The online store attracts money now and in the future. Simply put, you can no longer make do with just a physical store, and running an online store has become essential for almost every business. At the same time, the competition for income through the network is intensifying.
If your intention is to set up an online store or increase the sales of an existing store, it may not necessarily be the easiest thing to do at the moment. At least when you don't know what you're doing. Today, you really need to invest in an online store if you want to conduct successful business online. As an entrepreneur and online retailer, you therefore need to know or at least understand what makes a good online store and what all things make an online store succeed.
In this article, we have listed the eight most important things that unite all good online stores. When your online store handles each of these, we can guarantee that even your competitors' customers will start buying from your online store.
Let's move on to the checklist for a good online store without further ado!
1. The online store is designed from the customer's perspective
Even if your product range is of the highest quality, very wide or you offer a certain product almost exclusively in Finland, the customer still may not want to buy from you. If this is the case at the moment, the reason is probably that the online store was not designed with the customer in mind.
Then you are transferring the potential cash flow you had in your hands to your competitor.
A bad online store only gives potential customers reasons not to buy. If it is even slightly difficult or annoying to use, or if the information the customer needs is not easily found, the customer will likely decide that the purchase is not worth the effort.
Conversely, a good online store only gives reasons to buy. In a good online store, customer needs are considered at a broader level, barriers to purchasing are removed, and the buying process is made smooth.
In other words, buying is made as easy and quick as possible.
If, for example, making a purchase requires a minimal number of clicks and the online store is clear for the customer to navigate, then the execution is partly successful. It is also worth utilizing a search tool so that finding products is even easier for the customer.
Another important thing is the loading time of the online store.
If a page or individual content takes more than two seconds to load, this will likely drive most people away from your online store, so the issue should be addressed immediately.
Sometimes speeding up the loading time is as simple as switching to a faster hosting service. Make sure also to check the hosting service for any traffic ceilings.
However, often achieving optimal speed requires trimming unnecessary items from the online store, for example by cleaning up the code, optimizing content, and removing unnecessary plugins.
2. Product images and product texts are of high quality
It's understandable to want to save on product pictures and texts by making them yourself. There's nothing wrong with that if the online merchant is a skilled photographer and writer. If this is not the case, it may be optimal to outsource to a professional.
Poor-quality images constitute a barrier to purchase and create an unprofessional impression of your business. This does not send the desired message to the customer. The customer may well think that if even the pictures have not been invested in, the product cannot be of high quality.
Product images and texts play an especially important role in an online store because the customer cannot test the product beforehand, feel its material, or inspect the product's quality as they can in a physical store. Sometimes even assessing the product's color and size can be difficult from behind a screen.
Therefore, good online stores make sure that all the information the customer needs to make a purchase decision is clear from the pictures and texts.
However, there's no need to list all possible product features or write a novel that no one has the patience to read. Still, all the most important features and benefits should be conveyed through the images and texts.
In addition to using persuasive texts and quality pictures in an online store, you should optimize them for search engines and findability. There's a wealth of tips on this online for those interested. Additionally, product listings definitely should utilize videos and customer reviews.
Images, texts, and videos can be produced by the online merchant themselves, an advertising agency, or a freelance professional. Hiring an employee is also an option if there are many products or the matter is timely.
It doesn't matter who creates the content, as long as the end result is of high quality.
3. Checkout progression is easy and quick
In a good online store, the customer's journey from the shopping cart to payment is completed without unnecessary detours. If an exceptional number of shopping carts are abandoned in your online store, it is often because the checkout process is too complicated.
The following measures can help ensure that the purchase is more likely to be completed:
A simple checkout makes payment easy and quick. The checkout process should be limited to one page, which is decluttered as simple as possible. Even headings and menus might be sensibly removed from checkout, so there is no wandering off. Customers should also not be exhausted or frightened by asking for unnecessary information not usually required to complete an order.
Removing the obligation to register. If ordering requires creating an account, it is an additional stage for the customer and invariably an obstacle to completing the purchase. The threshold to buy should definitely be lowered by removing the compulsory registration from the online store. You can always give the option to register to those who want to do so.
Clearly stating delivery costs. All costs to be taken out of the customer's pocket, whether they are postage, taxes, or other fees, should always be announced in the shopping cart before proceeding to checkout. Surprise costs that appear only after entering information are a sure way to get the customer to abandon the shopping cart, even in situations where the order is of higher value than the costs in question.
The right payment options. Finns overwhelmingly prefer online banking, debit cards, and credit cards for payment, so domestic market traders should have these payment methods available. You might also consider installment and invoice payment options, MobilePay, PayPal, Apple Pay, etc.
4. The online store is easily found in search engines
A good online store is optimized for search engines at least at the basic level so that potential customers can easily find it.
In principle, a well-executed online store is already partly search engine optimized because the technology already works well. If quality content has also been produced, visibility in search engines can be at a good level, even if the online store hasn't been specifically focused on optimization.
A bad online store, on the other hand, is not at all optimal for people or search engines. Usually, this type of store falls in visibility depending on advertisements, which is not profitable in the long or even short term, since advertising costs money and no one buys from a bad online store.
A search engine optimized online store, on the other hand, does not need to be advertised at all if you don't want to, as it appears with the right terms and at the top of the search results.
Search engine optimization includes three different areas. Internal optimization covers the online store's content (keywords, metadata, URLs, and internal linking), external optimization return links (links leading to your online store from elsewhere), and technical optimization technical factors such as speed, usability, responsiveness, and code. In a well-planned online store, the latter is therefore already polished to perfection.
If this is not the case, the online merchant has a lot to do. If the technology bends and there is time and interest, you can learn to do everything yourself. There are also instructions online for this, especially for those who can learn the topic in English.
However, it is often more sensible to outsource optimization to a specialist company that can achieve results quickly and surely.
Experts also follow best practices in the field and know how to avoid so-called black-hat techniques that can quickly get an online store on Google's blacklist. If you still intend to do or are doing optimization yourself, it is worth seeking more information on the subject.
Maintaining good visibility also requires actions from the online store, as search engines continuously change their algorithms, and customers' search terms change over time. Things that work today may not work in two years or even two months.
However, offering the best possible user experience and providing quality and useful content are actions that cannot go wrong.
5. Investment has been made in usability and customer experience
Let's talk about the user experience. A good product alone does not guarantee sales if the customer's experience with the online store is not good.
As we discussed earlier, the user experience should be seamless, i.e., as easy and fast as possible for the customer. It is also advisable to personalize the experience, as the more you show that you care about your customer by providing individualized service, the more positive it is, of course, for the customer.
When the entire purchasing path is tailored to the needs of the target customer, a positive experience is created, leading to a purchase, likely return to the online store, and recommendation to others. Investing in the best possible usability and customer experience in the online store, as well as elsewhere in business, is ultimately the factor that builds trust in your company and creates long-lasting customer relationships over the long run.
Good online stores probably already considered usability and customer experience during the design phase, which is the easiest time to implement it.
Customer experience can also be improved with automation. Automated communication is an effective way to connect with customers and remind them of the existence of the online store. You should not rely on it alone, though; the customer experience must be fine-tuned from within the online store.
In campaigns, focus on interesting content and offers, as well as a headline that entices the customer to open the message. It's also advisable to test different sending times at will. Customers may also appreciate being remembered on their special day with congratulations and, for example, a discount code.
For some, reminders of an abandoned shopping cart work well, for others less so. Such an email should remember to include a link that takes you straight back to the shopping cart.
Collecting reviews should definitely be automated, as there is no more effective sales tool than other people's recommendations.
However, make sure not to contact the customer too often or without permission. On the other hand, the interval between messages should not be too long, as the matter is often not relevant to the customer months or weeks later.
6. The online store functions flawlessly on mobile
A good online store is always ready to serve customers regardless of the device they arrive on.
Approximately more than 70 percent of customers use a phone or tablet for online shopping or for researching and comparing products before purchase. Often the same person will also visit from several different devices. Statistics show that an online store cannot afford to be anything other than mobile-friendly.
Make sure, therefore, that the design of your own online store is responsive, i.e., adaptable to all devices. This should happen without the customer having to do anything about it. Additionally, the store should run quickly on mobile.
This way, you won't lose a single sale because the customer is on the wrong device and cannot get the online store to work properly.
Nowadays, Google and other search engines greatly value mobile responsiveness, so a responsive online store is also found better in search results.
7. The online store's customer service is in order
Increasing contact requests can take you by surprise during peak seasons and when online store sales suddenly take off. The same can happen if several blunders occur unexpectedly.
The best way to keep customers satisfied is, of course, to prevent damage and the need for contact in the first place. However, the possibility of contact must always be available.
Many damages, such as selling out or incorrectly selling a product to a customer, are best prevented by implementing an ERP system (also in a small online store) and integrating it into the online store.
A good online store also has effective customer support that can be easily and quickly contacted if needed.
Sometimes the online store customer service is the store owner themselves. You can prepare for the busiest times by hiring help so that delivery and response times do not unreasonably delay, and not a single customer is left without service.
In addition, you can effectively prevent so-called unnecessary contacts and returns by answering customer questions on the website.
The customer should be able to easily find information related to products, delivery, returns, and other essential details of your operations with little effort. By providing this, you save both yourself and your customers time.
You can offer even more information in the form of downloadable user manuals or a blog, which is also an excellent way to increase search engine visibility.
However, the most critical issues should be summarized so that they are apparent to the customer just by glancing at the online store.
8. Bots as support for customer service and sales
Not everyone has the opportunity to hire labor, and not everyone wants to do so. In this case and otherwise, it is worth taking interactive bots for help with the online store, which are available to the customer 24/7.
Unfortunately, a chatbot does not completely handle customer service for you at the moment, but it can answer the most critical questions, which means that the online merchant's active work effort is not required quite as much. Of course, the merchant or customer service agent can also personally respond to the customer through the bot.
An advantage of the bot is that the customer can easily leave a message directly on the website, even outside normal business hours.
This can even increase the likelihood that you will be informed of a potential problem situation while it is still relevant and the customer relationship can be saved. The more often people report their problem and other sources of wonderment directly to your company, the more often you can react to the situation and restore trust in your online store. Keeping customers satisfied this way can also prevent unpleasant reviews that hinder future business.
All these eight characteristics are found in good online stores. So it's not an easy task but not impossible either. With professional help, the process, however, goes much faster and more smoothly.
If you need help setting up an online store or optimizing the operation of an existing one, contact us. Let's identify your growth goals together in a free meeting and how to achieve them. Do-it-yourself enthusiasts should also check out tips for getting your online store's conversions (sales) off the ground.
The online store attracts money now and in the future. Simply put, you can no longer make do with just a physical store, and running an online store has become essential for almost every business. At the same time, the competition for income through the network is intensifying.
If your intention is to set up an online store or increase the sales of an existing store, it may not necessarily be the easiest thing to do at the moment. At least when you don't know what you're doing. Today, you really need to invest in an online store if you want to conduct successful business online. As an entrepreneur and online retailer, you therefore need to know or at least understand what makes a good online store and what all things make an online store succeed.
In this article, we have listed the eight most important things that unite all good online stores. When your online store handles each of these, we can guarantee that even your competitors' customers will start buying from your online store.
Let's move on to the checklist for a good online store without further ado!
1. The online store is designed from the customer's perspective
Even if your product range is of the highest quality, very wide or you offer a certain product almost exclusively in Finland, the customer still may not want to buy from you. If this is the case at the moment, the reason is probably that the online store was not designed with the customer in mind.
Then you are transferring the potential cash flow you had in your hands to your competitor.
A bad online store only gives potential customers reasons not to buy. If it is even slightly difficult or annoying to use, or if the information the customer needs is not easily found, the customer will likely decide that the purchase is not worth the effort.
Conversely, a good online store only gives reasons to buy. In a good online store, customer needs are considered at a broader level, barriers to purchasing are removed, and the buying process is made smooth.
In other words, buying is made as easy and quick as possible.
If, for example, making a purchase requires a minimal number of clicks and the online store is clear for the customer to navigate, then the execution is partly successful. It is also worth utilizing a search tool so that finding products is even easier for the customer.
Another important thing is the loading time of the online store.
If a page or individual content takes more than two seconds to load, this will likely drive most people away from your online store, so the issue should be addressed immediately.
Sometimes speeding up the loading time is as simple as switching to a faster hosting service. Make sure also to check the hosting service for any traffic ceilings.
However, often achieving optimal speed requires trimming unnecessary items from the online store, for example by cleaning up the code, optimizing content, and removing unnecessary plugins.
2. Product images and product texts are of high quality
It's understandable to want to save on product pictures and texts by making them yourself. There's nothing wrong with that if the online merchant is a skilled photographer and writer. If this is not the case, it may be optimal to outsource to a professional.
Poor-quality images constitute a barrier to purchase and create an unprofessional impression of your business. This does not send the desired message to the customer. The customer may well think that if even the pictures have not been invested in, the product cannot be of high quality.
Product images and texts play an especially important role in an online store because the customer cannot test the product beforehand, feel its material, or inspect the product's quality as they can in a physical store. Sometimes even assessing the product's color and size can be difficult from behind a screen.
Therefore, good online stores make sure that all the information the customer needs to make a purchase decision is clear from the pictures and texts.
However, there's no need to list all possible product features or write a novel that no one has the patience to read. Still, all the most important features and benefits should be conveyed through the images and texts.
In addition to using persuasive texts and quality pictures in an online store, you should optimize them for search engines and findability. There's a wealth of tips on this online for those interested. Additionally, product listings definitely should utilize videos and customer reviews.
Images, texts, and videos can be produced by the online merchant themselves, an advertising agency, or a freelance professional. Hiring an employee is also an option if there are many products or the matter is timely.
It doesn't matter who creates the content, as long as the end result is of high quality.
3. Checkout progression is easy and quick
In a good online store, the customer's journey from the shopping cart to payment is completed without unnecessary detours. If an exceptional number of shopping carts are abandoned in your online store, it is often because the checkout process is too complicated.
The following measures can help ensure that the purchase is more likely to be completed:
A simple checkout makes payment easy and quick. The checkout process should be limited to one page, which is decluttered as simple as possible. Even headings and menus might be sensibly removed from checkout, so there is no wandering off. Customers should also not be exhausted or frightened by asking for unnecessary information not usually required to complete an order.
Removing the obligation to register. If ordering requires creating an account, it is an additional stage for the customer and invariably an obstacle to completing the purchase. The threshold to buy should definitely be lowered by removing the compulsory registration from the online store. You can always give the option to register to those who want to do so.
Clearly stating delivery costs. All costs to be taken out of the customer's pocket, whether they are postage, taxes, or other fees, should always be announced in the shopping cart before proceeding to checkout. Surprise costs that appear only after entering information are a sure way to get the customer to abandon the shopping cart, even in situations where the order is of higher value than the costs in question.
The right payment options. Finns overwhelmingly prefer online banking, debit cards, and credit cards for payment, so domestic market traders should have these payment methods available. You might also consider installment and invoice payment options, MobilePay, PayPal, Apple Pay, etc.
4. The online store is easily found in search engines
A good online store is optimized for search engines at least at the basic level so that potential customers can easily find it.
In principle, a well-executed online store is already partly search engine optimized because the technology already works well. If quality content has also been produced, visibility in search engines can be at a good level, even if the online store hasn't been specifically focused on optimization.
A bad online store, on the other hand, is not at all optimal for people or search engines. Usually, this type of store falls in visibility depending on advertisements, which is not profitable in the long or even short term, since advertising costs money and no one buys from a bad online store.
A search engine optimized online store, on the other hand, does not need to be advertised at all if you don't want to, as it appears with the right terms and at the top of the search results.
Search engine optimization includes three different areas. Internal optimization covers the online store's content (keywords, metadata, URLs, and internal linking), external optimization return links (links leading to your online store from elsewhere), and technical optimization technical factors such as speed, usability, responsiveness, and code. In a well-planned online store, the latter is therefore already polished to perfection.
If this is not the case, the online merchant has a lot to do. If the technology bends and there is time and interest, you can learn to do everything yourself. There are also instructions online for this, especially for those who can learn the topic in English.
However, it is often more sensible to outsource optimization to a specialist company that can achieve results quickly and surely.
Experts also follow best practices in the field and know how to avoid so-called black-hat techniques that can quickly get an online store on Google's blacklist. If you still intend to do or are doing optimization yourself, it is worth seeking more information on the subject.
Maintaining good visibility also requires actions from the online store, as search engines continuously change their algorithms, and customers' search terms change over time. Things that work today may not work in two years or even two months.
However, offering the best possible user experience and providing quality and useful content are actions that cannot go wrong.
5. Investment has been made in usability and customer experience
Let's talk about the user experience. A good product alone does not guarantee sales if the customer's experience with the online store is not good.
As we discussed earlier, the user experience should be seamless, i.e., as easy and fast as possible for the customer. It is also advisable to personalize the experience, as the more you show that you care about your customer by providing individualized service, the more positive it is, of course, for the customer.
When the entire purchasing path is tailored to the needs of the target customer, a positive experience is created, leading to a purchase, likely return to the online store, and recommendation to others. Investing in the best possible usability and customer experience in the online store, as well as elsewhere in business, is ultimately the factor that builds trust in your company and creates long-lasting customer relationships over the long run.
Good online stores probably already considered usability and customer experience during the design phase, which is the easiest time to implement it.
Customer experience can also be improved with automation. Automated communication is an effective way to connect with customers and remind them of the existence of the online store. You should not rely on it alone, though; the customer experience must be fine-tuned from within the online store.
In campaigns, focus on interesting content and offers, as well as a headline that entices the customer to open the message. It's also advisable to test different sending times at will. Customers may also appreciate being remembered on their special day with congratulations and, for example, a discount code.
For some, reminders of an abandoned shopping cart work well, for others less so. Such an email should remember to include a link that takes you straight back to the shopping cart.
Collecting reviews should definitely be automated, as there is no more effective sales tool than other people's recommendations.
However, make sure not to contact the customer too often or without permission. On the other hand, the interval between messages should not be too long, as the matter is often not relevant to the customer months or weeks later.
6. The online store functions flawlessly on mobile
A good online store is always ready to serve customers regardless of the device they arrive on.
Approximately more than 70 percent of customers use a phone or tablet for online shopping or for researching and comparing products before purchase. Often the same person will also visit from several different devices. Statistics show that an online store cannot afford to be anything other than mobile-friendly.
Make sure, therefore, that the design of your own online store is responsive, i.e., adaptable to all devices. This should happen without the customer having to do anything about it. Additionally, the store should run quickly on mobile.
This way, you won't lose a single sale because the customer is on the wrong device and cannot get the online store to work properly.
Nowadays, Google and other search engines greatly value mobile responsiveness, so a responsive online store is also found better in search results.
7. The online store's customer service is in order
Increasing contact requests can take you by surprise during peak seasons and when online store sales suddenly take off. The same can happen if several blunders occur unexpectedly.
The best way to keep customers satisfied is, of course, to prevent damage and the need for contact in the first place. However, the possibility of contact must always be available.
Many damages, such as selling out or incorrectly selling a product to a customer, are best prevented by implementing an ERP system (also in a small online store) and integrating it into the online store.
A good online store also has effective customer support that can be easily and quickly contacted if needed.
Sometimes the online store customer service is the store owner themselves. You can prepare for the busiest times by hiring help so that delivery and response times do not unreasonably delay, and not a single customer is left without service.
In addition, you can effectively prevent so-called unnecessary contacts and returns by answering customer questions on the website.
The customer should be able to easily find information related to products, delivery, returns, and other essential details of your operations with little effort. By providing this, you save both yourself and your customers time.
You can offer even more information in the form of downloadable user manuals or a blog, which is also an excellent way to increase search engine visibility.
However, the most critical issues should be summarized so that they are apparent to the customer just by glancing at the online store.
8. Bots as support for customer service and sales
Not everyone has the opportunity to hire labor, and not everyone wants to do so. In this case and otherwise, it is worth taking interactive bots for help with the online store, which are available to the customer 24/7.
Unfortunately, a chatbot does not completely handle customer service for you at the moment, but it can answer the most critical questions, which means that the online merchant's active work effort is not required quite as much. Of course, the merchant or customer service agent can also personally respond to the customer through the bot.
An advantage of the bot is that the customer can easily leave a message directly on the website, even outside normal business hours.
This can even increase the likelihood that you will be informed of a potential problem situation while it is still relevant and the customer relationship can be saved. The more often people report their problem and other sources of wonderment directly to your company, the more often you can react to the situation and restore trust in your online store. Keeping customers satisfied this way can also prevent unpleasant reviews that hinder future business.
All these eight characteristics are found in good online stores. So it's not an easy task but not impossible either. With professional help, the process, however, goes much faster and more smoothly.
If you need help setting up an online store or optimizing the operation of an existing one, contact us. Let's identify your growth goals together in a free meeting and how to achieve them. Do-it-yourself enthusiasts should also check out tips for getting your online store's conversions (sales) off the ground.