6 Tips to Improve the Online Shopping Experience

With eCommerce competition on the rise and attention spans becoming increasingly shorter, to attract and retain customers you need to make your shopping experience pleasant and easy. How do you do that? Read on to find out!  

1. Load Time and Mobile Friendliness

Your customers are not patient. If your eStore loads slowly they will simply go elsewhere. So, make sure that you invest in an efficient online store engine that is lightweight and loads quickly.  

Also, with an uptick in customers coming from mobile, you need to make sure that your website works well both on a computer and on a mobile device. Make the navigation and finalization of purchases on small screens as easy as possible.

2. Search Engine

Don’t underestimate the power of your search engine. It’s worth investing in one that will bring your users exactly what they’re searching for — and do it quickly to keep them focused.

Also bear in mind that the search engine allows you to connect your anonymous users with specific products you can sell to them. It provides you with data that you can use to show them more personalized search results and product recommendations in the future.

3. Quality Photos of Products

Even if you sell generic items, you still need to provide high quality, zoomable photographs of those products. Online shoppers expect them as they’re reassuring and help in making the final decision to buy.

Also, include photos of your products actually being used. For example, next to a photo of a smartphone protector, show the same protector on an actual device that it’s been designed for.  

4. Customer Reviews

Your online shoppers trust customer reviews much more than they trust your marketing content. So, encourage your customers to leave comments for the products they have purchased for other customers to read.

Once they’ve gone through with the purchase, let them talk about it! Just think about how much time your marketing department will save! 😊

5. Product Availability

Make sure that you inform your customers if an item is in stock (including its size) on the product page. If some of your products are back-ordered or are not available for delivery to a specific location, let them know early on, don’t wait till they’ve already added it to their carts.

Remember: avoid annoying your customers — leaving your eStore only takes a click.

6. Simple Checkout

The checkout process is your moment of glory. This is when you make money — provided you don’t frustrate your customers. So make it as easy as possible. One or two clicks only. No unnecessary actions. Display a progress bar of where they are in the checkout process to give them a visual representation of their progress.

Also, allow visitors to save their carts for later or create a wish list. Consider extending your cart life — it will cost you nothing, and you’ll be ready to sell to those who need a bit longer to decide.

Conclusion

Whenever someone wants to give you their money, don’t make it hard for them! If you haven’t already, make sure you implement the above tricks — and you’ll notice the difference!

What other tips do you have to streamline the purchasing process? We’d love to know! Share your comments with us below!