As of 2023, about one-third of the global population shops online–that’s 2.64 billion people, a massive opportunity for online retailers. Proper eCommerce management is crucial for all businesses looking to corner their digital market segmentreturning. When you provide a seamless online experience, you’ll reach more consumers who will keep coming back.
Let’s dive into the top five best practices for enhancing the customer experience and boosting online conversations. These strategies will elevate your eCommerce management practices, leading to loyal customers and increased revenue.
1. Optimize Product Pages for Increased Conversions
Your product pages are the crux of your digital store. They should tell a customer everything they need to know about an item while still being visually appealing. Of course, there’s a fine line between sleek pages and information overload. Finding balance is the key to effective eCommerce management.
For instance, your customers know they want to buy something, but they may not know which product. You can act as a personal shopping assistant by offering sorting options from a drop-down menu. Customers can then arrange their search results by best sellers, price, reviews, and age.
You can also use these digital tools to support your marketing campaigns. Say you’re advertising a new release–ensure those products always appear at the top of the search results. You may even create a static product banner that never moves, even when the page gets rearranged.
Quick eCommerce Management Tips to Boost Conversions
Every decision you make about your product pages will impact sales. Use these quick tips to ensure you’re moving the needle in the right direction:
- Highlight New and Special Offers: Customers love deals, so ensure your promotion is clearly visible on the product page. Highlight it. Bold it. Surround it with stars. You can even feature the original price and the sale price in different colors, showing customers how much they’re saving.
- Write Sales Copy With SEO in Mind: Sales copy helps customers understand your product. But it’s also ideal for targeting certain keywords you want to rank for. A few quick paragraphs on each product page will help shoppers find your products on Google and decide whether to purchase.
- Add Video: Pictures are great, but videos help users see your product in action. For example, if you’re selling patio furniture, a video of a happy family enjoying the outdoors will be more impactful than a static image.
- Create a Sense of Urgency: Highlight exclusivity on your products to make visitors act decisively. “Only X more in stock!” “Buy now while supplies last!” You may even include a countdown with an offer if they buy before time runs out. It could be free two-day delivery, 5% off, or a coupon to use next time.
2. Simplify the Checkout Process for a Faster and More Convenient eCommerce Experience
You’ve got your online customers this far; don’t lose them at the end. The checkout process is a key component in eCommerce management and must be seamless, quick, and headache-free. Ideally, shoppers can buy everything in their carts in under two seconds.
There are several effective ways to simplify the checkout process and get customers over the finish line, such as offering a guest checkout option. Sign-ups are great to have, but they’re not effective if they cost you sales. Some people don’t like creating accounts and providing personal information (like email addresses). A guest checkout option can streamline the process. You can always have buyers sign in with their Google or social media accounts.
Using persistent cookies will save a shopper’s cart if they leave during checkout. Some people use their shopping cart as a wish list, adding items they like with the intention of removing them later. Cookies ensure they can pick up where they left off if they accidentally close your website or have to leave before they can complete the purchase.
Finally, sending customers to a third-party checkout provider can disrupt the process and cause them to abandon their carts. Maintaining your own Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) is essential to effective eCommerce management. It allows sensitive information (like credit card numbers and passwords) to be transmitted securely through your website.
Use eCommerce Management Software
The best eCommerce management software will streamline your digital business from product page to checkout. It will also boost revenue by 20%!
A critical part is order fulfillment accuracy. Customers who order from you will expect timely deliveries and up-to-date tracking information. Automated inventory management and product tracking enable you to efficiently and effectively meet those expectations. As a result, your team will be more productive and profitable.
3. Leverage Data To Personalize the Customer Journey
Data is the key to personalizing the customer journey. With an effective eCommerce management tool, you can use browsing history, past purchases, and demographic information to make personalized recommendations.
For example, if a customer looked at handbags the last time they were in your online store, you can send a personalized email with unique offers on related products. In fact, 45% of online shoppers say they’re more likely to buy when offered a personal recommendation.
The best way to leverage data is through sign-ups and registrations. This prevents you from losing customer data if they clear their browsing cookies. When users log in, your website can access their browsing and order history to make targeted offers. It’s also a great way to promote loyalty programs.
This level of personalization can also help your B2B relationships. Building strong business account connections can increase average order volume and frequency. You can also offer discounts and deals unique to individual business clients based on their geographic region, order history, or account type.
4. Ensure Mobile-Friendliness for On-the-Go Shopping
Mobile shopping has boomed in recent years–about three-quarters of Americans shop using their mobile phones. Ensuring your website is mobile-friendly is crucial to driving traffic and increasing conversions. Let’s explore some useful eCommerce management practices to help improve the mobile experience.
Responsive Web Design
Building a mobile app can be costly. Instead, many businesses lean on responsive web designs that adjust to mobile settings. When the screen shrinks, the page automatically rearranges to ensure a user-friendly mobile experience.
Responsive web designs also improve your search engine optimization (SEO) strategy, as Google has recently moved toward “mobile-first” rankings. Websites that work well on both desktop and mobile will rank higher.
Optimize Loading Speed
People shop on their phones because it’s quick and easy. However, they'll likely move on if your website is too slow or the checkout process takes too long. Half of American shoppers are less likely to buy if the entire process takes longer than 30 seconds.
Loading speed is everything in today’s fast-paced world. In fact, 82% of shoppers say slow speeds impact their shopping decisions. Moreover, one in four users won’t wait longer than four seconds for a page to load; nearly half won’t revisit a poor-performing website; and a one-second delay can reduce customer satisfaction by 16%. On the other hand, a one-second increase in site speed can boost mobile user conversions by 27%.
5. Offer Top-Notch Customer Support for a Positive eCommerce Experience
Offering timely and helpful customer support is crucial to running an effective online store. Ensure your customer support team is knowledgeable about your products and services. They should be able to provide quick solutions to any issues and questions your customers may have.
If your customers have a question while shopping, live chat support is a great way to keep them on your website. They’re extremely unlikely to call customer service and wait. However, if agents can answer their questions in real-time, they’re more likely to keep shopping. That said, rapid response times are crucial to keeping online shoppers happy.
According to a recent survey, these are the top three causes of customer service frustration:
- Lack of effectiveness (27%)
- Slow speeds (12%)
- Lack of accuracy (10%)
Simply put, fast and efficient customer service is critical to effective eCommerce management. Think about how easily you can answer a question in your physical store. Aim to duplicate that speed in a digital setting to improve the overall customer experience.
Elevate Your eCommerce Management Strategies Today
Your online store is the backbone of your business. As such, you should do everything possible to enhance the customer experience and increase online conversations. Optimize your product pages to help shoppers find the products they’re looking for. Then, ensure the checkout process is as simple as possible.
Nudge them toward creating an account, but don’t force it. Guest checkout can still store cookies and data to help make personalized recommendations for next time. Finally, ensure your website is optimized for mobile and consider offering live-chat support to answer customer questions in real-time.
Running a profitable online store has its challenges. Thankfully, digital business leaders can lean on visual eCommerce merchandise management solutions like Smart Merchandiser, the only product helping eCommerce business owners take control of their digital storefront.
Contact Smart Merchandiser today to learn why our feature-rich interface is the best solution for your eCommerce store.
