Running an eCommerce site is an exciting challenge. On the one hand, it is exciting because you have such a huge market to serve – virtually anyone with an internet connection can become your customer. The challenging side of this adventure comes in the form of competition. The internet is a big place, and someone else is almost certainly doing something similar to you.
In order to grab your share of the market, keep the following three essentials in mind.
1 – Simplicity Rules the Day
A successful eCommerce site needs to convert at a high rate. It’s hard enough to get traffic onto your site in the first place – if too much of that traffic is leaving without making a purchase, your venture is destined to fail. One way to scare visitors away is to make your site too busy and complicated.
You don’t want your audience to have to work to figure out how to place an order. Keep things simple from a design perspective to make sure everyone who wants to place an order can do so without any trouble.
2 – Brand Consistency
What is your brand all about? Are you casual and fun? Maybe you serve a professional market, and you keep things brief and to the point. Whatever market you are trying to serve, and whatever persona you are trying to develop with your brand, make sure it is consistent throughout the site.
If there are inconsistencies in things like copy or design style, it is going to confuse your audience – and possibly cause them to head in another direction. One of your first objectives as you get ready to launch your eCommerce site is to make sure there is consistency across the site from the first page to the last. A quality white label digital marketing firm might be able to help you with this issue.
Related Reading:
5 Startup Branding Essentials You Should Know
3 – It Must Be Responsive
By this point in history, this last key should pretty much go without saying. However, there are still plenty of sites out there that don’t hit on this point, so we need to make it here. If you are going to run an eCommerce site, it needs to include a responsive design! It’s just that simple.
There is a good chance that a majority of your traffic is going to come from mobile visitors, so make sure your site is presented properly to that huge portion of your potential market. Even if your site looks great when viewed on a desktop computer, your venture may fail simply because you have ignored the tremendous value to be had in serving the mobile user.
Related Reading:
The Smarter Way to Ensure Website Responsiveness
The Bottom Line:
Every eCommerce entrepreneur wants to have more conversions and to do so, you may have tens of features planned for your online store, which is very good. But, remember, no matter what addons you offer, make sure your online store is easy and simple to use for a layman, your website is equally compatible to all web and mobile browsers and your branding is consistent throughout all the marketing materials.
