eCommerce is one of the largest growing economic sectors, with projected revenue estimates being as high as 560 billion US dollars by 2025. Success, however, is not that easy in this place. The vast revenue numbers might suggest that become wealthy is easy here, but it is truly not. eCommerce is driven by certain choice qualities of individual websites. These qualities are what invite customers and sell products to them.
Qualities Of A Great eCommerce Website
Design
The design of a website is the first thing anyone notices. A first impression is key, and you have to leave a good first impression on your customer. You must have a clean, modern-looking site with a sleek design and memorable aesthetic.
A good-looking website is always inviting to a customer. Users are visually stimulated by the many colors and patterns and transition animations and clean readable fonts of the best websites- which is why they are inclined to not only purchase from that website but also return regularly for all their specific needs.
Besides the eye-candy, you also have to take care of the placement of elements. Carefully place each button, option, category etc. Include CTAs and carts and make these easily findable.
Speed
Having gone through the designing process, you must also make sure that the loading times and in general using speed is up to par. Slow websites are a major deterrent. As your website takes millennia to load, your potential customer is already gone.
The two main contributing factors to a user quickly exiting a slow loading site are impatience and suspicion.
Slow loading sites are suspicious. Users- when they find themselves on sluggish sites- subconsciously relate to malware and the insecurities of the internet. And this reaction is justified. Often, the worst of the sketchy sites are also the ones that load eerily slow.
But undoubtedly the most important fact you should keep in mind is that your customer’s time is valuable. Users do not have all day to spend on your site. They run short on time. that is why they chose to shop for products and services online in the first place. You cannot have them sitting on a loading screen. So, make sure your site is rapid quick.
Usability
Using your website should be easy. Otherwise, you will get significantly lower sales. Whilst you treat your customers as kings when it comes to speed, you have to treat them as absolute babies when it comes to the navigation part. Make everything clear and simple to use. Have a prominent and properly integrated search bar. Has every production categorized by words a customer would search for? You must also include CTAs for your customers to use in case of inquiries and other aspects a customer might need support for. Furthermore, you must also make logging in or signing up processes easy. The ‘cart’ feature which allows customers to shop throughout your site and pay altogether at the end is a must-have too.
Brand and brand identity
One of the most important things in any online business is your brand. In real life, when a person walks into a shop, they can judge whether or not to make a purchase there by looking at the scale, the product range they see, the behavior, etc. This aspect of judging and deciding also translates to online as well. But here, customers do not get access to a brick-and-mortar store that they can scrutinize. This is where the brand comes in. Your brand is the way people see and understand you. Is it imperative for you to build up your brand because otherwise, customers do not know who you are? And people will not buy from you if they do not know you.
Checkout
An Achilles’ heel for many websites is the end payment and checkout process. A lot of the times orders get deleted and carts get emptied because a customer had too hard a time trying to pay. Having a robust payment and checkout section is important. Have an interactive end screen that shows and lets customers edit the contents of any cart. And in the payment section, you want to have cleanly spaced-out infoboxes where customers choose their method and fill in the requisite info. A vivid and clear voucher button is also a must as customers find immense delight in using vouchers to reduce the bill.
Conclusion
eCommerce websites are growing at an unprecedented rate both in terms of size and numbers. But not every one of them ends up with a success story. To be successful in this space, having the aforementioned 5 key qualities as your starting base is a glaring must.