eCommerce business is booming and so the number of ecommerce websites. There are tons of eCommerce brands running online who are dominating the ecommerce industry, such as Amazon.
It might make you feel that your eCommerce website does not stand a chance to survive in this competitive eCommerce industry.
Here is something that you must understand, "Every website is unique in its way."
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The e-Commerce world is facing new challenges and adapting new technologies every year, such as animation, reviews, dynamic search, and advanced filtering.
These changes are making the path for every eCommerce site to adopt latest technologies, compete with the establish brands and sometimes even outrank them.
Today I am listing the 13 must-have features for eCommerce websites.
13 Must-Have Features for an eCommerce Website
User-Friendly:
Want to attract customers, start keeping things simple and easy.
Simplicity holds the power of emotional touch.
More than 70% of customers love to visit sites with easy navigation and fast loading.
Such characteristics help customers to make a quick decision and make the final purchase without any confusion.
Sellers are making sales within minutes on different online portals. The only thing that you need to consider on your site is to focus on creating an excellent user experience.
You can do it by adding simple tweaks to your eCommerce site such as categories, filters, comparisons, etc.
To make your eCommerce site user-friendly focus on;
- Easy and visual navigation
- Integrate Autocomplete feature
Mobile friendly eCommerce Website:
More than 50% of registered customers love to shop from the same website.
It is necessary to have a mobile responsive design to make your ecommerce shop user-friendly.
A mobile optimized website has 90% more chances to make the sale as compared to nonresponsive site.
No matter how many products you have on your shopping website, creating a mobile-friendly eCommerce website will help you make more sales and get better ranking.
Images and Videos:
There was a time when shopping sites were using only one photo with a description to make sales.
Customer is aware of the products, and they want to see every corner or design of the product before making a purchase.
This is the reason which forces eCommerce websites to use multiple photos, zoom feature, and even explainer videos.
It has observed that adding high-quality images and videos increase your chances to make more sales by 40%.
Remember, memorable images make the difference.
It is necessary to display multiple pics of each product on your eCommerce website.
Reviews:
Remember: More than 95% of customers read reviews.
More than 50% of customers only buy from a seller if he has more than 4-star rating.
If you think that negative review is terrible, then think again.
There is the second side of negative reviews, which is suitable for your website.
Negative reviews tell the customers that someone is buying the product where all positive reviews can alarm the customer about fake reviews.
You can also use social influencer reviews or user-generated reviews to boost sales.
Special Offers:
Offers are the reason why most of the eCommerce sites are gaining popularity.
Special offer or a massive discount on established products can improve the chances of grabbing more customers and make more sales.
For example; importedbuy.com offers upto 70% discount on most of the products.
The special deal makes the customer feel that there is the opportunity that they should not miss.
This increases the chances of an immediate sale.
Special offers also attract customers to search the website and find more products to buy.
WishList:
Amazon is one of the most famous examples of the site with the wishlist feature.
Wishlist feature allows customers to make the list of the products they want to buy in the future.
It is always plus to your good books to let customers bookmark the products they want to buy using your site.
It is also an excellent way to engage new customers on your site and let them explore the products
This will help you earn more traffic and even more shares.
Related items:
"You Might Like this," these magical words are enough to trigger the emotions to look for more and want more.
It is necessary for every eCommerce website to include "related items" feature. Related items will lure the customer to visit more pages and also buy more than one product in one go.
FAQs:
A customer cannot buy from a shopping website if he lacks confidence or has trust issues.
Products description and FAQ section can help you to solve the customer queries on the product page and build confidence.
Social proof:
Brand trust plays an important role to increase the number of sales.
This is the reason why brands are investing their time in building a social connection with customers.
By linking your eCommerce website with Social profiles and user-generated content, you will increase user engagement.
Social media Networks like Facebook allow brands to build trust and establish the social connection.
Security:
Security is an essential part of online transactions.
As an eshop owner, it is your job to make sure that your site is secure for online transactions.
Eshops can be an easy target for hackers as they contain important information of customers.
It is necessary to run your eCommerce website on a secure platform.
You can use Magento or WordPress with Woocommerce.
You should also install;
Payment option:
There was a time when eCommerce shops were only accepting credit cards. But time has changed now.
Now your competitors are not only accepting credit/debit cards, PayPal, Internet banking but also accepts wallet payments.
Remember: Not every customer likes to give their card information.
Wallets are secure, and you must install a wallet payment option on your eCommerce website.
Shipping Information:
It is necessary that you disclose the shipping details.
You should tell the customer about shipping cost or if you are offering free shipping.
Also, display how much time it will take to ship the product.
Aliexpress is the best at this as they tell the customer that it can take between 10 days to 45 days to deliver the product.
Return Policy:
The return policy is a crucial feature of every eCommerce website.
Be transparent and tell the customer about your return policy.
Make sure that you tell if the return is free of cost or you are charging shipping fee or value of the product.
If you are not accepting returns, then clearly state this in your policy.
Final Words:
These are a few of the essential features that every eCommerce shop must have.
Focus on creating an excellent user experience, understand buyers personas, build trust, and improve your brand image.
If you still have any question, do share via comments.
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