As with all websites; simplicity is essential. With E-Commerce sites, this rule is even more important. An E-Commerce website is like running a “brick and mortar” business, the key is keeping the customer happy. If your site makes your customers jump through hoops to buy your product(s), then they probably won’t buy your products. Think about other sites you’ve been to. Think about good experiences and bad ones. Now put yourself in the customers’ shoes and “walk around your store”. Would you buy from your own site? Here are some tips to improve that…

Smooth…

Your site should be like a highway; no bumps and no stopping. Before, and more importantly after the customer enters the checkout process, he or she should be greeted with nothing but what is essential to the product(s) in his or her cart. Checking out should be dedicated to the process of checking out. Present other products before or after the checkout process. You shouldn’t put ads anywhere in an E-Commerce site, but it could bring in extra income. If you want to try it, please do, but just remember, keep it minimal and leave it out of the check-out process.

Sometimes More is Better

You should have a Product Detail page linked to every product from the search and catalog features that may be present on your site. Your detail page should be just that, detailed. This is not the page to skimp out on: Include a thumbnail of the product linked to the large image. Make sure to give a description; its length depends on the product. The more the customer knows the more confident they’ll be. Maybe even include customer reviews later on down the road. The cost must be clearly stated along with shipping/tax information if possible. Include a “Shopping cart” and maybe personal accounts for returning customers; this allows customers to buy more than one product at once.

Some Extra Tips

Customer Surveys are important to any business, but is it essential to the checkout process? No, it isn’t, so leave it out until after and make sure the customer knows that it’s voluntary.

Add “Checkout”, “Buy-This-Now”, and/or “Add to cart” buttons on every page – top and bottom.

Be sure to include a progress bar or step number indicator near the top of the page to let customers know how far along they are and how close they are to finishing. It should look something like this:

Step 1: Cart/Checkout > Step 2: Payment Info > Step 3: Shipping > Step 4: Confirmation
(Where “step 3” is currently where the customer is.)

Also add a “Contact-Us” link to your contact page (or some kind of customer service page) on every product page and every step of the checkout process. You don’t want to lose a customer just because they couldn’t find an answer to a little question.