be a category on a site called "Goods of the Day". Where all offers will be at a huge discount. Or add the category "Goods to 100 rubles." The meaning of the proposal lies in the fact that you need to make any sale, even without a profit. The philosophy is that the person who bought you is more loyal to you than someone who has not already bought. Simply put, sell him a simple pen for a penny, and then make a profit on selling a set of office supplies for the office.
8 Tip: Work on SEO.
Search engine optimization is your best friend. At the moment, this is the only legal way to attract a large number of Internet users to your resource for free (having spent on optimization at the beginning). Hire an SEO specialist, develop a strategy and start acting. It will pay off a hundredfold.
9 Tip: Work with filters.
How to just find the right product in your online store? Can you find it in a couple of clicks? If the answers do not satisfy you, then you need to work on the filters. Make them more accurate and convenient. This will increase usability, and it in turn, sales.
10 tip: Improve your search.
The advice that goes hand in hand with the previous one. Customize the search so that it's easy to find the buyer's product. The more relevant the result, the more likely the subsequent sale.
11 Tip: Capture the data in any way.
Remember once and for all: If the user has left his data on the site, then you are already in profit. A person visited your site, looked, appreciated and bought nothing? It happens, even often. Most likely, he does not so need this product, or just looking for the best offer.
What to do? Let him go? Of course not!
In any way, ask him to enter the phone number or email. Subsequently, having made the right distribution, you will warm up his interest (discounts, stories about yourself or reviews). To implement this function, during the development of the online store site, you must take into account this functionality and give the task to resource developers.
12 tip: "Subscription = sale".
This tip helps to implement the tip 11. Put the subscription form on the mailing list so that your user does not leave your site just like that. This will improve the conversion of your resource and will allow you to squeeze the most out of the funds spent on Marketing. It's just that he will not give you his data! Promise different buns (discount, knowledge, bonuses and closed pre-sales).
13 Tip: Quality images.
I think you should not paint this item in detail. Just know, in many spheres (not in all), the better the picture of the goods, the higher the probability of subsequent purchases.
The truth is simple: When you buy online, there are three things that will help you find your bearings:
1. Product image;
2. Customer Reviews;
3. Detailed description.
14 Tip: Work with the description.
The Council, which follows from sub-item 13 of the Council. The buyer needs to read about the product, learn all its characteristics and understand: "Did he find it?". There is one more factor that lies in the good description - it's your competence. The buyer trusts the seller more (and the Internet store is the seller), who knows his product 100%. A detailed description speaks about this.
15 tip: Give prizes and bonuses.
Learn to exceed customer expectations. The e-commerce market is full of competitors. In any field, selling any product, you will no longer be the only player. The buyer has the opportunity to choose, knows how to do it correctly. This means that doing a job is just "good", you can not attract it. Sell better than your competitors and give the client a little more than the rest. Sometimes this is enough to raise sales.
We tried to fit the maximum of useful information within the framework of one article. You probably understand that at times you can not tell about everything. Follow our publications and you will not miss useful articles from us.
P.S: If you want a truly cool online store on a turn-key basis, please contact us. In "Smart Outsourcing Solutions" they know how to create an effective ecommerce project.
