Shop optimisation tips for the online shop
6min read
13/01/2020
Banal but true: success is made up of two essential factors: Findability and user-friendliness.
You can have the best-maintained shop presence – if no potential customer comes across your site during his web search, it will remain with a small circle of initiated regular customers. On the other hand, a possibly purchased top positioning in the search results will only bring very short-term success, if at all, if the customers do not feel well advised on your site and do not find the information or the products they are looking for in just a few clicks. So here are some tips for optimising your online shop:
Product information is the trump card
.When the customer visits your site, he is usually already quite well informed. Not only but especially in somewhat higher-priced segments, comparisons are made in advance. Through online research, conversations among friends, and – the retail trade can tell you a thing or two about it – also through consultations in the stationary trade. How many inches should the new flat screen have? How many HDMI connections? What picture resolution? All the information relevant to the purchase decision must be available and presented in a simple and clear manner. If there is no information (or even only supposedly missing information because it is difficult to find!), the customer will continue to search without hesitation – and possibly find what he is looking for at a competitor.
Also on the Return rate detailed product information has a significant influence. If I know exactly about all the features and details in advance, there is less disappointment and fewer returns.
The “must-have” effect:
Testimonials or user reviews, videos and product images help customers and influence them in their buying decision.
Easy access to missing info: The contact
Even if you maintain your web shop and constantly expand it to include all information relevant to the purchase decision: you will not be able to anticipate all questions. Therefore, it is enormously important that the customer can ask you this question. And it doesn’t matter where they are on your site. In a forsa survey, a shocking 25% confirmed that a contact option was not even available or could not be found, or that the preferred contact method was not offered (MARKTWÄCHTER digital world). One, if not better, several options for quick and uncomplicated contact must be clearly visible. In particular, the free phone number and the live chat are well received by customers.Choice? Good. Quality: Better!
Of course it’s nice when the customer has a choice – some prefer contact via chat, others prefer to pick up the phone. But it is even more important than offering several contact channels that the existing channel(s) brings the customer to his goal: a competent statement within the shortest possible time. Few things are more frustrating than a telephone number that nobody answers. Waiting on hold for minutes or the wrong contact person who then forwards you through the company are the number one cause of frustration. unsatisfactory contact.
When giving advice, it is better to concentrate on a route that is then also well and competently staffed at normal industry times.
Learn and improve:
Customers are “pack animals”. What interests one is pretty much certain to be of interest to others. At the latest when a customer enquiry is repeated, you should add the requested information to the product information (see above). Especially with relatively new products, you can quickly reduce the number of enquiries and increase customer satisfaction.
Check-out: Why customers leave their “basket” just before the check-out
This actually seems to be one of the main problems – and at the same time a huge potential for improvement! In a study(Stripe via internetworld.de) of the check-out processes of the 100 largest e-commerce providers in Germany, the e-commerce provider Stripe came to a truly shocking conclusion: only two percent of the providers could score with a completely trouble-free check-out experience. For the rest, there was – or is – a need for improvement in the check-out process. But what was it that “disturbed” most users?
The
vast majority lacked the option to buy as a guest
.Of course you want to learn as much as possible about your customer, not least in order to be able to provide him with the information that is relevant to him. But: customers are sensitive when it comes to handling your data. Even if the customer has spent a considerable amount of time on your shop and a few well-chosen items have ended up in the shopping basket: If you force the customer to create a user account, many will be put off.
The purchase should be possible with a few pieces of information that are actually absolutely relevant for the purchase transaction. An “elegant” solution would be to carry out the purchase with this information until it is completed – and then ask the customer whether they would like to create a customer account. This way you don’t scare away your “one-time buyers” – and customers who have already bought repeatedly on your site will use this option. Because a customer account already makes shopping easier on the second visit, provided that the login is remembered.
Only ask for the information that is absolutely necessary for the purchase transaction and offer the possibility to create a customer account, if possible, only after the purchase.
The desired payment option is not offered.
Terribly annoying: You really lose your customer at the proverbial last hurdle: The selection of the payment method. If you don’t offer the right option, you will not only lose the turnover from the current shopping basket, but the customer will probably not return. After he has already invested a lot of time on your site, this “mistake” will remain particularly annoying in his memory. If you suspect a weak point in your online shop, talk to your customers. Customer preferences differ depending on the sector, but also within regions or countries. Paypal, for example, should always be an option for German online shoppers, while this option does not play such a big role for customers in Austria and Switzerland:
https://business.trustedshops.de/blog/haeufige-fehler-in-online-shops/
What else helps me optimise my online shop?
Customer feedback. Always! Withproduct information, contact channels and the simple check-out process, we have focused on three essential factors that can determine the success or failure of your online shop. Of course, we are particularly interested in how you rate our own performance with regard to these three aspects. Please feel free to leave us a comment!
Of course, there are many other things you can do. A targeted search function and clearly designed category pages, for example, are decisive factors in whether your customer finds the product they are looking for at all.
What else contributes to the optimisation of your online shop: https://www.ecommerce-vision.de/shop-optimierung-15-tipps-fuer-mehr-umsatz/ or https://business.trustedshops.de/blog/haeufige-fehler-in-online-shops/
