The Dos and Don'ts of Ecommerce
A few Solid Tips for Ecommerce
Ecommerce may be spelled several different ways such as electronic
commerce or e-commerce. When I went to look up the correct spelling
in my dictionary, it wasn't even in there so I checked the copyright
date on my Merriam Webster's Collegiate Dictionary Tenth
Edition and it was printed in 1993. While I would expect the acceptable
spelling to change over time, I was quite surprised that ecommerce
was not yet in the mainstream dictionary by that time. For this
article I will stick with ecommerce since that is what Microsoft
Word 2002 spell check uses.
Regardless of the spelling, ecommerce is simply defined as ‘doing
business over the Internet’. Most businesses have a set of
core rules that are used by successful companies and an ecommerce
business is no different. This is not to say that all businesses
use the same rules, but there are some basic principles that are
followed by most. Learning and implementing these rules early in
your ecommerce venture can save you a lot of pain, heartache, and
wasted time.
While this is not a comprehensive list by any means, we can quickly
summarize some of the most important dos and don'ts on this web
page. If you need additional help, please contact a professional
such as Houston
IT Consultants.
The “Dos” of Ecommerce
- Do make the navigation simple. Measure and
minimize the number of clicks that a customer must go through
to get to a purchase. The number of clicks necessary on a site
is directly proportional to the realization of the sale. The
general rule is that a customer will loose his patience if they
have to click more than three times to complete a purchase.
- Do regularly verify all links. Not only do
both people and search engines hate broken links, but they can
actually prevent a potential customer from making a purchase.
- Do use meaningful page name. People are more
likely to click on and remember a page with a meaningful name.
For example, if you are selling shoes and the page is for cross-trainers,
name the link cross-trainers.htm not shoes2147.htm.
- Do keep the graphics simple. If the graphics
on your site are too large and complex, they will make the page
load slowly and you will lose many potential customers before
they even see your web site. and the language easy to understand.
- Do show whether or not an item is available. There
is nothing more annoying than to navigate through the entire
purchase process, only to find at the last click that the item
you wanted is not available. This will almost always guarantee
that you loose customers.
- Do offer excellent customer service. Remember
that just like a brick and mortar business, your success, will
ultimately depend on repeat customers and word of mouth advertising.
The “Don’ts” of Ecommerce
- Do not use frames for your web site navigation. There
are too many people out there who still use old model computers;
they usually will block the frames when navigating sites, because
it makes it faster. If all your navigation directions are based
on frames, then these prospective customers will skip your site.
Additionally, search engines hate frames and will often index
only one frame at a time. This means that your navigation and
page content will be two different pages in the search engine
and it will be confusing for any customer who finds your site
there.
- Do not use complex language. Keep your site easy to look at
and easy to read. If customers get bogged down in a lot of difficult
language and unnecessary technical mumbo jumbo they will quickly
hit the back button and go to your competitor's site.
- Do not require special software. People do not like to download
some new software just to browse your site. They would rather
go elsewhere.
Summary
When building a web site for your ecommerce business follow the KISS principle
and Keep It Simple
for Success.
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