One of the biggest benefits of running any business online, but especially eCommerce business, is the increased ability to rely on analytics to see precisely how your business is doing. You can see both your website’s performance stats as well as your earnings a lot more easily, meaning it can be easier to pinpoint when sales are not hitting the marks they should be. But what’s causing it? Here, we’re going to look at some of the most common barriers preventing customers from completing a sale and what you can do about it.
They have trouble getting the help that they need
One mistake that people make when they take their business online is that they start to think that they don’t have to focus on the customer experience anymore. Because they’re not in a physical store, they don’t need as much attention, right? Wrong. Even with the most well-built and simple-to-understand website, you should expect that some customers are going to need help down the line and, if they can’t easily find the means to address their needs, they are simply going to move on elsewhere. As such, you should always make sure that you have some form of customer support and service that is readily available, be it a number they can call or a chat widget built into the site that allows them to ask questions directly.
A quick and clean checkout
One of the biggest problems that online business customers find is that they’re ready to pay for their products, only to suddenly be barred, learning that the store or business doesn’t accept the kind of payment they want. You need to be able to accept payments online, and you have to ensure that you’re able to accept as many payments as your customers are likely to want to pay. Merchant accounts can ensure that you’re able to accept a much wider range of transactions without too much difficulty, widening your customer base considerably.
An understanding of the process
Before they even get to the point that they’re able to click on the checkout button to finalize the sales, however, you have to make sure that your customers don’t get lost along the way. The checkout process for each website can be different, and those that have more steps to them are much more likely to lose customers along the way. Allowing them to sign up to the site so that they don’t have to repeat information with every new purchase can help. You can also add some breadcrumb navigation to the site so that they can see how many steps they have to complete before the purchase is done. When they see the finish line in sight, they’re more likely to stick around until they reach it.
With the tips above, you can ensure that you’re doing your best to remove the barriers that might be in the way of your customers, freeing them up to spend more easily, and netting you some profits in return.
What do you think?