When you first put together a website, there is so much going on, you often through in everything you need, load up your products, test your cart, and move on to the next thing that needs to be done.
Like everything in life, a good spring clean is in order, to keep your site fresh and up to date
A spring clean of your website is an essential, to keep your customers happy, to keep your business trading within the law, and to make sure you don’t get caught out in expensive mistakes.
Outdated policies and processes and poor user experience are a sure way to end up costing you money and sales, so here are 7 spring clean must-do reviews for your website
- Is your website mobile friendly.
When Google announced that it was going to rate websites that were mobile friendly in 2015, it was a sure way to know that the state of ecommerce as we knew it, was changing.
Your website should already be mobile responsive. If it’s not, that the first thing you need to organise.
More importantly, is your website actually mobile friendly? Is it easy to shop on your website? Are the menus easy to read and find? Does the layout flow in category and product pages? Have you gone through your shopping cart on a mobile device? How easy is it to navigate through the checkout process, on a mobile device? You should be looking to minimise the steps the customer has to take, the clicks they have to make, and the number of keystrokes they have to enter.
Every extra click they have to make, moves them closer to abandoning their cart
- It’s time to take a look at your google analytics.
You should be reviewing your website traffic at least monthly. Your google analytics account will tell you which pages customers are spending more time on, your bounce rate, which is where someone leaves almost as soon as they hit your homepage and where on your website, their dropping out. For example, are they leaving during the shopping cart process?
Google Analytics will also tell you which pages are people visiting most. You’ll probably find that your shipping, FAQ and About pages, rank very highly.
- Spring clean your terms and conditions, your about page, and your shipping and returns policies.
It’s time to spring clean all those pages you set and forget. Laws change, your returns policy may change, your courier company and their rates may have changed. Now’s the time to go back, read over them and make the changes that you need to.
- Review your email subscription giveaway.
If you’re new to Bringing Business To Retail tv, let me tell you know, that you have to be giving your customer something, in return for their email address. And, it shouldn’t be 10% off.
If you’re already offering a pain point giveaway, or as we call it in the biz industry, a lead magnet, it’s time to review what you have on offer, and change it up a little. Get some new subscribers onto your customer database with a new lead magnet.
- Make sure all of your images are consistent
The images on your website, are paramount to getting sales. Make sure that the images are all the same size, that the pages flow well, and go back and test out the experience from a users point of view.
When it comes to images, the themeing should also be consistent, for example, make sure the deep etched image is on the category page, and lifestyle images, close ups and flat lays are within the product page.
The more relevant images you have for a product, the less guess work a customer has to do, which makes it easier for them to add to cart.
- Link products that go well to increase customer order value
Which brings us to the number 6 website review must do. Linking products that sell well together.
Whether you use flat lays, widgets such as people who bought this, also purchased, or, preferably, you write and link it in the description, in case you haven’t realised, the key to increasing your customer order value, is to make it easy for them to buy. By linking products together, your customer is more likely to top up their shopping basket.
- Review your categories and navigation.
Take a look with fresh eye, on how your menus and navigation flow.
Your navigation should be based on how a user will look for an item, not on how you necessarily categorise it in your store.
Are your menus grouped sequentially and are your sub categories in alphabetical order?
Is there an easy way for a customer to go back a level, or return to your home page.
Think of a random product, and ask a friend to find it on your website (without using the search button). This will give you an insight to how navigable your website actually is, to a new customer. If you you want a completely unbiased opinion, use a user testing service, like Peek, to give you a real life customer experience report.
Download “7 Spring Clean Must-do Reviews for your website” Retail Biz Strategy