Time To Tune Up The Online Store

Before the holiday, winter rush, its time to shore up the company’s online store.
Whether  peddling pet clothes, furniture, or even medical essentials, online vendors are going to see a surge in orders as the pandemic holiday crush arrives.
That’s why Mike Metz, the CEO of FATFREE, a full service digital marketing agency, thinks it is important to consider the following ahead of the rush.
Make It Easy, Make It Clean: Making your store look good is easier than ever these days. Websites like Squarespace or Shopify are fairly painless ways to create seamless, slick online stores from existing templates. If you’ve got a developer on hand, even better as plugins greatly enhance the power and ease-of-use of your website.
Whichever route you take or have already taken, double check to ensure the order process is simple, quick, and seamless. Churn the peanut butter and go through the process yourself to make sure the road to check out is less than four clicks.  Make sure all the information your customer needs, like photos, specs, and reviews are skimmable on one page.  Choose the product, add delivery or pickup address, billing information, and you should be at the end.
If you’re currently asking customers to sign up for an account or email list, or bouncing them in and out of their cart every time they add an item, you’re likely to lose a chunk of potential sales. These offers can be placed at the end of the checkout or in the order confirmation email.
Consider A Subscription Service: Everything from household goods to whiskey flights have adopted the subscription-based model. Monster brands like Amazon rely heavily on committed monthly refills of goods like toilet paper and soap, while smaller companies like coffee and pet food providers are starting to see the benefits of subscribed customers. Not only can it lower the costs for both you and your customers, it can help predict future income and give your business valuable insight into your own inventory needs.
Upgrade Your Server Capacity: We’ve all been there. You go through all the steps to grab your favorite on-sale item, get to the check out, and are hit with an error message. It’s not uncommon these days for websites to collapse under increased demand. Some customers may try a second or third time, but many will give up after the first. Check with your website host and see if there’s other tiers you can upgrade your service to. Often you can pay more to accommodate increased data usage and processing power, and you can quickly cover that cost by creating a shopping experience your customers are happy to repeat.
Provide Support: Ok, so you’ve made sure your warehouse is stocked, upgraded your server, and provided a seamless checkout process for your customers. No matter how much work you put in, something will eventually go wrong. Be sure to provide access to customer service for your customers, whether that’s an easy-to-find phone number, a designated chat bot on the website, or contact information provided with the order confirmation email. Even if something goes wrong, a helpful and eager solution can actually enhance the customer’s perception of your business.

Mike Metz is the CEO of FATFREE, a full service digital marketing agency providing lean solutions for businesses of all sizes.  If you would like an evaluation of your e-commerce site to be sure you’re ready for the holiday shopping season, email mike@fatftee.co