E-Commerce has created a level playing field for small business and allowed would-be entrepreneurs and shop owners to get started without a lot of capital or headache. The downside to the ease of startup means there are plenty of other online retailers competing for your target customer. If you’ve hit a sales plateau, need to give your revenues a boost or are simply ready to scale your business up, optimizing your user experience can help.
The user experience has an enormous impact on the buying decisions made by your target market. In many cases, you can bring traffic to your site, offer visitors a great deal, but still miss the mark because your user experience, or UX, is less than ideal. From the amount of time it takes for your pages to load to the complexity of the checkout process, every step of the buying process impacts your overall UX and as a result, your revenues.
10 Ways to Enhance E-Commerce User Experience
1. Make it easy to find products: Can online shopper’s intuitively and easily navigate your website? Are products in categories that make sense? Ideally, your navigation should support people who know what they want “I want pink flats in size 10”, those who have a general idea “I want shoes” and those who just want to browse the site. When you make it easy for visitors to find what they need and ensure that they are presented with the correct type of results, you provide them with a seamless and effortless way to make purchases.
2. Ensure it is easy to pay: Complications in the payment process can slow things down or even cause your customer to go elsewhere. Ideally, your customer should be able to see their cart on demand (with accurate items inside), decide to buy and complete that purchase as seamlessly as possible. Choosing payment gateways and processors that offer smooth and easy payments and that don’t disrupt the buying process. Problems or delays at the point of purchase can not only cause an inconvenience for your customers, it can interrupt the process entirely and result in more abandoned carts than you’d like.
3. Offer transparency in pricing: Be up front about shipping costs and other charges. High shipping rates (or rates that are perceived as high) can cause customers to abandon a cart mid-checkout. Revealing fees in advance increases transparency and makes it more likely that people who put items in their cart complete the checkout process. Include all payment options, all potential fees and any other details a buyer needs about price before you get too far into the process. Avoid surprising your prospects with extra fees, shipping costs or unexpected costs and you’ll reduce the number of abandonment your brand experiences.
4. Embrace retargeting: When a customer bounces from your site before making a purchase, you can assume they changed their mind – but what if they were just struggling with your checkout or payment system? According to Neil Patel, retargeting and remarketing to customers who have engaged in buying activity (adding to a cart, providing checkout details) but not completed a purchase could boost your revenues.
When buyers are offered technical assistance via email to complete sales (along with a beauty shot of the item in their cart), they are more likely to return and complete that purchase. Retargeting display ads featuring a chosen item can also be used to lure users back to the cart. Retargeting obviously helps your brand – but it can help your customer, too. They added a product to the cart because they liked it, and whether they had technical difficulties, or they simply got distracted, your reminder could offer them another shot at obtaining a wanted item.
5. Visibly increase fraud prevention: Make sure your shoppers know they are safe when they buy from you. Recent breaches to very high-profile brands mean it is more important than ever for your target buyers to feel secure when they purchase items from you. Being forthcoming about your investment and interests in preventing fraud and even showcasing trust badges from the providers you’ve chosen to protect your site can boost confidence and make it more likely that a visitor will become a buyer.
6. Inform and support: Your prospect is ready to buy, but they just need to know the best way to use your product. If you have robust blog and product pages, then they can easily find what they need. Make them go elsewhere and you will inconvenience them – and they might never return to you. Provide helpful content and your buyer can get everything they need without leaving your site; that content can be written, video, infographics or a combination of media types to ensure your visitors get what they need from your site.
7. Offer a personalized experience: From committing to sending regular, targeted emails to your prospects to ensuring they are reminded of the items they viewed or purchased on past visits, personalizing your site can increase engagement and the connection you have with your prospects. Simply greeting the customer by name when they arrive, sending birthday or other emails and engaging on social media can drive up sales; your prospects will be more likely to buy when they feel like they know you.
8. Offer multiple ways to buy: Your metrics can reveal just how many visitors you are getting from desktop computers and how many you have from mobile devices. In some cases, you may even see users visit on both devices or even visit your brand on social media before making a decision. Supporting omnichannel experiences allows you to offer multiple buying opportunities and ensures you can meet them on their preferred device or channel.
9. Commit to excellence in service: Differentiate your brand with service; if you have a lot of competitors, you’ll stand out when you take the time to dedicate yourself to providing the best possible support. Even if you do not have many competitors, the right attention to service can turn one-time customers into regular buyers, increasing your revenues and ensuring your success. Make sure it is easy for visitors to get in touch with you, provide regular touchpoints and monitor review and social media sites for customer engagement opportunities. The better you serve your customer, the more likely they are to return; selling additional items to an existing buyer can boost your revenues and make it easy for your customer to buy with confidence.
10. Encourage and share customer reviews: Reviews and testimonials from other users can provided social proof that your products do what you say they do. This type of user-generated content can also boost buyer confidence and promote buying decisions.
Careful attention to your target customer’s needs and the experience you are providing them with will not only enhance their confidence in you, it will increase your revenues and earning potential. Too.