What Do You Need for Your E-Commerce Site in 2015?

Everyone can tell you that 2015 is the e-commerce era, a digital era where you don’t have to invest in a physical property to sell your products. So, let's briefly discuss what this e-commerce is: E-commerce is simply selling your goods or services online through the use of the Internet.

And the bigger question remains...

What makes a good e-commerce site?

A good e-commerce site is as good as the products you are offering to your customers. With that being said, there are 4 important points to be taken into consideration, namely Clearly Defined Goal, Differentiation, Trust, and User Experience.

1. Clear and Focused Goal

It is important to be clear to your online customers on what products you are selling to them. Things such as domain name (www.example.com) must represent what your business is. It is important to note that a customer such as myself looks at your domain name to give us a first impression of the nature of your business.

Once your potential customer is in your website, your “potential customer” will have to figure out your product within the first 10 seconds. Thus, clear and simple presentation of your site will help him/her determines whether your product is what they are looking for.

On top of that, your site shall implement a “How” statement. How your product solves a problem or issue that is related to your potential customers.

The issue of targeted customers is an issue that was previously neglected by many online business owners. However, it becomes a real treat nowadays as competition from other e-commerce sites rose. By letting your customers know indirectly that they are your selected customers, it gives them a comforting feeling about your products.

2. Differentiation

Another factor that we should take a look is differentiation of products. Your site should display how your products are different from your competitors, thus providing your customers extra benefits that may not be available from your competitors.

Simply saying, differentiation lets your customers know why they must choose your products over the others.

3. Trust

Trust is about letting your first time customer feels comfortable with your website and products.

It’s not simple to earn someone’s trust, but there are a few things that you can do to earn their trust such as:

• Customer testimonials
• How-to-videos
• Company achievements
• Payment methods
• Warranties

Payment methods may be one of the crucial factors in earning your customer’s trust. Simple steps such as inputting Visa/MasterCard icon on the bottom of your page, including SSL (Secure Sockets Layer), or implementing a reliable payment gateway may improve your customer’s trust upon buying your products.

4. User Experience

User experience has been one of the most overlooked factors by an online business owner. Unfortunately, it plays a crucial role in determining the overall image of your business.

Factors that affect your UX:

• Loading time
• Website navigation
• Product photos and description
• Website checkout

These factors play a huge role to your potential customers, not to mention those who are just browsing or even your competitors. By providing substantial amount of time perfecting these elements, you may find happy customers returning to your web. Remember a happy customer is a lifetime customer.

Conclusion

There are a lot of ways to improve your e-commerce sites and you should certainly should do a little experiment to your website to understand your own target market.

However, the points above can significantly help you improve some of your weaknesses in your site and help you reach greater heights!