7 e-commerce site essentials that your new website shouldn’t be without

E-commerce is all about convenience. That’s why offering multiple payment options is one of the simplest ways to enhance the user experience.

If a user can pay right there, right now with Apple Pay instead of reaching for their wallet, they will. If they want to spread the cost for free instead of forking out for the entire cost upfront, then let them. It’s simple things like this that will help you drive conversions and increase customer loyalty.

No one stresses the importance of product pages more than Shopify product page guru, Rishi Rawat. In a recent podcast, he emphasised that your product page is your point of entry from almost all your ads. It’s also where the final stage of window shopping takes place, and is where the emotionally-charged action of parting with money actually happens. For these reasons - your content has to be good.

When it comes to writing content, every word matters. Make sure the copy is conversion-led, fulfils a purpose, and is reviewed regularly. Remember: what worked 6 months ago may not be as effective today.

Pop-ups and ticker tape banners are one of the easiest ways to transport users straight to deep-linked product pages, flash sale landing pages, and other places where they’ll make a purchase.

You can use them to create a sense of urgency by including a countdown during sale periods. Or, why not subtly encourage newsletter sign-ups after a user has been inactive for a while with messaging such as ‘Before you go…’?

When done well, upselling is a great way to improve user experience and, more importantly, drive sales. When it comes down to it, you’re encouraging customers to part with more of their cash on things that they perhaps hadn’t planned to purchase initially. For this reason, it’s important that the upsell options are either directly related to what’s already in the cart, complement the chosen product(s), or are personalised to the user.

But this doesn’t mean you can’t be creative. The obvious choices are to add technical support services or insurance, highlight multi-buy savings, or push similar product lines or colours. However, the more you raise awareness of products and services that the customer may not have otherwise known about, the better.

Far too often, it feels like the FAQs page is more of an afterthought; something that’s just hidden away in the footer between contact details and T&Cs. But your FAQs are actually some of the most valuable content on your website.

For one, they quickly and effectively address any user queries, helping drive conversions and save you time and money when it comes to customer service. Plus, they’re great for organic search, and Google may even think your answers are worthy of a Featured Snippet - and that’s guaranteed to get you more visitors.

Providing your customers with clear information about shipping and returns is essential. Knowing that their product will arrive quickly and safely (and that they’re able to easily return it if need be) will help convince them to purchase it in the first place.

Plus, even if the customer does end up returning their purchase, that’s not to say that they didn’t have a great experience with you - and this is something that will make them shop with you again.

When buying online, customers will almost always do their research. In fact, searching for ratings and reviews is second nature to today’s shoppers, as they’ll want to understand how a product works (and gain some real-life perspective) before they part with their cash.

Integrated review widgets and testimonial banners are a great place to start, but it’s important to make it easy for users to leave reviews as well as read them. The more ratings you have for a product, the more likely it is that someone will purchase it. And as the saying goes: feedback is the breakfast of champions.