10 Must Have Feature for a Basic eCommerce Site

With online platforms replacing conventional retail stores, it is important that every business have its own website today. A website that’s built smartly can go a long way in helping a business grow and thus to be ahead in the race, you must have an online presence through a website. But, it is not enough to just have a website, it is equally important to ensure that the website is well-received by its target market. Hence, to help you develop a perfect, bulletproof website for your business, we have jotted down 10 essentials that you must include in your e-commerce site to make it well –rounded from a visitor’s point of view.

1) Clean User Interface & Design :

The first thing any visitor notices about a website is its appearance. Design of a website is what the visitors use to form a first impression about any business — A website that’s designed poorly can immediately make viewers regard your business lowly; on the other hand ,a well-organized, color-coordinated, not-crammed-up website can go a long way in making your potential customers trust in you and your products/services. So, invest your time and effort in building the perfect logo and brand identity and if needed, be open to taking professional help from graphic designers and spending money in this regard.

2) A solid about us-section and contact information :

It is necessary that you have a solid ‘About’ section in your website so that visitors can immediately know if they came to the right page and what products/service they can expect from your business. In the about section, you can also include your business’s awards and achievements to make consumers rely more on your products/services. At the same time, it is also important that your provide contact information so that visitors can get their queries answered right away.

3) Responsive & Mobile Friendly :

It’s not enough for your website to be desktop-friendly only. Recent study indicates that 87% of internet users now have smartphones and thus people using mobiles for browsing through shopping sites have increased almost exponentially. So, to keep yourself ahead in the race, it’s extremely important that you make your website mobile-friendly. Remember- Having a mobile-friendly website isn’t just good practice — it’s a prerequisite

4) Speed :

There are tons of sites offering the same products/services as yours and hence if your website is not speedy enough, the potential customers can abandon your site for some other faster websites. The average user has no patience for a page that takes too long to load. It is important to note that study reveals page abandonment increases above 25% as the page load time increases from 2 to 10 seconds.(source : Gomez.com, Akamai.com)

5) Product Search :

To help your customers not get lost in your website, you need to categorize your products systematically so that the search bar returns the most relevant results. Sometimes, customers aren’t sure what they want or which brand they want their product to be from. So, it’s better to provide them with the option of searching both by product category and brand. This will help your customers find exactly what they are looking for and boost your sales thereby.

6) Product Review :

Instead of just naming a product and adding a picture, make sure you educate your customers about the product. Provide pictures that are taken from different angles and can be zoomed in for a better view. It is advisable to include product reviews from experts and users. Also, to set yourself apart, you can definitely include videos!

7) Simple and Easy Payment options :

If the payment method is too tedious and complicated, many customers just leave the site. In order to ensure that doesn’t happen, you need to make payment options simple and suitable for your target market. For Bangladeshi websites, it is advisable to have cash-on-delivery option as there are many people who are still skeptic about online transactions through credit and debit cards

8) Social Media Links :

If your website includes links of social media like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc., you can ensure that your customers get connected with other customers, get regular updates and in this way, have your name on the top of their mind, which will help you get more new customers and also retain the old ones!

9) Membership options :

Every customer wants to feel special and get discounts for their loyalty towards a particular brand. So, in order to reward your regular customers, you should have a membership option in your website. This will not only help customers feel privileged but will also help you customize your offers according to their preferences and buying habits.

10) After-sale contact :

It is important to note that your work doesn’t end right after making a sale. To satisfy customers with your service, you need to get and value their feedback. You should stay in touch with your customers regularly through sending emails from your website that asks for feedback, informs them about the latest deals and so on.

These are the 10 essentials for an entry level ecommerce site. Don’t skip out on any if you want to gain some advantage over your competitors or at least ensure that your website doesn’t get lost in the sea of tons of other websites. To know more on web development and maintenance, contact us at www.hypedhaka.com

Author: Mahia Khan, Content Writer, HYPE