How to Improve Your Online Store Website

What invites a customer to visit a store again and again, and what causes a customer to make an impulse purchase? Good quality products and reasonable prices are the obvious answers. But these answers only address the customer's end goal of entering a store, and not actually how the customer feels. When we consider how a customer feels, far more interesting answers come to mind.

For instance, take two clothing stores that sell the same clothes all year round – they both sell knit sweaters of the same brands and sizes. They are both limited insofar that they don't often acquire any new products, but this is also an advantage as they are both considered the ultimate places for knit sweaters. From a rational point of view, these stores should both get about an equal amount of repeat customers, assuming that other variables like customer service and location are similar. What can store A do differently than store B?

Despite having the same limitations for products, store A can do something differently to get far more repeat customers – they can constantly change their store set up and the way the products are displayed. This kind of stimulation for the customers cause more cases of impulse buying, because even if the products are constant, the feelings evoked by these products are not.

This method is so common amongst retail stores that it is almost common knowledge. Not, however, for online stores. I see too many online stores that sell great products, but their site always looks the same. It is not surprising then, that these online stores have difficulty selling a wide variety of their products, or that no one wants to surf on their site "to see what's new."

The solution to this problem is to make sure your online store is not boring. And to not be boring, your site should be dynamic. But having dynamic content on your website is easy if your website has been programmed right. Here are a few suggestions for making your site dynamic.

1. Different graphics every time a customer visits -The method here is to have a good number of images and graphics which are chosen randomly by your website to display to the customer. So if you have ten images, the customer will see one of those images during his or her first visit, and another one of those images during the second visit.
2. Product suggestions generated on-the-fly -This one is particularly good if you want to actively involve your customers in the content of your site. For example, on a website for baby products, a parent could enter information about the age, personality traits, and special needs for his or her child, and the site automatically figures out the ideal product for this child!
3. Graphs and charts generated on-the-fly -Like #2, this feature is great for getting your customers more involved, especially if you want to provide the customer with information specific to him or her.
4. A bestsellers list -It's no secret that most of us love lists. We want to know what is popular. The best thing about a bestsellers list on an online store is that your site automatically creates the list, without you having to figure out what has been selling the most. This is because your sales for each product can be recorded by the back end of your online store and then a list can be generated every time a user visits your site.
5. A display for New Products -This option is excellent if you have a store that is always adding new products. All you have to do is add your new products, then they will magically appear in your site's beautiful new products display!

Adding these features is not difficult if your site is programmed with a computer language like PHP (this is the language of choice for the team of web designers and programmers at the Business Helpers). So if you want your customers to keep coming back, think dynamically.

The Business Helpers, AKBAR BURNEY - COO

Published Wed, 20 Oct 2007 22:07:22 -0400