7 Must-Have Attributes for Growth of Your Online Business
Your Online Business can Grow Better, Here’s How.
Shyam Sundar Verma , 28 September, 2015
Online market of products and services is growing like anything these days. We see many new players, big and small, jumping in the eCommerce bandwagon. Some attain slow growth, some grow fast initially but do not sustain in long run, some fail fast. Very few survive the increasing competition and get sustainable growth.
The first and foremost thing for a successful online business, similar to offline business, is the quality of products and services being offered. No customers would compromise for quality when they are paying for it. If an eCommerce business does not meet this criteria, it will fail fast.
With my own experience and observations, I found that there are certain qualities that are vital for sustainable growth of an online store. Here is the list of such attributes -
Convenient Exploring
Online shopping often starts with exploring products through the product catalogue. If your online store offers fast and accurate search along with filter options on various product attributes to narrow down the search results, your customers are more likely to find their required products fast. Infinite scroll and load on demand are few features that make exploring convenient.
SEO and Social Sharing for Products
Search friendly product catalogue would increase chances of your products or services appearing in search results and hence more foot fall on your online store. If your products and services speak for themselves, your online store will get popularity quicker. You may choose to offer social sharing on facebook, twitter, google+, pinterest, and other popular channels to let your customers share your products or services to their social networking friends.
Inaccurate shipping information is one of the major reasons of cart abandonment.
If you show higher shipping charges or a late delivery date, customer is more likely to stop the payment and leave the cart.
Your online store should use best shipping rules to get accurate shipping information.
Anonymous or Guest Checkout
Customers may not always like to first register themselves and then continue with shopping. May be a customer landed on your website while search for a product, liked it and wants to buy it.
Guest checkout will help them quickly finish their purchasing without hassle of filling up the registration form first.
Though it is a good idea to increase your customer base but not at the cost of losing a customer. Learn how good checkout can skyrocket your sales
Guest Checkout
Suitable Payment Option
Payment is the most critical stage of a purchase process. Any kind of friction here can easily cause cart abandonment.
Customers are more inclined to make a purchase if they find their preferred payment option.
If you are operating globally through your online store, you must offer variety of payment options which your global customers can choose from.
This will provide them a local buying experience with their preferred payment option and lead to greater conversion rate
Post-Purchase Actions
Do not forget your customers once they leave your online store. Keep them updated on order placement and order processing through email, SMS on their phone numbers. Allow them to track their order and shipment through direct links included in notifications. Also try to engage with them by sending them updates on ongoing offers, deals etc. based on their preferences and interests.
These small changes in your eCommerce website can do wonder on your sales. If your customers get a good shopping experience, theyâll surely come back and bring more customers to you :)
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