Building an ecommerce site is like building a house: always start with the blueprints.
If you're just starting out online, or have been around a while and want more sales from your ecommerce web site, now is a good time to examine the fundamentals of a good ecommerce web site so that yours will bring in (and keep) the customers you deserve.
The first step in any web development project is to start with a good project specification. Think about building an ecommerce web site like building a house: you'd never put the windows in before building the foundation, or flip a light switch before consulting an electrician. Likewise for your ecommerce site, be sure to lay the groundwork so that you have a strong base on which to build. Take the time to develop the blueprints for your site – how your product pages will be categorized, how visitors will access them, what search functionality is necessary. Create some wireframes for your site or build an “undesigned” beta to see if customers will be able to find what they are looking for quickly and easily.
In your Main Street store, the homemade mint jelly may be lined up neatly next to the hand-embroidered hats, but online customers are unlikely to click on a link to "homemade jellies" if they are searching for hats. A good ecommerce site organizes inventory into categories that are meaningful for online shoppers. It may take some time to categorize, subcategorize and cross-categorize your products, but it will be time well spent. Visitors will only become customers if they can find what you're selling.
One of the myths of ecommerce is that all of your pages should be within a click or two of the home page. Studies show that people will continue to hunt for a product as long as they think they're on the right track, even if it requires a couple of clicks. In other words, don't be afraid to subcategorize. Your customers won't "get lost" in the layers of your site as long as you give them a logical sequence to follow.
A word of caution: it's imperative that your groupings are meaningful (keep garden hoses separate from grills) and cross-linked. Don't force visitors into a subcategory for "propane grills" and leave them stranded with no way back to "electric grills". Make sure visitors know where they are and how to back out.
And remember, upselling is your friend. If a person selects "propane grills", by all means offer links to grill brushes, grill covers and grease mats.
A second word of caution: name product categories clearly. If you sell bedding, avoid cute category names like "Fluffy Stuff". Visitors are more likely looking for "pillows" and "comforters". Shoppers come to your site with preconceived ideas of how and where they expect to find products. The more closely you can match their expectations, the better your site will fare.
Part of any business that you do involves everyday rules: sales tax, shipping, return policies, discounts. Anything that affects the sale will be part of your business rules. Before you build an ecommerce site, define these rules and then publish them in an obvious location. Remember, information is key to building credibility. Define additional charges, state your refund and privacy policies, offer guarantees. Give customers every reason to click that "buy now" button with confidence. Decide how to handle:
Defining these rules will do more than help you do business - they will provide visitors with the information they need to make a confident purchase. Build an effective site by telling visitors what to expect when they do business with you.
Once you've determined the best way to present your products to potential customers, the next step is figuring out where the product information will come from. Do you have an internal inventory management system? If so, that can feed your web site. Don't "reinvent the wheel" by developing a second database just for your site - you'll only end up with double the work for maintenance, and inconsistencies are bound to creep in.
If you don't have a preexisting database, then there's more work ahead! The good news is that the more time you spend planning, the more time you'll have later to watch your sales roll in.
Whatever you're selling, a database will provide the product warehouse and can store every detail of the sales transaction. Your product inventory and sales process will determine the information that must be stored in your database, so before you begin an ecommerce project, be sure to outline exactly what you need. A clothing retailer, for example, may require storage for sizes, colors or other style options. A furniture retailer may need to warehouse wood finishes, paint colors and optional configurations such as two or three drawer dressers.
A database can handle upsells and cross-sells, too. If you sell gourmet cookies with a price break between two and three dozen, you want to prompt customers with two dozen in their cart to buy the third and take advantage of your offer. Perhaps you sell collectible dolls. Why not suggest a display case to your customers before checkout? A little imagination sets the stage for effective marketing and good database design makes it possible.
Another function of your database is warehousing customer orders. It can help you stay on top of inventory, store shipping and tracking information, even generate reports based on customer activity. Reporting is a tremendously useful perk. Want to know how many people made a purchase in June? Or who spent over a certain dollar amount? Want to know who's been back to reorder, and how soon? Use reports to reach out to old customers and draw them back in.
A database also forms the core for your web site content management system. Once you know what you want to store, manage and report on, a database will provide the foundation to do it.
If you run a retail business, you know that things can change. No sooner do you publish your product catalog than you take on a new product or discontinue another. Perhaps you've decided to offer a sale this month, or want to spruce up a description to sound better than the one you read on a competitor's site last week. Whatever your maintenance needs, someone's got to sit down and do the work. The question is: who?
One tempting option for busy business owners is to hire someone else to do the maintenance work. But this can be costly and increase the lag time between "new product" and when that product appears on your site. Imagine the bill from your developer every time you add a new color t-shirt. Imagine that your customers can't wait to pick up your new holiday tableware but your developer can't schedule you in until sometime around February.
Another more cost-effective and efficient solution to your maintenance needs is a web site content management system. A content management system will allow you to make updates in-house, on your schedule and in real time. It will also save you time and money. During your project planning phase, decide down to the very last detail what you want to manage. Carefully outline your business needs and then seek out a content management system that will accommodate them.
When planning a shopping cart, it's sometimes easier to talk about "what not to do". Most of us who've shopped online have a list a mile long of things that drive us crazy. Sometimes we're patient or having a particularly good day and nothing bothers us. But other days, we'd just as soon never shop again than spend thirty seconds "registering for an account". Stay on your customers' shopping lists by following some basic cart rules. The easier it is to check out, the more likely your visitor will do it.
Provide your customers with enough well-organized information to make an educated purchase. Make your site a one-stop resource for all their needs by being that one site they can use to research, debate and finally buy a product. Even if your prices aren't the lowest available, you'll convert more sales by showing customers that you're a credible expert in the industry.
Give customers the opportunity to view your products in multiple sizes, in multiple colors and from multiple angles. Providing a visual resource is invaluable in gaining the confidence of consumers who are purchasing a product without the advantage of the “touch-and-feel” experience of traditional shopping.
In the age of “social media”, customer feedback can mean the difference between a successful ecommerce site and one that is ignored. You can tout your expertise until the cows and sheep come home, and gain nothing compared to what one glowing customer review can do. Let customers give their opinions, and publish them online so that other potential customers will learn how real people feel about your products and service.
Even less-than-stellar opinions will establish your credibility as a business that takes its business seriously. You are always free to respond to a disgruntled customer and come up with a way to address the problem. Putting the good and bad online adds a level of transparency that says “We know things aren't always perfect, but we're willing to do whatever we can to earn your business”.
So you've made the sale, and now you're planning ways to entice the next customer. Before you think about that next customer for a single second, figure out how you're going to get the first one back. A simple follow-up email may be all it takes to get a customer buying from you again and again. Follow up emails can build your reputation as a credible company that values its customers' business.
Follow up with emails to remind customers that you're still around, to prompt them to stock up on a new batch of favorite items and to offer special incentives. And all of this can be done without a single thought from you. If you prepare for follow-up during the site planning phase, all of the follow-up can be done automatically and on schedule. Just remember to give customers the opportunity to “opt out” of your emails if they choose. Good follow-up always respects the customer.
Planning and building a good ecommerce web site can be challenging, but the reward will be a site that draws visitors, turns them into customers and keeps them coming back for more. Make your ecommerce site an integral part of the success of your business by following a process that builds a solid foundation and a functional system and then uses sound web site marketing strategies to bring in and keep the customers your business deserves.
Ready to take your ecommerce success to the next level? Contact Us and we'll help you plan it down to the last detail, and build it to bring in the sales.
Whether you know exactly where you want to take your business or aren't sure where to start, our planning and consulting services will outline your web needs, define marketing goals and determine an effective way to make it all work. Before you invest a single cent in developing a web site, we will define and document your business needs.
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Web site development encompasses everything from database design, content management system development, shopping cart and form programming, and site search and reporting. If this all seems a bit overwhelming, our process will help simplify it by defining in plain English what your site will do.
A content management system gives you editorial control over content that appears on your web site and can serve as a distribution tool for information. Having a content management system for site maintenance will save you time and money by simplifying recurring tasks and giving you in-house, real-time control over your web content.
We employ search engine friendly practices and follow industry standards for every web development project to ensure your site is crawler- and user-friendly right out of the box. If you are looking for improved search listings and more qualified traffic, we can help by analyzing your web site and analytics to find out where it needs improvement.
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