If you run an ecommerce business, one of the most important things you should be focusing your time and attention on is how to improve your website in order to keep your customers happy and encourage them to make more purchases from you. With so many similar ecommerce businesses out there, if your website doesn’t function or perform to your visitor’s expectations, it’s relatively easy for them to find one of your competitors who’s will.
So to help ensure that you’re not missing out on any business due to your website, here are three ways to start making your online customers happier shoppers.
Improve Your Shipping Procedures and Processes
When people order from your website, they’re going to have to have their products shipped to them. But for many people, if the shipping processes are too expensive or too long, it can discourage them from finalizing their order with you.
To combat this, Jake Rheude, a contributor to Business2Community.com, recommends providing free shipping, if at all possible, for all your orders. If this means you have to use an order fulfillment service or start storing some of your merchandise is various locations in order to make this financially feasible, this could very well be worth it to you in the long run. But when your customers are able to get their products quickly and with little to no shipping costs, they’ll be much happier with their purchase.
Offer The Right Support To Your Audience
There’s nothing worse than having a question while you’re shopping and not being able to get the answers you need. So when your customers are shopping with you online, it’s vital that you provide them with a way to get the support they need when they need it in order for them to complete their online orders.
To help you with this, Neil Patel, an online marketing guru, recommends that you really think about your target audience and how they’d best receive online support. For younger audiences, having a live chat option usually works great. For an older audience, you might want to provide a toll-free, 24/7 phone number where they can call to get the assistance they need.
Optimize Your Search Function
While having a search function on your website is great, if that function doesn’t work well or the way that your visitors expect it to, it can make shopping through your website very difficult.
Because of this, Drew Hendricks, a contributor to Business.com, recommends that you invest both time and money into a quality site search tool. By doing this, your visitors will quickly be able to find whatever it is that they need without having to reach out for support or get frustrated and leave your site completely.
If you’re wanting your online customers to have a better experience with your website, consider using the tips mentioned above to help make things easier for them.