Online shopping store fails, when it doesn't have these

A consumer’s demand has no end. They would like to a notch higher of perfection, with every effort that you may put. It is often a daunting task to judge what a customer exactly wants, simply because even they are not aware of it. However, various studies and researched have gone under to understand the behavior of a consumer, with regards to the online shopping carts. We are here to provide you with a quick glance at the top 5 features which a consumer would want its shopping cart to have. As delightful as it may sound, now you, as an online merchant has the task of ensuring that your online shop possesses all of these features and if not, you may wish to get these features, ASAP.

Kindly read ahead to understand what the online shopper really expects from your online store:

1. Clearly stated pricing and shipping information – no shockers here. The biggest reason why consumers often drop the shopping cart like a hot potato is because they are bewildered to see the ultimate price. The sticker shock (an unexpected increase in the final price, often as a result of computing shipping and other taxes in the price) is the reason why users dart away from the shopping cart. Thus, you may wish to provide clear picture of the prices. Mention the original price and the price after including shipping charges and taxes, so that they are better prepared to absorb the shock.

2. A clean and safe online shopping place – there has been a lot of online frauds in the past and hence we cannot blame the online shoppers for being skeptic and wary of trusting the shopping carts. Thus, any form of security or protection stamp of badges would help in installing their trust in your shopping cart. Also, avoid various negative signs such as a warning message regarding expired SSL encryption etc. Even the big players get victimized by this and it does scare the users off.

3. Key products displayed in the homepage – the role of the home page is to tempt the consumers enough to navigate deeper into the website. And even consumers prefer the homepage to have a few product images, which will give them an idea of what the website is all about. Thus, either you can showcase the new arrivals or the most popular items on your cart, or perhaps show such products on which you are offering heavy discounts. As long as you are displaying tempting products in your homepage and it is attracting the new visitors, you are definitely good to go.

4. A good looking shopping cart – the look of your eCommerce website does matter. And by look, we do not mean that you go and cluster your website with chunky flash elements and designs and images etc, all that you have to do is to make your website elegant and presentable. Even a minimalist design approach can make the website appear captivating and engrossing. Pay attention to the fonts and presentation of your website.

5. An improved search option – so you have a search box at your website, but honestly, is it any good? A lot of search boxes have this sad and lethargic look that users often don’t bother them with whatever they need. Go for a nice design of the search box, make it lively and interactive and decide upon it’s placement in the website (often top right corner does the trick). Also, give customers a break with your “no results found” jingle. Even if the query has no results, have an option that would tell them whether the query is incorrect or if you have a close substitute for the product searched for.

Also, the users would like to go through your privacy policies, testimonials and reviews of the products and services that you offer. Thus, fine tune all these features and get ready to enjoy an increase in the conversion rate and a downfall in the bounce rate of your website.

Author Bio:

This post has been contributed by Daffodil Software Ltd. Daffodil is a web and software development company specializes in eCommerce web development which includes magento web development.