This article examines the characteristics of a successful eshop and the main points that one should pay attention to in order to build an eshop that brings sales.
If we could fit in one article all the points that one should pay attention to in order to create a successful eshop, or list would contain neither more nor less about the 300 or so points (which we at least include when building an eshop) which, indirectly or directly contribute to its success.
But what does “successful eshop” mean?
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What does “successful eshop” mean?
A successful e-shop
- It grabs the visitor’s interest from the first page
- Facilitates the visitor in the search for products
- It gives all the information the visitor needs to evaluate the products
- It uses mechanisms that make the visitor increase the volume of his purchases
- It makes the visitor feel safe to make purchases, converting them from a visitor to a customer
- It makes the purchase process easy and fast
- It has mechanisms and incentivizes the visitor to leave their details even if they do not make purchases
- It gives impeccable service before and after the sale
How do we achieve all this? Well, with the … 300 points that we have to pay attention to.
But since I’m sure that even if I gave you 300 points, it would be difficult for you to read them and even more difficult for you to retain them, let’s look at the most basic of them.
Gain interest
To gain the visitor’s interest, your eshop should
Have something for everyone
To gain the visitor’s interest, your eshop should be made for all kinds of visitors.
Not all visitors to an eshop are looking for the same things. An eshop visitor can be a past visitor, a bargain hunter or a picky customer.
The old visitor needs to find new products and browsing history. For the discount hunter to see a discount on some products or a points mechanism that he can redeem and for the selective customer to find best sellers or limited editions, so we should integrate all of these into our content.
To be Mobile first
Not just mobile friendly but mobile first, i.e. it should be built in such a way as to primarily facilitate visitors who will visit it via a mobile device. Why; But why about 80% of visitors to all sites visit them from their mobile phone and 40-60% buy from their mobile phone.
Be quick
Fast: 3” or faster is perfect, up to 5” good and up to 7” marginally acceptable.
To have fantastic photos and more
If there was one parameter (beyond technical perfection) that we should emphasize, it is visuals in general and photographs in particular. Why; But because the eye sees, imagines, dreams and “buys” before the mind.
And how many photos should I put?
If you sell sunscreen, one photo is probably enough, but if you sell shoes, you should have 3-5 photos to cover the product from every possible angle.
The photography is divided into two parts, in the product photography, the photo you will see on the product page, that is, and in the marketing photography, the photos that someone will see before reaching the product page, which will create “atmosphere” and open the visitor’s appetite to buy the product.
If you want to go the extra step, you can also have a mini video of 4-5 seconds so that the customer can visualize how the product will look on him/her.
Another extra step is the virtual try-on. Do you sell lip gloss? Give the customer the opportunity to see what it will look like wearing the particular color with a virtual try-on mechanism.
Make it easier for the visitor to search for products
To make it easier for the visitor to search for products, your eshop must have smart mechanisms.
Let’s look at some examples
Smart filters: If we sell shoes, show the colors or sizes that are out of stock so that no one is looking for their size.
Smart search: you start typing something and it automatically gives you the results (like Google in search)
Browsing history: the visitor enters the eshop and what could be nicer and more effective than being able to see the products he had seen on his previous visit. Why; Because he’s interested in them, so you make it easier for him to buy them.
Inspire confidence
It is very important that your eshop inspires trust. What does this mean and how do we achieve it? With simple and not so simple moves:
- It should not have errors
- It should not have misspellings
- It should not have pages that do not load
- It should have customer reviews
- It should mention the history of the company
- It should have clear contact details
- It should have details of cooperating entities (banks, credit card operators, ..)
- And if there is a physical presence, emphasize it, it is another advantage
Make it easy for them to buy
I “hear” you already wondering: “well, there are eshops that make shopping difficult”?
You will find the answer if you do a simple “market research” among your acquaintances. If you have not found yourself in an eshop that has such a complicated shopping cart mechanism that discourages (!!!) shopping, you are in luck.
Of course, it makes no sense to talk about one page checkout because it is now self-evident, since the majority of visits and a large part of the purchases will be made from mobile devices, so the ordering process should be done on one page.
Also, no matter how unnecessary it may seem to you, explain the order-execution process, the charges, the product/money return policy and DO NOT ask the customer for too much or irrelevant information.
All of these will make your visitor feel comfortable shopping.
And we come to the mechanisms that prompt the purchases:
Sense of urgency: You will surely have come across at least one of the following techniques: you enter well-known room rental platforms and see that at the moment the specific accommodation or the specific room is being viewed by five others. Or you see, in product eshops, that there is not much availability, 1, 2, or 3 pieces are left. Or a message comes out that says if you give me your order within the next ΄x΄ minutes the delivery will be made within the next day.
All of these techniques want to create a sense of urgency so that, if the visitor thinks about it somehow, they will make the purchase move immediately.
Out of stock notifications. If someone really wants something but it’s out of stock? Here is the notification mechanism: the visitor gives (without leaving the product page) his details and receives a notification when the product is available again.
Up-selling and cross-selling mechanisms: these are the well-known ones that Amazon taught us many years ago. “those who bought this product also got these” or “put another 20 euros in your cart and you will have free shipping”.
Possibility of re-ordering: once a month I order litter and food for my cat. I enter a certain e-shop, I find the oldest order in the order history and I can re-order with just one click!
Reviews: they are EXTREMELY important because they eliminate potential misgivings the customer may have. I remember, when I bought a camera for quite a deep sea 40-50 meters, I bought it from a site that had reviews of people who did diving, and it was more expensive.
… and to buy again
To make your customers come back you should give them incentives for repeated visits and purchases such as discounts, offers, loyalty programs or even some free services or more generally added value content through newsletters, social media posts and advertising.
The most important “ingredient”
I left for the end the most important component for the success of the eshop, which is not directly related to the construction of the eshop.
The success of the e-shop begins with the choices made by the owner of the e-shop before even building it.
For an eshop to be successful, a proper marketing plan must first be made, which means market research to find the market segment to which we will address (because it is profitable, because it does not have strong competition, because there we will have a comparative advantage, .. ), choosing / creating the products we will sell, building our brand to be different from the competition, and pricing policy and practices we will implement.
AFTER we have done all of the above, we build our eshop (distribution channel) in such a way that it emphasizes and strengthens our brand and, of course, we advertise.
Does our eshop have enough range and depth of products? does it have unique products? is it competitively priced? or if he doesn’t want to have competitive prices because he sells luxury, has he built his image so that he can sell at high prices?
All these questions and decisions will be answered with the creation of the marketing plan that must be done so that your eshop has a solid foundation for success.
