Since the turn of the millennium, e-commerce has quickly gained traction and has evolved to become the preferred shopping method for most people. It is also seen as one of the factors that contributed to the closure of some brick-and-mortar shops, and even huge chain stores. E-commerce is expected to continue growing, and might even one day replace offline shopping completely. This is why it’s important to stay on top of your e-commerce game, and to adapt your store to the constant and rapid changes happening on the Internet today.
- Keep testing
As the face of the Internet changes, so does the behaviour of its users. The ideal calls to action, positioning of products on the page, and even the colours of the buttons keep changing every so often. Other times, you might stumble into an optimal configuration that has never been seen yet. If something works, do not be complacent—always think of how to improve the interface to further improve conversions. Experiment with fonts, copy, buttons, headlines, and any variable that you can. You’ll never know what will suddenly cause your conversion rates to increase. Invest in analytics and A/B testing software and tools.
- Make it social
On your product pages, add opportunities for user-generated content like reviews and photos, and make your products easy to share on social media by adding share buttons for Facebook, Twitter, and Google+. However, take care to not let reviews run wild, as it does sometimes on Amazon reviews. Require verification before posting reviews such as confirmed purchases, and moderate reviews from time to time.
- Optimise for mobile
In the last 5 or so years, the preferred device for using the Internet has shifted from desktop to mobile, and for a good reason: the latest mobile devices have become even more powerful than most home computers from less than a decade ago, and they’re completely portable. There’s also the fact that people are glued to their mobile devices all the time, especially to browse Facebook and Twitter. If you’re advertising on either of these platforms, there’s a huge chance that the entire conversion funnel will occur on mobile, so make it a point to put mobile first.
- Collect information
Information is essential not only in converting customers but also in improving the website experience. Use pixels for Facebook and AdWords and use analytics software like Google Analytics in every step of the way. Collect emails for marketing email and use surveys to improve your website. This will help you optimise all your activity, be it advertising, designing, selling, or determining products or services to sell.
- Don’t do it alone
These days, it’s very easy to collect huge amounts of data with very few tools, and trying to make sense of it might be challenging even for the most experienced e-commerce marketer if he or she does it alone. Determine whether you need to hire help from e-commerce and design experts such as those from https://xist2.com, or if you can get the job done with the help of a friend. Either way, always have a third party analyse the data with you.
