Browsing The Digital Aisles

Although a number of reasons can be cited for the prevalence in consumer use of online shopping channels, although for both business owners and the customers, convenience is large influencing factor.  From the perspective of the entrepreneur, there is low overhead and extended audience reach, which can be ideal for converting people who are browsing into sales.  Customers also appreciate the ability to quickly locate desired items and be able to obtain them with ease.

Unfortunately, many entrepreneurs will forget that the same value that the convenience of an online outlet offers to the business is also a part of the value to which clients are also attracted.  However, continued focus seems to remain on driving traffic to shop fronts, but once customers are there, they may be left hanging.

What Value Do You Add?

With so much effort that is spent on driving online visibility, it is also important for small business owners to make that visibility worthwhile.  The most frequent complaint that start-up ventures encounter is that analytics may reflect steady site traffic, while conversions to sales are considerably lesser.  This is generally due to the fact that website functionality becomes overlooked in the push to gain stronger traffic.

 Many customers can be highly interested in the offerings from a digital vendor, but refrain from purchase due to:

• Difficult search protocols through the website
• Poor product representation, including pricing accuracies
• Challenging checkout procedures
• Lack of customer support

Having a fully functional website that continues to meet the demands of consumers for convenience and added value can be the major difference in seeing higher conversion numbers.  This can further be combined with marketing techniques which are already showing increased traffic results, since the features that distinguish the business from other online competitors can not only draw customers in to browse, but can also convince them to actually purchase.