A professional website is very important for every business. In this fierce competition, only having a website is not enough. E-commerce website must have some important features for staying ahead in the competition. The features are stated below:
- E-commerce Site must be User-Friendly: Nowadays, almost 50% of transactions are done online. Therefore, websites need to have a responsive web design. This makes sure that whichever device the user chooses to shop from he gets a good experience, whether he chooses to shop from a smartphone, desktop, laptop or any other device. Your sales will increase if you provide them a user-friendly experience.
- There must be a Shopping Cart: This is very essential for any E-Commerce Website Development. This is the feature where your customers keep their products which they want to purchase. A flexible shopping cart permits the guest user as well as the registered user to checkout easily. Registered users need to login but the guest users do not require to sign-up on the website, which makes the process easy for the guest users. The shopping cart allows users to remove or add products.
- Payment Gateway Integrations: Having diverse payment gateways is a sign of a good e-commerce website. The users or customers can choose from different payment options as per their convenience. This is especially needed if you sell internationally as customers of various countries have different preferences for making payments.
- Live Chat Support: When a customer visits a website and searches for products or services, it is obvious that he may have some queries of which he or she will need an answer. If their queries are not answered or they do not get clarification of their doubts immediately then there is a possibility that they will simply move out from your site. On the other hand, if they get clarification or answers to their queries in real-time they will not move-out. Chatbot, Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) page can be used to enhance the customer experience.
- Social Media Integration: Social media is a platform on which customers like to share their online shopping experiences. These experiences are valued by the prospective customers and their buying decisions are influenced by the experiences posted by the other customers. E-commerce websites have to include real-life product reviews and encourage people to discuss the views on their products and services. Reviews can be directly posted or can be linked to the related social media pages.
- Search Box: Customers of today are very busy these days. They do not have much time to search the whole site listing for the products they want. So, a search box is a must-have in an e-commerce website. The search box must be faceted and type-sensitive as it will be easy for the customer to look for what they want.
- Product Videos: Product videos are one of the greatest marketing tools in the current scenario. This feature is very famous among business persons and customers also. People like to watch videos more in comparison to reading text or seeing images. According to the latest reports of HubSpot, the average time spent by users on an e-commerce website is likely to be increased by 88% if there is a product video on the website. This is so because a user is more likely to trust the product of it is in the form of video. The following strategies can be used:
- Providing entertainment along with highlighting the product.
- Videos of unboxing products.
- Educational videos that can make your product look more valuable.
- Combining product showcase with excellent storytelling.
- Up-Selling and Cross-Selling: Up-selling is convincing your customers to buy the products of greater value than what they have chosen or we can say persuading them to purchase more expensive items. Cross-selling involves persuading them to buy some complementary products along with what they have selected to buy, for example, if a person is buying a digital camera suggesting them to buy a memory card and if a person is buying a mobile phone recommending them to purchase a mobile cover or other mobile accessories. An e-commerce site must have these features and those who don’t; are definitely going to lose some great deals.
- Strong Money-Back Guarantee: This is also a good feature to be incorporated into an e-commerce website. If the product you are selling is of good quality then there must be no problem in offering a money-back guarantee on such products. This not only helps to build a relationship of trust among you and your customers but it will also establish you as a strong brand in the market.
- Deals and Discounts: Customers prefer to buy where they get a good discount or a great deal. A lucrative deal and discount persuade the customers to stay on your e-commerce site. The deals may include free shipping, gifts, buy 1 get 1 type of offers and many more. Such kinds of deals are also helpful in reaching the previous customers and attracting prospective customers.
In this extremely competitive online environment, it is very essential to cover each and every aspect and present your best to the customer. It is important to take hold of all the advantages of custom E-Commerce Website Development and enhance your electronic store with the superlative features to allure and excite your customers.