Five things you can do to turn browsers into buyers – eCommerce

Conduct an online survey to get feedback from your customers,or ask someone who isn’t familiar with your site to browse  or buy while you watch. This can help you identify areas  where customers might be having problems.

 2. Simple design and easy-to-read copy

• The design  and content of your website should  quickly communicate what it’s all about. A professionally designed and well-organised site will help convey  to customers the quality of your products or services. Some  things to consider are:
• Consistency. Help users navigate by using a consistent design  throughout the site.
• Make it easy to read.  Use a light background as dark colours can obscure text. Don’t be tempted to try unusual fonts as they can often look out of place.
• Be engaging. Keep your content brief, to the point and easy to read.  Where online reading is concerned, people tend to scan  headlines and copy, so avoid large chunks of text.

3. Intuitive navigation

Create  a navigation  menu that groups  your products or services in a structured, logical way. A general rule is to try and make every page  on your site no more than 2 clicks away. Alongside  the main navigation, a breadcrumb trail is a great way of providing a way to get back to previously viewed pages on your site.

4. Helpful search tool

Make it easy to find products on your site by adding  a search feature.  Searches should return only relevant  information  or products. Effective filtering options will help customers to narrow their choices and remove irrelevant  products.

5. Regular health checks

It may sound obvious, but it’s important to check  your site for broken links or missing  pages, as well as ensuring that it looks the same  in all the major web browsers (Internet Explorer, Firefox and Chrome).  With more and more people using smartphones to surf the internet, it can also be worth investing  in a mobile-optimised website to help you reach more customers.