Traits of an effective eCommerce Website

A recent research study by Forrester estimates that “online sales will reach $335 billion in 2012” and “E-commerce will account for 6 percent of all retail sales in the United States”. With figures like those we can imagine how fast growing the eCommerce industry has become. As the web grows exponentially, more and more businesses are identifying and embracing the power of ecommerce to reach the global audience. This promising future has resulted in adoption of eCommerce web solutions by organizations. rnAlong with the professional assistance one has to be personally involved in each phase of the website development. Here, we have listed some checkpoints which will help you in making your eCommerce website effective and an asset to your business: • Well defined goalsrnA normal eCommerce website contains thousands of pages and if one adopts standard eCommerce website design practices, it’s going to be an easy implementation. But have you ever noticed that it’s actually less than 100 pages in the website that holds importance. Make sure each of these pages whether it’s a category page, review page, product page or a contact page, should serve their purpose. After all, the visitor lands on your website to fulfill their needs. Implement standard design practices and architecture, so that it’s a comfortable walkover for the users. Design it with the visitor’s perspective; implement hierarchal structure, category menus, search utilities etc. • Effective HomepagernThe homepage is an extension of your business. It acts like a cover page for your website. Though most of the time your internal pages get the sales for the business but one really can’t undermine the importance of a homepage. Your internal page shows a specific search that a visitor is looking for but your homepage consists or connects to every page of the website. Your homepage should be easy to navigate, user friendly, and linked to important pages of the website. So design it carefully; too many products, offers, bestselling products in a haphazard manner can confuse the visitor and will result in high bounce rate. • User friendlyrnKeep it simple is the current mantra. Your website architecture should be designed in a manner that it highlights every detail of the page in a user friendly and simple manner. One should ensure that the features, plug-ins and the technologies used shouldn’t be difficult for the visitor to use or operate. For eg, if a user wants to buy a photobook online, then the website should use a technology which will make it easy for the visitor to create a photobook; this will result in a good user experience and hence will increase the conversion rate. • Connect with UsersrnTrust is an important factor and visitors normally like to deal with those whom they have faith in. Put down information about your company; your stores, contacts, email, representatives etc. An image gallery of your office, stores, and people working in the office, will help. Have FAQ section in your site which covers every possible issue a visitor could experience; it could be regarding tracking shipments, return policy, or even using the website as well. Establish a connection with them with a personal touch. It should make them feel that you are dealing personally with them. • Web AnalyticsrnKeeping a track on the implementation of your eCommerce website is important but monitoring its performance is equally important. It’s actually here where Web Analytic tools come into picture. Web Analytics collect, measures, analyze, and generate report on the strategies adopted by you. The latest discount ad on your website, combo offers, gift coupons; every small move you make, to generate business from your website could be monitored by these tools and eventually helps you to know how well it’s working for the business.rnA well planned and executed strategy along with a good eCommerce Web Development Company can make your eCommerce website successful and an asset to your business. Well it doesn’t ends here, one has to regularly analyze and monitor the website’s performance as well.