Happy April Fools’ Day! At Unity Payments, we understand that it is customary to try and pull your leg today. Coming up with a prank can be more than just a fun idea – it can be a great way to promote your business. However, we figured it might make sense to go a little against the grain here. And that’s because e-commerce is no joke!
The popularity of online shopping is seemingly growing by the second. If you are a small business owner, you should pay attention to these three simple e-commerce tips:
1. Make your homepage photo-heavy.
People are attracted to visuals. This is why social media platforms like Instagram are so popular. Invest in a professional photo shoot so that each and every image of your products is of the highest quality. You want to go vivid and vibrant in order to both capture and hold on to the attention of your online store’s visitors. As Nikolett Lorincz proclaims on OptiMonk.com, humans are visual creatures.
“In fact, we process visuals 60,000 times faster than text,” she reveals, “Take advantage of this by filling your landing page with visual content. And luckily, this is one of the easiest ecommerce tips to follow. Just go ahead and add more pictures to your site.”
2. Get customer feedback on your store.
Encourage your customers to let you know what they think about your store. There is nowhere better than the proverbial horse’s mouth to get your information from. Do they find it user friendly? Is the site easy to navigate on a mobile device? Can people find the products they’re looking for with ease? Is the checkout process a quick and simple one? Getting these answers from actual customers who have used your online shop is an ideal way to better it.
“When you launch your new store, it’s important to get feedback on it,” insists Nicole Martins Ferreira on Oberlo.ca, “The biggest mistake I see entrepreneurs making with this is that they seek feedback from other entrepreneurs in public communities…While an entrepreneur can give you great insight, you don’t want to rely on feedback from people who might actually be competing with you.”
3. Implement a live chat feature.
Your online store’s ability to provide top-notch customer service will help to set it apart from others. In many cases, this will have to be done via artificial intelligence. After all, you’re not likely to be awake during a customer’s 3:00 a.m. shopping spree. As Lorincz points out, adding a live chat feature to your website can make one of the most significant improvements to the shopping experience.
She offers up the following stats to prove it: “77% of customers won’t make a purchase if there’s no live chat support. 73% of customers find live chat to be the most satisfying way of communicating with a business. 63% of consumers are more likely to return to a website that offers live chat.”
Do you need help improving your online store?
Syncing your payment processing with your online shopping cart is now easier than ever with Unity Payments’ e-commerce payment solutions. We provide a direct connection to our powerful and reliable processing network, which can help eliminate the costs and complexities of dealing with a third-party gateway provider. Please don’t hesitate to call us at 1-800-661-3761 or email us at info@unitypayments.ca to learn more.
