We all know well that eCommerce sites are the future of shopping. As life starts moving faster and faster each day, people have less time to go out to buy stuff, and even if that wasn’t the case, why wouldn’t they just get everything they want and need with a simple few clicks online?
The reason why eCommerce sites are getting more and more popular is the access they provide to all the things you do not have in your local mall, city, or even country. Through them, you practically have access to everything sold online. But, if you are the seller, that is where things get tricky.
eCommerce competition is fierce, and you must have a good eCommerce site if you want to sell something. Even if your products are good on their own, you have to sell them with efficiency and have a site that is easy to use and good-looking.
Creating an eCommerce site is not an easy task. You have to think about a lot of things. Aesthetics, functionality, and practicality are the most important aspects of your site. But even with those aspects perfected, you have to take these 3 steps before you launch your eCommerce site.
Step 1 – Check the website
To sell anything on your website, it has to function properly. So, the first step is to check every link on your site. One by one, click on every link to see if it works properly. If even a single one does not, your eCommerce website is not ready to be launched, and that error should be fixed right away.
Imagine yourself shopping online, looking at, let’s say, a nice piece of clothing, cheerfully clicking to buy it. Then, out of nowhere, you encounter an error. This is a terrible experience indeed, so prevent it from happening on your site.
The next step is to check the forms. You have to check if your website has the forms it should have, in other words, if everything is in its place.
The last thing required in this step is to check the speed of the website. Aside from shopping from the comfort of one’s home, eCommerce websites also give us the chance to shop fast. So, if your website is slow, it defeats its purpose. If you are going to waste time waiting for a site to load, you might as well go to a shop in person.
Speed is one of the most important factors for having a successful eCommerce website, so you absolutely have to check it before launching your website. One of the best ways to check your eCommerce site speed is to use GTmetrix.
Step 2 – Improve the user experience
The next step is to check and improve the user experience. There is no better way to check the quality of an eCommerce site than to take the role of a customer.
What you need to look at first are all the images and videos. They all have to be in the right place.
One more important thing you need to check is the design of your eCommerce site. It has to be aesthetically-pleasing and appealing. If you act like a customer on your own website, you should be able to see if it satisfies important design criteria.
Browse through all the pages and all the articles, one by one, to see if you find something that you do not like. If you do find something, fix it; otherwise, it could make customers turn away.
You also have to take care of call-to-action buttons. They have to function properly and be easy to use, visible as well as highlighted. “Buy now” and “Add to cart” buttons are some of the most important parts of your eCommerce website, as they are the last part of the shopping process.
So, basically, for this step, all you have to do is use your own website through and through. Every page and element on it has to function without any problems.
Step 3 – Make sure your eCommerce platform works
Only one more thing to do, and your eCommerce website is ready; after this, you can launch it and start your business. The point of this step is to see if your eCommerce platform actually works.
First, you need to check if all the products are listed. Compare all the products you have listed with all the products you have in stock; if the numbers do not add up, something went wrong and could lead to potential mistakes in the business process.
If everything adds up, you can proceed to the next task.
Now, you actually need to buy something from your website to see if everything works properly. You have to do this a few times, at least once, for every payment method that you offer. If every payment method works, you may go and check one last thing. Coupons and discounts.
Coupons and discounts help attract customers. Every shop has them and they ought to work properly. So, set up a few discounts, create a few coupons just to make sure it all works.
Conclusion
As most eCommerce sites grow and become more and more popular, yours has to be the best it can.
Take your time, do not hurry, complete these 3 steps before you launch your website, and there should not be any problems. Good luck!
