Running a successful e-commerce business is not a walk in the park, especially when you're trying to build a brand from scratch. Just generating traffic to your digital storefront can take weeks of extensive research and research. And once you manage to scrape some pageviews here and there, you also have to deal with the frustrating moment when you finally get an inquiry - just never hear from them again. Don't worry, it's all part of growing up . As an aspiring e-commerce entrepreneur, you need to accept that many things won't go according to plan. For example, designing a landing page is inherently a hit-and-miss affair. You may have used a ready-made page template that is "pre-configured" for conversions, but unless you give it a try, you really can't tell if it's right for your brand. At the end of the day, your best bet is to understand the key elements of a successful ecommerce website , piece them together, and monitor their impact over time. Only then can you develop and perfect a truly profitable strategy for your ecommerce website. To give you a head start, here are 6 essential components of a high converting online store and the best way to implement them: 1. A punchy headline One of the first elements people see when visiting a website is the title, which is similar to a book cover judged by sight. To make sure it grabs the attention of your target audience, it has to be impactful and concise.
More importantly, it should be visible above the fold — not overshadowed by busy-looking images or a mess of distractions. Here are some tips you should keep in mind when creating a header for your ecommerce website: Try to write to the end Sometimes a killer headline is something you can only come up with after looking at your portfolio . You can now use a temporary title to describe what you intend to make your store look like, such as "The Best Online Store for Mountaineering Gear " or " One Stop Shop for Professional Anglers . " Use a subheading Since you don't need to write a full paragraph for your title, you can add a subheading that gives your audience more context about what you offer as a brand. This may change seasonally or match specific events, such as Thanksgiving and Mother's Day. Writing Multiple Variations Even with the most talented industry mailing list in the world, it's nearly impossible to nail down a title on the first try—mostly because you can always make up better titles in the future. That is, create a list of potential headline ideas and give noteworthy ideas a fair shot. 2. Search bar For an online store, it sounds like it might be beneficial if your visitors can see more of your catalog. But in terms of experience, it's a terrible idea to leave them with just a navigation menu to get around. Always remember that the customers most likely to convert are those who already know what they want. You just need to provide them with a fully functional search bar to remove friction from their online shopping experience. The good news is that most ecommerce platforms have a built-in search bar that does this automatically in most layouts. On the other hand, content management systems like WordPress support plugins that allow you to integrate these features into any theme. 3.
Daily Deals While some customers already know what they're looking for, others can use referrals or special offers to get into buying mode. That's why many ecommerce sites have a "Deals of the Day" section to spur conversions by adding exclusivity and urgency to the mix. (Image credit: Watch World ) The main advantage of daily deals is their versatility. You can use it as an opportunity to showcase products that are not selling well, take advantage of certain trends that are affecting demand, and more. The Offers section can also coincide with shopping holidays, such as Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Remember to add a sense of urgency by setting a deadline or showing how much inventory is left. 4. Buttery smooth performance When it comes to getting customers into buying mode, there's one thing that can single-handedly get them out of the woods: long load times. According to statistics, 40% of online shoppers will leave a website that takes more than 3 seconds to load. Almost half of your potential customers leave before they have a chance to see your product. If you want to improve your site's loading speed, your first priority is to run a full assessment on Google PageSpeed Insights, which automatically scans for all performance-related issues and gives you instructions on how to fix them. For online stores catering to an international audience, a typical strategy is to use a content delivery network or CDN to increase loading speed. It works by letting users download cached web data from the nearest proxy server. 5. Customer Reviews As an emerging e-commerce brand, winning the trust of the target audience is a big obstacle. You can't expect them to hand over their hard-earned money to a company they barely know.
If you want to convert them into paying customers, you must first prove that you can deliver to earn their trust. This is where customer reviews and testimonials go. Statistics show that 97% of consumers consider customer reviews when making a purchasing decision. 85% of them would trust them as much as personal recommendations from family and friends. (Image credit: Justforfishing.com ) 6. CTAs At this point, you now have enough elements to engage your audience and convince them of your brand values. Suffice it to say, all you need now is a single element of a deal. That's what a CTA or call to action is for. Simply put, a CTA gives the audience the final shot to take action. It is usually implemented as a button with the words "Buy Now", "Start Free Trial", etc. Many ecommerce brands also use CTAs designed to generate leads for mailing lists, which is a great approach if you want to maximize traffic value.