Running an online shop is a great way to make money in the modern era. More and more people are shopping via their computers and phones, and simply listing a wealth of products can prevent you from ever needing to open up a real brick and mortar store!
But in building an online shop, have you forgotten about a few crucial elements? Indeed, your shop should evolve over time and offer more and more to the customers that keep coming back to you. And of course, your customers will be looking for a certain few features whenever they click through! With that in mind, check the list below to make sure you’ve got everything a visitor will want to see when shopping online.
An Adaptable Search Option
You should always feature a search option on your website, there’s no doubt about that. People need to be able to tap in a few words whenever they’re looking for something specific, and a search bar is the easiest way to give your customers more choice over what they’re buying.
Within the search feature, your customers should also be able to toggle certain filters on and off. They should be able to search via price tags, and it shouldn’t be hard to exclude types of products. An adaptable search option is a hardy one, and being able to narrow down a wide search isn’t as hard as people make it out to be!
To Be Able to Shop From Anywhere
Your customers want convenience from your shop. They want to be able to shop from anywhere in the world, as long as they have some kind of internet connection. And that means you’ll need to optimize for devices other than a computer screen. Thankfully, it’s easier than ever to build a website that also runs well on mobile. And not only will your customers thank you, but any search engine you’re listed on will rank you higher as well.
For example, if you’re using platforms like Shopify to run the ecommerce side of your website, making a change can be done without even needing to delve into the deep code of your website. Indeed, shopify headless commerce is becoming a lot more popular as the use of the online shopping world becomes more widespread, and in the last two years, it’s shown just how powerful it really is!
An Easy Way to Personalize
Customers love to have a portal of their own to make use of. And in the online world, that usually translates into having an account to log in with. Of course, it’s always helpful to allow for a ‘guest checkout’, but allowing a beneficial sign up will help you to curate your target market even further.
So when you allow someone to sign up to save their scrolling preferences, card details, and to put together something like a wishlist, you give them a chance to come back for more. As such, membership areas should always offer something a little exclusive, a little more valuable than you can get by just using the website at face value, so be sure to entice people in with discounts they can’t get anywhere else.
The Ability to Check Customer Reviews
Customer reviews allow a person to double check their purchases without having to go offsite, and that’s far more convenient for everyone involved! Allow for testimonies to be posted straight to product pages, and make them easy to scroll through whenever someone wants to know more.
It’ll also help spurious reviews from popping up on independent sites – anyone who leaves a review is a previous customer, and is only invited to leave feedback if they have proof of purchase.
Furthermore, don’t just feature 3 simple 5 star reviews here – allow a customer to read through as many as they want, and get some in depth advice from those who have come before. It’ll help them to make a more informed decision about what they’re buying, and they’re only going to thank you for such an option.
Running a retail portion to your website is one of the best ways to make profit in the business world. However, it takes a bit of tweaking here and there to make your store the best it can be! Make sure you know what your customers are looking for, and always act on the feedback you receive to design an experience that can’t be found anywhere else.
