Now that holiday shopping season has arrived, we can all assume that 2020 will certainly be a monumental year for online gift purchases as COVID-19 continues to spread in many areas and people are staying put.
If you are a retailer who already has an eCommerce store in place, the good news is that you can utilize your website to its fullest potential. However, if you want to improve your customers’ experience while shopping online, you may want to consider implementing some of the following fundamental tips.
Make sure your website is mobile friendly
Nowadays, many people are shopping from the convenience of home using their smartphone. For this reason, it is important that your eCommerce site is also mobile friendly. Having a site that is mobile friendly makes it much easier to browse and shows customers that you want them to have an optimized experience.
Offer free shipping
Times are tight for a lot of people, especially this year. Offering free shipping to customers is the perfect gift any online retailer can give — it shows that you care about their experience, even as they’re paying for their goods. They’ll remember it, and they’ll likely come back.Â
Optimize site search
When a customer visits your eCommerce store, the first thing they typically do is look for the search bar. Makes sense, right? They know typing in exactly what they are looking for will save them time and direct them to the item they want to purchase.Â
To make sure your site’s search is prominent, you’ll want to make sure you are offering Search As You Type, ensuring your products are easy to find because of good data attributes, offering recommendations to make shopping easier.Â
To assist you with this, you may consider investing in good search technology such as software offered by companies like GroupBy. GroupBy understands buyer behavior and its software offers intelligent search, relevant product details, and personalized recommendations.
Offer convenient pickup services
Curbside pickup and buy online pickup in store (BOPIS) has never been more convenient, safe, and necessary than in 2020. It offers the customer the ease of searching for a product or item online and then driving to the store where someone delivers the package directly to them, either in their car or via a quick store pickup.
In fact, 90% of online shoppers said they are deterred by high shipping fees and home delivery that takes longer than two days. Further, today’s consumers are used to receiving their products at a much faster rate, with online shopping platforms like Amazon readily available to buy whatever they want and need.
Personalized product recommendations
There’s no better way to recognize your customers than by allowing your eCommerce site to suggest personalized product recommendations. Not only will this technology create a unique shopping experience, it could increase your revenue. Through various software applications, you can increase conversion rates, repeat customers and purchases, and reduce abandoned carts. Be sure to implement a software that will analyze your performance and adapt based on the behavior of your customers.
Allow customer reviews
You’ve been there before. You are considering buying a product online, but there is nowhere to find out if other people like it too. The reality is, customers are more likely to trust and buy a product when they know someone else has purchased it first. Customer reviews help shoppers make an informed choice about whether they want to buy from you, or not.
One-click checkout
Today’s online shoppers want as easy of an e-commerce checkout process as possible.
Through analysis of former purchases and buyer behavior, one-click checkout allows for a seamless shopping cart experience. Further, offer payment services like PayPal, Google Wallet and ApplePay will allow for easy electronic transactions. Add in a digital coupon and this advancement in the mobile cart can also improve your eCommerce store’s bottom line.
By implementing some or all of these tips, and by making sure your website is easy to navigate, you will be able to show your customers that you care about their shopping experience and in turn, they will continue to patronize your store this year, and for years to come.
