How to Make Your E-Commerce Site Effective

The relative ease with which you can set up an e-commerce site has paved the way for thousands of entrepreneurs to think of taking their interests further and making them serious businesses. However, many do not take the trouble of thinking the process through, and quit the minute they discover their ventures are not the roaring successes that they had hoped to see. There are loads of information on how e-commerce businesses should develop their vision, spot and exploit market opportunities, build the relevant technology platforms, and more. Many online ventures do not stop and think regarding what their potential customers really want, and as a result, ultimately fail. Some tips on making your online venture effective by making it more customer-centric:

Make All Business Policies Prominent and Accessible

It is natural that customers will have the need for a lot of information on issues like shipping, how to access customer service, returns policy, how to deal with defective goods, payment modes, warranties applicable, etc. You should make it a point to mention all the necessary and relevant details in a prominent place on the site. By doing this, you will empower customers with information that they would have to obtain from you either by calling you up, emailing you or using online feedback forms. This would not only have resulted in delays for the customers but would have also created extra load on your customer service department. Making your policies available in such a way that customers have ready access also prevents product returns that are not only costly for you but cause a lot of frustration on the part of the customers.

Implement Strong Analytics

The success of online businesses depends a lot on the proper understanding of customer behavior. You need to know what search terms they are using to locate your site, as well as the time they are spending on the site before exiting. It is also a good idea to know the pages from where they are making their exits as then you could study them further to see if there are problems associated with those pages. If there are a number of visitors leaving from pages that are not the conclusion of the sale or the contacts page, then it is necessary that you find out the reason why.

Compelling and Accurate Product Descriptions

Customers make up their minds about purchasing products based on the description of the features and utility of the products. For example, party wear sarees online shopping sites will make it a point to include some really compelling product descriptions that will make potential customers feel good about the product. According to experts, usually, a description between 75 and 200 words will suffice. You also need to include details of sizes, weight, and shipping. Restrictions on usage or lack of compatibility with anything should be specifically mentioned.

High-Quality Photographs

The inclusion of photographs that are high quality is an extremely important factor behind the success of online sales. Customers should be able to zoom into the photograph or enlarge it without the photograph becoming distorted or pixilated. Ideally, the customers should be able to view the product from various angles. If the product is available in multiple colors, it is best that separate photos are uploaded or you can arrange for the color to change automatically when the cursor is placed on an applicable color patch. Include a standard item, the size of which is known by most customers along with the product photo so that customers can estimate the size more accurately.

Call-To-Action Buttons on Every Page

It is the unwritten rule about online sites that customers need to be encouraged to take action. So unless you are including specific and clear call-to-action buttons on each and every page, you could very well be seeing a lot of customers exiting without making a transaction.