The realm of ecommerce is a constantly shifting field. As online technologies shift in and out of use and cultural expectations of customers change rapidly, what was considered a best practice just a year ago – or even just a few short months ago– might no longer be one tomorrow. Any business that wants to project a strong and successful online presence needs to stay aware of the ecommerce landscape. Here’s how to put your finger on the pulse of the ecommerce community when it comes to best practices for 2015.
Make Your Customers Welcome
Selling in the online marketplace means that unless you differentiate yourself from countless competitors your own voice will be drowned out in the massive crowd. Establishing a personal connection with your customers can help you stand out, and the best way to forge this connection is to make your customers welcome upon visiting your ecommerce site. You can accomplish this by ensuring your customers know you value their time as well as their money.
Interact with customers regularly. Use your website’s blog function to offer insider peeks into the inner workings of your company such as what you have on the horizon or to relate a particularly important instance where your customer service saved the day. Anticipate questions your customers might ask about your products and services by maintaining a detailed FAQ page and take a proactive stance in responding to messages on platforms like Facebook and Twitter. Finally, use unique product descriptions that show you’re not just another reseller using the original manufacturer’s original description. That attention to detail in your ecommerce web design wins hearts and minds and keeps customers coming back.
Enhance Your Mobile Experience
One of the biggest updates Google made to their search algorithms in 2015 was to place new focus on the mobile landscape. While this won’t have any effect on search engine rankings originating from a desktop or a laptop, an increasing amount of Internet traffic is coming from mobile devices like tablets and smartphones – and if you don’t have a mobile version of your own site available for these devices, Google will now down rank your site on a mobile user’s search results to favor mobile-friendly websites.
While you’re unlikely to have many conversions from mobile devices, a large number of consumers do their initial research on a mobile device before finalizing a purchase decision on a laptop or desktop. This means that if you don’t have a mobile-friendly ecommerce web design available for your site, you’re running the risk of missing out on a large proportion of prospective sales.
Build a Loyal Following
Now that you’ve got a website that’s appealing to mobile users and that has the kind of personalized, inviting content that makes customers feel like they’re valued, it’s time to build a following of loyal repeat customers. You can do this by ensuring your customer service is proactive, attentive to even the smallest of details, and willing to go to any length to make a customer happy – and this is what makes customers come back again and again.
Once you’ve got a loyal customer, you’ve got more than just a reliable revenue stream. Loyal repeat customers are happy ones, and happy customers absolutely love to crow about their satisfaction on social media or on the consumer review section on your site, and that’s the kind of publicity that’s worth its weight in gold. Be sure to keep the lines of communication open – publicly acknowledge the praise of a happy customer on social media and you’ll get the kind of positive press that drives even more customers to your digital door.
