6 Key Success Factors for Your Online Shop
What are the key issues that online retailers should resolve to prosper? We identified five key areas that will help you to enhance your profits.
Fake shops are created around the world every day. Are you totally sure your online shop doesn’t look like one? You might be surprised. There are quite a few common mistakes that even the most trustworthy sellers might not realise they’re doing. Today, we’ll look at some ways your online can build trust and leave little to no doubt about the integrity of your brand:
Your texts are poor (language)
The texts found throughout your website are really important for many reasons. Just to name a few:
- Texts (along with visual elements) help set the tone for your brand.
- Effective texts should deliver some SEO value to your pages.
- Good texts inform and convince your potential customers.
Using slang and niche terms can influence your audience, but bad grammar and spelling make your online shop look fake.
Therefore, if writing isn’t your greatest strength, it might make sense to get some professional help.
Did you know that some scammers purposefully use poor spelling in their emails and websites? The scammers know that people who respond to emails with bad grammar and spelling are more likely to fall for scams. It’s basically a targeting/filtering technique.
If your texts sound like Borat wrote them, it will make the best impression... not!
Your page design is bad
As we said, the text works hand in hand with the design of your shop to set a tone for your brand. If your page doesn’t look relatively modern, it makes your online business look like a fake shop.
It begins with your navigation (i.e. top menu) and continues all the way down to your footer (and everything in between).
Your product categories need to make sense. Your homepage can’t be too cluttered. Your product pages need to have enough product images. Your models need to reflect your brand.
With the right design, your target audience will identify with the brand and automatically trust your shop more.
Your domain name is strange
A domain name can give off a negative impression as well. Admittedly, this can be a bit subjective so your judgment will be required. Here are a few things to keep in mind:
Some domain names might be “too long”. There may be some SEO value in it, but they can also make your shop appear fake. For example, if the domain has words like “discount”, “warehouse”, or “deals” in it, this might be a red flag for online shoppers.
Using a brand name you are not officially a part of. If you connect your online shop to a specific brand, you may be violating some copyright laws. Secondly, this could be another red flag to online shoppers. Nike doesn’t have a website called “best-nike-deals.com”, so many people will be turned off by a domain name like that.
Recommended reading:
How to Change Domains without Losing Your SEO Strength
Your prices are too low
Pricing matters. Of course, people use the internet to go bargain-hunting and it can be a differentiator for many shoppers. If that’s something your business can do, more power to you.
Just keep in mind that lowering your prices too much can raise suspicions and make your online shop look fake. If you’re offering a temporary sale or discount, make sure it’s clear so users know why your prices are so low. You could, for example, add a banner at the top of every product page or in your navigation.
If your business strategy involves discounts, make it a part of your brand’s story. Explain how you get your discounts or why you’re willing to sell your products at such a low price point.
It’s important to keep an eye on competitor prices and adjust yours accordingly. Don’t go too high, but don’t go way below your nearest competitor’s price either.
Payment methods are off-putting
Do you sell internationally? Your payment methods should reflect the preferences of the audience you’re selling to.
This means your checkout should include the popular ones, but avoid the ones that are completely unknown in this market. At the very least, don’t offer these payment methods as the first option. This can make your e-commerce business look like a fake shop.
Tpay and Blik are very popular payment options in the Polish market, but putting them in the first position in a UK shop might make your shop look suspicious to first-time visitors.
Recommended reading:
Localisation: Preparing Your Online Shop to Sell Abroad
You're missing trust elements
There are a some subtle ways and some not-so-subtle ways to win and lose trustworthiness in your online shop. Let’s talk about some of them now.
Shutterstock/Antonio Guillem
Customer reviews
Customer reviews are one of the most important trust-building elements for online shoppers. Whether, it’s product reviews or service reviews, consumers look for customer reviews to help guide their purchase decision, so if you don’t have any implemented on your site, get on it! Not having customer reviews easily found on your site makes your shop look fake.
Tip: Google separates service reviews from product reviews in the way they’re displayed in Google search results. Learn more by downloading our whitepaper:
What’s important to remember is that your shop probably has an online reputation on Google and other search engines whether you actively collect reviews or not. Google OneBox, Google Shopping, Google Maps all display reviews that are sourced from Google-partnered review platforms (like Trusted Shops).
Many of these review platforms create shop profiles that collect and display customer reviews for these brands, even if they haven’t been set up by the brand itself. That’s why it’s so important to be proactive when it comes to your online reputation. Ideally, collect enough for your website, but disperse a certain percentage to the other review platforms, like Trusted Shops, Trustpilot or Google Customer Reviews.
Trust-building solutions like the Reputation Manager can help improve your online reputation across multiple platforms and review providers. Learn more here.
If you do already collect customer reviews, it’s also important to make sure you’re collecting enough of them. Studies have shown that both the total number of reviews as well as the recency of reviews have an impact on how trustworthy they are. That means you should be aiming for a constant stream of incoming customer reviews.
(Click on the example to enlarge)
(Source: Meaco)
In the example above, the shop displays its service reviews in the Trusted Shops widget on the lower-right side of the screen throughout the website. Meanwhile, the online shop has also collected a large number of product reviews, which you can read when scrolling down the product page.
One last note on customer reviews: it’s always good to address negative reviews. Customers love to see a brand respond to customer reviews publicly. In fact, this holds true for positive reviews as well. So, with a constant influx of reviews and corresponding responses, your brand communicates that your customer service team is on point and doing their job well.
Return policies
Is your returns policy clear and easy to find? Are they on your product pages? What about your footer? If they’re not easy to find, it can make your shop look fake.
Online shopping and returns go hand in hand. It can be a deciding factor for whether people complete a purchase or not. So, whatever your policy is, from free returns to an extended returns period, make sure to communicate it somewhere. Even, if you aren’t doing anything unique, transparency still counts when it comes to building trust.
Recommended reading:
Reducing the Return Rate in the Online Fashion Industry
Trustmarks, certifications & awards
Depending on the industry you work in, you may want to make certain trustmarks or certifications visible to your audience.
- If you aim to be a “green business”, make sure you are showing the appropriate certifications (e.g. Vegan, Fairtrade).
- Are you a licensed retailer for certain products or brands? If the original manufacturer provides such a certification, show it off in your footer (or a dedicated page).
- Has your shop won any awards? Highlight them as well.
- Do you have any other 3rd party accreditation? Show them prominently.
Displaying the Trusted Shops Trustmark & Buyer Protection lets online shoppers know that their purchases are protected for 30 days for lawful returns or non-delivery. Learn more here.
Contact info
Is your contact info easy to find? A transparent company makes sure its customers (or potential ones) can get in touch with them easily. Not having contact info easily found makes your shop seem suspicious.
Whether it’s a telephone number, email address, contact form, chatbot, or all of the above, make sure it’s prominent. Let customers know that you are there to answer any of their questions before, during, and after the purchase.
Conclusion
The thing you want is for your online shop to look like a fake shop. By actively communicating your trustworthiness, you will create more confidence in your shop. A few small steps and a couple bigger ones can lead to a dramatic improvement in the first impression you make with new shoppers.
