Your ecommerce website is one of the most important aspects of your business, and is often one of the first things that your customers will see. You know what they say about first impressions. If you have a poor looking site that does not have proper branding and design, chances are good that the prospective customer will simply leave and not return.
Branding the Site
The site needs to look professional, and that means you need to have your logo and branding at the fore of the site. Your persona and the tone your company projects is a part of your brand, and it needs to be present on the site, as well. For example, if your business has a sense of humor, then that humor should be on your ecommerce website and in your product descriptions. The aesthetics of your site are important, but they are not the only aspects of your site you have to consider.
Navigating the Site
When a customer arrives at your site, they need to know how to get to all of the areas of the site they need to visit. This is true with any website, but it is vital for an ecommerce site where you are selling a large number of products. This means you have to have clear categories and subcategories for the products. You also need to make it easy for the visitor to return to the home page or category home with just a click. Make the navigation as easy as possible.
Good Checkout System
Just as your navigation needs to be simple, so does the checkout process. Requiring people to register for your site or requiring them to jump through any type of hoops before they can make their purchase can cost you in the end. Many have no trouble simply abandoning their ecommerce website shopping cart and visiting one of your competitors that does not require signups. Make the checkout as simple and painless for them as possible.
Your Channel Shops
Something else that you should consider is the look of the stores you have through the other channels where you sell, such as eBay. With all of the various channels, you should do everything you can to maintain your brand image. If you have the opportunity to customize storefronts with those other sites, do it and try to match it to your website as closely as possible. Whenever you have the chance to add your logo to one of your online spaces, make sure to add it.
Creating a perfect ecommerce site that works well from a visual perspective, that’s easy for users to navigate, and that works well “under the hood” is not always in the realm of all business owners. Having help creating the site, and managing all of the various aspects of the ecommerce site with things such as order management software and your ecommerce shopping cart is essential. Appath can help you keep on the right track with your online business.
Summary: How does your ecommerce site stack up against your competition? Many companies feel that simply throwing up a quick site with their products is enough, but that’s not the case today. You need to make sure you have a high quality site that looks good and that embraces and promotes your brand. The site needs to do more than just look great though. The site needs to be very easy to navigate for your customers as well. Most online sellers will benefit from having help from a professional third party when it comes to setting up a great ecommerce website.
Resource: http://visualwebsiteoptimizer.com/split-testing-blog/21-ecommerce-homepage-best-practices/