A
customer walks into the store, browses through products and shelves, picks up
items, inspects, considers the prices, chooses a product and takes it to the
cash register to pay. Now if you want to sell your products online, then your
site must be enabled for e-commerce, where you must have the following features:
- You need to provide plenty of
content and product description like sizes, dimensions, colors and
comparisons with other similar products. It must allow the customer to choose
a product, get a clear pricing and shipping costs on the product, complete
the transaction and get an order number, and/or invoice confirmation via
email. Allow your customer to choose a shipping method.
- You must tell the customer if the
item is in stock or delivered against order. Ideally, you should have an
email contact or live help if the customer has a question. Most
importantly you must respond immediately! If you want to provide your own
live chat and help desk services on your website, specialized software are
available for purchase.
- Be sure your customer service
links are large and clearly marked, so your client does not have to dig
around to find information.
- Provide an ‘about us’ section or
a section about your policies. If you have privacy statements and customer
satisfaction policies, your customer will feel better about shopping in
your store.
- You probably want to have
customer quotes and references on the storefront page, as well, to let
your prospective client know that others are happy with your service.
- Provide an FAQ with information
about your return-back policies, guarantees, shipping prices and insurance
charges if any.
- If you are so inclined, you can
offer a print catalogue if the customer prefers to order one from your
storefront and shop in the privacy of their homes.
- Do not annoy your customers by
presenting products that are marked ‘sold’ or pages that say ‘under
construction’ or ‘coming soon’.
- Do add new content frequently, so
your returning customers will not be bored by seeing the same products
they saw four months ago.
- If your site has got a date tag
or has current references, be careful to change these references
frequently so you don’t give the perception that nobody is attending or
reading your site.
To
your continued success.
Visit our Lifestyle Page
