When you run an ecommerce store, you can often get caught up in how many people are visiting your site. After all, the more people visiting, the more sales you will make. Right? It seems like common sense. And hopefully, there will be increases in your brand’s saturation overall.
Yes, enticing new visitors to visit your ecommerce site is part of the job. But it is too often that site runners overlook the customers already visiting. To increase sales, your goal should be less about attracting new users and more about keeping current visitors on your website longer. Captivating online shoppers into staying on your website longer makes them more likely to purchase something, and that could be a treasure trove of potential sales waiting to happen.
Here’s how to keep online shoppers on your ecommerce site longer.
Create an On-Site Blog
An easy way to keep shoppers online is to start a blog on your website. Regularly posted written content is an easy way to attract more search engine traffic and keep current shoppers on your site longer.
Blogging is important because you can offer personal insights on your products and different topics that may be important to you and your shoppers. For example, if you sell car accessories online, you can write about road trip essentials. Your first blog post could cover necessary emergency items to always keep in the car.
Of course, this strategy only works if you understand your audience and their interests. Poorly written or uninteresting content won’t do you any good.
On-site blog content is allowed to be advertorial. But to get the most out of blogging for your ecommerce site, you’ll need to balance educational content with advertorial messaging. Too much marketing will, ironically, hurt your sales efforts. Use a subtle touch. It takes practice, but it’s worth it.
Make Recommendations
Another way to get more screen time with your ecommerce shoppers is to put product recommendations on every page.
You can tackle this strategy from a couple of different angles. Many e-sellers promote their most popular merchandise on a rolling banner. Others prefer to apply the same technique, but with customers’ previously viewed items, new product launches, or clearance goodies. The efficacy of your particular stratagem should depend upon your unique customer base. There’s no one-size-fits-all solution here. That being said, it doesn’t hurt to see what your nearest competitors are doing. It could spark an idea you haven’t considered.
Keep Your Site Clean & Tidy
This next pointer is less of an actionable recommendation and more of a warning. A poorly designed website will send shoppers scampering away from your ecommerce website.
Not sure if your website is clean, tidy, and well organized? Ask a friend or family member (who has not used your site before) to perform a few actions on it. Examples might include “find the navigation bar,” “locate the checkout button,” “find our contact page,” or “locate the clearance section.” Each exercise should take less than five seconds.
Online shopping should be fast and easy. If it is, customers are sure to stay on your site longer since they actually enjoy the experience. Conversely, a cumbersome experience will frustrate your buyers out of existence.
While the majority of ecommerce website builders like Shopify offer prefabricated design templates (essentially skeletons for e-sellers to build upon) with all the necessary functions and features shoppers expect, many online sellers decide to make their own sites. This is fine, but it can sometimes result in poor user interfaces. Do a little research to ensure a clean and easy-to-use shopping experience for your web visitors.
Are you ready to keep customers on your site longer? Follow these tips and track your success. Know this is not a one-and-done task, but an on-going process towards a more perfect ecommerce website.
Community manager at Visual Contenting. Jacqueline loves to talk about social media trends, new technology and how they help businesses accelerate their marketing efforts.
