10 Ways to Improve an eCommerce Store

The final few months of the year are the busiest time for e-commerce stores, to give you a little help I've listed here 10 Ways to Improve an eCommerce Store.

With more and more people shopping online you need to really up your game to grab sales, these little improvements will help you market better, work smarter and importantly get sales. No matter what platform you have built your site on these things should be easy to implement.

1. Make Delivery Costs Clear

This first one is such a big deal to me, if I'm visiting a new site it's the first thing I look for. Every page should mention delivery costs, I was looking at a site the other day for an audit and I didn't get told about the delivery cost until I was checking out. Most platforms have an announcement bar which appears on every page, this is ideal, add it to product pages, front page, you can never say it too many times. You need to also make sure it also appears on mobile sites too.

2. Offer Free Delivery

Following on from delivery, this is one that will cost you a small amount. If possible look at offering free delivery, this is often an important part of buying online. If you can arrange with a well-known carrier, such as Royal Mail, DHL or FedEx, a contract you'll find they'll offer favourable prices and this will soften the blow of giving free delivery. The plus side is that you will more than likely see an upturn in orders.

3. Offer a Variety of Payment Methods

I'll cover two different things for payments, the first is to offer a couple of different payment methods. Don't give an endless list but consider something like PayPal, Klarna and a simple credit/debit card option. Yes, most people have PayPal but there will still be people who don't. When picking your payment gateway make sure you understand the fees and also that it's easy for customers to understand and use. Lots of people I speak to had no idea what you can use PayPal without having an account, if needed put a page together explain the steps in paying. Don't give a potential customer the excuse to exit your site.

4. Set Up Pay-Later Options

The buy-now-pay-later sector has really grown massively in the last year and more and more sites are offering this. It will depend on the value of your items, but on a couple of sites I've added it to it's increased the average order value, and by quite a large percentage. There are a couple of different ways you could offer the pay-later option, PayPal offers a credit option, this is available to purchases over £99 and gives 0% interest over 4 months. All you need for this is a PayPal account and if you have PayPal as an option then it's done automatically. Another popular one is Klarna which is growing in 2020, it's really flexible and gives you another option for potential buyers. Another one to consider is LayBuy which offers payment over 6 months, this is a newer one on the radar so worth checking it out.

5. Update Product Descriptions

Have a ready of your product descriptions, does it tell the customer everything they need to know? It doesn't need to be too in-depth but read carefully what you've put if you were a customer would you understand what size, material, and maybe use the item had? Maybe a customer has asked a question about the item in the past so add the answer to the description, if one person has asked it them there is a good chance that others may be wondering the same. Bullet points make it easy for people to read especially on mobile devices.

6. Mobile Compatible

This is so important, it's been so important for many many years. If your answer is 'I've already done this', actually check, what does it look like on mobile? Could this be improved in any way? A couple of platforms I know really strip back the experience, so that announcement bar about free delivery you added earlier, does that appear on mobile? It's so important as more and more shopping is done via mobile phones, on a lot of builders it will be a case of clicking a button to activate the mobile mode. Just check it looks ok,

7. Content Content Content

Do you remember that blog that you set up when you designed the website? Well, it's time to fall in love with blogging. If there is one thing Google loves its new content and updates. With an eCommerce store, there is so much you can write about, new stock, favourite items, events that are going on. Use this as a place to announce discount codes, this is your place and you control it. If you lack a little time then plan a post every month and aim for around 300 as a minimum.

8. Update Product Images

In an ideal world, you'll have 3-4 images per product. This will give a much better idea of what an item is like, photos speak so much more than words. It's also worth trying to take a few photos of the item in use, these photos help give scale and also these photos would work perfectly on social media to help promote your store. With smartphone cameras so good there is no excuse not to be able to take your own photos.

9. Check Stock Levels

Heading into the busy period it's important to get your stock levels correct. This helps for two things, it allows you to check that everything is listed for people to buy and it also helps stop overselling of items and having the possibility of needing to cancel an order. Customers will be very reluctant to return to a site that had previously cancelled their order. A simple inventory check will sort these two issues and might alert you to the fact you may need to order a popular item to keep the orders flowing in.

10. Put Together Gift Sets

A great way to increase customers average spends put together some gift sets. Have a look at the items you sell and could you put together a special pack for Christmas? Is there a range of items that go really well together and as a tempter offer it at a reduced price? The easiest way to pick the items is to have items, where sizing isn't an issue, mugs, keyring, candles, chocolate, are all great items that are easy for customers to purchase for friends and family.

A simple list of 10 Ways to Improve an eCommerce Store, have I missed any out that you'd include?