A customer walks into the store, browses through products and
shelves, picks up items, inspects, considers the prices, chooses a product and
takes it to the cash register to pay. Now if you want to sell your products
online, then your site must be enabled for e-commerce, where you must have the
following features:
- You need to
provide plenty of content and product description like sizes, dimensions,
colors and comparisons with other similar products. It must allow the
customer to choose a product, get a clear pricing and shipping costs on
the product, complete the transaction and get an order number, and/or
invoice confirmation via email. Allow your customer to choose a shipping
method.
- You must tell
the customer if the item is in stock or delivered against order. Ideally,
you should have an email contact or live help if the customer has a question.
Most importantly you must respond immediately! If you want to provide your
own live chat and help desk services on your website, specialized
softwares are available for purchase.
- Be sure your
customer service links are large and clearly marked, so your client does
not have to dig around to find information.
- Provide an
‘about us’ section or a section about your policies. If you have privacy
statements and customer satisfaction policies, your customer will feel
better about shopping in your store.
- You probably
want to have customer quotes and references on the storefront page, as
well, to let your prospective client know that others are happy with your
service.
- Provide an FAQ
with information about your return-back policies, guarantees, shipping
prices and insurance charges if any.
- If you are so
inclined, you can offer a print catalogue if the customer prefers to order
one from your storefront and shop in the privacy of their homes.
- Do not annoy
your customers by presenting products that are marked ‘sold’ or pages that
say ‘under construction’ or ‘coming soon’.
- Do add new
content frequently, so your returning customers will not be bored by seeing
the same products they saw four months ago.
- If your site
has got a date tag or has current references, be careful to change these
references frequently so you don’t give the perception that nobody is
attending or reading your site.
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