Every eCommerce site is unique, but the successful ones all have a few things in common. Whether you’re just starting off with a new store or looking to improve your existing one, there are a few essentials that you’ll want to make sure are a part of your store. Take a look at the 6 essentials that every eCommerce store has to have below and look for ways to incorporate them into your own site.
A Great Name
The first thing your eCommerce site has to have is a great name. Your name is a major part of your brand and a great one can set you up for long-term success. If you name your eCommerce store something hard to remember or spell, this will likely keep some people from visiting your site.
Spend some time brainstorming ideas for possible store names. Think about the products you sell, the type of business you want to run, or something that relates to your personally. Once you have some ideas, see if you can translate them into domain names. You’ll want to check with a domain registrar to ensure the name you want is available. Keep in mind that changing the ending of the domain is often a great way to broaden your options and save some money. For example, you could go with a “.co” or a “.biz” instead of a “.com”. This is often how the cheapest domain names are found.
A Simple Design
From there, your website will need some design. When it comes to designing an eCommerce website, you really want to keep things simple and easy to use. If it is hard to navigate around your website, customers are more likely to leave and shop elsewhere. At the same time, you don’t want too many design elements that distract from the products listed on your page. Opt instead for something simple and clean for the best results.
If web design is not one of your skills, don’t worry. There are many platforms online where you can host your eCommerce site that will help you to design everything. Platforms like WordPress and WooCommerce have templates available specifically for eCommerce so that you can have a great looking site in just a matter of minutes. You can also customize these templates to better suit your needs, if necessary.
High-Quality Images
An important part of your site’s design is the images you use. Because people are shopping online, rather than in-store, this means they don’t get to see your products up close. Instead, they need to rely on the images you provide them. If you can fill your site with high-quality images, you will give your store a more professional look and make it easier for customers to commit to a purchase.
One way you can do this is by studying product photography and taking the pictures yourself. From there you will want to optimize the images so that they look great on all internet devices, while also having a file size that won’t slow down the loading process.
A Great Checkout Process
No matter how great your website looks, if it’s hard for your customers to complete the checkout process, you’ll lose customers. Cart abandonment is when customers add products to their cart, but never complete the purchase, and it’s a major concern for eCommerce site owners. The biggest driver of cart abandonment is a poor checkout process.
The ideal eCommerce checkout process is one that requires as few steps as possible, moves quickly, and is clear to the customers. If you’re building your store on an eCommerce platform, they will usually provide you with an optimized checkout process. However, if you’re building the site on your own, you will want to plan this out in detail to ensure everything runs smoothly.
Strong Backend Software
Now that you’ve taken care of the front-end, it’s important that you spend some time thinking about the backend. The backend is where you will process orders, keep track of inventory, store customer data and much more. If you don’t have a strong system in place, you’ll likely find it hard to manage or grow your eCommerce site.
There are a few pieces of software that you’ll want to get to manage your backend. The first is a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tool. This will store all the information you need about your customers so that you can contact them further down the line. Repeat customers are a better return on investment than new ones, and a CRM will help you reach them.
The next piece is a tool to track your inventory. This should integrate seamlessly with your eCommerce site so that it always has the most up to date information about your product availability. Finally, you may need some software to track your orders. You should know the status of every product you send out and be able to provide your customers with updates. You may be able to do this with your inventory software, or with your CRM, but in some cases, you’ll need something separate.
There’s no one correct software solution for every eCommerce site. You should explore the options that are out there then decide which ones would work best for your operation. As you go along you can either add, change or remove backend tools as you see what works.
Customer Service Support
Finally, your eCommerce store needs customer support. According to these sales statistics, 57% of consumers decide where to shop based largely on customer service. There will come a time when one of your customers has a question about your products, wants an update on their order, or has an issue with a product. You need an easy way for customers to reach you, and a system that will keep you from getting overwhelmed. Look into software options that will allow you to track customer support tickets, then decide how to best interact with your customers.
For example, if you are only getting a few customer service requests each day, then email might work for you. On the other hand, if you’re getting hundreds of requests, you may want to look into a live chat feature or chatbots. Chatbots are automated messaging tools that can respond to customer requests right through your website. They are easy to install, especially if you are using a platform like WordPress. Once you have your live chat on WordPress set up, it’s easy to quickly talk to your customers or allow a chatbot to handle the simpler requests.
Set Your Site Up for Success
If you can incorporate the above essentials into your eCommerce store, you will set yourself up for long-term success. Successful eCommerce stores don’t happen overnight – they take time to develop. But with the right foundation in place, you’ll start to see your sales numbers increase before long.
