Is Your eCommerce Honeymoon Over?

September 12th, 2018
By Cheryl Reinertsen

Remember when your business was new? Maybe you had a “grand opening” to boost sales and brand awareness, or maybe you had a successful social media campaign that attracted many new customers.

Now you need to refresh your relationship with your customers so the fire doesn’t fizzle out. Here are 5 important tips to consider.

Inventory – Don’t let it sit around to hold up cash flow and increase the possibility of stale products. Are your customers too familiar with your products. Can they find the same items for less at another store? Do they occasionally want to see something new? If a product isn’t selling, try a sale or a replacement. Use social media to find out what your customers are interested in and give it to them.

Reviews – It’s well-known that consumers research businesses and products before they buy. Even negative reviews, when included with the good reviews, can increase consumer trust and contribute favorable to conversion. Google recognizes the benefits of ratings and reviews, and you can encourage Google to show them with schema markup. (While you’re reading about schema markup for ratings and reviews, be sure to also check out the details for using markup for your products.) After an order is delivered, thank the customer and ask for a review. Our experience shows that these Email requests with a convenient link to the product page results in far more reviews. Be sure to provide links that are as convenient as possible, and format your review page so it is quick to submit.

Website Layout – Make sure your site is compatible with all devices. Using Google’s recommended Responsive Design Plan, your mobile store will automatically adjust to the sizes of all devices customers are using to provide optimal presentation. The design has the added bonus of a single cart, so multiple web sites are no long required. Good for your customers, good for you!

Keywords and SEO – keep titles and keywords updated so they don’t bring down the SEO for your products. Use words that describe the items, anticipate all the information customers will need, and use descriptions to answer the most common questions you receive about the items.

Fast and Easy Checkout – if customers are buying online because it’s faster, they will quickly abandon their carts if the checkout process is slow or demanding. Keep the checkout process simple and quick. Reveal all fees up front and show your shoppers the checkout flow to let them know what to expect. Keep it efficient with as few steps as possible. Giving customers an up-front shipping estimate, or the option to bypass registration (when appropriate) can eliminate some of the breakdown at checkout.