We all love to shop, and with the rise of internet shopping, we can indulge any time of the day and from anywhere. Before the Internet, domestic or commercial consumers were limited by geography, closing times, and store choices. Our shopping takes us beyond borders and across all markets, but sometimes, our internet shopping experiences can leave a sour taste in our mouths.
There are so many online stores that competition is fierce for a slice of the pie, so often, the customer’s user experience is the deciding factor for whether they buy from a site. Here are five things that customers want from e-commerce businesses.
Account Management
Customers primarily want to be able to control their accounts and access their details 24/7. They want to have their order history for their internal accounting systems and be able to track any outstanding live orders. You need to allow your customers to create product lists so that reordering is a simple process.
Website Security
Customers are vulnerable to their payment and personal information being abused by shopping online. Your customers must have faith that their transactions are processed safely and securely. Ensure that you have suitable waap security protocols in place to reassure your customers that their data and information will remain secure. This is especially relevant if your business collects personal data or processes monetary transactions. A cyber security service can help you ensure all site vulnerabilities are handled. Having a secure site will improve your rankings on search engines, so you must take all necessary steps to make your business website safe. For example, use secured payment gateways and SSL certificates as a minimum.
Fast Load Times
You can have the most well-designed website that displays your products and powerfully promotes your brand, but you’ll lose customers if your site takes too long to load. Your homepage needs to be fully loaded within a few seconds, and everything from the code up needs to be geared toward helping your site achieve this. Think too about how people access websites; your site needs to be mobile device friendly and be able to load up when people may have less than an ideal internet connection.
Product Descriptions and Images
One of the downsides of buying things online is that the item you receive often isn’t quite like the one you purchased. You need to ensure that your product descriptions are accurate and provide people with correct information. Can the garments be machine-washed? Is the product compliant with regulations? Use good quality images to support your product description, and if possible, have a zoom function to allow inspection of critical features.
Stock
Your site needs to have the capacity for real-time stock levels. One of the reasons shoppers use online stores is for convenience. If you can only provide a part of an order or not be able to honor it at all, your customers will be annoyed, and your reputation may be damaged. You need to use real-time data management technology to give your customers the best experience.
