10 Features Every Ecommerce Website Must Have For High Conversions

How do the most successful ecommerce websites manage to generate consistently high revenue month after month? Most of the time, it’s because they’ve mastered the fundamentals – a great user experience, genuine value, building trust among their customer base. As an ecommerce business, if you fail to supply the fundamental features that users expect from an online store, you’ll find it difficult to scale. In this post, we address the 10 key features every ecommerce website needs to have for a high conversion rate.

High quality images and videos

One photo accompanied by one or two key details doesn’t cut it anymore. Online shoppers expect to see multiple product photos from a range of angles, as well as lifestyle imagery that helps them to picture the product in context. They want to zoom in and look closer.

Therefore, high quality imagery – and lots of it – is essential. But you also want to ensure that your image file sizes are small, so they don’t take forever to load. This will have the opposite effect to the one intended. Remember that when it comes to making the sale, images do the heavy lifting, so invest in a photographer with the skills to make your products shine – and remember to save them at 72dpi for web.

Convenient product navigation

The next key feature for high ecommerce conversions is convenient product navigation. If your visitors can’t find what they’re looking for quickly and easily, they will leave and shop with one of your competitors.

What you’re aiming for is categories that are intuitive, meaning the user barely has to think about where to look – it should be obvious. Navigating the site should become second nature. If you’re unsure of what this looks like, head to Amazon. Its use of vertical product navigation means each page is packed with relevant product links, without feeling stuffed or cluttered.

A compelling call to action

Your CTA is, unsurprisingly, what drives visitors to take action on your website. It could be buying a product, signing up to a newsletter, or clicking through to another page. Make sure that your CTA is prominent and utterly unambiguous if you want to drive conversions and keep customers coming back.

Remember, it’s all in the ‘why’. Explain to the user why they should click. Naturally, you will adapt the message of the CTA to address your own offering, but generic CTAs might include phrases like ‘Buy Now’ or ‘Send Request’.

Mobile responsiveness

Google stated in the past that all websites should be mobile-friendly by 2017. Now, those that aren’t are suffering the consequences when it comes to SEO. With around one third of online purchases made on smartphones, now is the time to ensure you have a responsive website, if you don’t have one already. Responsive means your content adapts automatically to whatever screen it’s being viewed on, but still a number of ecommerce websites have yet to make the switch.

A powerful search function

The most successful ecommerce websites have an easy to locate search box where users can find what they’re looking for. People are generally impatient, so finding what they need quickly can determine whether you make the sale or not.

Once again, we can look to Amazon as an example of an ecommerce search function done right. When you search for something on Amazon, most of the time you’ll find exactly what you typed in, along with a range of related alternatives. Help your customers find what they need quickly if you want to have a better chance of converting them. You can also check the new smart search tab on your ecomz admin site which can be a useful portal for every corner of the platform.

Customer service chatbots

Want to offer speedy and unparalleled customer service? You can achieve this with chatbots. The whole process is automated, allowing customers to buy products through chatbot software that’s integrated with your website. What’s more, they can get answers to their questions right away, and these swift responses can do wonders for your conversion rate. Search engines have led us to expect immediate answers when we’re surfing the internet, and a chatbot is the closest way to emulate this.

Personalization

Imagine being able to create a unique and tailored experience for every customer who visits your online store. With a service customized to their individual tastes, you have a much better chance of nudging them towards making a purchase. For ecommerce businesses, personalization is key – it’s no longer a luxury, but a prerequisite to being competitive. Personalization can be applied for all sorts of things, ranging from database segmentation and targeted emailing (in light of GDPR, get the basics right to avoid issues) to navigational and predictive customization. Find out more here.

User reviews

Did you know that a product’s star rating is often the number one factor used by shoppers to determine whether they will make a purchase? Sellers are often put off by the fear of getting negative reviews, but even bad reviews can be turned around if dealt with in the right way. In fact, websites that openly censor any feedback that’s less than glowing automatically lose credibility in shoppers’ eyes, who may assume that the remaining reviews are false.

Implementing a customer review system is fairly straightforward – it depends on what system you’re using. Most content management systems will enable you to install an app or plugin to integrate popular review platforms like Trustpilot and Yelp.

Customer-focused content

It should go without saying (though often still needs saying) that the content on your website should be focused on your visitors, providing them with all the information needed to decide if your product is what they’re looking for, without being pushy of course! Focus on how your products will improve customers’ lives, rather than talking solely about technical specs.

Unique, quality content is all part of creating a good experience for your visitors, which in turn means they’ll spend more time on your website and become more likely to buy something. In short, make sure you form a customer-centric business. Learn more about writing customer-focused content that converts here.

Trust and security indicators

We’ve seen a number of data breaches online over the last few years. Therefore, in 2018 it’s super important to reassure your customers that their personal details will be secure. If you don’t have an SSL certificate already – a form that ensures all sensitive data is protected and encrypted – this should be your first step. You can purchase an SSL certificate for your website directly from ecomz, all you have to do is contact support.

This, alongside the aforementioned customer reviews, plus clear privacy and return policies, will also help to build trust and make your visitors feel more comfortable shopping with you.

Hopefully this checklist has given you some ideas on how you can start optimizing your website for higher conversions today. Get through them all, and you’ll soon start to notice higher sales and better overall site performance. Comment below with your questions!

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