Want to grow your online store's revenue? Higher revenue comes from a growing number of visitors and a smooth user experience.
Let's look at practical tips for attracting new visitors to your online store by improving the user experience and creating a pleasant shopping environment for customers.
Why invest in building your online store?
We live in a digital age where e-commerce's role in shopping is growing fast. It's currently forecast that from 2021 to 2026, the number of online purchases worldwide will grow by an average of 14.6% a year.
Technology has changed consumer habits, and more and more people prefer buying products and services online without leaving home.
What's more, an online store runs 24/7, meaning your customers can shop exactly when they want to.
Check out our ESTO payment solution, "buy now, pay later".
Concrete tips for improving your online store's user experience
If you already have a functioning online store, it's important to make sure it's easy and convenient to use. Let's cover a few effective tips for boosting your online store's profit.
1. Keep your online store's design as simple as possible
Minimalism doesn't just make a design visually appealing — it also improves the user experience, letting visitors focus on what matters, whether that's a product description, a price overview, or adding a product to the cart.
If your online store's design is simple and intuitive, it makes shopping easier and boosts customer satisfaction and loyalty. Cutting out unnecessary information or misleading elements on the website will help keep a visitor's attention right where it should be — on your products or services.
Simple, clear fonts are also a key part of good design, so customers feel comfortable browsing the website and don't have to strain their eyes to read fine print on a colourful background.
2. A clear, logical layout
Organize your products and services into clear categories. Make sure every product is categorized correctly and that the category structure is understandable even to someone visiting your store for the first time.
A simple, effective search function matters too. The search field needs to be easy to find. Let customers search for products using various filters, such as price, popularity, brand, or features.
Make sure all the information in your online store is clear and easy to find. Use simple, understandable language, avoiding jargon customers might not understand. Simplicity helps boost profit, and overly complex phrasing can make a chunk of important information unclear to the customer.
3. Clear, understandable product descriptions
Shopping online means customers can't physically look at or try out a product. That's why product images and descriptions need to give as accurate a picture as possible of how something looks and what it offers.
Use clear, high-quality photos that give an accurate impression of the product's appearance. Add images from different angles, as well as close-ups, to show product details.
Describe product features and uses as precisely as possible. Highlight the benefits and unique qualities that matter most to customers. For every product, note whether it's available right away and in what quantity.
4. A trustworthy store and secure checkout
A fast, secure checkout process is essential for keeping customer trust and satisfaction. If shopping in your online store becomes complicated, customers quickly lose trust or patience and turn to competitors instead.
Offer well-known, trusted payment methods, including both debit and credit card payments and online banking. Be sure to expand your range of payment methods over time to give customers more ways to check out.
Integrate ESTO Checkout into your online store for a convenient, fast interface. ESTO offers a wide range of solutions to make the checkout process convenient for customers.
ESTO Pay bank payments are a fast, simple way to pay in your online store through every bank across the Baltics and Finland.
ESTO's three-part payment method (ESTO 3) is a next-generation payment option that lets customers buy now and pay later, splitting the payment into three equal instalments at no extra cost.
ESTO's hire purchase payment solution lets customers make a bigger purchase right away and pay for it in instalments over a longer period.
To integrate ESTO's payment solutions, contact ESTO partner support: partner@esto.ee.
Make the checkout process as simple and smart as possible. Avoid unnecessary required fields and let customers complete a purchase with minimal effort.
A good way to build and grow customer trust is to add user reviews and ratings to your online store. Positive reviews help build customer trust.
5. Effective customer service
Good customer service is an essential part of the online store user experience, and it strengthens customer trust. Customers might have questions or concerns, and they may want help before or after making a purchase.
Offer customers several ways to reach you, such as email, live chat, or a support phone line. Be available on weekdays and, if needed, on weekends too. Customers appreciate a fast response with quality, useful answers to their questions.
To make your life easier, add a frequently asked questions section to your online store. This lets customers find answers to simple questions without unnecessarily bothering you or your customer support team.
6. Make your online store mobile-friendly
In 2023, nearly 50% of all purchases made worldwide already happen through smart devices. That's why it's essential that your online store works smoothly across different devices, such as smartphones and tablets.
Make sure your online store's design and interface automatically adapt to the device a visitor is using. This ensures an optimal page layout on any device and boosts user comfort.
On smaller screens, browsing your store needs to be clear and easy. Use menus that work well on touchscreens too. Simple, clearly readable fonts matter. Make sure text is easy to read even when the website is viewed on a small phone screen.
7. Make sure your online store runs fast
Make sure your online store's pages load quickly on smart devices too. Fast load times matter both for the user experience and for SEO (search engine optimization).
Large image files and unnecessary plugins can slow down page loading, which can in turn damage the impression visitors have of your page and its effectiveness.
8. Flexible delivery options
Shopping online has changed customer habits and expectations around convenience. Offer customers several delivery options, such as courier delivery and various self-service parcel lockers. This lets customers pick whichever option suits them best to get their order as fast as possible.
Conclusion
Growing your online store's visitor numbers takes ongoing attention and effort, but by following these eight strategies, you can build an effective platform that drives business growth.
Investing time and money in minimalist design, a smooth user experience, and fast customer service matters if you want to give customers a pleasant shopping experience. That way, you'll not only grow visitor numbers but also their satisfaction and loyalty, which in turn boosts your online store's revenue.
Learn more on our blog: Five Tips to Improve Your Online Store's Competitiveness.