Websites are a crucial factor of any successful business and are a key way of generating sales and new customers. However, even the best sites can still be more successful and help you achieve higher sales figures. If you’re evaluating the success of your site, here are some top ways of increasing online revenue by making a few simple tweaks.
Sometimes it’s not hard to attract visitors to your website. What can be more difficult is ensuring that you convert a large percentage of this traffic into actual sales. With online sales in 2014 exceeding £100 billion and a year on year growth of 14%, it’s vital that your business is in the centre of this increase. You need to spend time evaluating your current site, looking at the length of time visitors stay, as well as the point or page that most of them are dropping off. This will provide you with some information when you look at redesigning the site.
Who is your target market?
Before you start redesigning your site you need to know exactly who your target market is. If you’re aiming it at a younger market they are more likely to be in tune with online shopping, whereas an older audience may take a bit more convincing.
Look at the navigation
There’s no point having a great looking website if visitors can’t find their way around it. When they are unable to find what they need quickly and purchase it, they will simply look elsewhere and not return. A website should be simple to use and have a professional look, such as those created by website designers like Manchester web design agency Bamboosolutions. If you’re unsure of how a site should look, you can use a professional web designer in Manchester like Bamboo or if your outside the are there are lots of agencies with the relevant expertise. You should keep the navigation elements consistent and focus on having as few steps as possible to get to an individual product or reach the checkout.
Generate trust
Increasing sales and generating repeat orders is all about building a sense of trust with your customers. Unfortunately with online businesses you don’t get to meet your customers face to face, so you need to show them you’re trustworthy in other ways. In a recent business survey, the main areas that customers focussed on when assessing how trustworthy a site was were up to date and complete contact information and details about the company and team.
To help your site build trust with customers you should highlight any trade accreditations you have or business groups you are members of. It’s also important to build up a database of references and testimonials from past customers. With a website it’s crucial to include details on the team, as well as photos of them, as this shows the human side of the business. If you use online payments then customers need to know that these are securely handled, so indicate that you accept payments through PayPal or use the Verified by Visa system.
