Are you planning to multiply the ROI of your business? Then, get started with the mobile-friendly e-Commerce website infused with the latest nine must-have functionalities.
In 2022, the e-Commerce website has become a mighty toy for SMEs and MSMEs – cheers to the soaring counts of online shoppers!
In India, more than 19,000+ registered eCommerce companies are actively executing and setting their foot in the global market. However, not all of them are successful.
If you want to prevent yourself from getting counted to this unsuccessful tribe, connect with Get Catalyzed, the e-commerce website development company in Jaipur for professional help regarding website development.
Is an e-Commerce Website Important for your product business?
If it ever struck you, don’t give it any further thought! Running a business without having a channel to help you with networking is like toying around with money. When investing your capital in a business, you expect a multiplied ROI, not forfeitures.
To begin with, seemingly, India is a developing nation. Consequently, billions of dollars of investments are being made. In fact, in 2020, about 74,7 billion dollars in revenue was generated in the country through big shots like – Amazon, Flipkart, Swiggy, Zomato, Bigbasket, and many more.
The e-Commerce industry is expanding consistently. After the success of these e-Commerce websites, many businesses are adopting the same path to meet their expected ROI.
Besides, in 2020, the availability of the internet and smartphones ensured a whopping rate of native online buyers, which is 167.8 million. That is expected to increase to 214 million by the end of 2022.
Hopefully, you got your answer!
But how to build an e-Commerce website that boosts your business?
Read ahead to know more…
The 9 Must-Have Basic Features of an eCommerce Website in 2022
You can build a great-looking website with minimal effort thanks to the following must-haves functionalities:
1. Responsive website design
Responsive design is a type of web design that ensures webpages are displayed with proper dimensions across a wide variety of devices, including smartphones, tablets, laptops, and desktops.
More than half of all website traffic now comes from mobile devices; besides, 61% of consumers are more likely to buy from mobile-friendly sites.
Statistics show that during the pandemic, within a span of 6 months, 79% of e-Commerce purchases were made by smartphone users. Mobile-optimized websites and applications are proven successful strategies.
Tips to make your website mobile-ready:
- Test Your Site Using Google’s Mobile-Friendly Tool
- Test Your Website’s Core Web Vitals
- Redesign Your Pop-ups for Mobile Devices
- Choose Responsive Themes and Plugins
- Use Custom CSS to Make Your Website Responsive
- Improve Your Site’s Loading Times
- Create a Mobile Application
- Choose a Reliable Web Host
2. User-friendly navigation
User navigation is the map, directions and route a user takes to find the information they are seeking on a website or app.
If your users can’t quickly find what they need on your eCommerce site, then chances are less for them to scroll your page or even lesser of purchasing something. Convenient and easy-to-use navigation is the thing that can’t be left out!
Tips to make a user-friendly navigation website:
- Keep it Simple but Don’t Overdo Minimalism
- Clear Hierarchical Structure
- Embrace Predictability
- Keep it Consistent
- Include a Sitemap
- Make it Manageable
- Link the Logo to the Homepage
- Provide More than One Navigation Menu
- Always Include a Search Bar
3. Multiple security features
Website Security is a way of protecting the websites and web application from being hacked or any unauthorized access, done by creating an extra layer of a protection measure and protocol that helps mitigate the attacks.
Are you aware that maximum online breaches occur on eCommerce websites? Hence, to ensure the safety of your business and your customers, employ multiple security features.
Tips for applying security features to your website:
- Use HTTPS
- Get an SSL certificate
- Perform regular SQL checks
- Monitor what you download and integrate
- Leave payment and data processing to the experts
- Keep your website updated and patched
- Scan For Malware
- Regularly back up your website data
- Get and use a website application firewall
- Ask For A CVV Number
4. Proper shopping cart and checkout buttons
A Shopping cart is a powerful tool that is used by e-Commerce portals to maintain and record all the products a buyer chooses to purchase from the shopping portal. And checkout buttons lead the buyer through a checkout process with an ease-of-use design.
When dynamic checkout buttons are seen on the product page, the buyer skips the cart page and is directed to the checkout flow.
An optimized shopping cart will ensure a more significant revenue as it will render the customers fast service, trustworthy payments, and seamless checkout. Not only this, but it would also allow the customer to have a preview of their orders before confirming the order.
Suppose your customer faces any sort of inconvenience while placing an order. In that case, there is a higher chance that their purchasing decision from your website can get disrupted. However, such inconvenience leads to cart abandonment.
Tips for adding a shopping cart and checkout buttons to your website:
- Summary of Products Added to Cart
- Option to Remove the product
- Option to “Edit”
- “Save for later” or add to Wishlist
- Promo Code Bar
- Order Summary
- Checkout button
- Payment Options Accepted
- Continue Shopping Button
- Product Recommendations
- Share cart
5. Offers multiple payment options
Offering shoppers multiple payment options is likely to boost your conversion rates while encouraging customer loyalty.
You will want to offer multiple payment options for your customers to choose what works best for them when purchasing from your store. This can include accepting EWallets, Credit cards, Bank Transfers, Debit Cards, PayPal, Mobile payments, Cash on Delivery, Cryptocurrency, and many more.
Tips to add multiple payment options to your website:
- Gather the documents needed
- Assess the payment portal services offered by your web host
- Selecting a Payment Portal
- Compare Fees & Service Charges
- Integrate The Payment Portal
- Create A Merchant Account
6. Detailed shipping and return information
The e-commerce website must offer detailed information regarding the shipping process, cancellation process, return information, including tracking number and delivery time.
An e-commerce website is all about delivering the best possible customer experience. This means having detailed shipping and return policy is critical to ensuring that your customers don’t have to deal with surprises. For example, clearly outline what happens if a customer returns an item, how long they have to return it and how much they will be charged for doing so. Also, ensure you clearly communicate how many days your products take to arrive after being shipped.
Tips to add detailed shipping to your website:
- Free Shipping
- Flat Rate Shipping
- Real-Time Carrier Rates
Tips to add the return information to your website:
- Your eCommerce returns policy should be easy to find
- Include clear deadlines in your eCommerce return policy
- Accept eCommerce returns via shipment or store, if you have one
- Make return labels easy to print
- Pay for free return shipping
- Illustrate your returns process
- Understand the laws governing returns
7. High-quality photos and videos
A high-quality photo or video is a great way to showcase your products and make them look more appealing. It makes a better first impression and can help you generate more sales from social media platforms.
For example, suppose you have beautiful images of your products displayed in your store. Then, customers will be more likely to click through to see what they’re getting into when they place an order with you.
Tips to add high-quality photos and videos:
- Get familiar with different file types.
- Get the image and video file size right to increase conversions
- Name your files correctly to improve SEO
- Keep your site accessible to all customers with alt tags
- Use sitemaps to get your images noticed by Google
- Optimise your thumbnails to drive upsells
- Capture both the technical and aesthetic aspects of images and videos
8. Contact page with multiple support options
An e-commerce website should include a contact form so customers can easily contact you if they have any questions about your products or services.
You should also include multiple customer contact options, from phone numbers, email addresses, live chat support, etc. Hence, they have plenty of ways to reach out to you if needed.
Tips to add a contact page with multiple contact options to your website:
- Keep it simple.
- Offer multiple contact options.
- Encourage customers to self-serve.
- Make it customer-centric.
- Provide reassurance.
- Maintain your brand voice.
- Include a CTA.
- Use social proof
9. Create an omnichannel platform
Omnichannel platform gives your customers a seamless, integrated and personalized experience where they can shop effortlessly.
The omnichannel platform provides customers with more seamless experiences. Besides, increase brand recognition and create individualised experiences progressively.
Tips for creating an omnichannel platform strategy:
- Segment your audience
- Map your customer’s journey
- Choose your marketing platforms
- Match your content with the marketing channel
- Establish your brand online
- Invest in the right tools
- Take advantage of shoppable posts
- Streamline your checkout process across all platforms
- Provide cross-channel customer support
- Retarget abandoned carts
- Keep your customer’s data secured
- Personalise your paid ads
- Collect and evaluate your customer data
Get the best eCommerce Website Development services in Jaipur
As you can see, there are a lot of must-have features to include in an eCommerce website. Since the market is developing so rapidly, you should incorporate all of them. You can outsource professional eCommerce website development to a website development company if you don’t have technical expertise for it.
Read More: Best LinkedIn Marketing Strategy to leverage your B2B Brand