5 ways to improve your eCommerce website

eCommerce websites are all about customer interaction. Of course, the last thing you want is a potential customer finding a reason to hesitate before moving forward with their purchase. If your current eCommerce site allows for the “maybe later” window in the eyes of your clients, chances are it’s time to rethink your strategy and work on improving your conversion rate.

Customers take action when there is a sense of urgency involved, but how do you create urgency without coming across as forceful? Luckily, we’re here to show you how to create a sense of urgency in your potential customer without overwhelming them.

Here’s how to improve your eCommerce website

1- Use Instagram to increase visibility

The use of social media to drive people towards your business should come as no surprise. Marketing experts know a thing or two about the possibilities of these platforms. However, when it comes to running an eCommerce website, you should be focused on one in particular: Instagram. At the time of this article's publication, there are more than 800 million active Instagram users and a large portion of these users are brands. 

There are specific eCommerce features within the platform, allowing users to find their way directly to pages or specific products on your website. This is a surefire way to increase the visibility of your website while growing traffic and sales. It is important that your Instagram practices be streamlined and that you follow a specific marketing strategy.

Make sure you are posting content regularly, including stories and live feeds while also spending time commenting on and following like-minded brands as well as experts in your field. Since Instagram is an image-based platform, you should begin with high-quality images that clearly display your products.

People want to see what they’re getting as well as how it looks in the context of real life. Therefore, having high-quality photos will work to boost conversion rates. There are many aspects to using Instagram, so make sure to take the time to fully understand the platform and then dive right in!

2- Facebook advertisements

As we’re already on the subject of social media, it’s important to talk about how to use advertisements on different platforms to drive traffic towards your eCommerce site. Facebook is useful when it comes to driving visibility as well as sales towards your site. Facebook advertisements are affordable, with a lower cost-per-click than other avenues. Using Facebook ads can help bring in leads. However, as with your Instagram, all interactions on social media should be carefully planned.

If you’re looking for the ins and outs of using Facebook advertising, you should check out our article “All about Facebook Ads: from Prices to Content” There are other forms of social media advertising that you can explore, and this includes Instagram advertising. Generally, if you already have these two platforms linked, the advertisements will work in tandem.

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3-  Great copy

As we move away from social media and focus on the elements of your website, we can begin to talk about the copy itself. The descriptions of your products matter. Use engaging, full and complete information to entice potential customers into staying on your website. Do not use unnecessary or flowery language, hype or otherwise. With every product image, offer two different descriptions. First, make sure to have one that is short and concise with all of the relevant information.

This version should work to capture the attention of the potential customer while offering important information including who the product is for, its purpose and why the customer should own it.

The second version should be longer, and answer every question the customer might have about your product. If customers read through the second version and have doubts about your products, this is where you’ll face problems.

If your eCommerce site contains products that aren’t your own, make sure you still take the time to draft interesting copy. The entire website should maintain a company voice and thus, it would be off-putting to have some descriptions be increasingly technical while others were light and colloquial. As with any copy that appears on your website, consider all major aspects of your brand and make sure that it always relates back to these.

4- eCommerce website SEO

Search engine optimization is key for creating serious visibility on the web and ranking high in search engines. For eCommerce sites, the way to approach this is through backlinks. The backlinks that you include will give your website a domain score out of 100, and this is referred to as your Domain Rank.

It may already be obvious, but your domain rank determines where you end up in Google search engine results. However, SEO involves more than just backlink building.

Your eCommerce website should focus on a few prime keywords that relate directly back to your business, and these should be employed throughout your copy so that search engines and users alike can find your website. There are many other ways to use SEO, so check out our article “Organic referencing: what is SEO?”

5- Competitive giveaways and free shipping

Offering incentives for potential customers to buy products is one of the main ways you can increase urgency when it comes to purchases. Free shipping is one of the best ways to guarantee that a customer follows through with a purchase. Many users consider free shipping a critical aspect as to whether or not they’ll follow through with the purchase.

High shipping costs are a huge deterrent, and one of the reasons why people prefer shopping in person to ordering online. If you have no choice but to charge for shipping, make sure to mention the costs upfront. There is no way to deter a customer from returning more than charging high amounts at checkout.

Additionally, having a section of sales, specials or competitive giveaways is always appealing. If you can’t offer free shipping exclusively, then consider offering it if the customer spends over a certain amount. Include season sales or offers as well as giveaways. Giveaways are an excellent avenue to connect your customers on social media to your website. Offer exclusive incentives from your Facebook or Instagram pages, linking followers directly to the product or services.