E-commerce Checklist: 15 Essentials For Your Online Store

So, look like you are all set to go with your e-commerce business idea and move forward with your plan. Well, there will be a lot of preparation for it if you are working to launch your business website. So how do you know your website is ready? Continue reading the blog ‘E-commerce Checklist: 15 Essentials For Your Online Store’, by our experts at the finest eCommerce website development in Kochi to know if you are treading the right way. 

• User-Friendly Navigation 

The aim of your e-commerce website is to help customers to find their favorite products in a simple way. And you can achieve it with user-friendly navigation. If your site is cluttered as hell, your website visitors will have a hard time finding the products and completing the purchase. 

So, make sure that the products are logically categorized, placed and arranged according to the popularity list. Some people tend to search products by brand and while others by various filters such as price, sizes etc, Also it will be helpful if the navigation bar reflects the arrangement.

• Highly Responsive Mobile Site

A highly responsive website can do wonders for your online business. Responsiveness equals a seamless customer experience. A Shopify report showed that nearly 71% of the popular Black Friday sales were made via mobile phone while desktop sales were only up to 29%. Also, statistics showed that the number of mobile shoppers will touch 187 million by 2024. All this shows that e-commerce owners must pay extra attention to mobile-responsible sites to ensure customer satisfaction, Also, enlarging call-to-action buttons for easy fingertip touches etc. Reach out to our experts at Inter Smart, for effective eCommerce website development solutions.

• Product Reviews and Videos 

Most of the customers including you and me will go through at least ten reviews before making a purchase. The same goes for your customers/visitors. People will often have doubts regarding their purchase if they are buying goods or any furniture items.

So product reviews are something that can help them if they are buying something for the first time from the website. It will break the doubt barrier and ultimately boost the customer's confidence to finalize the purchase.

Most customers do have the natural instinct to the review section if they are about to buy something from the website. However, if a site/product has no reviews or no sufficient information regarding the products, people will begin to question the brand’s reliability. And in most cases, they will end up not buying the product. So for this reason, e-commerce website owners should make sure that their websites have product reviews and testimonials.

• Fast Checkout Process

Do you know that 5 out of ten customers will leave their cart abandoned? This points out that most of the customers will not complete the transaction. Sometimes, a complicated checkout process can be the reason. As we all know most of our buying decisions are impulsive and spontaneous. The consumers will buy when they are in the mood for it. Nobody wants to spend forever in the checkout process. It will destroy their patience and motivation to continue the purchase.

• Ensure the Site is Secure

In this digital era, cyber security remains a top concern for every internet user. So a customer has to feel safe before filing confidential data like their credit/debit card info. During checkout processes. Besides, web browsers also warn users when they try to enter a website with no SSL certificate. This alone can scare the customers away, says the professionals at our eCommerce web development Kochi. A secured website will also benefit the owner by giving protection from cyber attacks, data stealing and other risks etc.

• Sales channel Integration

A smooth sales channel integration on your e-commerce website will help you with higher conversion rates and revenue. Expanding your sales via social media platforms like Facebook, Amazon and Instagram will also help you with your sales and revenue. 

Using Instagram ads to gain users to e-commerce sites is also a common tactic to increase sales. 

1. PCI Compliance

Make sure that your website is compliant with the payment card Industry Data Security Standard. Most of the major credit card companies require the organization to adhere to the standard which aims and protects credit card data. So it's important to ensure that your website meets the requirements otherwise you would not be able to accept some credit cards and will be fined.

• Transparent Brand Information

You need to have to be transparent about your brand if you want to build trust with your customers. From the about us page to privacy policy page make sure that you are properly communicating in your brand voice. 

• SEO-friendly web pages

SEO has everything to do with e-commerce websites. SEO is the practice of getting your website on search engines like Google and Bing. A 2019 study showed that 53% of website traffic arises from organic search results. Search engines like Google and Bing are the number 1 source people will rely on to find something about a product or service. So an SEO-friendly website can give you so many potential customers.

1. FAQ for products

As we mentioned before, FAQs play an important role in an e-commerce website. Why?. It will act as the go-to page for your customers if they are unsure/curious regarding the products on your website. When a search engine needs accurate answers and can find them in your website content, you have a very high chance of getting potential customers.

• Personalized Product recommendations

Instead of showing random products recommendation on your website, you can try to make it personalized a little more. Have you noticed when you are searching for a pair of shoes, you are getting a recommendation of the matching tees and accessories it goes with the caption ‘people also bought together’? That's what we call a personalized product recommendation. It’s high time e-commerce website owners focus on that, reveals the experts at our eCommerce development company in Kochi

• Low shipping fee

Most e-commerce giants like Amazon and Shopify offer free shipping. Do you know the bad side of it when it comes to the rest of the e-commerce business.?  50% of customers will leave the cart if there isn't a free delivery. Since small-scale businesses cannot afford the free shipping arrangement without compromising the quality, they can put out certain terms and conditions to meet the free shipping policy.

• Integration with an email marketing tool

Besides acquiring new visitors and focusing on your existing customers and turning them into frequent buyers should be a top priority for every e-commerce business. Integrating your e-commerce website with an email marketing platform with personalized product recommendations, promotion notifications, and other engaging content builds customer relationships and will act as a catalyst for conversions.

• Reports + Analytics Tool

Apart from the things we mentioned above, it's very essential to set up an analytical tool for your website. Sometime, your e-commerce website may have a built-in analytics tool, and you can also use tools like google analytics and third-party tools. These analytical tools will help you to track your website’s overall performance including website visitors and conversions etc. 

• Integration with Digital advertising service

It’s a known factor that e-commerce platform does rely on paid services like Facebook and Google ads to gain more potential customers in their digital stores. While organic marketing like SEO is a long-term effort advertisements are an after way to give your brand more visibility and generate sales with targeted ads.