Class Up Your Online Store With These Expert Tips

Having an online store can be a great way to generate money without having the expenses and frustrations of a brick and mortar store. But if you have an online store, you know that you’re competing with other online stores as well as brick and mortar stores.

If you want to increase business, you will want to make your online store as attractive as possible. This way, consumers will have a great experience, and they’ll be willing to share this great experience with others. In order to generate business, class up your online store with these expert tips.

1. Use a clean design.

Your customers are going to decide within the first 30 seconds whether or not they want to stay on your site and make a purchase. It’s very important that you use a clean and attractive design when creating your site. Make sure the colors are easy on the eyes, and make sure that the font is large enough for your audience to read. You also want to make sure that the navigation is easy to locate and easy to follow so that your audience can direct themselves around your site with ease.

2. Provide a search function.

Make sure that your website has a search field so your customers don’t have to travel through hundreds of products in order to find what they want. A search field should allow your customer to search by name or product number, so make sure you spend the extra money on ensuring this functionality is intact and working properly.

3. Write good product descriptions.

Every product you sell on your site should have it’s own web page. You also need to make sure that every product has its own description and that the description is complete. Think of everything your audience would want to know about this product and make sure this information is found in the description. If you don’t provide enough detail, your customers will turn elsewhere.

4. Provide quality photos of your products.

Along with a great description, you also need to provide quality photos of your products. Learn tips for taking great photos yourself, or opt to hire a professional to take them. If your customer can get a real sense for the style, size and quality of the product through your image, it will be a great thing for your business.

5. Make the checkout process easy.

Nobody wants to jump through hoops in order to buy an item online, so make this process as easy for your customer as you possibly can. Allow them to easily add items to their shopping cart and return to shopping without having to travel back through all the pages. Allow them to make edits to their final shopping cart before making a purchase, and give them the option of creating an account or saving their information so that they don’t have to re-do this process if they buy from you again.

If you know that you have international shoppers, make sure that you include an automatic conversion chart. This way, your customers will not have to guess or do their own math in order to determine what they owe.

6. Offer a generous return policy.

There may come a time when a customer is displeased with their purchase and would like to return it. By offering a generous return policy, you will create a happy customer even if they didn’t like the product. Because your return policy was so nice or so smooth, it may encourage your customer to buy from you again, and this is the ultimate goal.

7. Have great customer service.

If you truly want to outshine the competition, you need to have great customer service. Consider providing your customer service 24 hours a day, and provide them on both the phone and the web. This way, no matter when your customers decide to call, someone will be there to assist them.

You should also consider creating a strong social media management team to be there to address any inquiries or incidents that arise on your social channels. This will certainly help your company stand out.

Guest Author: Lizzie Lau is a freelance writer and online marketing consultant with SEOMap.com. Lizzie combines personal opinions and research to create appealing and informative articles on various topics.