You’ll Be Hanging The Closed Sign Over Your Ecommerce Store Without These.

(Akiit.comEcommerce has changed the way business works nowadays. Not only is it a lot more convenient for customers to find what they want, but it’s easier for businesses to set up and profit. Without the costs of more physical space and more staff, profits can instead be directed entirely to providing quality goods. But the site has to be ready for the ride. Without the following three assurances on it, your store isn’t going to stay open all that long.

A path that makes sense

Web design is one of the aspects of interfacing with the customers that makes sense more than anything. If the path of the site isn’t easy to follow, you will lose people. There are often quite a few steps to making a purchase online, but some ecommerce sites get past that by using breadcrumb navigation. It lays out all the steps and shows the customer where in the process they are. When they can see the finish line, they’re more inclined to stay for the ride. But you have to consider the path they might take from outside the website, too. Ecommerce SEO isn’t just about giving the homepage visibility. You should work to make sure that every product you offer has its rightful ranking on search engines and that all links lead to the right landing pages.

Fewer barriers to buying

Advertisements for specific products that lead to a more generic page are just an example of an extra barrier to buying your customer doesn’t need. The more barriers in the process, the more likely a customer is to simply abandon a purchase. The same goes for when they actually want to buy. Using services like PayPal and ecommerce gateway payment processing can open your business up to more forms of payment, keeping things convenient to as many customers as possible. Don’t interrupt their journey with unnecessary pop-ups, as well. You might want them to offer feedback and to subscribe to a newsletter, but keep that until after a purchase is made.

Security above all else

This point is being left till last so that it sticks better in your head. Without security, your site is making zero money. Most people are savvy enough nowadays to know not to click on anything in a site that doesn’t bear the “https” mark in the URL. But failing to protect the purchases and financial details of your customers will also get you into a lot of legal trouble. Not only will you not be making money, you’re likely to be paying out. Focus on security measures like using ecommerce specific web hosts, a secure platform, backing up your data, and checking your site for breaches through ethical hacking.

There’s more that goes into managing an ecommerce store, of course. Marketing. Ensuring quality delivery services. Providing great customer support. These are all part of the success story. But without the qualities mentioned above, you’re not going to get the chance to grow in any of those areas. These are the elements you absolutely must have to succeed.

Staff Writer; Bobby Harris