Key’s to Successful eCommerce
eCommerce is a strategy, not just a website that takes credit cards. Success in eCommerce is based on many factors and being knowledgeable can make all the difference between success and failure.
The Perfect eCommerce Website
In a perfect world, every person looking for your product (or service) would visit your website. You would have a 100% click to purchase ratio. Although it’s not realistic, you can break down this ultimate objective into its parts and begin to recognize what is required for a successful eCommerce strategy.
There are two primary eCommerce objectives. If you are successful in both, your website will be successful.
- Targeted Website Traffic
- Click to Purchase Ratio
Click to Purchase Ratio
This refers to the percentage of sales as compared to the number of website visitors. Although you won’t have control over some of the factors e.g., the nature of the product being sold, you do have control over some.
The first step is to have a website that is targeted to your client base. Your demographic market needs to immediately identify with your website’s design. It should inspire confidence and look professional; after all, it is the online representation of your business. This emotional opinion will be formed within the first few seconds of their visit to your website. If they don’t feel it, they will move on. Therefore, this is the single most important factor affecting your click to purchase ratio.
Once they are on your website, ease of use is the key. Users should be able to navigate effortlessly through the site and quickly find desired products. After a product (or multiple products) has been chosen, the purchase process should be short and simple.
During the design phase of your project, these factors can be controlled through the creation of a “mock application” prior to programming. A mock application is a visual representation of the website, without any of the database functionality (such as the shopping cart or a wish list). This will allow you to review the flow of the website at an early stage, before a programmer has been assigned. In this way you can mitigate the possibility of a confusing user interface.
Once your website has been built, be prepared to modify it and test various versions. Simple things such as changing out a home page image or featuring specific products can make a drastic difference in your click to purchase ratio. In this way you can continually test and increase the ratio over time.
Targeted Website Traffic
The key word here is "targeted". If you sell airplane parts online, it does you no good to have a ton of visitors coming to your site looking for printer cartridges.
Targeted traffic can be sent to your website through any variety of ways e.g., search engine promotion, TV, direct mail, email campaigns, radio, print, word of mouth and the list goes on. The key is to pinpoint your target market and spend the highest percentage of your advertising dollar on the actual client.
In the online world, the most effective way to send highly targeted traffic to a website is through pay-per-click promotion. This is the process of purchasing specific keywords and paying for their placement on search engines on a per click basis. Even though it is the most efficient way to send targeted traffic to your website, it can also be costly. However, with good management it is almost always beneficial.
If you are successful at driving target users to your website and you have a high click to purchase ratio, you will achieve online eCommerce success.
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