Online shopping grows in popularity every year, and this year is no different. The convenience and quick turnarounds are great assets to your business from a customer perspective, and your customer experience should always be a top priority. Here are 5 ways to optimize your online shopping experience.
Reduce Friction
Do you have a website that has been your business’s online home for many years? Are you new to the online game, but you want to optimize your customer experience? Reducing friction should be a top priority.
Many consumers are now pretty savvy online, so if your shopping, communication, and checkout processes aren’t transparent and frictionless, your potential customer or client will simply find another business website they like better and purchase their products and services instead. We know you want to make your online shopping experience as unique as your business, but if your creativity doesn’t cater to your customers’ practical needs when they visit your site, they’ll move on.
Don’t Diss the Power of Selling on Social Media
At birthdays and Christmas celebrations, you know someone will ask, “oh my gosh, where did you get this?” on at least one occasion. More and more, the answer to that question is Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and other online and mobile apps where shopping isn’t a primary function of that site.
Using social media to tout and sell your products and services can not only boost your profits, but also create quick-access customers who may not have been looking for your product at all, but found the social media presence compelling enough that they want to try your goods for themselves.
Anticipate Customer Questions
One of the most irritating things about the online shopping experience is the varying ways vendors choose to market and display their products or services online. For example, if you are selling furniture online, you absolutely need to take photos of that furniture in a real space, not just against a pretty backdrop. Adding specifications and even items that are missing from the listing should be considered.
Most reviews are centered around the misrepresentation of a product or service. Transparency and anticipating the questions your customers will ask are key. Many times, a well-honed description or set of product photos or videos can eliminate confusion almost completely.
Make Your Sites Mobile-Friendly – And Test Them!
There are tons of websites and templates that are ready for you to just plug in your company info and create a dynamic website platform that will work on desktops and mobile devices, but that doesn’t mean they’re perfect.
If you want to capture more customers and decrease abandoned cart situations, you should regularly test your website features, up to and including all methods and steps of the cart and checkout process.
Offer Top-Notch Payment Processing Options
Whether you primarily deal in B2B, B2C, or another primary commerce type, having accessible payments is a must for your online shopping experience. And payment options are growing faster than you can keep up. It’s time to integrate and simplify, for the sake of your business and your sanity.
The ReliaFund Electronic Payments Services payment processing platform provides everyone from small businesses to large enterprises with a single solution for accepting all your payments.
Streamline all online and mobile payments into one platform: ACH, credit cards, checks, recurring payments, and much more. Keep your transactions organized and secure with ReliaFund.
Contact us to learn more.