ECommerce businesses continue to increase in popularity. In fact, it’s expected that there will be about 2.14 billion buyers globally in 2021. To put this in context, it’s over 25 percent of the world’s population. Along with this increase in eCommerce demand, however, comes an increase in the number of eCommerce businesses.
This means that if you’re running an eCommerce site, you’re likely to face more competition than ever before. To stay ahead of your competition and generate more sales, there are several essentials you’ll want your business to have. Below are 6 essentials you can use to grow your eCommerce sales in 2021 and beyond.
An Easy Checkout Process
The most essential thing you need on your eCommerce website is an easy checkout process. Too many eCommerce businesses lose out on customers simply because their checkout process takes too long or it’s too hard to use. According to Sleeknote, some simple checkout optimization strategies can increase your conversion rate by 35.62 percent.
One thing to focus on is the number of steps required to complete checkout. Users should be able to easily add items to their shopping cart and checkout in a few clicks. If you require users to sign up for an account, verify their email, then fill out additional forms before checking out, they are more likely to leave.
Another thing to look at is your available payment options. Giving users more options for payment, such as PayPal, Apple Pay, credit cards, and debit cards, makes it more likely that you’ll offer their preferred method. If users have to set up a new payment system just to use your site, this is another thing that might cause them to leave.
These are the two biggest things you’ll want to consider when looking at shopping cart software options. There are many things you can do to improve your conversion and cart abandonment rates, but using a simple and fast checkout system is one of the easiest to implement.
A Mobile-Ready Experience
About half of all web traffic now comes through mobile devices. This means a large portion of your customers will want to shop with you on their smartphones and tablets. If you don’t have a mobile-ready experience, you’re going to lose out on a significant amount of customers.
There are two ways to provide a mobile-ready experience to your users. The first is to optimize your website for mobile use. You can do this in a few ways, but the biggest thing is using a website design that utilizes responsive design techniques.
Your other option is to provide your users with a mobile app. With your own app, you can provide your customers with an experience that is tailored to their smaller screens and makes it easier to shop with you. Creating an app isn’t too difficult either. You can either hire a developer to make the app for you or do it on your own with an app maker. Which method you choose will likely depend on how sophisticated you want the app to be and what your budget is for this project.
Valuable Content
Adding valuable content to your eCommerce site is a great way to bring in new customers. Valuable content, such as helpful blog posts or video product demonstrations, helps in a few ways. First, it can help with your Search Engine Optimization (SEO) efforts, as search engines like Google love to see websites with high-quality content on them. This means more people can find your store via search engines, a big source of traffic.
Besides, your customers are more likely to share helpful content with others. They may share your blog posts or videos on their social media channels, expanding your reach exponentially. You have the potential to reach hundreds or thousands of people with just a simple blog post that people find useful.
A Social Media Presence
Speaking of your users sharing your content on social media, your eCommerce brand also needs its own social media presence. With its own social media channels, you can promote your latest deals and helpful content, along with providing customer support to your audience. It’s a great way to spread brand awareness and connect with your customers on a more personal level. If you don’t have them already, open up accounts on the largest social media platforms – Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram – and start connecting.
Fast Customer Service
Customer service is an important factor when people are trying to decide where to send their business. If a customer has a bad experience with you or your products, they are less likely to come back in the future. Therefore, if you want to drive up your sales, you need to focus on providing fast and strong customer service.
The best thing you can do is add more methods for your customers to reach you. Allow them to connect with you via email, over the phone, or through social media. Another great option is to add a live chat feature. Everyone has their preferred method for dealing with a customer service team, so the more options you add, the more likely it is that your customers will enjoy their experience.
Data Tracking
Lastly, your eCommerce business needs to have a system in place for tracking important data. For example, you should know which of your products are the most popular, which pages on your website get the most visitors, your cart abandonment rate, which of your customer service agents perform the best, and more. It’s this data that will allow you to start implementing a CRO program to make better decisions for your eCommerce business going forward. Look to track as much data as you can about your website, sales, staff, and customers, then make it a regular habit to review this data when making changes.
Growing Your eCommerce Business for Years to Come
With the above strategies, you should be able to start growing your eCommerce sales into 2021 and beyond. These essentials are at the heart of any successful eCommerce brand and will help you to make other changes that benefit your business. Spend some time going through and ensuring you have each of the essentials above and watch your sales numbers steadily start to increase.