Winning eCommerce

Think about all the things that make you click off a product when you're looking at it online. What makes you turn off? 

More often than not, it's because it's simply not on offer. If it is on offer, there may not be enough information about it. The key difference between eCommerce and actual shopping is you can't really see it. Even though you're not opening up a laptop or trying on a dress, the ability to examine product is invaluable. 

You need to recreate this experience online by giving enough information and leading with the benefit of features, not the brand name of the features. Another invaluable asset to selling online is user-generated content, like reviews and ratings. People are more likely to believe what others think of the product than what a business wants you to think of it.

What also helps are recommendations, what's hot or cross-selling tools. People may not buy what they intended, but they may be inspired unintentionally.

Lead with the price and it should be as transparent as possible. Don't wait until the checkout.

Exactly that. When shipping in from overseas, there may be taxes and extra postage attached. Always include VAT so people know how much they're actually paying and if they need a refund, how much they'll get back.

Keep this information clear, visible and accessible. In the long run, you'll look more trustworthy.

It does actually matter. Whether it's shoes, wardrobe or a phone, we all want to know how big it is.

The problem is that digital doesn't give a sense of perspective, unless you picture everything you sell next to a pint glass. So put the sizes upfront, in as many formats as possible. 

Don't tell anyone, but I'm an imperial girl and have no clue how big a yard is compared to a meter. If you have space and your customers use both, state both.

Common complaints: Poor website performance on browser or device, issues with logging in or registering for a site, a lack of additional website features.

Some of Qubit's suggested solutions: Acknowledge site problems in a message to customers, provide entertaining pages when your site is down, provide a forum for users to submit feedback on issues, and encourage users to update browsers.

Common complaints: Items displayed for sale aren't in stock, site doesn't have the function for customers to check whether items are in stock in stores, and items are unavailable.

Some of Qubit's suggested solutions: Let users know how many items are left, offer a 'notify me when back in stock' feature, show how many users are looking at a product at any given moment, show a low stock message on landing pages so customers don't have to go to product pages if the item is out of stock.

Common complaints: Few frequent discounts, issues with codes, and incorrect information on discounts and sales.

Some of Qubit's suggested solutions: Use A/B testing to optimize your prices based on customer feedback, add a countdown to beginning or end of sale periods, surface customer service details at checkout where the promo boxes are.

Common complaints: Customers are unable to find items on the site or use particular features, like 'wish list.'

Some of Qubit's suggested solutions: Encourage users to use the search bar, strip your pages to be minimal and easy-to-navigate, use industry standard icons on your site.

Common complaints: Inability to search specific topics, irrelevant search results, insufficient or unclear filtering.

Some of Qubit's suggested solutions: Make the search bar easy to find, offer product recommendations for searches that turn up no results, highlight search filter options.

Common complaints: The number and variety of photos for a given product, the size and quality of images, and issues with images when browsing a site on a device other than a laptop.

Some of Qubit's suggested solutions: Add video content, add a quality zoom function, provide relevant images for every product, show both flat shots and model shots for products.

Common complaints: Browser or errors specific to device, issues with site functionality, issues loading pages.

Some of Qubit's suggested solutions: Test your site across platforms and devices, notify your customers when there are issues, test website redesigns.