Last updated on August 20th, 2021 at 10:14 am
Safe and secure online shopping is one of the paramount expectations of customers from a website. If you want your customers to stick to you for their monthly or weekly purchases, you have to give them a reason for that. High shipping rates, unsecured domain and unprotected payment gateways scare customers away like none other. According to a Statista survey, 63% of users abandon the shopping cart when they see high shipping charges, which is just one shopping factor.
There are plenty of others that need consideration which is why we are going over ten tips that can help you create an authentic website for online shopping. So, here you go:
Ten tips for creating a robust online shopping experience on your website
1. Be professional towards website design.
The website design improves the user experience. They are not meant to complicate the website navigation. As a website owner, your aim should be to offer a basic and clean interface that a new internet user can even understand. The basic and less shiny your website looks, the better chances it will have to stand out. Moreover, your colours should be in tandem with your products. For example: if you have a medical website, you must not look to add bright red colours as a person searching for medical equipment might not be in a good state of mind. It may seem straightforward, but there is actually a science behind the process. You can hire an in-house designer or consult a UX design company to take the lead.
2. Get an SSL certificate.
An SSL or Secure Socket Layer certificate will protect yourwebsite from outside threats like MITM attacks. It will protect your customer’s data and keep cyber criminals away from sensitive information by encrypting it. The intended recipient can only decrypt this information. If you have multiple extensions of your primary website, we recommend you go for a wildcard certificate instead of a regular one. Wildcard SSLworks best at protecting subdomains from cyberattacks along with the primary domain to level 1, whereas a regular certificate can only protect your primary domain. So, get a wildcard SSL certificate today and protect your customer base from cyberattacks.
3. Have your Terms and Conditions appropriately defined
T&Cs are the least emphasized part. Website owners generally never pay due attention to them but, they are of paramount importance. When a customer wants to ensure that his credit/debit card and bank details are safe with you, they would want to look at your privacy policy sections. Similarly, customers would like to visit your terms and conditions page for product guarantee, refund, and return policies. Thus, ensure that your terms and conditions are mentioned in an appropriate place and are easily visible.
4. Have a safe payment system
If you have asked customers to sign up for your website, you must ensure their safety till the very end. The wheel of marketing has a spoke of trust and authenticity in it. You may be able to entice a user to buy from your website but, if they lose their trust in you, they are highly unlikely to return, which is why you must ensure that there is a safe payment system in place. Your payment options should be verified, and an authentic certificate authority must protect your checkout page.
5. Highlight your contact information to the users
Contact information testifies that you are a trusted entity and that customers can reach out to you whenever they want. Contact information should have a special place on your website. It should either be mentioned in the footer or the main menu. The whole point is that customers should not have a hard time figuring out your contact information. Moreover, always have a team of professionals at the backend to handle customer queries and questions.
6. Have testimonials in place.
Customer testimonials help the new visitors to get the hang of your website. Positive reviews and ratings will help establish trust among new visitors and give you a competitive edge over your competitors. Humans like to connect with humans, which is why a testimonial will establish a human connection between you and your visitors. They will help new visitors to identify how happy your customers are with you. The best way to get testimonials is by making people write a review and rate your product after purchase. That way, customers will provide an authentic point of view on your products.
7. Social media presence is mandatory.
Social media presence is a factor that goes without saying. If you are not on social media, most people won’t recognize you as an authentic brand in 2021. Social media presence is necessary to boost your marketing game. You can connect with your audience personally, inform them about your day-to-day functions, and make them participate in weekly events. Moreover, you can showcase your testimonials on social media platforms to attract users to your website. Thus, make your presence felt on social media by marketing yourself across all social media channels.
8. Showcase your awards
If you are awarded for your product or service, share it across all social platforms. Awards speak volumes of your hard work and product/service quality and connect you to reputed certificate authorities. Magazines would want to hear your award story and publish your brand on their front page. Moreover, much like testimonials, awards also build trust and authenticity among your customers and make you stand out from your competition. But, don’t fake on social media. People are excellent at identifying whether you are speaking the truth or simply exaggerating your brag. So, be true to your social media customer base.
9. Write blogs to gain traction.
To stand out of the queue, you need to gain engagement. You must keep your visitors up to date with all the latest products and services that you are offering. But, amidst the high level of competition, one cannot gain engagement simply by putting out content. It would be best if you optimized it with appropriate keyword integration along with high-quality images and videos. Moreover, you must add snippets for Google to crawl your content and highlight it in the searches. The blog section will also help your website to rank higher on the search engine results page.
10. Get an impressive “About us” section written.
The About Us section sums up a company’s history, mission and vision in a few lines. It explains how a company started and what it is trying to achieve. However, to make it impressive, you must get it framed by someone who knows your company inside out. The “About Us” section can sometimes be a make-or-break factor in a buying decision. Some customers like to read the “About Us” section before deciding, so it needs to be framed well.
To Conclude
Customers of 2021 have a plethora of eCommerce stores to choose from, which is why they can always leave a site and go to another. As website owners, we have to find ways to attract them. Blogs, social media marketing, search engine marketing are good ways to gain traction. But, the safety and security of your visitors is critical to your success. SSL certificates and firewalls are a great way to keep your site protected. Customers are looking for tips for safe online shopping; you must give them the right reasons to buy from you. These ten tips mentioned above will help you create a robust user experience and make buying decisions easy for your customers. So, follow them and take your online shopping business to the next level.
