Customers don’t have time to waste when it comes to online shopping. The average shopper spends only five minutes and 45 seconds on your website, and half click away in under 3 minutes. If you want website visitors to stick around long enough to make a purchase, you need to make the experience fast and seamless. If you want to improve conversion rates and retain more customers, here’s what you need.
A Hassle-Free Website
88 percent of online shoppers won’t return to a website if they had a bad experience. That statistic should be enough to scare any business owner into improving their website, but a lot of companies miss the mark when it comes to what shoppers want from an e-commerce store.
There’s no doubt that fast loading times, mobile-friendliness, and an attractive design are important, but that’s not all consumers care about. If you want your website to really shine, you need great content and promotions (this is how 68 percent of shoppers find your site) and a seamless checkout process.
Because the checkout process is the longest part of online transactions, it’s also where a lot of sales are lost. Eighty-seven percent of shoppers abandon carts when checking out is too time-consuming or complicated, and more than half of consumers that ditch their cart will never return. Keep the checkout process ad-free, make shipping costs transparent, and integrate with digital wallets to streamline checkout.
A Convenient Return Policy
Are you worried that making returns too convenient will hurt your bottom line? Don’t be. You’re more likely to lose customers due to an inconvenient return policy than you are to end up with piles of refunds to process if you make returns easy.
Most customers return 10 percent or less of their purchases. On the other hand, 80 percent of online shoppers will go elsewhere if returning items is difficult. An easy returns policy is also one of the top things that keeps customers coming back.
An ideal return policy offers a 30-day window for free returns. If you’re worried about habitual returners taking advantage of a lenient return policy, Shopify has tips to help you deal.
Responsive Customer Support
A great website, thorough product descriptions, and transparent policies let customers answer most questions on their own. But eventually, shoppers need more support than your website can provide. When that happens, it’s critical that you make their experience memorable (and not in a bad way!).
Outstanding customer support is what separates great e-commerce companies from mediocre ones. In addition, developing a responsive, multi-channel customer support strategy, consider how you can use support to connect with customers, not merely answer their questions. If you think upgrading your customer support isn’t worth it, consider this: seven out of 10 customers are willing to spend more when they know a company delivers excellent customer support.
The e-commerce sphere is more competitive than ever. When shoppers have thousands of online stores to choose from and not a lot of time to spend, it’s imperative that your business stands out. When you upgrade your website’s customer experience, you’re making an investment that will pay you back again and again.
Photo credits: Rawpixel, Coworking London