Sales Boosting Features in an Online Store
An interesting study finds that there are 12-24 million eCommerce website development services around the world but less than 1 million of these sites make more than $1000 per year (source: WPForms). So, do these 1 million e-stores have a magic wand that the others lack?
Yes, a solid strategy – that’s what is working wonders for the topmost eCommerce website development services. We have analyzed lots of these sites and created a complete list of the features that help to maximize sales. If you aspire to drive business growth, it’s time to explore these features.
Crucial Features to Boost Sales in Your Ecommerce Store
A Unique Sale
Creating a unique sale and maintaining its consistency is an ideal way to drive traffic and conversions in an e-store. Make sure that the sale is unique to your store. That way, people will relate the sale with the website. As you can imagine, it greatly impacts your brand.
For instance, the Big Billion Days sale has become synonymous with Flipkart, Amazon has its very own Great Indian Festival sale, Nykaa offers Hot Pink sale, and Myntra rolls out End of the Reason sale. Come up with a catchy name and build awareness among your consumers. In fact, you can engage digital marketing services to create campaigns specific to the sale. That way, you can drive a huge surge in traffic during the sale.
Not yet convinced of its efficacy? Let the numbers speak. In 2020, Flipkart delivered 10 million shipments during the Big Billion Days sale. Inspiring, isn’t it?
Countdown Timer & Product Availability
Ecommerce website development services is incomplete without an element that creates a sense of urgency. Many often, the potential consumers procrastinate shopping, especially if it is not an essential item. They may add it to the cart and then delay the checkout. In turn, they may even forget to buy the item once the whim is gone. Therefore, you need to convince them to buy immediately and features that create a sense of urgency will effectively help you to do that.
Countdown timer and product availability display serve the purpose really well. Let us explain.
You can include a countdown timer to show how long a sale or a discounted price is available on a specific product. It will encourage the customers to buy now.
Displaying how many products are left in stock will also encourage the potential shoppers to grab the item as soon as possible. If they see that only 1 or 2 items are left in stock, they may not risk delaying the purchase.
Live Chat Support
Live chat has emerged to be the leading digital contact mode for customers. 46% of the consumers prefer live chat compared to only 29% of people opting for email (source: Super Office). That’s because live chat is instant and the users need not browse different tabs or applications to communicate with the business.
You may disregard the necessity of a live chat in favour of an FAQ page. While the answers to frequently asked questions definitely help people to resolve common queries, it’s not possible to predict all the questions that the potential customer may have. Enters live chat support to address their most specific concerns. No wonder that the professionals at any website development company stress increasing users’ convenience by extending real-time support via live chat.
Free Exchange / Money-Back Guarantee
One of the major inhibitions that customers may feel while shopping online is the fear of receiving an unsuitable or poor-quality product. You can remove that apprehension by offering a free exchange facility or money-back guarantee. It will not only reduce their fear of financial loss but also increase trust in your business.
Remember, brand credibility is crucial in the realm of online shopping. This is especially true for startups. Therefore, devising a clear return/exchange policy and money-back guarantee will keep you a step ahead of the rest. These will inspire confidence among the buyers and encourage them to try your site as they have nothing to lose.
Here is a study to prove our point. Quick Sprout finds that the money-back guarantee enhanced an eCommerce store revenue by 6.4% within 30 days.
Guest Checkout Option
According to a report by Neil Patel, about 22% of shoppers leave an e-store if they have to create an account to purchase an item.
What does it tell you? That you must facilitate a guest checkout option!
This single feature can drastically improve the user-friendliness of your store and improve conversion rate. Let the users quickly checkout without having to create an account. Once their shopping is done, you may show a pop-up window to encourage them to create an account.
Yet another way to cut through the hassles of signing up is one-step sign up with Google or Facebook accounts. Make sure to fetch relevant data from the users’ social media accounts and simplify their purchase process.
Multiple Payment Modes
We cannot stress this enough. The checkout is the backbone of an e-store and multiple payment modes are a must-have in any e-store – no matter how large or small.
Gone are the days when you could expect the customers to be happy with purchasing an item via credit or debit card. These days, they may not want to fill in all the details of debit or credit cards. One-tap payment through UPI apps has become commonplace these days. Especially, the customers accessing the e-store with their smartphones prefer to buy via digital wallets. If possible, offer cash or card on delivery service to enhance the convenience of a wider audience base.
Free Shipping
Here is an interesting fact for you. 24% of consumers are likely to spend more money to qualify for free shipping. On the other hand, 28% of people may abandon the cart if they find an unexpected shipping cost before checking out.
Pay attention to offering a free shipping facility should you want to boost sales in your e-store. And if you offer it, make sure to include it in your campaigns and even on the homepage of your e-store. It sure is a USP that will allure many to shop from your store.
Order Status Tracking
Your website should contain everything that addresses the shoppers’ concern – right from making a purchase to receiving the item. Your site’s relevance doesn’t end at driving a purchase but extends at offering a top-notch post-purchase experience. This, in turn, enhances user experience, trust in your site, and chances of repeat purchases.
Order status tracking is one such feature that your website must offer. The shoppers are excited to receive their items and seek to stay updated with the current location of the item. Let them track their purchase in your e-store before it reaches their doorstep. It will evoke a sense of transparency and you won’t have to entertain lots of calls and emails regarding the order status.
Way Forward
As you could see, these features are something you have come across here and there in different e-stores but may not have paid heed to them. They seem to be minor elements but can drastically improve user experience – the key to boosting sales in any e-store. Implement these features in your eCommerce websites and let us know the changes you have witnessed. If you are not sure how to integrate these into your shop, consider engaging eCommerce website development services from a reputed company.
