Despite some great websites from high street names, many are still failing to cast their net out to the wider online social channels. Well thought out websites are all well and good, but to maximise your return you need to speak to the wider audience. They’re all out there waiting to hear from you but you need to be heard.
The primary focus of your website, despite what you might think, should be your customer. You need to think about how the customer looks for you,what they do within your site and how they checkout. Consider the following steps to maximising your website’s potential.
Navigation, Product Filters and Keyword Searches
So your customer has landed on your homepage. Where next? Whether they’re looking for a specific product or are just generally browsing, your site needs to provide them with obvious paths to find what they’re looking for.
The Menu – Some visitors will navigate your site using the menu – this needs to be well thought out with obvious categories. Ambiguous categories will confuse visitors and they’ll not take much convincing to look elsewhere. Try to keep the number of sub and sub-sub categories to a minimum.
Product Filters – If you provide the visitor with the ability to filter products, make sure you provide clear options to remove individual filters. Click-happy visitors can easily add a filter then didn’t intend to. Make sure it’s just as easy to remove it again.
Keyword Search – Always provide your visitor with the option to perform a keyword search. If they’re looking for a specific product or brand this might be the easiest way to help them find the products.
Product Information and Product Sharing
Your product information page is quite possibly the most important page on your website and it provides you with so many opportunities for search engine optimisation.
Descriptive URL’s – A clear product name is essential and this should be refelected in the URL which will be search engine friendly – e.g. www.yourdomain.com/product-name/ or www.yourdomain.com/category-name/product-name/.
Generally speaking, if you’re planning to put the same product in multiple categories then it’s best from an SEO and duplicate content perspective to opt for the www.yourdomain.com/product-name format.
Product Description – Provide a clear description of the product and highlight those aspects of the product that make it attractive. All the time, think about what the visitor is searching for and make that information accessible.
Product Price – Don’t hide the price. For many people, the price is a primary driver behind their decision to purchase. If this product qualifies for free or reduced delivery then make sure this is clearly displayed for the customer. If they’re left to assume that there is a delivery charge on top of the product price, this could result in a missed opportunity.
Product Images – Provide real product images not illustrations. An illustration is not a true representation of the product and does not instil confidence in the visitor. Products such as clothing will benefit from the ability to zoom into the product to check the finer details – stitching, embroidery, quality. Don’t give the visitor an excuse to look elsewhere for this information especially if your product is widely available.
Making a Decision and Cross Selling – Help your visitor to make other choices. Provide them with real “you might also be interested in…” links. Make sure these are closely related to the item that they’re looking at. If you know about their interests or ethics then make the most of this information and provide them with choices more tailored to them.
Sharing Your Products – You want to make this content to travel need to help your visitor to make this happen. Provide them with “send a hint”, “tell a friend” and “bookmark this page” links. Sharing links to the page with friends and on social bookmarking sites will help increase the number of visitors to your site.
The Shopping Cart – No Hidden Surprises
Once your customer has decided to add a product to their basket, where next? If they have deep pockets they might be interested in adding more. This is where your well thought out navigation will earn its money.
If your customer is seriously thinking about making their purchase then you have to help answer any questions they have at the cart stage. How much will this cost me once VAT, shipping and gift wrap has been added to the order? Make sure your cart clearly displays each of these, together with a price, even if that price is an assumed delivery price. If you need to provide a link to delivery costs, open the information in a window over the existing window, don’t take them elsewhere. Your visitor is easily distracted and at this point you’ve almost conerted them into a customer – stay focussed!
The Checkout – Focus!
They’re onto the home straight now. Remove all distractions and encourage tunnel vision. I would recommend that you focus the visitor on completing their order at this stage rather than distracting them with upsells and offers, no matter how attractive. A checkout requires a lot of input from the customer and takes very little to discourage them.
Don’t put barriers in front of the visitor like having to register before checking out. During the checkout you’ll gather all of the information needed register them at the end. You’re gathering the same data, just wording it in a more friendly manner.
I’ll assume that you’ve put in enough time and effort into testing your website functionality to know that errors in the code or banking integration are not going to create barriers to selling.
Keep an eye on your Google Analytics. If you’ve set up a goal to measure the checkout tunnel make sure it’s not showing any red flags. Goals are a great way to measure exactly what is happening in a process on your site to help you improve the customer experience. Don’t ignore this, use it to improve your conversion rate.
In summary:
- Make it as easy as possible for your visitors to find what they’re looking for
- Provide them with enough information and images to prevent them looking elsewhere
- Make the checkout process as simple and transparent as possible
Following these simple steps will go a long way to towards converting your visitors into customers and most importantly, realising your return on your investment.
As simple as this can sound, it’s not always easy to put into practice. At Mancala, this is our bread and butter. If you have a question about this or would like our help just pick up the phone or drop us an email.
Steve is Mancala's Operations Manager and also our ecommerce and CMS expert. Steve has extensive experience managing and running ecommerce stores and this wealth of knowledge is passed on to Mancala's clients to ensure that their online store is the best it can be. 
The global crisis has affected the internet worl in the positive way, since people are turning online to make money. But what you just shared is very true, by giving quality content you can help boost business either in the downtimes or vice versa.
Great post!