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Your website could be your greatest tool in business.
It can be a cheap way to advertise your business.
It can be the platform from which you sell your products.
And it can be online 24/7, so even when you’re sleeping, your business can generate sales.
Ensuring your website is up to scratch needs to be your priority then. You see, if it isn’t, and if it contains problems that annoy your customers, your business will be badly affected.
Here are just a few of the problems that your customers might encounter.
#1: A complicated ordering process
There’s nothing more annoying than clicking on an item you want to buy and then finding yourself going through several more steps before getting to the checkout page. The ordering process should be streamlined, without the need to add oodles of personal information before buying, and without the need to register to the site involved. Amazon gets this right with their ‘1-Click Ordering’ process, and certain other websites negate the need for account information by providing Paypal functionalities. So, what about your website? How many hoops do your customers have to jump through before getting to the checkout page? Chances are, they might jump ship and head elsewhere if the process takes forever. Check out these tips on streamlining the payment process, and then make the relevant changes if necessary.
#2: A poorly designed website
There’s nothing worse than a poorly designed website. You have probably clicked on quite a few yourself over the years, and then grated your teeth in frustration when confronted with difficult to read web pages, broken links, confusing navigation, and more pop-ups than an over-eager Jack-in-the-Box. But what about your website? Is it likely to send potential customers into an apoplectic fit? If you are having problems converting visitors into customers, then there might be a problem somewhere. Our advice is this. Speak to people you know and ask them to give you an opinion on your website. You might want to look at other websites online, and take note of those that are better than yours. And to improve your website, you might want to seek the assistance of a design agency, as they will give your website (and your business) the facelift that it needs.
#3: Overly-vague product descriptions
When in a high street retail store, you have the opportunity to examine the products in front of you. In most cases, you can pick them up, read the packaging, and possibly even try out the product in question. After doing so, you will be able to make a more informed spending choice. However, when looking online, customers don’t have this opportunity. They are reliant on the product descriptions on the web page to tell them everything they need. However, if your descriptions are overly-vague, perhaps missing out details on functionality, user instructions, and in the case of fashion items, size guides, then you are going to struggle to make a sale. You need to provide detailed and persuasive descriptions, as well as photos and even video tutorials to help your customers make informed choices about your products.
So, is your website the greatest tool in your business, or is it your worst enemy? Consider our suggestions, and if there are any issues with your site, be sure to get on top of them at your nearest opportunity.
