There are several bells and whistles that can be attached to a website, but having the right capabilities for your business is a critical component of increasing sales. While there are multiple features available to you, here are the six must-have pieces that should be on your e-commerce website.
Your hosted checkout page is one of the most important pages on your e-commerce website. This page enables your customers to complete the buying process safely and securely by entering their payment information. For a deeper look at hosted payment page functionality, check out our blog post, What Is a Hosted Payment Page?
If you have more than one storefront, then you need software to manage them all from a central location instead of manually updating them one at a time. By using a central location, you can ensure that the current number of units in inventory is accurately displayed for products featured on more than one site.
Shipping options should be just as easy as making payments. They should also be transparent and flexible. One reason for abandoned carts is when customers see a different shipping rate than they expected. Manage their expectations by including a breakdown of shipping costs and associated fees. You can even use a feature that provides flexible and real shipping rates based on the customer’s IP address. There should also be flat-rate box shipping, per product shipping for specific items, geographic costs, and, in a more complicated transaction, an option to ship to multiple addresses. You can even offer an option for your customers to pick up their purchases in your store. A variety of options enhances the customer experience.
Customers are increasingly using social media channels like Facebook and Instagram to shop. Making sure that your website integrates with the social platforms your customers use is a great way to sell and market to them where they are. To increase sales, you can offer special discounts or promo codes based on the social platform your customers use to personalize the experience. Companies that synchronize a store to a Facebook business page, for example, see an average revenue increase of 15%. For more information about selling across multiple channels, check out our post about omnichannel commerce.
The customer has browsed your site and added products to their shopping cart, but didn’t complete the purchase. Why? There are several reasons for shopping cart abandonment, but your website features can help reduce shopping cart abandonment rates by using an automatic recovery function. Once a cart is abandoned, the system automatically sends an email to remind the customer of the items they left behind. To sweeten the deal, include discounts and special offers for the items in the abandoned shopping cart. Having this feature built into your website is one of the most effective ways to convert sales.
When possible, build a long-term relationship with customers. Make sure to give the customer the option to store their payment information, which streamlines the checkout process for future purchases. For you, it offers a predictable revenue stream while providing a service to customers where the order is made, paid, and shipped automatically and securely. Again, simplicity rules.