For product-based businesses, integrating eCommerce functionality into your site is essential for generating revenue. It might be that you’ve had a brochure website for a number of years but are now ready to sell your product directly to your target audience. If you’re going to do it, you need to do it right.
So here’s how to do it…
Firstly, consider the platform that your website may already be on. Is it suitable for this new functionality? Will it support the number of products you’re going to sell and/or will it allow you to grow into it? Our guide on How To Select The Right Website Platform can help if you are unsure.
Usually, companies have a vision for how they would like their shop to look. Putting together a crude drawing of what each section could look like will help you decide on a theme template or a completely custom build.
If using WordPress, consider plugins like WooCommerce, which allows you to add full eCommerce functionality. Shopify and Squarespace come with built-in eCommerce features.
Ensure each product page is detailed, with high-quality images, clear descriptions, and pricing information. Include customer reviews or testimonials to build trust. Schema markup will also help Google understand your product pages better and therefore help with SEO.
Think about your customer when designing a product page and ensure that all of the information that they would need to make an informed purchase decision has been included. It might be that you have an ingredients list, a technical specification and even visual icons.
For example, if you’re selling a shampoo, you might want an icon that shows at a glance that it’s sulphate free. Does your product come in more than one colour? If so, it will need to be set up as a variant rather than a single product for good inventory management, UX and SEO.
The shopping experience should be seamless. Reduce friction by offering guest checkout, multiple payment options, and clear shipping information.
When you first set up, consider what payment gateways are required for your business. You might not be in a position to offer Apple Pay immediately but it’s worth considering any costs that might be associated with related plugins etc.
When planning an eCommerce integration, take a look at what your competitors are doing. More established competitors are likely to have taken a lot of time to refine their pages with experimentation and a/b testing. Note down what you like about the pages - you can use this to help guide your own design.
Your eCommerce platform should sync inventory automatically to prevent overselling. When you first start out with an eCommerce website, it’s a good idea to map out all of the products that you are planning to sell. This way, you can ascertain what products need to be simple products and which ones need to be variants. You’ll also be able to work out what categories and subcategories will be required for your shop. Keeping on top of this as your website grows is very important for efficiency, SEO and maintaining a good UX. If you have an initial plan that you can refer back to every time you add new products or remove them, you’re setting yourself up for success.
If you have a website already but are either migrating to a new platform or adding eCommerce functionality to it, you’ll need to review your tracking to ensure that eCommerce events are being tracked. It is absolutely vital that you are able to understand where your orders are coming from and whether your users are experiencing any problems whilst on your website. Tracking can be quite complex, so ensure that you have a conversation with someone that can implement tracking to create a plan of action.
Do you want people to be able to checkout as a guest or do you want them to create an account? There isn’t a definitive answer to this as it’s really down to how you’d like your business to operate. Guest Checkouts can be psychologically more appealing, especially if there is the option to add a password to create an account at a later date.
You’ll also want to consider how your customers can track their orders. Do you need an automated process or will one of your staff be manually updating fields for this each day? Do you perhaps need an integration between your chosen courier and your orders?
If you’re a business that can and would like to offer discounts, then simply setting a new price isn’t always enough. You might want to consider stickers and banners to advertise that a particular product or category has an offer. If you’re going to be adding regular promotions, then it might be that you factor a “Special Offers” or “Sale” section or carousel into your design.
When starting to integrate eCommerce into your business, you’ll likely have a million and one things to think about but it is also worth thinking about how you’d like your website to progress and over what timeframe. When all parties are aware of the future vision for your online shop, the direction is understood and discussions are better. Some examples of things to consider in the future with an eCommerce website:
Pricebooks - you might want to be able to offer a really customised experience to customer groups, providing them with bespoke pricing across the website.
Integrations with CRMs and automations - As your website grows, there may be some processes that start to become a little resource heavy and you might look for ways to automate them.
Marketing - Creating a lovely shop isn’t much good if people can’t find it. Having a marketing strategy around your business goals, highlights the function of your website, gives you targets to work towards and helps you attract new customers.
Taking the time to properly plan all elements of your eCommerce website integration might seem quite tedious and perhaps a little overwhelming but it can actually save quite a bit of time and stress in the long run.