5 tips that you must apply and keep in mind for your eCommerce business

Regardless of the size of your online store or the products you sell, there are certain things that should always be taken into account when managing an eCommerce. In this article, we have summarized five tips that you must apply and keep in mind for your business to be successful.

Tips for running your eCommerce business

1. Keep it simple

Navigation in your online store must be intuitive and simple. If the navigation is too complicated or the purchase process consists of many steps, there is a good chance that the customer will tire and abandon the purchase process. The web elements must be clear at all times, and the menu must be accessible at any time. It would be recommended that the categories be visible either in a drop-down menu in the main menu or in a vertical menu on the left or right of the page.

The price of the product and the shipping costs must appear clearly. It is not pleasant for the user to be buying something and that right at the end of the purchase process, an extra is added, such as shipping costs. Make a comparison of the eCommerce platforms that exist and study the conditions of the competition.

The return policy and a contact telephone number should also be visible if there is a problem with the order. The usual place for this type of legal text is usually in the footer. It is essential to establish the KPIs that will determine the success or failure of your eCommerce and review them periodically.

2. A picture is worth a thousand words

Customers don’t read. They scan, so use images for your products and easy-to-read text. How do we measure if a text is easy to read? Some usability studies suggest using the following metrics as a guide:

• Titles must be eight words or less, with an additional line of between 9 and 12 words.
• For the following content, use sentences between 15 and 20 words, summaries under 30 words, and paragraphs generally between 40 and 70 words.
• The objective is that your text appears divided into small blocks, easily scannable by the user, and thus clearly identifies any product and, in a few seconds, its title, summary and additional information.

Your product file should be as striking and organized as possible. It is really the most important part of your e-commerce because it will ultimately generate sales. Try to use a clean structure paying attention to where you place things like the images of the product, product logo, or short description, following the guidelines mentioned above in these texts.

If you want a step further in terms of creativity, use video instead of an image. You can create videos to use in your ads simply by using your mobile phone and if you want to go one step further, you can use a professional video editing tool.

3. Think like a customer

If products and services are easy to find in your online store, you will get customers to buy more and their user experience will be better, so you increase the chances that they will buy again in the future. To achieve this, use the following strategies:

• Put your products in more than one category. This way, they will be easier to locate.
• Use cross-selling by offering products that make logical sense together.
• If you sell clothes and accessories in your store, show the recommended accessories for each item of clothing; In this way, you will increase the chances that the user will buy three products and not just one.
• If your product line has a wide range of prices, show the progression from cheapest to most expensive. Some customers will buy the higher-priced products if you present them as options.

4. Invest in marketing

It is not enough to create a website or online store, and you have to market it and promote it to new and existing customers. Your website or online store must have some mechanism to collect the email addresses of users who visit it. Through email, you can keep in touch, offer them the news, exclusive offers, discounts, etc.

For this, you will have to consider creating a newsletter. The newsletter is a very important aspect of your e-Commerce because you can attract a large number of regular users. There are many email marketing platforms to create and manage these newsletters; Try several and decide which one works best for you.

Another option to consider is to create advertising campaigns such as those offered by some services such as Google Adwords or Facebook Ads. Facebook Ads has evolved a lot and today, there are many spaces on the platform to display ads, from Sponsored Stories to the feed, through the right sidebar, or in the middle of articles and videos that users are consuming.

You will also have to worry about the SEO of your online store, periodically publish interesting content through your blog, and also use the different social networks as complimentary marketing tools.

To improve the traffic of your e-commerce, the content of your blog must be of quality. You will have to investigate what your competition publishes or study what type of public you are targeting your content towards. Once you have the necessary information, you should start creating quality content and create your own network of followers, which added to the perseverance and being active will help you on the road to the success of your eCommerce.

Also, do not rule out selling on other platforms such as Amazon or Aliexpress, especially if you are starting out and your online store is unknown and nobody knows your products or how to find them.

5. Offer various forms of payment

Not all users pay the same way, so it is advisable to offer a wide range of possibilities, as this is a crucial point. There are people, for example, who hate giving their data on shopping websites, so they choose to pay with services like Paypal, and if they come to your website and this option is not available, they will probably look for another place that does accept it.

The main ones are two: PayPal and virtual POS.

• PayPal: It will be ready in a matter of minutes, but the commissions for each sale are approximately 3%.
• Virtual POS: You will have to talk to the bank. Processing can take up to a couple of months. However, the commissions can be 1% and you can even negotiate it.

Another common payment methods are bank transfer, in which you will have to provide your account details so that the client can deposit the money.

Another option, although increasingly obsolete, would be the classic cash on delivery payment, in which the customer pays the Carrier in person once the package has been received, and then the Carrier must deliver the money. The ideal, as in many other aspects, is not to put all the eggs in the same basket and offer the greatest number of options.

Conclusion

When it comes to tips for running your ecommerce business, the most important one: stop delaying the launch of your ecommerce business. Now follow up the mentioned tips and believe in yourself. So stop reading this article and get back to work.