There are over 24 million eCommerce websites online and counting. In the competitive space that keeps growing, it’s even more essential that your eCommerce store be customer-friendly and make the buying process seamless.

The industry is booming. Ecommerce sales are projected to grow exponentially to 6.54 trillion dollars, and there are things your eCommerce brand will have to do to stand out from the crowd. Not only does your customer service need to be on-point, but if you’re to grow your eCommerce store and increase website traffic, your website must have certain features and capabilities. 

Below are nine website features your eCommerce site cannot go without. 

1. User-Friendly Website Navigation

Help customers move through various pages and products on your eCommerce website by making sure that navigation is user-friendly. Make the menu visible to website visitors at all times, irrespective of the website page.

Also, avoid making the navigation menu complicated. A simple header menu is all you need. If there are more links to important pages, you would like to include, take advantage of the secondary footer menu.

Daniel Gray from Market Media Connect, Inc. suggests a filtering and sorting capability for additional usability. By offering your online shoppers a way to filter and sort your products, they’ll be able to find what they’re looking for better. Instead of sorting through hundreds of products, they’ll be able to cut through the noise and narrow down their selection so they can find and purchase what they need quicker.  

2. Website Search

Sometimes, you will have website visitors who have already decided on a product to purchase. These people would love to go directly to the product of choice without going through many different steps and scrolling through hundreds of products. The website search function takes care of that.

Customers can search for the specific products they’re interested in, shortening the buying process, saving time, and improving customer satisfaction.

3. Opt-in Email

Not all of your eCommerce website visitors will make a purchase the first time they hit your store. Have an opt-in email form pop-up on your website that captures contact details so that you can add them to your subscriber list.  

Then, nurture your contacts through various buyer journey stages using email marketing software like Benchmark Email. 

Using Benchmark Email, you can:

• Showcase your products in email newsletters with the simple drag-and-drop eCommerce block
• Integrate with Shopify to provide your customers with products they’ll love right in their inbox and create a seamless buying experience
• Get access to creative and engaging email templates that reduce the time you need to spend creating emails
• Create email campaign workflows using automation pro for personalized email marketing and conversion-focused messaging to turn prospects into buying customers

4. Product Ratings and Reviews

New buyers often look at what previous buyers have to say before making a decision. This is the power of social proof. The average buyer reads about ten reviews before deciding whether to purchase or not.

Feature product ratings and reviews on product pages to build trust with customers, add credibility to your store and product, and help your customers make buying decisions quickly.

5. Integrate Chatbots

Add chatbots to your eCommerce website to take advantage of conversational marketing. You can also use chatbots to get specific information from website visitors for live data and insights.

With chatbots, you can reduce cart abandonment, build customer relationships, and provide your customers with excellent customer experiences on your eCommerce website. Take it a step further by having human support on hand should customers need more assistance when they exhaust chatbot options.

6. Multiple Payment Options

Multiple payment options are a must-have feature that will help capture buyers with different payment preferences. Kinsta posits that 53% of online buyers prefer credit cards. But having only one payment method is a good way to lose out on sales and limit your customer base, so make sure that you give your customers options.

Allow them to pay through PayPal or other secure, third-party payment tools. These tools may make buyers feel more at ease, and when integrated with your site, they can make the purchase process quicker since users’ information is stored in their system. 

7. FAQ: Product and Store

The FAQ page and FAQ section on product pages are great tools for building trust with potential customers. Use it to address common questions customers have asked about your products or brand, which help you overcome objections customers may have when making purchase decisions.

Make it easy for customers to go through your FAQ section and pages by creating categories for the content. 

8. Mobile-Friendly Design

This one is a given, but we’d be remiss if we were to exclude it. 

People are spending more time on their mobile phones. Hence your eCommerce website must be responsive and mobile-friendly. If your website loads poorly on mobile devices, complicating the sales process, 73% of consumers will switch to one that’s simpler and easier to use.

With Benchmark Email, every eCommerce email you send is responsive and mobile-friendly. In fact, before you send your emails, you can test them on popular email providers and mobile devices to ensure they render properly. 

9. Up-to-Date Contact Page

Sometimes, there are questions that prospective customers need answers to. In such situations, they turn to your contact page. This page should contain multiple contact options with up-to-date details.

Take this a step further by adding links to official social media pages. Having an online presence not only adds to your credibility but can also boost your sales by 32%. Your customers will be happy that you’re available and reachable, which can positively influence buying decisions. 

Building and/or modifying your eCommerce website doesn’t have to be difficult, but it does have to be done right. Make sure the nine features mentioned above are included in your website to ensure sales continue to grow and customers stay happy.