Why just buying a kick-ass template will not do the trick for you?
This is an article dedicated to the fallen of the e-commerce war, to those who gave up trying to make their e-commerce site convert. To the Ben Afflecks of e-commerce who no matter what happened could not figure their shit out.
Especially given all the things that are happening lately like the e-commercefying of Instagram, the need to have a killer e-commerce site is stronger than ever.
From the A to the Zs of e-commerce sites, we will go through all the things that can possibly go wrong and put your whole business in jeopardy.
Step by step, let’s explore every nook and cranny of your site and figure out why your e-commerce site might fail.
Not choosing the right platform provider is the reason your e-commerce site will fail
Choosing an e-commerce site is not an easy job. Many people choose one based on design criteria, or how much it costs. However, this is not what we aim for here.
You should always keep in mind the 3 S that any e-commerce platform should provide:
So what are our options?
Of course, you have a million more choice but I will mainly focus on the things that worked for usand our clients.
Shopify
Pros
- SEO optimised
- If you are not a tech freak, no need to get involved with servers e.t.c
- Customer support
- Secure and fast az fackz
- Design
Cons
- Locked-in features
- Not so good for content marketing
- No One-page checkout option
Presta Shop
Pros
- User-friendly back & front office
- Flexibility with coding of your site
- It’s own marketplace
Cons
- Expensive modules
- Support
Woo commerce
Pros
- Free
- Familiar
- Customisable
- Support + Community Feedback
Cons
- Need to have hosting knowledge
- Knowledge of coding (HTML) to make as personal as possible
- Premium themes might cost a lot
Well for me Shopify has stolen my heart. The back office (or dashboard) is really easy and quick to get the hang of. With Presta Shop, many of the clients used it so I had to stick with it and a relationship of hate and love gradually grew between us.
Woo Commerce is more of in an experimental stage right now so you might want to give it a try.
Not making a kickass navigation menu bar is the reason your e-commerce site will fail
Well, we might not be an e-commerce site, but I want you to roughly grasp the concept of navigation menu here.
Along with your homepage as a whole, this is something that a visitor will face as soon as he enters your website.
The design of a website’s navigation has a bigger impact on success or failure than almost any other factor. It affects traffic and search engine rankings – Andy Crestodina (Co-founder, Orby Media)
You should not go to extremes here but there are some fundamentals that you have to implement
- Keep it simple
- Use clear but unique wording
- Go for responsive designs (sticky e.t.c)
The reason why your e-commerce site will convert more easily that way is for the following reasons. First of all, it will work as an indirect site map. People need to know where they are on your site, where they can go from there and really quickly get vital info like Contact us or a search bar.
This is your chance to make a great first impression. Say something about your brand, maybe include one of your USPs (unique selling proposition).
Offering effortless navigation is one guaranteed way to reduce the bounce rate according to Shopifyitself.
Not having an All-Star Homepage is the reason your e-commerce site will fail
I am a person that believes that sometimes simplicity is just what you need. The same applies towards e-commerce sites.
You can take two approaches if you ask me. The first one is kind of basic, but effective nonetheless.
- We have a navigation menu on top, a kick-ass slider, a content area with up to 3 of our USPs, and then a couple of section with featured products, new arrivals, discounts e.t.c.
- The second approach says go for something intriguing design wise, that will awe the visitor without necessarily making him wonder wtf is going on.
As for the second one here is the very interesting example of HANDGRAFT.
One of the things that won me here is that if you click on the items you get price and product name, so this is not just a nice visual, it is more than that. A feature that converts and intrigues.
The first choice is more like this:
Not having cool product previews is the reason your e-commerce site will fail
To begin with I think you should go for minimalistic previews on the homepage & all other sections that show previews of your product.
For example, I really like the approach: name, price & shot of the product. Moz has made a really nice guide approach to the perfect e-commerce site and they have drawn the following which says it all.
But apart from that, there is also the preview of the product itself, once you actually go within and want to see more.
There you should have a nicely curated gallery of visuals and a detailed description of the product.Although this could be considered a tip by itself I think it really belongs to the “how you present your product package.”
Some people even use new methods and media forms to represent their products like gifs and I say hell yeah.
This is something that works like a charm, especially when it comes to your email marketing campaign.
Not paving an easy way to checkout is the reason your e-commerce site will fail
From the moment your visitor enters your website, there are a bunch of things you can do to pave the way to checkout.
- Add instant “add to cart” buttons
- Include USPs like free shipping in the most “heated” places of your site
- Install one page checkout widgets/modules
- Include payment methods like paypal
- Do co-branding with strong brands and feature them at your site
According to Trycelery.com:
Not applying SEO is the reason your e-commerce site will fail
You should consider this important given two things.
First of all on the long term your site will rank high up on SERPs.
This is not something that happens overnight, so as soon as you start your SEO process, the sooner you will have actual positive results based on statistics.
But apart from that, while being in a SEO process, you go through the very important step of keyword research.
People who are mostly in the content marketing field know that this is the most important for the following reasons:
- You learn the language of the market
- You grasp what the people ask for
- You know around which pillars your content will revolve around
Extra tip: Another important part of SEO is backlinks e.t.c try to generate as much of them as well and skyrocket your authority.
All in all
Enough with my Mumble Jumble, once again. I hope that this was of some value to you and feedback is always welcome.
I dare you to try, experiment and fail, that is the only way to find your golden goose.
E-commerce is a complex and hard part of the digital world to tame. Especially given the vastness of fields like the food & the fashion industry.
How about we get started then? 😉
This article first appeared in www.growthrocks.com
Seeking to build and grow your brand using the force of consumer insight, strategic foresight, creative disruption and technology prowess? Talk to us at +9714 3867728 or mail: info@groupisd.com or visit www.groupisd.com
