Businesses are increasingly moving online to expand their reach and provide the best possible experience to their customers. Being online, however, means more competition, so business owners must come up with ways to amp up their game to gain a bigger market share.
If you own an ecommerce business or are looking to start one, read on to learn about ways to delight your online customers.
Put the buyer’s journey at the forefront
The buyer’s journey refers to the path that your customers take when they make a purchase from your website. Your responsibility is to focus on the buyer’s journey and give them a clear path to navigate.
The homepage is the face of your online store, so be sure you make a positive first impression. Just by looking at the homepage, it should already be clear to your customers what products or services you’re offering. This is also your first opportunity to show why your business stands out.
You can group your products into collections such as, “Bestsellers” and “New Releases”, or have seasonal offerings such as “Holiday Deals”. Have a robust search function that enables customers to easily find specific products. Aside from making your online store easy to navigate, you should also ensure mobile friendliness to meet the needs of shoppers that increasingly want to make purchases quickly from their smartphones.
Make sure to set clear expectations such as using a “Start Now” button if there are a few steps to take, or a “Buy Now” button that implies immediacy.
Make the process easy and straightforward
Customers love a straightforward buying experience. A simple process makes it easier for them to keep saying “yes” to the purchase, and gives them fewer reasons to abandon their cart.
To make more sales, it’s imperative to make it easy for your customers to navigate your site and reach their goal. Ensure that the shopping process is as streamlined and smooth as possible. Make sure all links work on your site, and all product or service descriptions are accurate and up-to-date. If possible, have a one-click buy option available so people in a hurry can make a purchase quickly and easily.
If you sell products that encourage repeat purchases, have an option for your customers to easily buy the same product again, either through a subscription or a “buy again” button.
Integrate the right apps into your business
As technology continuously evolves, more and more apps are being developed to automate and streamline processes. In order to scale and grow your online business effectively, it is important to have the right tech in place.
Xero is a leading cloud-based accounting software (that we use exclusively) that can help ease your accounting burden and save time working on your books. Aside from making your data secured and easily accessible from the cloud, what’s great about Xero is that you can integrate a range of other apps that support retail businesses with things like inventory, payments, shipping, and many more–making this cloud accounting system even more powerful.
Final Thoughts
The future looks bright for small businesses, as customer preferences change and people turn their focus to local or independent businesses.
To establish a successful ecommerce business, you also need to ensure your numbers are on track. So let our team of accountants take over the finance side of your business while you focus on doing what you do best–growing your business. To read about how we work with businesses, click here.
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