6 Key Success Factors for Your Online Shop

success factors for online shops

Increasing conversion rates, sales and online visibility are some of the most recurrent topics for online shops owners. What are the key success factors that online retailers should tackle in order to drive more profits? Which factors lead to success? We've identified six areas that will help you boost your profits and increase traffic to your website.

1. Offer attractive products

It probably goes without saying, but let’s say it anyway: the quality of your products will always be an important factor in your shop's success. And it may seem obvious, but this is something that can be overlooked over time.

Keeping an eye on customer satisfaction is crucial here. After all, products can become out of date. Manufacturers change small things in their products all the time; sometimes having a huge impact on the quality of the product.

Making sure customers are remaining happy with your products is very important for the reputation and integrity of your shop. And this is yet another reason customer reviews are so important for your shop. Not only do you share real feedback from real customers (a real trust-builder), but you can actually keep track of the quality of your products.

The vacuum cleaner being reviewed below has a great overall product rating. However, a lot of recent reviews complained about the battery life. It might be time for the seller to investigate whether the quality of the product has been reduced. If so, the seller may want to stop selling this product altogether.

negative-reviews

2. Identify a niche audience

Many online shops aim to reach a niche audience, which can be difficult to reach in a high street store. Niche audiences can be quite finicky, depending on the industry.

However, if you can tap into this audience, they can also be very loyal and very willing spenders.

Speaking of finicky yet loyal...

a cat wearing a top hat

Hats for cats! Now that is a niche product for a niche audience!
(Shutterstock/vvvita)

Building connections and relationships with a niche audience can be challenging, but it can also be worth the effort. Everything about your website should connect to this group, from the texts you provide to the product images. Your company's branding can be very important here.

Even if you don't serve a very specific niche, it still makes sense to segment your audience. Whether you run social media ads or email campaigns, if you have a wide variety of clients, you should consider segmenting your marketing efforts to reach those different groups.

In such cases, it makes sense to figure out who your target group(s) really are. You can figure this out by creating a buyer persona.

3. Drive traffic to your site

Increasing online visibility is incredibly important to the success of your online shop.

In the physical world, business owners often agree that there are three main factors that can really determine your shop's success: location, location, and location.

Recommended reading:
Digital Strategies to Boost Foot Traffic to Local Businesses

What that means is high foot traffic areas are important in the physical world.

The digital world, however, works a bit differently. In a way, you can create your own "location" by working on your site's visibility. However, this requires some strategic efforts on your part.

Figuring out the appropriate marketing strategies will help you attract more visitors to your online shop. Arguably, the most important strategy is Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), which delivers free traffic to your website through search engine results pages (SERPs). Ranking high in Google for important keywords and search terms can guarantee a steady flow of daily traffic to your site.

However, some other important strategies include keyword advertising (SEA), email marketing, partner programmes as well as public relations actions.

Want to improve the SEO on your product pages? Get our Product page SEO Checklist!

Product Page SEO Checklist

Are your product pages optimised for SEO?

Download checklist

4. Increase conversions with appropriate usability

So many things can impact a user's purchase decision. Their user experience on your site is also an important factor. Online shopping has been around for well over 20 years. With that in mind, online shoppers have become accustomed to certain online shop features that are considered universal and must-haves at this point:

It's recommended to go through your website's customer journey every once in a while. Make sure that completing a purchase runs smoothly and that there are no unnecessary pages and steps, particularly during the checkout process.

Go through your product pages. Ask yourself the following questions:

  • Does the page provide enough information for the consumer to make an informed decision?
  • Are there enough product images?
  • Do you display product reviews?
  • Are your product descriptions providing the details users want?

mistakes in online shops whitepaper

5. Boost confidence with serious references

Confidence is key in e-commerce. Building trust can be a challenge for smaller shops since they are relatively unknown to the general public. On top of that, products cannot been touched in the digital world. Therefore, payment and data privacy are mostly considered as a risk to many shoppers who find themselves in an unknown shop. You have to give the consumer the ultimate peace of mind in order to convert a visitor into a buyer.

man holding a key

Shutterstock/KJ_Digital

That is why collecting customer reviews is so important for your business. Every review you collect and display is like a mini testimonial for your shop. Marketing buzzwords and flashy design can help get you many shoppers, but nothing helps convert customers quite like a slew of customer reviews.

Displaying appropriate third-party certifications (e.g. the Trusted Shops Trustmark) and offering a Buyer Protection will definitely help you seem more credible as well.

If you're a B2B business, you might want to consider showing some of your best clients or even creating a case study or two to help build confidence in your business.

6. Guarantee perfect customer service

Good customer service goes a long way these days. This can really benefit you in multiple ways. For example, when a user has a good customer service experience, they are going to remember that next time they have a similar purchase to make.

We've all been consumers at some point. When you have an easy, smooth, and helpful customer service experience, it is a huge relief and something that sticks with you.

A good customer service experience can also inspire good reviews. On top of that, they may also lead to negative reviews being edited/updated, which can be another trust-builder for your customer service team and your brand in general.

Recommended reading:
7 Tips for Improving the Customer Service of Your Online Shop

Outside of customer service, you should make sure your logistics provider is working properly. Deliver your products in a timely way (as was communicated through your website).

Provide shipping status information and return process information. This lack of transparency can affect your customer loyalty, too.

Conclusion

A lot of different factors lead to an online shop's success. Keeping an overview of your website and the consumer journey while also implementing technical strategies (like SEO) is paramount to increasing conversions.

For more information about how Trusted Shops can help your online shop build trust and increase conversions, contact us today!

18/12/24
Alon Eisenberg

Alon Eisenberg

Alon Eisenberg has been the Content Manager UK at Trusted Shops since 2017. He graduated from Boston University with a Bachelor's degree in Communications in 2004.

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