Building an app to support your ecommerce shop is a big step, and flashy features are becoming more accessible for small businesses all the time. With so many options, how can you make the most of all that potential? By narrowing your focus at the outset, you can avoid several common mistakes that irritate customers and cost you sales. These strategies will reduce frustration and create positive experiences that win you satisfied customers.
Adopt User Experience (UX) best practices as a first step toward a winning ecommerce app. Use concise language strategically and don’t be tempted by keyword stuffing. Compress images and videos sufficiently to avoid slow-loading pages. Use accurate image descriptions in your alt text and make your app accessible to those with visual and auditory impairments. This also helps you rank higher on search engines.
Make it easy for your customers to reach out with questions and make sure there’s a system in place for providing timely responses. A live chat option can greatly improve your customer experience. Chatbots can help field basic FAQs before directing the user to your team, saving you time and helping document common issues. Tools like Shopify Inbox streamline this process with integrations that track order status and your key metrics. It can also customize your automated responses.
Alternatively, you can integrate straightforward access to your social channels and email. This way, buyers can engage with you through a range of platforms, such as Facebook or Instagram, if that's their preferred method of communication.
By now, you probably know to avoid large blocks of text and unnecessary jargon on your mobile app. It’s also crucial to balance readability with providing enough useful detail for your customers to make an informed decision before they buy. Keep your language specific, accurate, strategic, and concise. Make titles and product descriptions easy to scan by cutting anything that doesn’t immediately help the customer find what they’re looking for.
There are few things more frustrating to your customers than trying to add a product that caught their eye to their cart, only to find out it’s not even in stock. Ideally, only currently stocked items should show up in a search on your app. Prominent, real-time inventory updates on specific products keep your customers informed while they shop to manage expectations and reduce frustration. This also creates a sense of urgency for casual shoppers if you have a popular item that tends to sell out quickly.
Sometimes a company offers an item that comes in many possible variations in color, design, pattern, or material. However, they fail to create unique descriptions with clear photos for each one. This inconsistency creates confusion and undermines trust in your brand, so avoid cutting corners when you create your listings. Working with marketing professionals to fine-tune image details and concise, accurate descriptions can make a big difference here.
Making your checkout experience user-friendly and secure is a critical piece of the customer satisfaction puzzle. Take your time choosing the right merchant service vendors for your industry and security needs. Not every vendor is a good fit for every industry, and it can be even more tricky to navigate if your business falls into a high-risk category.
To narrow your search, look for easy-to-find developer documentation and resources on the merchant service provider’s website. It’s also a good idea to search for hidden fees so you don’t underestimate the comparative costs. Some merchant services will charge a flat rate for each transaction, while others will charge a percentage. Sometimes the cost will vary based on the size of a single transaction, or for multiple transactions. You may also see some added fees for Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) compliance.