A customer walks into the store, browses through products and shelves, picks
up items, inspects, considers the prices, chooses a product and takes it to the
cash register to pay. Now if you want to sell your products online, then your
site must be enabled for e-commerce, where you must have the following features:
• You need to provide plenty of content and product description like sizes,
dimensions, colors and comparisons with other similar products. It must allow
the customer to choose a product, get a clear pricing and shipping costs on the
product, complete the transaction and get an order number, and/or invoice
confirmation via email. Allow your customer to choose a shipping method.
• You must tell the customer if the item is in stock or delivered against order.
Ideally, you should have an email contact or live help if the customer has a
question. Most importantly you must respond immediately! If you want to provide
your own live chat and help desk services on your website, specialized softwares
are available for purchase.
• Be sure your customer service links are large and clearly marked, so your
client does not have to dig around to find information.
• Provide an ‘about us’ section or a section about your policies. If you have
privacy statements and customer satisfaction policies, your customer will feel
better about shopping in your store.
• You probably want to have customer quotes and references on the storefront
page, as well, to let your prospective client know that others are happy with
your service.
• Provide an FAQ with information about your return-back policies, guarantees,
shipping prices and insurance charges if any.
• If you are so inclined, you can offer a print catalogue if the customer
prefers to order one from your storefront and shop in the privacy of their
homes.
• Do not annoy your customers by presenting products that are marked ‘sold’ or
pages that say ‘under construction’ or ‘coming soon’.
• Do add new content frequently, so your returning customers will not be bored
by seeing the same products they saw four months ago.
• If your site has got a date tag or has current references, be careful to
change these references frequently so you don’t give the perception that nobody
is attending or reading your site.