3 Most Important Pages Of Your Online Store
If you run a business in eCommerce your website or online store is your storefront and business card all in one. It’s often the only way your customers can meet you. This interaction is very important and once it happens, it’s your chance to make an unforgettable impression.
Of course, the product or service you provide is the most important thing but you are probably not the only one offering this. How can you keep visitors on your site and prevent them from going to competitors? How to be unique so that they come back?
Here are a few tips on how to change your website in ways which make your business grow.
These tips can work only if you meet two key conditions: having a strong spirit for your business and your own belief in it.
These must come from you as a special, unique energy reflected into your business. Unfortunately there is no guideline for this so far, but in case you have one, please, share with us.
It’s not a big deal though, because I guess if you open your online store you will most likely care about it. Just follow these tips to make your website perfect for your business purpose.
How can you check up on the effectiveness of your efforts afterwards? Improvement in revenue, click through rates, time on page, conversion rates and bounce rates are a few metrics that you can look at in order to measure your progress.
The strategy of improving your website is basically about improving your content. No need to deal with programming issues, though two abbreviations you should follow seem a bit technical — CRO and SEO. You’ve definitely heard about them, but for newbies in eCommerce, let’s do a short recap.
SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is the group of activities that help in improving site ranking to attain higher positions in search.
CRO (Conversion Rate Optimization) is an indicator describing performance of your website. It means, how effectively you can turn passive visitors to active users, engage them with your content or encourage them to purchase.
Both have some recommended rules to follow in terms of increasing site performance. I chose some and put them together in practical use. If you have the chance to change the design and content of your website, do it wisely and try to improve its performance to the maximum.
Each page can be dedicated to a particular kind of action that you want your visitors to take. This relates also with the different stage of decision-making process in which they are found. Visitors search for different information in different pages and you should give them the answers that they are looking for.
The importance of specific pages differs according the business and website’s purpose. If we talk about a website as an online store, here are the three most important pages which help you keep your customers active.
HOME PAGE. Say what you sell and why.
It’s no longer the contact page the visitor finds first as clicking through the keywords he searched for. You might notice it’s often replaced by “ABOUT” page in recent years, or even ”PRODUCT” page if the website has just a few pages.
Keywords in the showcase
Homepage is the perfect place for stuffing keywords you want to be searched for. Use them in human language to explain the purpose of the website and your business. Eg: “Welcome! This is Synthia’s jewellery, get inspired and shop earrings, bracelets, necklaces, and rings..”
Use “Meta description” to introduce your store
Search engine offers in results also include a short description below the main headline that is not displayed anywhere else on the site. It is called the “Meta description” and you can change it in your SEO. Introduce your store as the best one among the competition. Mention your main advantages and use keywords. These little changes make as bots as visitors evaluating your site like a proper result for the given query.
Show off via references
Sometimes you can find recommendations in the home page too. Especially in eCommerce, when 90% of customers’ purchase decision depends on reviews. The more online reviews you have, the higher your rankings are in search engines.
Create a helpful guide
The main role of a homepage is being a guidepost. It’s a great chance to lead the visitors further towards where you want them to go. Using eye-catching graphics saying “hey! check this out!” in online stores is of course for your products. You can show the best selling products directly on your homepage or advise visitors on some seasonal products.
Seasonality and news are the reason why homepage should be often graphically changed so that it acts live.
Create your website simple so that your grandparents can shop with pleasure. Kutoa’s homepage is good example. You can see what they sell at the very first sight. The simple menu leads you to the most important pages you may be interested in — Products=shopping, Story and Cart. It is beautiful, simple and clear.
PRODUCT PAGE, your online storefront
Add “Search” and “Word completion” to the site
Use the search function to help your visitors find desired products faster and help with spelling to avoid having the visitor type a mistake and then showing the words “sorry, the product you searched was not found in our store.” If it really happens, return some funny but clear answer, e.g.: “hm, the product you’re looking for is not in our portfolio, but maybe we should consider its adding into it”
Use a beautiful and simple layout
Put in only the necessary elements. Use all the space on site to gain your visitors’ attention. Show nice high-quality imagery, detailed product descriptions, user references if available and of course a CTA button. In case of an online store the CTA button is usually an “Add to cart” button of an eye-catching color the visitor can’t overlook.
Be outstanding, the one and only
Give your unique product a unique name. If you create lavender pillows (and you are probably not the only one) make it different for your brand. You can label it something like Herbal Meadow — sleeping bags and this implies what it is for. Promote the fine materials and hand planting herbs used and nobody will be able to resist. You can have the best product ever, or maybe not, your audience must recognize how great the product is.
Give advice how to use the product
Use pictures instead of words. Show the situations, maybe even absurd, when the product may be used. Make up the photo with individual accessories, also found in your store. If you dare, make your own original photos. The power of images in term of conversion rate optimization is specific chapter worth studying.
Take a look at Want Less Essentials to get inspired in creating perfect product description. Except detailed pictures and captions the author advises how to take care of the product, recommends fitting clothes (also from his own gallery, of course) and conditions of delivery and return. It takes some extra time to prepare such a detailed product page, especially if you sell many different products. It is a good way how to built a successful brand, though.
SHOPPING CART, test of professionalism
An easier design will be better for your business. Imagine what makes you comfortable when shopping online and what you find annoying. Apply your own experience and make your store a trustworthy, friendly and unique place to which your customers like to return.
Let them purchase without a registration but offer a discount if registered.
If they decide to register, don’t ask for more information than you really need. If you ask for a phone number, are you really going to call them one day? Using microcopy can help, too. Explain why you need their data. Eg. email address: assure them that you are not going to overwhelm them with newsletters and marketing spams.
Save the data from order in case of users hitting the BACK button.
Your visitors may have made a mistake filling in the form or just realize they want to add or change something. There’s nothing worse than finding that all your cart details have vanished.
Shopping cart review one last time before the purchase is finished
Give your customers the option to check if everything selected is correct. When confirming the order, you can send them a coupon for their next purchase.
Motivate them to leave a review
Give coupons for their next purchase for writing about their customer experience. If they don’t like writing, simply put a ranking option there to identify a level of their satisfaction.
Make clear complaint conditions to win their trust
Be specific in term of complaints. Set the rules for exchanging goods or returning money within an exact period and keep it strict. You avoid chaotic situations and your customers will trust you.
TIPS & TRICKS: SHORTEN THE DAYS TO CONVERSION
When sending this coupons or give discounts, set a short time period of validation. If people know they have a chance to save money they are more likely to take it now than if they have a coupon valid for 6 months which they may forget about. This notion comes from their natural fear of missing out on deal. You can easily check out if these special offers work and if their popularity differs among customer groups.
The final, but core state of applying conversion rate optimization is analyzing the results of each source or action. This can be laborious work unless you have some smart analytics tool that helps you with that. Check out what kind of customers come from each channel and make the next marketing campaigns even more attractive for them.
WORD OF ADVICE?
The key message you should remember is to make your site sell. It sounds obvious, but being deeply interested in your business can cause you lose sight of some details. In an effort to make things perfect you make them complicated instead. Keep it simple, provide value to your customers and they will reward you with their loyalty.
