Your website can either help you achieve your business goals or hold you back. After all, having a website does not necessarily mean that everything will be fine.
Having a website, especially an e-commerce store, has more to it than what you see on your screen. It is not just taking a photo of your products, creating a gallery on your online store, and describing what it is.
So, how would you know if your e-commerce site is doing well? You should be able to see the following signs:
Increasing Mobile Traffic
As published on Statista, mobile devices (excluding tablets) have generated 51.51% of website traffic globally. Hence, it is imperative for every business to have a mobile-friendly website.
And you will know when your e-commerce site is mobile-friendly when you use analytics and see an increasing number of mobile traffic coming in.
Meanwhile, you should look into your mobile traffic bounce rate. The bounce rate is a good indicator of whether your website is useful, regardless if it is on desktop or mobile.
So, in order to make your e-commerce site useful and mobile-friendly, make sure that you are using a responsive website theme. Not to mention that your content will not be distorted when your website is viewed on mobile or tablet.
And of course, you have to make sure that it loads fast.
Improvement in Dwell Time
According to Duane Forrester, dwell time is the “length of time a person spends looking at a webpage after they’ve clicked a link on a SERP page, but before clicking back to the SERP results.”
Simply put, you will know when your e-commerce website is doing well when customers stay longer on your website before leaving.
How can you improve your online store’s dwell time? There is no single answer to that.
Nonetheless, you can start by using images and videos effectively. This also explains why photo editing is important for your e-commerce business.
You should keep user experience in mind so that you can make it easy for your customers to find what they are looking for. This includes encouraging them to add items on their online cart and proceeding to checkout.
Conversion and Sales Growth
Of course, when you provide good user experience, it can be easy for you to convince customers to take out their wallets and shell out cash.
Hence, another (pretty obvious) sign of a successful website is conversion and sales growth.
If you are yet to experience growth in revenue, you can start by providing exceptional content. This includes sufficient and well-optimized product information, product images that somewhat replicate the offline buying experience, as well as videos that demonstrate how a product is used.
The key here is simple: Allow your customers to have a feel and look of your products, although intangible. That way, you can keep a hold of their attention and convince them to buy your item.
Having More Repeat Customers
Another by-product of a good online shopping experience is a repeat customer. In fact, developing repeat customers is more cost-effective than attracting new ones. It only costs five times less to nurture your existing customers than to acquire a new one.
There are many ways to generate repeat customers. For one, you can utilize email marketing to send reminders that they have items in their online cart. You can also notify your customers of an upcoming sale or send them a re-stock alert.
Outside for online marketing, you can turn a one-time customer to a regular by having an exemplary order fulfillment process. This can include free or same-day shipping, sending a status notification, or simply using special packaging.
More Brand Advocates
When you provide exceptional customer service, you are not just driving customers to your e-commerce business. You are also encouraging them to be your brand advocates.
And when you are seeing more and more people saying good things about your business, even recommending your products to their family and friends, it is safe to say your e-commerce business is doing something right.
As posted on Quick Sprout, “Finding, encouraging, and rewarding about 20 or more brand advocates for your business is like hiring a small army of PR people for pennies on the dollar.”
Thus, it is always important to leverage whatever digital marketing tools you have in order to drive brand advocates for your online store and your products.
Organic Online Brand Mentions
Keep in mind that you are not the only e-commerce website out there. Thus, it is important that you have trustworthy sources who can spread the word for you.
The first thing that may come to your mind is influencer marketing. While this is a viable way to expose your business to an untapped target customer, it is usually not organic. The same thing goes with running a PR campaign.
You will know when your e-commerce business is doing well when trustworthy sources and online publications are mentioning you or your brand in a good light. This includes interviews, list articles, product reviews, and shopping guides.
More Positive Reviews
Here’s the thing, positive reviews from your previous customers is an obvious sign that your e-commerce business is doing a job. And you can use this to encourage more online customers to buy from you.
According to BrightLocal’s 2018 Local Consumer Review, 91% of people aged 18 – 34 years old trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations. In relation to this, 68% of consumers are likely to make a transaction with a business after reading positive reviews.
Thus, it is imperative to include generating online business reviews in your business strategy.
Less Cart Abandonment
As of May 2019, it is reported that close to 70% of online shopping carts were abandoned. Meaning, 7 out of 10 online shoppers were unable to complete their purchase.
There are many reasons for it. Some find the additional costs (shipping fee and taxes) too expensive; the checkout process is tedious; they deem your online store untrustworthy, and more.
So, unless you see less and less cart abandonment on your part, it only means that your e-commerce site needs some work.
Digital marketing, in general, involves a lot of moving parts. Nonetheless, these are what can make or break your e-commerce business. So if you want to see good results, make sure that your online store can give the best online shopping experience possible.
