How to Optimise E-Commerce Websites

According to IBM's Retail Index, the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the move to ecommerce from brick-and-mortar stores by a massive five years. By the end of 2020, ecommerce is expected to have grown by almost 20%. In this edition of the Brickweb blog, we look at some of the ways that you can take advantage of this exponential growth by optimising the online experience for your customers.

Consistently-excellent user experience is a must as consumers develop new online buying habits. The experience should be streamlined effectively, allowing customers to be guided intuitively throughout the whole buying process, whichever device they are using. The checkout experience is especially important: at least 28% of customers will abandon their shopping cart if the checkout process is too long or confusing. Try visiting your own website as if you had never seen it before and imagine that you are a customer. Is YOUR experience satisfactory?

The old saying about a picture being worth a thousand words is especially relevant in the online marketplace. Great product photographs are extremely important and can be the primary factor that sets one seller apart from another. Having such photographs professionally taken is a fantastic investment as they can be used across multiple channels to improve customer engagement, retention and conversion. Professionally-made videos could be said to be even more important: if a picture is worth a thousand words then a video is worth a thousand pictures.

Having a strong social media presence is absolutely essential to ecommerce success. Social media sites are an excellent way to promote your brand as well as offering a less formal way of interacting with your customers than other more traditional methods. In addition, social media followers are more likely to share their experiences online, resulting in further promotional opportunities.

A well thought-out content marketing strategy, including search engine optimisation techniques, helps to drive traffic to your ecommerce website as well as ensuring that your brand stays fresh and up-to-date. Content should be diversified across different channels: news articles, blogs, social posts and more all help to enhance your online presence.

Brickweb can help you achieve all of these goals and many more. We offer a comprehensive suite of services designed and delivered using cutting-edge technology, helping our diverse client portfolio to build their ecommerce brand. Check out our website to discover our services and to request a free website audit.