5 Things You Need for a Successful E-Commerce Website

Of all types of business you can on the internet - eCommerce seems to be the weirdest. It is everchanging and yet its foundations stay the same. There is seemingly infinite number of ways to get through that boil down to general buzzwords. That makes getting into it look easy nothing thing. But it is not. Getting into eCommerce is extremely hard. Competition is big and merciless, and it won’t give you a chance to get even because you are only starting out. You need to fight your way through. Hopefully, there several ways that can help you to break into the eCommerce business without playing dirty. You may need web calculator for the numbers. Here’s a quick rundown of five things you need for a successful eCommerce website.

Introduce Yourself

The first impression is a critical part of perception. If you fail to get it right - you are going to have some troubles. You need to engage your customer from the very first screen. Let’s start with the logo - it is a critical element of user perception. It must serve as a reassuring symbol of good, excellent service. Is it visible? Is it catchy enough to be memorable? That is important. Also - it will be beneficial if you add some trust marks to your website. They serve as an endorsement and boost the credibility of the service. It helps on initial stages of operation. Since in order to operate correctly you buy licenses and make deals with various companies - for example, McAfee for security or PayPal for monetary transactions - it makes sense to add their logos to the site design.

Simple, effective design

User experience is the thing to be reckoned with all over the internet - not only in eCommerce segment. If the thing is hard to use or just too densely packed - expect no spikes of activity on your website. Good website design is a sign of respect for the user. You need to make every element of navigation easy to follow, and overall design scheme must be intuitive. Otherwise, the user will get lost and disinterested instead of buying something. The order form must be informative and straightforward. There are three essential elements that must be foolproof: login, shopping cart, and search. These features must be as simple to use as possible without being limiting. Everything about them must just click with the user. Place them together, make the operation easy to follow.

Giveaways

Giving away something for free or with substantial discounts is a way of engaging the audience. You can even apply some stunt marketing techniques if you amp the conceptual side of the affair. In order to pull this off, you need to know your audience and understand their needs. If done right - you are going to get an influx of activity on a website that will probably lead to some quality decisions. Usually, this works really well with banners and news flashes. Speaking of which…

News and popular lists

Maintaining the newsfeed that describes buzzworthy happenings or something new on the website is a critical part of keeping customers attention. Another essential element are the lists of the most popular product in specific segments. Believe it or not - that thing works miracles if done right. And it is relatively easy to do - you just need to check the stats and dance around them. You can also tell stories about and around popular products. Or you can merely inform that new, slightly improved version of something had arrived and available at discount.

Social Media Activity

Fun fact: about twenty percent of online purchases occur while surfing through social networks. Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest are most viable general sources of customers. It is easy to understand - when something pops up in the newsfeed - it incites curiosity. Because of that - it is reasonable to maintain social media presence. Social media are very effective when used as a newsflash for the hottest news and offers. However, keep in mind that overposting can result in decreasing activity on your website due to overexposure.

Conclusion

Doing eCommerce is fun and lucrative affair. It is a segment of business that rarely if ever gets stale. It is like quicksilver or music group The Fall, i.e. always different but kind of always the same. Nevertheless, there is some room for improvement and innovation and opportunities lurk at every corner.