Selling online involves setting up an e-commerce website. But deciding to open an online store is only the beginning. To be successful, you need to spend time building an e-commerce platform. Even though this process may seem like a hugely daunting task, the key to success is breaking things down into chunks. By setting small goals for yourself, you can achieve what you want. Of course, in order not to do everything on your own, it is better to rely on professionals in their field who could turn your idea into reality. So if you want to create your eCommerce platform, but don’t know where to start, turn to IT Delight for help and continue reading our article.
All sites are unique in their way. But some traits can be traced from site to site. However, trends do not guarantee high conversions or a good user experience. There are certain elements that every online store must use to stay relevant and competitive. Are you looking for a guide to creating an e-commerce website? This article is ready to answer most of your questions about how to create a professional eCommerce website and grow your business.
A real eCommerce platform is a constantly evolving project, the authors of which are focused on moving exclusively forward. This means that the functionality and parameters of the online store are constantly being edited and new technical capabilities are being added. The external appearance of such websites may also change significantly over time, but their basic structure and offered functionality remain the same. Let’s take a look at the main features that a good e-commerce website should include. Let’s not wait any longer, let’s get started!
Good Quality Photos
Gone are the days when posting a single photo with a short description and a price tag satisfied online shoppers. Now customers want to view the product from different angles and see people using the product at different points in their lives. They want to be able to scale and, so to speak, feel the product. Online stores must display multiple photos for each product, which must be high resolution and optimized for page load.
User-friendliness
It’s no secret that the most important characteristic of a website is the ease of use. This way, you can help customers get what they want faster without hindering the path to purchase. Site usability is not just about making sure everything on the site works correctly, but how quickly and easily site guests can use the site. Focus on the user experience by providing a user-friendly product menu, shopping categories, filters, multiple product comparisons, and more. Simplicity should be the goal of good design to make your e-commerce site more user-friendly.
Call To Action
Call to Action (CTA) — they are short phrases on and around a prominent button, in a strategic place in the banner. Classic “Buy” and “Subscribe”, tricky “Get a discount”, and creative “Plunge into emotions”. And also, a lot of smaller calls, for example, leave a review or share with friends.
Creating an effective call to action is:
- Write text;
- Draw a design;
- Place correctly;
- Improve to perfection.
A call to action should beautifully complete the entire marketing concept: match the products, price, acquisition channels, and, of course, the needs of the client. As with other marketing tools, you need to experiment with CTAs, changing them depending on the reaction of visitors. There is no universal formula, but it is quite possible to find the ideal one for the specific tasks of your project.
Product Page
The product card is an important and, perhaps, the most underestimated part of any online store in terms of SEO. A potential buyer can get to the product card immediately from the search results and in just a few seconds make their impression of your site. The first thing you should pay attention to is the design and layout of the resource. You should think over the structure of the location of the main blocks on the page in advance. Since we read from left to right and top to bottom, we should arrange the information as follows:
- on the left – place a photo of the product;
- on the right – the price, a short description, the “Buy” button;
- at the bottom – description, characteristics, reviews, “Previously viewed” and “Recommended products”.
All basic information about the product should be placed on the first viewing screen.
Product Reviews
Thinking about buying a particular product, no doubt, the buyer will try to find as much information about it as possible. Especially when it comes to choosing between two alternatives, and even at a similar price. Such information is of interest to many buyers, and it has not lost its relevance for a long time. That’s why it’s important to include product reviews, including on the product pages themselves. It’s much better to give potential customers as much information as possible on your website pages so they don’t have to look elsewhere.
The main condition is the emphasis on information content and assistance to the buyer in choosing. Imagine that you are just his more experienced friend who can tell you about all the pros and cons of the product and help make the right decision. The main thing here is to bring real benefit because this is the first step to building trusting relationships and forming a loyal audience.
An important point is the structure of the publication. Add a few photos of the product unpacked, from different angles, and describe the scope of delivery (if any), you can also mention interesting additional accessories that you should pay attention to.
Special Offers And Discounts
When choosing effective marketing strategies, do not forget to use discounts, promotions, coupons, and other special offers. To achieve success, it is important to understand how and at what time to hold them, how to generate relevant offers, calculate financial risks and interact with the audience. Having developed the right tactics, it is quite possible to achieve excellent results. With the right approach, discounts and all sorts of bonuses can be excellent tools for online marketing. But don’t get carried away with them either. They should primarily encourage users to return to your online store and make repeat purchases.
Secure Payment Methods
Maximum comfort and security, the ability to remotely issue an installment plan and pay with literally two clicks of a button — all these are just the basic benefits for customers using payment systems of online stores. Payment systems are complex technological solutions, one of the tasks of which is to ensure the security of transactions for both you and your customers. Therefore, to connect one of them, your online store must meet the list of requirements. First of all, they are technical: the hosting where the store is located must have a static IP address, and the domain name of the site must be only the second level with a secure HTTPS protocol. The remaining requirements relate to the content of the pages. A site with enough content to make a purchasing decision and working internal links should have:
- detailed information about the company – legal and physical address, telephone, e-mail;
- terms of payment and delivery;
- a page with information about the protection of personal data and other legal conditions for cooperation;
- prices in national currency.
Final Thoughts
No matter what you sell and to whom, every online store has a set of certain features that must be present. Not only the features we’ve talked about, but also multiple shipping options, a convenient shopping cart, a search function, and more will help you retain customers and turn them into repeat customers. If you do not know where to start developing your e-commerce platform, contact IT Delight and they will help you with the implementation of the best solution.
