Jared Carrizales — July 12, 2018 Got an online store? Awesome.
But have you got what shoppers really want in your store? And by this we don’t mean products.
See, it’s simply not enough anymore in 2018 that all you have are products. The customer experience has changed so much, and what shoppers expect to see in your store are things that make their life easier by enhancing their entire shopping experience.
Let’s take a look at the top 6 things shoppers want in online stores (besides products).
1. A Site that’s Easy to Navigate
For you, an eCommerce store owner, it’s imperative that your online store is easy to navigate.
Customers want a seamless shopping experience when they land on your website. They want to know where to go next, they want to know immediately what your store is going to do offer them, and they want a website that’s fast.
If your website is hard to navigate or takes too long to load, your bounce rate will inevitably be high and your conversions will be low.
2. Customer Reviews
Imagine if you entered an online store you’d never heard of before. It looks good but what’s really bothering you and preventing you from making a purchase is the lack of a single customer review. Without even one, you can’t trust this store. So you bail.
Customer reviews are very warmly received. They give your store more credibility, help to build trust and shoppers want to see them.
Don’t know how to secure more reviews? It’s simple – ask. After each purchase, wait a few days and send out an email request for a review.
You can implement this strategy easily by using an ecommerce review plugin such as Yotpo. It will allow you to collect and leverage reviews.
3. Free Shipping
Let’s face it – shoppers love free stuff. I do, you do, and so do all your customers.
RJ Metrics put it best when they wrote “free shipping influences consumer behaviour on a deeply psychological and often irrational level, adding a powerful boost to your average order value.”
Shoppers don’t mind spending more on a product if the shipping is free. It makes more sense to them than spending more on shipping and saving a bit on the product.
Naturally, you shouldn’t add free shipping to every single item that a shopper buys. Amazon offers free shipping on orders that are $ 25 or more of eligible items across any product category, for example.
4. A Blog
So many online stores now have blogs.
One of my favorites is The North Face. Their blog is all about their customers. I love it and I’m sure loads more of their customers do too.
Now, you don’t have to make your blog about your customers. All that matters is that you have a blog. Why? Because a blog represents a great opportunity for you to position yourself as the expert and build a stronger relationship with your customers.
Shoppers turn to blogs for help, advice and information. Blog topics can consist of educational how-to posts, as well as news about your store, product information and more.
A blog can act as the voice of your brand, speaking to customers who want to see that you are active and care about them.
Careful, though; if you use your blog entirely for sales purposes, you may lose customers.
5. A Point of Sale Card Reader
In 2018, shoppers want convenience from an online store, and a Point of Sale (POS) card reader provides just that.
It also benefits you too, because a POS card reader – like this POS card reader from Shopify – lets you sell your products anywhere. All it takes is a simple tap for email receipts, payments and adding products to cart.
With a POS card reader, you can sell both online and offline. This is key because more and more shoppers expect you to have implemented an omnichannel sales experience by now, so that they can browse and order online and pick-up offline.
6. Good Customer Service
Good customer service is high on the list of shopper expectations in 2018, with 33% of Americans saying they’ll switch to another business is your customer service is poor.
If you’ve got a few unhappy customers on your hands who want quick answers, it’s really important that you have a solid customer support network in place. This should include chatbots on your website that are able to rapidly respond to customer queries with satisfactory answers, as well as a social media team that is on hand to respond to customers on your social channels.
Conclusion
In 2018, you need to understand what compels a person to shop in the first place – and why they’d shop with you. Add the above 6 things to your online store and you’ll be well on your way to more eCommerce success.
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