In today’s time, there are hundreds of thousands of websites— belonging to different aspects of eCommerce business. All are unique in their way. Over the time, we’ve seen a lot of fads and trends- some stay, some fade away. However, eCommerce trends don’t guarantee conversions or reliable user experiences. There are certain essential things that an eCommerce website should have.
Selling online is no longer a luxury; it is a necessity. The eCommerce wave has changed the way people buy and sell things. An online store connects buyers to sellers and has emerged as a great source of revenue generation and promotion of a business. It has also resolved the problems of buyers and has given them an ease of busying by dropping stuff right at their doorstep.
Here are 8 Must-Have eCommerce Website Elements
1. Ease of use
This comes with K.I.S.S about keeping it simple. Simple designs are the best to get shoppers what they want. Studies show 76% of consumers say the most important characteristic of a website is ease of use.
Online sellers just have minutes to make a sale. Focusing on giving better user experience, price comparisons, filters, price recommendations is need of the hour. Also, consider ease to find customer reviews and FAQs information to help buyers make a quick decision.
Your main goal is to provide the best experience to your customer not to frustrate them.
2. Deals, freebies and free shipping are love
People decide very quickly whether they like a website or not, this is why you need to keep your user enticed. Otherwise, they will find some other shop with a more attractive home page. Who doesn’t love free deals and shipping? Millions of people get excited and shop just seeing the ‘flash sale.’ free shipping is also a crazy banter. One this is clear is everybody is interested in promos irrespective of their type.
Free shipping is also crowd favorite. For online shoppers getting their products for free is a big deal. Moreover, buying things from the eCommerce store is cheap.
3. Live Chat
People have questions. You have answers.
Providing a toll-free number or an email address won’t suffice the purpose. People want answers from you and they want it right now. So how do you solve the problem? — Live Chat!
— It is convenient. They don’t need to scroll through your website to get the desired answer. It is there at the bottom of the home page with a helpful ‘click me’ call to action button.
— It is instant. Your consumers get their answers instantly. This will affect their buying decision significantly.
— It’s a gold mine. The interactions through live chat usually provide the data and behavior of the consumers as of how they buy from your website.
4. High-resolution photos and videos
Are you really trying to sell a website without visual representation? High-resolution photos and videos are a must have eCommerce website elements. They do what text can’t. These days consumers want to see multiple angles and people using the product in different environments. They want to be able to zoom in and get a feel for the product.
Technical considerations for the images are crucial. According to Adobe, images that take too long to upload will see a consumer drop rate of 39%.
5. Responsive web design
Google declared it, so it must be done. All websites are required to have a mobile-friendly version by 2017 or suffer the SEO consequences. If this isn’t reason enough, one in three online purchases is completed on a smartphone.
With a responsive website, content intuitively adapts to whatever device is accessing it to provide the most user-friendly experience. Shockingly, many sites still have not adopted a responsive or mobile version.
6. Reviews and testimonials
Always keep one thing in mind—shoppers are going to read reviews. 92% of shoppers see the star rating of a product before buying something.
You might think negative reviews can hamper your brand’s image. But having negative reviews can often be positive. It’s shown that products without negative reviews are seen as censored and, in turn, shoppers will assume the positive reviews are fake.
7. A clear set of policies
Policies are a must have eCommerce Website Elements. You need to be precise what set of policies you are offering to your customers— be it return or replacement policy, money back guarantee policy, shipping policy etc.
Money back guarantee
Do you offer 100% money back guarantee? If you can do this, you’re going to win a lot of hearts. Display your policy on every page.
How many days return/replacement policy you’re going to offer? 15 days, 30 days or 90 days.
Do you have an exchange policy? If yes, which products qualify?
Do you offer different shipping offers?
How much do you charge for shipping?
No one wants to get surprised at checkout. This is one of the reasons which leads to maximum abandon carts. What you can do is offer free shipping or charge minimal amount and adjust the cost in the product prices. You can also offer deals and promo codes to upsell your products.
8. Security features
Online transactions have become an integral part of our lives. As a result, eCommerce websites are a prime target for cybercriminals. Hence, you need to protect both your website and users data from getting hacked. Some of the important security features you must have are—
• SSL certificate
It establishes secure connectivity between users and website. Look for an HTTPS and a green lock in the address bar before making a payment. Select an SSL certificate vendor with name recognition.
• Two-factor authentication
Adds an extra layer of security by requiring a phone number and email address and generates a system generated email or text.
• Use a firewall
A firewall provides a gateway between two networks and differentiates between secured traffic and malicious traffic.
Design a powerpack eStore with these eCommerce Website Elements
No matter what you sell, you can always rely on these tried and tested eCommerce Website Elements for your eStore blended with innovative new elements to create fantastic shopping experiences. Liked the article, do let us know. Also, have a look at what we as an eStore handyman offer.
