10 must have ecommerce features for the success of your website

What are your expectations from your online business?
 
Umm... it gets lots of traffic and sales to make your dream project a success.
 
Right?
 
You have a goal and you are really clear about the desired results.
 
But, are you equally clear about the requirements that would ensure the success of your website?
 
Do you have an understanding of the steps that would make selling online easier and more profitable for you?  Have you ensured that your business incorporates essential e-commerce website features that highlights your products, shows their advantage and makes your customers trust you?
 
Never thought on these lines?
 
Well, it’s never too late.
 
Let us go through the list of features that would make your online store more popular and profitable:

1. Add a Clear Logo

Think of any popular brand and the first thing that comes to our mind is the brand logo. A well designed logo works as the “face” of your company and helps you in building the brand value for your website. Your logo graphically defines all that your company is about and hence it should stand out. A clean, neat and well-designed logo is the top ecommerce features that should be displayed strategically on every website.

2. Promotions and Freebies

Have you been troubled by the high bounce rate on your site? Ever wondered why?
Online customers are known to have a short attention span and very quickly abandon a website if it does not engage them within initial few seconds. Having a good site design helps buy what else can you do to keep your customers engaged and entice them to explore your site further? 
 
The answer is simple, advertise special deals, promo codes, free shipping and other freebies at strategic location on your home page.
 
We all love freebies and discounts, and this is one of the simplest yet essential e-commerce website features that ensures you get better sales and profits.



3. Showcase Popular Products
 
It’s nice to send newsletters and offer mails to your registered customers with details of upcoming sales or new products added to your catalogue. But how do you convert the first time visitors who are reluctant to register?
 
A very efficient way to achieve this is by offering these on your home page as first view. Anyone who lands on your homepage would never miss your popular products and upcoming sale.
 
Tweak your website layout to add “Coming Soon” and “Popular Products” to your ecommerce website features list and notice the improvement in the success rate of your promotional offers and new launches.
 
4. Product Reviews 

What is the best way to make your customers trust the quality of your products? Nothing works better if you can get third party vote for your products. And who is the best third party to give authentic vote for your products? Definitely it’s your customers who have already tried and approved your products.
 
Add the essential e-commerce website feature for getting your products reviewed by your customers. Studies suggest that online buyers are heavily influenced by product reviews and the more reviews you get for your products the better the chances for selling it. Another advantage of this feature is that it creates unique and regular content for your website which helps in better ranking on Google and other search engines.
 
5. Product wishlist, advance search option and similar features
 
Imagine you are shopping on a website and you can’t find the product you need. What is your next move? You go to the search box and search for the product. What if the product is out of stock? You move to a competitor website and start your search again.
 
What if the website had a “notify me when the product is in stock “feature? You would have certainly clicked it. Similarly, having wish list (where customers can add products to their wish list), advanced search options, customer login and history details are some of the key features of an ecommerce website. These features allow you to follow up with customers and boost customer engagement and sales.
 
6. Display Payment options
 
Every online store gets customers from various geographic locations that might be distributed across the globe. To make the best of your global audience offer multiple payment choices to your clients and display these payment options on your website clearly.
 
Your website might be offering credit/ debit card payments, net banking, COD or other options targeted towards different customer segments. But if you do not display these prominently you might lose some of the interested clients.
 
Hence, having payment options displayed prominently should be one of the main features of an ecommerce website.



7. Social Media Buttons 
 
Social media has revolutionized online shopping behavior and close to 20% online sales are influenced by social media public opinion about a given brand.
 
Social media also offers a very good opportunity for running ads, promotional campaigns and creating a buzz about any brands. Having various social media links on your online store is one of the must have ecommerce features which keeps your customers updated about latest deals, new arrivals, PR and other promotional events happening at your store.
 
8. Customer Engagement Tools
 
Customer is the king and hearing to the needs of the customer is the one thing that can really help your business like nothing else can.
 
Ensure that your website has all the features like live chat, prominently displayed email and phone numbers where your customers can contact you with their queries or grievances. Engaging your customers can not only help you sell better but can also help you identify and fix problem areas of your business.
 
Customer engagement tools are undoubtedly one of the best ecommerce website features and a must have also.
 
9. Mobile ready store
 
Mobile commerce has overtaken the growth of e-commerce and the modern online buyer is more likely to shop on a mobile device. Therefore, offering a seamless shopping experience to your customers across various devices is imperative for the success of your online store.
 
Google also gives preference to mobile friendly websites in SERP and penalizes the websites that are not friendly for mobile users by pushing them down in ranking.
 
Prepare your online business for future by adding ecommerce features and functionality like this that keep you ahead of your competition.
 
10.  SSL and trust marks

Adding SSL and other trust marks guarantee the security of your website and give your buyers the confidence to shop on your website. Online shopping can be very risky and can cause financial losses if customers’ critical financial information is not secured by encrypting it.
 
Trust mark from various third party accrediting services like McAfee, Verisign etc. gives a sense of security to the customers and they feel free to share their confidential information. The first time visitors also feel more secure when they find that your website has essential e-commerce website features that ensures their safety.
 
Ensure that you have these features on your website to build customer trust and bring better sales and profits.
 
Keep watching our blog section for more tips on improving your website’s performance, look and feel by adding best ecommerce website features.
 
If you have any suggestions, feel free to share them in comments section given below.