Now that your StoreBuilder store is up and running, you might want to customize the way the store looks.
Whether you’d like to change colors, edit typefaces, or update the location of the menu, StoreBuilder comes ready-made with a powerful templating system ready for whatever you need to customize.
There are a few steps that can be repeated to update hundreds of store attributes. For this example, we’ll show you how to change the color of the header.
Customize Your StoreBuilder Store
Follow three simple steps to create a store that looks exactly like your brand.
Step 1
Go to the URL of the page that contains the element you’d like to updateBecause we’re updating the header, any page will do. In this example, we’ll navigate to the homepage.
Step 2
Find the attribute you’d like to change within the customizer panel.
Note: Make sure that you’re logged into the store as an administrator before proceeding.
Click the Customize text at the top left of the window near the name of your store.
After clicking Customize, you’ll see a panel of options on the left side of the screen. This is called the Customizer panel.
To edit the background color of the header, select Header and then Design (tab) within the customizer panel.
Finally, click the color picker (the white circle) under Header Background, and pick a color. As you select new colors, the header will update to preview the changes in real-time.
Step 3
Save your changesOnce you’re satisfied with the changes you’ve made, click Publish. Your changes will immediately be visible to the world (as long as you’ve already published your shop)!
Once you get the hang of it, it’s quick and easy to customize every aspect of your StoreBuilder store using the Customizer panel. Give it a try!
Imagine for a second you discover a magical lamp, you rub it, and a genie pops out and says I’ll give you any car you want. You’re probably going to get a Tesla, a Porsche, a ginormous truck, or my personal favorite – a Lotus Elise.
Now, imagine you get the same genie but instead, he says he’ll give you any car you want but it’s the only car you’ll have for the rest of your life. Some people might still go for the exotic sports car, but others will get sedans, minivans, or SUVs. That’s because you’re considering the car in the context of your whole life. Not just the next 5 minutes.
Access to a Huge Network
Imagine now, instead of a genie, a massive marketplace like Amazon where 1 out of 100,000 visitors is interested in your product and 1 out of 10 will buy it.
With numbers like that, you can get your product in front of a large audience for almost no work, start selling quickly, and get some cash in your bank account. And if that’s how you want to start your business, kudos to you! It is a great way to make extra revenue.
But for just a second, consider the full context:
Back to that genie.If you’re purely looking at horsepower, you might choose a sports car. Similarly, if you’re just looking at sales numbers, you might pick a marketplace. If you’re just getting started I understand wanting to list your products on a marketplace. This is a great place to start creating & releasing products without ever touching a website.
But there is a certain point in your business – usually once you proved there’s “product-market fit” which is just a fancy way of saying that people want to buy your product. And that’s when all of the above reasons become more important.
Building a Customer Base
One of the important aspects for any business is predictable revenue. You want to know that every month you’ll bring in a certain amount of sales and you try to keep your expenses below that number generating a profit.
In ecommerce the key to predictable revenue is repeat customers. Sure you can try to get a steady stream of new customers but they’re so much more costly to acquire (LINK). Instead, you’ll want to have a product line where customers keep coming back to buy more.
One of the best tools to do that is email. And you can build incredibly powerful and complex autoresponders with email clients like Klavio that are designed specifically for ecommerce stores.
Do you know the biggest weakness in marketplaces?
Not having a connection to your customer. On the two largest marketplaces: Amazon & Etsy you can’t get people’s email addresses and let them know about new products, about bundles, sales events, or a product that would relate to one they already have.
It’s hard to get returning customers without a way to reach out to them. So if you want to have an audience outside of the marketplace you need to get their contact information.
Predictable Rules
Sales and marketplaces are great. But they also come with fees. Huge marketplaces don’t let you list products for free. You’ll have to get up a percentage of each sale to these marketplaces.
That’s all fine and good – but what if the rules suddenly change? Say you pay a 10% fee on a $100 product and after the fee you keep $20 in your pocket. If they increase the fee to 20% you’ve lost ½ of your profit. Who can you talk to or get in contact with?
And even if you do get in contact with someone do you think they’ll be able to change the rules just for you? Ultimately they have their own business to run.In the content management world there’s an expression:Don’t build your brand on rented land.
And the same is true for your business. You never want to rely on someone never changing their rules.
A Hybrid Approach Can Work
I don’t want anyone to think marketplaces are horrible places. They aren’t. I use Amazon… a lot.
But you never want to completely give up the ability to reach your customers. So feel free to use marketplaces to boost numbers. But you also want to have a home base – your website. You’ll want to make sure to have your own products on your site, your own reviews, your own policies, etc.
That way should a marketplace change their rules or should one of their restrictions hamper your growth you can always do that through your own website. And worst-case scenario you can abandon that marketplace and rely on your own site entirely.
Whether you decide to use WooCommerce, Magento, or some other product there are products that let you sync details and inventory levels between your own store and a marketplace like Amazon. So there’s not much extra administration and you can build your own website while you get some bonus sales from marketplaces.
There’s a lot of competition for ecommerce business, and rightfully so. Ecommerce sales were $4.28 trillion in 2020 and are expected to continue growing.
Businesses vying for those dollars have to develop an ecommerce marketing strategy that gets their business seen and generates interest for their products.
Types of Marketing for Ecommerce Businesses
There are a lot of marketing strategies — creativity is the only limit. The various strategies fall into overarching categories by type. Here are four types of marketing strategies to consider:
Cause Marketing — Links a company and its products to a social cause or issue.
Relationship Marketing — Focuses on fostering better relationships with your customers and increasing their brand loyalty.
Scarcity Marketing — Makes customers think there is a product shortage or limited amount available, encouraging them to purchase now for fear of missing out.
Undercover Marketing — Marketing activities that consumers don’t realize are marketing. Product placement in a popular television show is an example of undercover marketing.
You can use any or all of these approaches for ecommerce marketing.
Key Marketing Strategies Every Ecommerce Business Should Use
Businesses use a ton of different ecommerce strategies. There is something for every business and every situation. And there likely are strategies that even the most creative marketers haven’t come up with yet. Here are some marketing strategies that every ecommerce business should use:
SEO
The majority of your website traffic likely comes from online searches. Optimizing your ecommerce site and all of its pages for SEO means more people will continue to become aware of your business and your products will be more visible on Google.
Product Reviews
People want to buy products they know will work well for them. Recommendations from a trusted friend are the best form of advertising, for sure. But did you know that 84% of people trust online reviews as much as they trust friends’ recommendations? Encourage site visitors to buy your products by including reviews on your eCommerce site.
Content Marketing
There’s a reason the majority of companies today use content marketing. It works. About 90% of customers see the benefit of ecommerce content marketing in making them aware of products. Awareness leads to purchase consideration.
Guest Posts
Blogs are considered the most effective way to turn casual readers into customers. You can extend your reach beyond your own site by publishing guest posts on other blogs. This drives traffic back to your site and exposes you to new audiences.
Social Media Marketing
There are about 3.8 billion people on social media. You don’t want to miss direct communication with those of them who are in your target market.
Influencers
Reach out to influencers who you know your target market follows and ask them to promote your brand. Product reviews work. Influencer endorsements work even better.
Email Marketing
More than 4.1 million people in the world use email, with more than 90% of people in the United States using email at least daily. Your target audience is already using email, so why shouldn’t they connect with your brand? Email has a 1.22% conversion rate, making it the best way to turn prospects into loyal customers.
Google Adwords
Target specific keywords with Google AdWords, to help ensure your products show up in relevant searches.
Social Ads
Facebook and Instagram ads allow you to target users based on categories like age, interest, and location to help them find your products. Promoted Pinterest pins allow you to place ads that pop up in users’ feeds or appear in relevant searches.
Every ecommerce business should use these marketing strategies. Many of them are so common that potential customers notice if you aren’t doing them (for example, social media and email marketing). Others are affordable, simple ways to create awareness for your brand.
Tips to Create a Stellar Ecommerce Marketing Strategy
You probably know how to create a marketing plan. You may even have created marketing plans in the past. That experience helps in creating an ecommerce marketing strategy. Ecommerce marketing is much like traditional marketing, but there are some key differences.
Those differences are mostly due to the change in medium and how people behave differently online. Here are some tips to consider when creating your ecommerce strategy.
Seek Advice
There’s no reason to reinvent the wheel. Seek out people you’re connected to in your industry who implemented ecommerce marketing plans. Ask for their advice. What do they wish they had known beforehand? What are they glad they did? What do they wish they had done differently?
Consider Experts
Time you spend on one thing within your business is time taken away from something else. Consider whether it’s worth your time to learn all about ecommerce marketing plans or if it may be better to hire a freelance expert or agency.
Start Small
You won’t be able to accomplish everything with your first ecommerce campaign. Don’t expect everything all at once. Start small and make measurable changes. Let campaigns build on themselves over time.
9 Steps for Building an Effective Ecommerce Marketing Strategy
Understanding everything you need to know about your ecommerce marketing strategy includes building an effective strategy. Follow these nine steps to build an effective ecommerce marketing strategy:
1.Establish Goals
What do you want to accomplish with your ecommerce marketing plan? Establish a few realistic goals for a certain timeframe (i.e., six months or a year).
2. Develop Buyer Personas
Take the data you gathered on your target market and create a fact-based story about your perfect customer. You’ll use this customer profile as the foundation for all of your marketing decisions. This is the person you’re marketing to.
3. Identify Your Unique Value Proposition
What is it that makes your product different or better than the competition? Why does your buyer persona want your product instead of a different one in the same category? Focus your marketing communication on this value proposition.
4. Create Strong Product Descriptions
Write detailed product descriptions for your site that sell the features and benefits of each product and why the reader should purchase it instead of another option.
5. Create Offers
Offer first-time customers free shipping and/or a discount, especially if they sign up for your email list. These types of promotions will encourage the initial sale.
6. Simplify Checkout
Make the checkout process as fast as possible for customers. The less information they have to enter, the more likely they are to complete the process. Think three to five steps at most. Consider showing them a progress bar or steps to completing checkout so they know when they’re almost done.
7. Make Recommendations
Recommend other products that the customer might like in a buyer’s guide. Or, try recommending products that work well with those they plan to purchase.
8. Optimize the Site
Make sure your site loads quickly and is accessible from any device (smartphone, tablet, desktop computer, etc.). You want visitors to have a good experience, regardless of screen size.
9. Establish Trust
Establish trust with shoppers through site security measures, offering free returns, and avoiding extra fees (shipping, tax, handling fees, etc.) that they weren’t expecting.
How Hostdedi Can Help with Your Ecommerce Marketing Strategy
That’s everything you need to know about making an ecommerce marketing strategy. Now that you have the basics of a marketing plan down, ensure that your ecommerce site is in the right hands.
You could fret about setting up a site that would support your marketing goals, or you can add Hostdedi to your team. More specifically, StoreBuilder by Hostdedi could be the right choice for you to get your ecommerce site up and running quickly.
StoreBuilder is an intelligent website assistant that helps you start and launch a WooCommerce store faster than any other solution in the market. Getting started is simple. Hostdedi’s easy tool helps you build an ecommerce site in four steps.
You just answer a few questions about your products, industry, assets, and whether you’ve already started an online business. StoreBuilder then uses industry insights to build a customized ecommerce site in minutes. You don’t need templates, coding experience, or any technical web knowledge.
Contact us to learn more about how Hostdedi’s StoreBuilder can help support your ecommerce marketing strategies.
Entrepreneurship isn’t always about starting the next Tesla. Many times it’s about recognizing a need and having the instinct and drive to provide a solution for it.
And right in that moment, a new business went from concept to rollout. They used their contacts to buy crab wholesale, prepared delicious dishes, and put fliers up to get the word out about their venture. And in their first-week of business they received 20 orders. A dream realized.
On-the-ground, Guerilla marketing is awesome and an important part of your marketing plan. But, getting your store online isn’t just nice-to-have – it’s must have. But it’s all too common that the fear of not knowing where to start can keep you from getting going.
So we’ve made it easy. Super easy. Really.
Introducing StoreBuilder
StoreBuilder is an intelligent website assistant that helps you get your store started and launched faster than any other solution in the market. Getting started is simple. By answering 4 questions about your products, industry, assets you have (content, images, etc.), and whether or not you’ve already started an online business, we’ll use industry insights to build your storefront for you. In minutes.
Not hours. Minutes.
And it’s your store, customizable the way you want it. Instead of choosing a theme or template that looks like everyone else’s, StoreBuilder uses research, insights, and artificial intelligence to create a custom design for your store.
So, if you’re a clothing store with 500 products, we’ll layout your store in one way. And if you’re a pet store with 10 products, we’ll lay it out in a completely different way.
Do I Have to Be a Developer or Know One to Use StoreBuilder?
One of the best aspects of StoreBuilder is that anyone can use it, regardless of technical ability. We’ve built it on top of the most flexible content management system ever – WordPress. WordPress works specifically with WooCommerce, which is one of the most customizable ecommerce platforms in the world.
Does StoreBuilder Have Everything I Need to Get Started?
StoreBuilder includes all of the functionality you need to get your products online, add products to carts, and seamlessly checkout with shipping costs & tax calculations. The only thing you have to do outside of StoreBuilder is buy your domain name.
For WordPress whizzes, this is a fully managed product. That means we manage the updates & backups on our side, but you still call the shots. We also offer superior security from the pros at iThemes which only takes a few minutes to set up and is the virtual lock for your new online business.
What Makes StoreBuilder Smarter Than Other Website Creation Services?
With StoreBuilder you inherently reap the benefits of lessons learned from research of over 1,000 ecommerce merchants. StoreBuilder creates the custom store you’ve been dreaming of, designed the way you want it, and optimized for your industry. Just tweak a few headlines, add a couple of product photos, and you’re ready to launch!
What If I Need Help?
Whether you’ve never heard of WordPress or WooCommerce or you’re a WordPress professional, we’ve got experts ready to help you 24/7/365.
I’m Ready. How Do I Get Started?
Ideally you’ll have your logo and brand colors ready, some information about your product(s) and product photography, and any assets like videos to put on your site.
Now that your online store is set up and ready to go, it’s time to show it to the world!
To make your store live, you’ll need to connect it to your domain name (yourshopname.com). If you’re handy with updating domain name settings, the name servers are listed below.
If you’re thinking, “what the heck are name servers?”, you might want to contact your domain name registrar to make the change.
How to Make Your StoreBuilder Store Go Live
Step 1
Login to your domain registrar dashboard or get in touch with your domain registrar’s support department to change your name servers and connect your domain with your StoreBuilder store (geek speak for this process is “updating name servers”).
Note: Not sure who your domain registrar is? Some common domain registrars are Namecheap, Hover, GoDaddy, Google Domains, Cloudflare and domain.com.
Update your StoreBuilder URL from the temporary domain (a URL like xxxx.nxcli.net that was automatically generated when your StoreBuilder site was created) to the real domain for your site (a URL like yourshopname.com). Just head over to your Hostdedi portal, click on Domain Options from the left menu and press the, “modify master domain” button to make the change.
Note: When changing the name servers for a domain name, the change can take up to 72 hrs (often only one to two hours). If you don’t see your StoreBuilder store at yourshopname.com within 72 hrs or if you need help through this process, please get in touch!
Step 3
It’s time to make sure your StoreBuilder store is secured using industry-standard encryption (this is what the pros use to keep your favorite websites, including banks, secure). Click on the SSL tab in the left menu of the portal. Then, just make sure “Auto Let’s Encrypt Certificate” is toggled to “Enable” and click “Issue Certificate.”
With those updates, your StoreBuilder store will be ready for the world to see! It’s time to see why so many entrepreneurs choose StoreBuilder to create their ecommerce stores.
Of course, if you run into any trouble, please get in touch with our support team. We’re here 24/7/365.
You already have an online store. Now you need to figure out how to market your business to as many people as possible. But with so many types of digital marketing available, it’s easy to get lost in the labyrinth.
Where do you start?
According to Datareportal, at the beginning of 2021, there were 4.66 billion internet users globally — which is 60% of the total world population. More people can access the internet than ever before.
The internet has become the best place to connect the broadest customer base to your products or services. It’s time to start devising ways to reach them on the multitude of online channels available.
Ready to take your online business to the next level?
Read on to learn:
How digital marketing works.
How to use different types of digital marketing channels for your online store.
How to make your digital marketing strategies work for you.
Traditional vs. Digital Marketing for Your Ecommerce Store
Traditional marketing is a semi-targeted method of reaching potential customers.
The offline advertising strategies of traditional marketing include:
Postcards
Billboards
Newspapers
Radio
Though some businesses still use these traditional methods, online marketing is steadily advancing in popularity. It is an easier, less expensive, and less wasteful way to create brand awareness and drive traffic to your business.
There are plenty of compelling reasons to move toward digital marketing. It is a form of inbound marketing, which means instead of searching for prospects, they can search for you.
Traditional marketing is also limited by location. Digital marketing empowers you to reach out to the right target market and spread brand awareness to a large number of people.
As of 2019, Statista reports indicate 1.92 billion people bought goods and services online. In 2021, that number is expected to jump to 2.14 billion.
That’s a whole lot of potential customers.
5 Types of Digital Marketing Channels For Your Ecommerce Store
In the fast-paced world of technology, you have to stay ahead of the curve — especially if you run an ecommerce store that lives in the online space. If you’re not using the latest digital marketing methods, there’s a good chance your competitors will.
Let’s get into the most popular online channels to market your online store.
1. Social Media Marketing (SMM) for Ecommerce
Datareportal’s 2021 report revealed there are 4.2 billion social media users globally — more than 53% of the world’s population.
What does this mean for you and your marketing team?
Social media offers tons of prospects you can convert to customers. Don’t miss out.
Build up your brand’s presence on popular platforms like:
Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Instagram
Pinterest
If you’re doing business internationally, don’t forget about WeChat and QQ Tenecent, which are popular in China.
You can take advantage of free marketing through these social media platforms. Build a following, connect directly with customers to build brand loyalty, or use tags on product photos that lead visitors straight to a shopping cart.
You can also opt for paid ads on social networks. You choose your target audience, and then your ads show up in the right potential customer’s social media feed.
2. Content Marketing for Ecommerce
Content marketing has grown in popularity because of how effectively it can generate traffic and establish trust in a company’s expertise. Good content educates website visitors with high-quality, compelling blog posts. It also uses calls-to-action (CTAs) to encourage readers to explore your products or sign up for email lists.
To make content marketing work, you need to research keywords that improve your blogs’ search engine optimization (SEO). Good SEO will bring readers to your website, but you also need to develop consistently valuable articles to retain your audience and build customer loyalty.
3. Affiliate Marketing for Ecommerce
Affiliate marketing is an excellent option for merchants with ecommerce stores. You connect with a content creator who has an established audience, and they include links to your products. In return, the creator receives a commission when someone uses that “affiliate link” to make a purchase from your website.
For example, Amazon is the largest online store in the world. The Amazon Associates program capitalizes on content creators who direct their audience to the millions of products on Amazon. There is no upfront cost for Amazon, as they only pay out when a sale is made.
4. Search Engine Marketing (SEM) for Ecommerce
A search engine is a web-based tool that helps users find information on the web. Google, Bing, and YouTube are the most popular options. Search engine marketing (SEM) involves improvements to your website that boost your ranking on search engine results pages (SERPs).
SEM marketing includes SEO and paid advertising that improves visibility and increases traffic to your website. Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising through Google AdWords is a popular option for marketers who are willing to spend money to reach the top of SERPs.
5. Email Marketing for Ecommerce
As you build your business, it’s essential to find ways to grow your email list. Use free content like blog posts, ebooks, or webinars to encourage users to sign-up. As you grow, you can also collect contact information from happy customers.
Email marketing can be a fantastic way to send out special offers to drive sales or announce new products. However, the best email marketing tools can also be used strategically to target prospects based on where they are in the buyer’s journey.
For instance, you can follow-up on an abandoned shopping cart to entice that customer to complete their purchase. You can also use automated emails to request reviews after clients have used your products or services.
Top Tips for Ecommerce Digital Marketing Methods
Now that we’ve covered some of the most popular types of digital marketing strategies, here are a few tips for maximizing your returns.
Develop an incentive program for loyal customers: Reward your long-term customers through discounts and offers, and encourage them to stay connected with your business.
Publish testimonials on your website: No matter what you say about your own products, consumers trust other customers more than companies. Testimonials can ease the buying process by increasing confidence in your brand.
Make use of live chats: Live chats allow your website visitors to get real-time answers to questions they might have in mind. Chatbots can also ease the burden on smaller customer service teams.
Invest in a user-friendly website design: If your website isn’t user-friendly, your visitors will bounce — and all your marketing will be for nothing. Your website should be easy to view no matter what device a user has.
Employ tactics that boost trust: Don’t give your customers any reason to abandon their shopping cart. Offer a straightforward return policy, a money-back guarantee, and transparent pricing.
Introduce a referral program: Incentivize your clients to refer their friends and family with product discounts, store credit, or free gifts. Referral programs have been a significant factor in the success of ecommerce behemoths like PayPal, Dropbox, and Airbnb.
Final Thoughts: What You Need To Know When Marketing Your Online Business
Ecommerce marketing should not only raise awareness of your brand and products, but build trust with consumers. You can use any of these types of digital marketing strategies, including content marketing, social media, search engines, and affiliate programs, to attract customers and grow your business.
But a successful ecommerce marketing strategy begins with a fabulous website. Still searching for a reliable platform to start, manage, and expand your online business? Check out our online StoreBuilder for easy, smart, store-building solutions today.
Over the years, ecommerce merchants, designers, and developers have experimented with thousands of homepage configurations and these 8 elements are widely understood to be essential to a successful homepage that converts visitors.
Your logo
Navigation
Headline
CTA
Social Proof
Photos
Page copy
Footer
8 Basic Elements of A Homepage
Logo
First, your logo. Your logo is the face of your brand. It’s the visual representation of everything you want your customers to remember about your business. It should be displayed consistently and often. Most brands develop guidelines for how their logo should be used so that customers see what they expect to see whenever they encounter your branding in the wild.
Navigation
This is the bar at the top of your website that contains text links to the pages of your website. Designing effective navigation means taking into consideration the journey of each user and audience that frequents your website.
Headline
Your headline is the first line of text a visitor to your website will encounter. For example, on Hostdedi.net our headline is “The (Truly) Managed Commerce & Content Hosting Platform”. Creating a compelling headline is harder than you might think. Summing up the mission and character of an entire organization in one sentence takes time and expertise so don’t be afraid to hit the drawing board over and over.
Call to Action (CTA)
A call to action is a simple phrase, usually displayed on a button, that instructs your visitors on which action to take. On the nexcess.net homepage, for example, our CTA is simply “Speak with an Expert”. Other common CTAs include:
Buy Now
Learn More
Read More
Chat with Support
Submit
Social Proof
Social proof is any user generated content including reviews, photos, and testimonials that speaks to the quality of your product or service. By adding social proof to your homepage, you’re demonstrating to prospective customers that your products and services live up to their promise because you have evidence that real people have purchased your goods and are satisfied.
Photos (& Videos)
High quality, well lit product photos of at least 1000px by 1000px are essential for any ecommerce business. Any product photography or videography must be of the highest resolution so it can be displayed on either a desktop or mobile platform.
Page Copy
Words! Other than your headline, what information is displayed on your homepage? This element of homepage design will depend largely on your industry vertical and the number and types of products and services you sell.
Footer
The footer section of a website contains essential information a customer might need to contact either corporate or support. Common elements of a footer include:
Company address
telephone number
email address
About Us
Customer Service information
Links to important pages that aren’t in the Navigation section
Privacy policy
Return policy
An Effective Ecommerce Homepage Without Coding
We’ve covered the 8 basic elements that make up a basic ecommerce homepage and there is still a lot to learn about each element, much less how to put them together in the most effective manner.
Now you can take the guesswork out of designing your ecommerce website with StoreBuilder by Hostdedi.
StoreBuilder delivers a fully customized, industry-focused ecommerce homepage template in just a few minutes, using a proprietary AI engine, with no coding required.
If everything is important, then nothing is. That’s why you need to determine the best ecommerce success metrics to measure for your business.
To make sure your ecommerce business is as successful as possible, you need to understand which metrics to measure and why. Then you make all of your business-related decisions based on data, not just instincts or casual observations.
What are Ecommerce Success Metrics?
Ecommerce success metrics are data you track to determine the performance of your online business. These numbers tell you whether your business is doing well or not. You then use this data to make marketing, promotional, and other business decisions.
Why are Ecommerce Success Metrics Important?
Without the data, you don’t know what’s working, what needs adjustment, or where you should redistribute resources. To grow your eCommerce business, you need to:
Set measurable goals (known as key performance indicators).
Understand how to measure those KPIs.
Monitor KPIs, making adjustments as necessary.
The 10 Most Important Ecommerce Success Metrics
There is a lot of business-related data you can measure. While you may determine that additional ecommerce success metrics are essential to monitor for your business, here are the metrics you should watch closely.
1. Sales Conversion Rate
The most important metric to monitor, sales conversion rate tells you what percentage of your site’s visitors make a purchase. Most analytics tools provide the conversion rate. You also can manually calculate it by dividing the number of customers who purchase a product by the total number of site visitors. A good conversion rate is 1-5%.
2. Email Subscriptions
Email marketing is an amazing tool for eCommerce stores because it allows you to stay in contact with customers who already purchased or showed interest in your products. You’re able to contact them with future promotions and encourage purchases. Marketers who use segmented campaigns see a 760% increase in revenue. The easiest way to track your email subscription rates is with the analytics built into your email marketing tool.
This is a measure of how much you earn from a typical customer during their life. This number tells you how much you can spend to acquire a customer and to retain them. To determine this number, add up the revenue earned from a customer (annual revenue multiplied by the average customer lifespan) and subtract the cost of acquiring them.
4. Customer Acquisition Cost
A measure of how much it costs on average to acquire a new customer. You want your acquisition costs to be less than your average order amount, so you make money off each new customer. Calculate this metric by dividing your total marketing expenditures by your number of active customers.
5. Repeat Purchase Ratio
You want to retain your existing customers. The repeat purchase ratio measures how many times a customer comes back to your store to make another purchase. To determine this number, divide the number of repeat customers by the total number of customers.
6. Revenue By Traffic Source
Some traffic sources convert more visitors than others, which is where you want to spend your money. Track sales from each medium and determine how many sales you get per 1,000 clicks from each source.
7. Average Order Value
This metric is the average value of each purchase. To determine it, divide your overall sales number by the number of carts. The goal is to increase the amount each customer spends.
8. Product Return Rate
It’s only helpful to make a sale if it’s permanent. The product return rate tells you how many units are sold vs. returned. You can measure the product return rate for overall sales and individual products. These measures help you understand which products are more successful and which ones you may want to remove from your offerings.
9. Loyal Customer Rate
Your loyal customers are your most valuable customers. They’re the ones who love your products, will return for more purchases, and will recommend your products to their friends. Your loyal customer rate tells you how well you’re engaging and motivating customers to return. To determine this rate, divide the number of repeat customers by the total number of customers.
A measure of how many shoppers add items to their online carts but never make a purchase. You can track this number with Google analytics. You want to reduce the percentage of people who leave items in their carts as much as possible.
How to Choose the Right eCommerce Metrics to Monitor Your Business
While you could measure many things related to your business, it’s important instead to consider which metrics are important to the business outcomes you desire.
You could monitor the metrics above, determine which areas you want to increase or decrease (depending on which means improvement), then set KPIs in those areas. Then you would continue to review and monitor those metrics at least monthly, adjusting your goals as necessary.
If you’re still trying to figure out which metrics are the most important for your business to track, consider:
Impact — If the metric changed, how big of an impact would it make on your company’s bottom line? If improving the metric isn’t worthwhile, neither is monitoring it.
Goals — You should have strategic goals for your company. Focus on changing the metrics that support those goals.
Scale — Some metrics are interconnected, which means improving one will automatically improve others too. If you can improve multiple metrics through small actions, it’s probably worth doing.
How to Use Ecommerce Success Metrics to Manage Your Business
Once you measure your metrics and determine where you want to make changes, you need to know how to make those changes happen. Here’s how to improve each metric listed above:
1. Sales Conversion Rate
You want 1-5% of the customers who visit your site to make a purchase. Of course, the higher the percentage, the better. To increase this percentage, use content marketing to make more people aware of your company and its products, build an email marketing list, or use promotional pop-ups to make shoppers offers when they visit your store.
2. Email Subscriptions
To grow your email list, promote joining the list via pop-ups on your site and social media accounts. Offer a promotion (like 10%) if a shopper signs up to receive future emails.
You can improve how much your customers spend with you during their lifetime by building relationships with them, asking for their feedback, and eliminating concerns or pain points for them.
4. Customer Acquisition Cost
You can reduce the amount it costs to acquire new customers by focusing marketing on those people most likely to become customers. Personalize the customer experience for your target market. And, of course, the more customers you retain, the fewer you have to acquire.
You can encourage repeat customers by getting them to sign up for your email list, messaging them about recent purchases and future promotions, and encouraging loyalty program membership.
6. Revenue By Traffic Source
Don’t spend all of your time trying to build an audience. Instead, go to where your prospects already are. Monitor where you get the most traffic from and spend your resources there.
7. Average Order Value
Increase order value by offering free shipping at a specific price point, giving product discounts for a minimum spend, suggesting other products, encouraging savings with bulk orders, and promoting a loyalty program.
8. Product Return Rate
For fewer returns, make sure your products are quality and are accurately represented on your site, encourage customer feedback about products, and be transparent about shipping times.
9. Loyal Customer Rate
Customers are more likely to stay loyal if you offer them quality products at an acceptable price while building relationships with them and rewarding them for their loyalty.
10. Shopping Cart Abandonment Rate
Reduce shopping cart abandonment by being upfront about pricing and costs, allowing customers to edit and save carts, and making sure your site runs well, and your checkout process is simple.
Measuring What Matters
The correct ecommerce success metrics are the ones that move your business forward according to your goals. The mix of metrics will be slightly different, depending on your business and its needs. It’s also typical for your KPIs to fluctuate, depending on where you’re focusing your resources and what’s happening with your business at any given time.
For example, you may see more cart abandonment during the holidays, but you also likely have many more visitors making purchases. So, both of those statistics would increase, but one makes up for the negative of the other.
The most important thing is to start measuring and adjusting KPIs to accomplish your business goals.
Start With a Site Optimized to Sell
KPIs may tell the story, but a successful online store also requires the right foundation — a site that’s optimized for selling.
To get your store online quickly without coding, and using one of the strongest ecommerce platforms available — WooCommerce — check out StoreBuilder by Hostdedi today.
Shopping cart abandonment is a problem that most ecommerce retailers have to deal with. It happens when a customer starts the checkout process for an order but doesn’t complete the purchase.
According to Statista, the average cart abandonment rate in 2017 was 69.23%, but this number rose to 88% in March 2020. Findings from several studies on shopping cart abandonment show that on average, three out of four online shopping carts are abandoned without a purchase.
Your shopping cart abandonment rate represents an opportunity lost and a gap in potential conversions. A 65% cart abandonment rate leaves a 97.9% gap in conversions, costing retailers $2 to $4 trillion per year.
While you can’t eliminate shopping cart abandonment, you can understand the common factors that influence it. And thanks to research, you can also learn how to reduce shopping cart abandonment effects. In this guide, you’ll learn:
The significant effects of shopping cart abandonment
The top reasons why people abandon their carts
7 ways to reduce shopping cart abandonment
Shopping Cart Abandonment Effects
The shopping cart abandonment rate is a crucial ecommerce metric to track, as high cart abandonment rates indicate a poor user experience or flawed sales funnel. When cart abandoners unintentionally (or intentionally) fail to convert (as TikTok activists did to the Trump online store), it contributes negatively to an online store’s inventory and data collection efforts.
When there are more items in an online shopping cart than inventory, the shop will assume that it’s available to sell, affecting inventory planning.
Additionally, shopping cart abandonment impacts data collection because ecommerce store owners cannot tell which of their customers were just messing with them, and which actually had a bad user experience.
Shopping cart abandonment also affects a company’s digital campaign spend because retailers will often reach out to potential buyers with a retargeting campaign.
How To Decrease Shopping Cart Abandonment
According to Baymard Institute, the most common reasons for cart abandonment include additional costs being too high, needing to create an account, and a convoluted checkout process.
Here are some proven ways to reduce shopping cart abandonment:
1. Consider Free Shipping
Baymard Institute’s research shows that 60% of carts are abandoned due to unexpected costs such as high shipping fees, which can be explained by a phenomenon called price anchoring.
If a customer sees the retail price at $14.99 and after taxes and fees, it rises to $19.99, the customer will get discouraged because they benchmarked against the first price.
Many studies have found that if customers have to choose, they prefer free (and cheaper) shipping over expedited shipping.
Growing ecommerce sales are driving up ecommerce logistics costs, which eats into profit margins, especially if you ship overseas. So if free shipping isn’t an option, offer discount vouchers and coupon codes instead.
Tips:
Offer free shipping on standard delivery. Charge additional fees for expedited shipping.
Charge shipping for low-value products and offer free shipping for high-value products.
Offer free shipping for a minimum order value.
2. Simplify the Checkout Process
According to Baymard Institute’s survey, 28% of respondents abandoned their online carts because of a complicated checkout process. An additional 37% abandoned their ecommerce shopping carts because the website wanted them to make an account.
A good user experience is vital to customers, and fast page load speed factors into that. A study by Akamai found that a two-second delay in load time increases bounce rates by 103%. Additionally, a 100-millisecond delay decreases conversion rates by 7%.
Tips:
4. Optimize for Mobile Responsiveness
These days, more than 50% of consumers access the internet and shop on their mobile devices. In 2021, mobile ecommerce sales are expected to account for nearly 54% of all ecommerce sales.
Mobile ecommerce is lucrative, but without a mobile-optimized ecommerce website, the probability of shopping cart abandonment increases.
Barilliance did a study on cart abandonment rates according to device. While the average cart abandonment rate was around 75%, it shot up to 85.65% on mobile.
Tips:
Create a stripped-down version of your ecommerce site.
Do not bog users down with popups or sidebars.
Ensure call to action (CTA) buttons are the appropriate size to avoid errors.
By creating an online store, you’re essentially opening your store for global consumers. When it comes to payment, it’s not a one-size-fits-all situation.
For instance, some countries aren’t big on credit cards or mobile wallets, which are the preferred payment methods in Australia, Europe, and the U.S.
Ensure website security and privacy – every consumer is counting on that from you.
6. Inspire Trust With a Secure Website
Ecommerce stores handle sensitive personal and financial information. Give your potential customers peace of mind by ensuring they can trust your website.
According to Baymard Institute’s study, one-fifth of online shoppers said they abandoned carts because they felt like they couldn’t trust the website.
Tips:
Incorporate website security features, such as password encryption, two-factor authentication, and SSL certificates.
Provide contact details, such as phone numbers or email addresses that customers can use to reach you.
Inspire trust through testimonials, product reviews, and social proof.
If the above tips don’t work, you can try retargeting through cart abandonment emails.
Abandoned cart recovery emails are sent to shoppers to remind them of the items they were interested in buying but did not purchase. Usually, these emails include offers such as discount codes and a personalized link to let the customer pick up where they left off.
Use other channels to complement your abandoned cart emails (for example, retargeting, push notifications, Messenger applications, and cold calls).
Leverage automation and personalization.
Use A/B testing.
Final Thoughts: 7 Tips To Effectively Reduce Shopping Cart Abandonment Effects
Shopping cart abandonment is an important metric that online retailers should take into consideration as they plan for and manage their online stores. Because shopping cart abandonment directly correlates to sales and revenue, retailers must optimize the user experience and checkout process.
As more business is conducted online, effective ecommerce website design is key to growing your brand.
Customers all over the world turn to online stores for their convenience and abundance of options. If an ecommerce website is well-designed and easy to use, you’re much more likely to see those customers purchase month after month.
Let’s look at some tips and examples of ecommerce websites using effective design to drive business to their online stores.
Ecommerce Website Design Tips
No matter the industry or business model, maintaining a sleek, professional, and user-friendly online experience should be a top priority.
Whether you’re an ecommerce veteran or a beginner looking to build an online store, there are a few design elements to keep in mind that will help you achieve the most effective site possible. Here are our top four tips for creating the best ecommerce website design for your business:
Easy Navigation
Create a website that’s easy to navigate from the homepage all the way to your checkout screen. An intuitive design can make even the biggest ecommerce websites seem simple.
Helpful tools here will be drop-down menus, effective headers, and redirect links. Try to keep scrolling to a minimum to prevent customers from losing their place. Think of storing products in convenient categories and keeping landing pages as simple as possible.
Optimize for Mobile
Mobile is king. Perhaps one of the most important ecommerce business tips is the focus on mobile-optimized sites. If your ecommerce site is incomplete, slow, or illegible on mobile devices, you’ll lose potential customers at an alarming rate.
When you optimize your site for mobile users, there are two main benefits: your customers will be able to effortlessly interact with your products and your SEO will improve.
Google has and will continue to take a mobile-first indexing approach to determine SEO ranking placements—basically, if your online store accommodates mobile devices, you’ll have a better opportunity to appear when prospective customers type your product type into the search bar.
Impactful Homepage
The best ecommerce websites have eye-catching and user-friendly homepages. Most users decide whether to stay on a website within the first couple seconds of the homepage loading.
Some elements of a successful ecommerce homepage include high-resolution photography, a cohesive color palette, unique and accessible typography, and clear branding. Lifestyle photographs that highlight your goods or services in action can bring your brand to life.
Conversion is one of the more important ecommerce terms to know. Conversion rates measure how well you convert site visitors into paying customers.
At each step of the way, give your users the opportunity to place items in their cart and check out quickly. Set up your online store with abandoned cart reminders and notifications when customers leave items without checking out. Allow users plenty of opportunities to interact with your site and get on your mailing list.
Well-Designed Ecommerce Website Examples
We’ve covered the importance of web design in ecommerce and some helpful tips to keep in mind. But perhaps the most fruitful ideas for your online business will come when you see effective ecommerce website examples in action.
Here’s a list of 16 online store examples that create a memorable user experience.
1. Buffy
Buffy is a great example of how to market your ecommerce website as a rapidly growing company. Buffy’s comforters, sheets, and pillows take center stage in its site’s photography. The rounded edge of the letters in their typography gives off a nostalgic, soft, and “comfy” feel, a hallmark of their brand voice.
Simplicity and focus on a slim but growing line of products makes for a great website design from this eco-friendly bedding company.
2. Prose
Prose sells custom hair care products for customers looking to build an effective hair care regimen. Prose is the perfect example of an ecommerce website that leads with conversions and leverages customer interaction.
Their repeated call-to-action of “Get Your Formula” leads customers to a simple, clear, and valuable quiz that allows them to see what hair routine they would most benefit from. Prose’s use of models with all different hair types ensures no customer feels left out.
3. Bombas
Bombas started with socks and grew to include T-shirts and other types of clothing accessories. Their online shopping homepage showcases their flagship product, Bombas socks. While you may be eager to bring attention to your newest products, showcasing your most popular product is the best way to capitalize off existing brand awareness.
As a growing ecommerce business, take note of how other companies are expanding their product lines and incorporating them into their web design.
4. Toms
Toms’ shoes very famously started with a mission to not only sell shoes but also provide shoes to those in need. From a small start-up, Toms grew to be one of the most recognizable shoe companies in the world.
You’ll notice in their web design they still find ways to incorporate simple graphics that reinforce their mission and, in turn, their brand. Pictured on their homepage, you’ll see a black and white ribbon reading “1/3 OF PROFITS FOR GRASSROOTS GOOD.” When creating your online store, find ways to incorporate clear messaging like this that reinforces your story.
5. JetBoil
Your ideal webshop design should reflect the look or feel of your products.
JetBoil does just that with a simple and memorable color palette. JetBoil’s fuel tanks and many of its other products are black with orange and white accents. As you can see in their web design, they’ve chosen a black background with white text and orange accents. It’s the perfect way to give your website the personality of your product.
6. Dyson
Dyson’s ecommerce website design is interesting for a couple of reasons. First, unlike Bombas, Dyson has grown into such a familiar brand that they’ve chosen to focus their homepage on new products instead of their bellwether vacuum cleaners. Once your business is big enough, you may not need to lean on your existing lines to prop up new product launches.
Dyson also uses moving imagery instead of photography. On their homepage pictured above, a woman is actively demonstrating their new flat iron as the camera flips from various close-ups on the product in use. Video imagery on your homepage can be an eye-catching feature for online businesses trying to make a lasting impression.
7. Kajabi
Kajabi is a great example of what types of digital products to sell in ecommerce and how to market them effectively using web design.
Kajabi sells course-building software for entrepreneurs looking to create and sell online courses. As you can see, their web design is sleek, professional, and informative. You’ll notice Kajabi showcases their free trial and demonstration. If you’re selling digital products or services, customers who are offered a free trial are much more likely to convert into paying subscribers.
8. Allbirds
Allbirds is another example of an ecommerce website design that leverages its mission to drive business. Even in their sparse text, they choose to call attention to the eco-friendly nature of their shoes.
By incorporating outdoor photography of their products in use, they connect their environmental mission to their customer. Plus, Allbirds’ site is simple and easy to navigate.
9. BarkBox
BarkBox has capitalized on the popular ecommerce trend of subscription boxes. What started with grooming products from companies like Dollar Shave Club has evolved into a major industry with companies like Stitch Fix, BirchBox, and Scentbird staking their claim.
BarkBox’s ecommerce website design prioritizes conversion by offering how-to tutorials, free offers, and discounted subscriptions. Users unfamiliar with the subscription box trend can easily click through the process of selecting their themed boxes for each month.
10. MVMT
No matter what type of ecommerce business you run, your homepage should always showcase your goods or services in a clear, impactful way. That’s exactly what MVMT has done with their homepage.
A variety of both men’s and women’s watches are pictured in a way that resembles a display case. Immediately you get a feel for the different options of watches available to you while still maintaining a simple, cohesive feel.
11. Bloomscape
Bloomscape sells plants and plant care tools, and their website content is focused on making gardening accessible. For beginner plant owners, Bloomscape features video clips of how their products ship and how to care for plants. The video clips keep users engaged and interested in Bloomscape’s products.
The use of white background compliments the vibrant greens from their plant selection. As a business owner, you can almost never go wrong with high-resolution photographs of your products up against a white background.
12. Purple
The best ecommerce websites establish a value proposition. A value proposition is an innovative or unique aspect of your product that can win customers. Purple is a prime example.
Their ecommerce website leans on their colorful name and product, they call attention to their grid technology that makes their mattresses so comfortable. By using photos and videos of what’s actually inside their products, customers begin to understand what makes a specific product in a saturated market so special.
13. Snarky Tea
Snarky Tea is a growing brand featuring teas for detox and other wellness benefits. They effectively use media callouts on their homepage, citing appearances on Shark Tank, Bravo, and in Vogue.
As a growing business, make sure to incorporate media presence into your ecommerce website design as a form of social proof. If visitors to your site see a name they recognize, they will be more likely to trust your brand (and convert into a paying customer!).
14. DJI
DJI is one of the world’s premier manufacturers of civilian drones, a rapidly growing trend. Their innovative ecommerce website design features stunning photography and video footage.
Most of the video footage used on their website has been taken by DJI drones, which is a great way to show prospective customers what they can expect from their products. Users get a feel for how the products function and which drones take different kinds of footage. It’s hard to visit this site and not want a drone.
15. Oura
Oura is a phenomenal example of a simple ecommerce website that highlights one specific product. The Oura Ring tracks your sleep quality and can monitor many important health indicators.
The use of deep blues and sleek typography gives off a feeling of relaxation and comfort, which is ideal for customers seeking better sleep.
16. Ritual
Ritual makes vitamins simple, and their website reflects that. Ritual’s webshop design is characterized by bold, bright yellows. Their close-up photos of their vitamins leave users wanting to reach out and touch them. Evoking a tactile experience in your imagery can be a great design technique.
Different Types of Design Elements for Ecommerce Stores
The ideal ecommerce website design is a combination of different design elements that come together to visualize your company’s purpose. To call attention to your products or services, take the following design elements into account when working on your site:
Structure and layout
High-resolution photography
Optimized video content
Unique, legible typography
Clear, concise copy
Persistent, relevant calls-to-action
Access the Best Ecommerce Website Examples with StoreBuilder
Building an ecommerce business depends on having a website that is fast, secure, and attractive. With StoreBuilder, you can create a unique, effective ecommerce website with no coding experience required. Simply select your ecommerce template to drag and drop your design elements.
With StoreBuilder, you can start and launch an ecommerce store. StoreBuilder’s AI and industry insights create a custom site for you. You don’t need any technical web knowledge, everything you need for ecommerce success is built-in.
Learn how StoreBuilder can help you launch a one-of-a-kind online store.
