Getting the Most Out of Your Digital Shopping Cart
You've chosen your digital shopping cart, installed it and even have some products entered.
Now you need to focus on maximizing the effectiveness of your online store.
Remember, your shopping cart software does more than just make it easy for people to buy products from you online; it is also a great marketing tool.
Ease of Use The whole idea of using an online shopping cart system is to remove stumbling blocks from your customers' path to purchasing items.
So make sure that your digital shopping cart is simple and easy to use.
Stumbling blocks can include:
Convenient Customer Features Along this line of simplicity and convenience, you might want to include features that help your customers after the sale.
This could include a way to easily access their recorded transactions and track them.
It could also include a follow up autoresponder that helps (and reminds) them to use the product they purchased, thus reducing returns and increasing customer satisfaction.
Security Keeping your shopping cart hack free will earn your business brownie points from your customers.
Keep informed of security issues and innovations that you can implement to keep your customers and your business protected.
Also, make sure that customers are aware of the security your online store provides by displaying this information prominently on your website.
Quick Running One thing that many online merchants forget is the load time of their online stores.
Too many pictures and/or pictures that are too high a resolution can slow down the speed at which your online store shows up in your customer's browser.
So, take a look at your site and see if you can create shortcuts that will speed load time.
Answer Questions If you answer customers' questions proactively, you will not only increase sales but also reduce customer service issues.
Provide as much information up-front as possible.
FAQs should be available and easy to find.
Also, make it easy for customers to contact you if they have questions not answered in your FAQs.
Provide a toll free hotline or other means to contact you.
Your customers might have complaints or suggestions or comments regarding the product, your website or the digital shopping cart.
You need to listen to these things and make improvements whenever necessary.
Getting the most from your shopping cart means customizing those features that would benefit you and your customers most.
Think long term and continue innovating and improving your online store's shopping experience.
Now you need to focus on maximizing the effectiveness of your online store.
Remember, your shopping cart software does more than just make it easy for people to buy products from you online; it is also a great marketing tool.
Ease of Use The whole idea of using an online shopping cart system is to remove stumbling blocks from your customers' path to purchasing items.
So make sure that your digital shopping cart is simple and easy to use.
Stumbling blocks can include:
- Difficulty in finding the desired products - so include a search feature.
- Filling out too many information fields when ordering your products - so keep the information you request to a minimum.
- Too many steps to get to the final purchasing step - so be very careful about how many back-end marketing steps you make your customers go through.
Convenient Customer Features Along this line of simplicity and convenience, you might want to include features that help your customers after the sale.
This could include a way to easily access their recorded transactions and track them.
It could also include a follow up autoresponder that helps (and reminds) them to use the product they purchased, thus reducing returns and increasing customer satisfaction.
Security Keeping your shopping cart hack free will earn your business brownie points from your customers.
Keep informed of security issues and innovations that you can implement to keep your customers and your business protected.
Also, make sure that customers are aware of the security your online store provides by displaying this information prominently on your website.
Quick Running One thing that many online merchants forget is the load time of their online stores.
Too many pictures and/or pictures that are too high a resolution can slow down the speed at which your online store shows up in your customer's browser.
So, take a look at your site and see if you can create shortcuts that will speed load time.
Answer Questions If you answer customers' questions proactively, you will not only increase sales but also reduce customer service issues.
Provide as much information up-front as possible.
FAQs should be available and easy to find.
Also, make it easy for customers to contact you if they have questions not answered in your FAQs.
Provide a toll free hotline or other means to contact you.
Your customers might have complaints or suggestions or comments regarding the product, your website or the digital shopping cart.
You need to listen to these things and make improvements whenever necessary.
Getting the most from your shopping cart means customizing those features that would benefit you and your customers most.
Think long term and continue innovating and improving your online store's shopping experience.
