Is purchasing from your website easy?

If you’re selling something on your website that visitors want to buy, make it easy for them to do so. Some e-commerce sites seem to want the customer to beg for the chance to buy rather than showing them the way.

No customer is willing to go hunting through website content hoping that what they’re after is eventually going to pop up. A site needs to be structured in a way that the buying experience is clearly set out, from browsing products to selecting them, to the checkout process, and even to post-purchasing activities. Additionally, products need to be displayed so that customers get a full view of what they are looking at. This should include photos and descriptions of the products to ensure nothing is ambiguous. These aspects are essentially the same as displaying products in a shop: they are what attract the customer to come in and explore further.

Confusing a customer is about as useful as ignoring them. It creates frustration and annoyance, which can lead to vacation of your site and, quite possibly, a visit to a competitor’s one! It is estimated that 40% of customers’ leave websites for competitors as soon as they experience any sort of trouble. These negative feelings are reflected in the customers overall attitude toward the service they experienced at your site and at the end of the day, this also impacts how they feel about you as an organisation. Not only do you lose potential customers, but also loyal ones, because their highly regarded perception of your organisation decreases with each difficulty they come across.

By having a clearly set out buying path for customers to follow, it allows ease in purchasing, which creates positive thoughts about not only the website, but about the people behind it. And ultimately, a satisfied customer is a happy customer, which is something every firm strives to achieve.