Overlooked ecommerce elements that help you generate sales!

There’s no denying that ecommerce is now one of the most important and common ways to sell your products or service. Though for the most part ecommerce principals stay the same, often there are aspects which get overlooked.

Shipping costs 

One of the main reasons customers complain about ecommerce is because of expensive shipping costs, in fact many customers will leave a website or checkout if they find out there are expensive additional costs. It’s always a good idea to show your shipping prices on your website before your customers even consider buying a product, nobody wants a nasty surprise after they’ve found their items, not only is it frustrating but also disappointing to be left paying more than you expected.

Payment options 

You should have a number of payment options available on your website including credit card, debit card and even PayPal options. With so many changes in the way people are paying online you should always consider multiple options in order to increase sales. It’s also a good idea to start to consider mobile payment options such as Apple Pay and Android Pay, with mobile commerce beginning to take on the ecommerce market there’s no better time to think about alternative payments.

Marketing 

As with any business, marketing is key to success. Many believe that once their ecommerce store has been launched it means that customers will automatically find them and proceed to buy, however this isn’t the case. When it comes to your ecommerce business it’s still important to remember that you’ll need marketing, using marketing techniques such as pay per click advertising, blogs, SEO and even social media marketing you can reach out to audiences and help not only drive sales but also generate new traffic.

Simple checkout

Along with shipping costs another frequent complaint from customers is that the checkout process is too complicated or takes too long. From a slow checkout process to asking for too many details to even forcing people to register before they can buy an item, if the checkout process is too difficult customers will leave. The inclusion of a progress bar at the top of the screen or a one click checkout system means that people would be more inclined to continue to buy and increase your sales.

Reviews

When it comes to selling your products online, allowing customers to post reviews about your items and service can be an effective way of improving conversions. Incorporating reviews into your product pages creates social proof, showing potential customers what others thought and influencing them to purchase your product or not. Through either a star rating system or detailed written reviews there’s no denying that reviews are a powerful way to increase sales. 

When starting an ecommerce website it can be easy to focus on the design of your website, your products and your shipping, leaving you plenty of time to ignore some of the other, equally important elements. With so much competition out there, there’s no reason for you business to fall behind, don’t forget these essential aspects and you’ll be a success in no time.