As the owner of an online business, you know that customers are fickle. It only takes one bad experience for those shoppers to take their money elsewhere. When you sell products to consumers, you know that you need to get them their items quickly and offer some type of protection for their confidential information. Even if you think that your site meets the needs of all your customers and that you don’t need to make any changes, you might think differently after looking at the four things that every online business really needs.
Mobile Site
If you have just one version of your website, you may find that you miss out on a lot of sales. Many customers today use their smartphones and tablets when shopping online, and traditional websites look significantly different on those devices. The images have a compressed look, it’s harder to navigate the site and everything just looks strange. Creating a mobile version of your site lets those shopping on smaller devices get a clear view of everything you have for sale and place their orders faster and easier.
Virtual Shopping Carts
You probably already have a virtual shopping cart system on your site, but is it really the best option for the needs of your customer base? The best online shopping carts offer secure payment processing that keeps the information of your customers secure. Big companies like Target and Walmart lost sales after security breaches lead to the leaking of customer data. While those companies recovered, could your smaller business do the same? Virtual shopping carts should also let customers easily add or remove items from their carts, change the number of items they purchased and check out in seconds.
Customer Support
Many website owners make the mistake of launching without any type of customer support. Others require that customers call and speak with a representative, but customers can only call during certain hours of the day. Your website should include some form of customer support. Offering an email chat is a great idea. Your customers can log in and chat online with a representative from your company to get all the information they need. Most online companies do well with a customer service form as well. This form lets customers explain the problems they had and include an email address or phone number that lets a representative contact them later.
Local and Search Engine Ranking
When creating a website, pay attention to your local ranking and search engine ranking too. The further down you are in the search engine results, the less people will find your site, which means you’ll make less money. Using simple keywords and phrases is a good way to increase your ranking. Consider working with a professional web developer or search engine optimization experts to add natural keywords to your site. Using these simple methods can help boost your sales and create a better website for your customers.