When you own an online shop the sole purpose of this business is extremely clear: selling your products and/or services. Therefore, the increase of the rate of conversion is one of the most important objectives you can set yourself in this situation. To be able to increase this rate of conversion you can follow up a strategic plan and you can take into account certain directives… However, the most important thing is to guide yourself in accordance with one certain rule, that being the golden rule regarding online shopping.

The success of an online shop

For an online shop to succeed and for you to have an assured business productivity, the customer must be at a maximum of 3 clicks away from his final purpose, namely checkout.

Acest lucru este absolut esential pentru ca orice magazin online, indiferent de obiectul de activitate si de produsele vandute, sa aiba succes si sa produca vanzari constante.

This thing is absolutely essential so that any online shop, no matter its field of activity and the products being sold, can have success and constant sales.

Certainly, technically speaking, placing an order in an online environment requires certain steps that cannot be excluded. However, ergonomically speaking, any website can summarize the entire order process in three big steps. These steps are:

1. Product selection (after normal website navigation);
2. Filling an order form (click on the order button and filling the contact details + additional options);
3. Checkout (choosing the payment method, payment confirmation and clicking the checkout button).

Thus we can notice what is going to happen during the entire ordering process of a product. The customer has to go only through three steps, 3 clicks to buying the desired product.

This is the key to online success!

How do we build the online shop that respects this rule?

When we are building an online shop to introduce certain products for sale, we start from a product database. After that follows the introduction of these products on the online platform and the creation of the automated rules that guide the customer towards the checkout.

They search for the product – they set their preferences through the search filters – clicks on the final product to place the order – the order form the customer has to fill shows up – fills the order form – confirms and completes this order

This is the first step that can be optimized. To ease the ordering process we can compress the entire automation process in as few as possible steps that can be completed in record time.

Ergonomics and Graphics

These are once more key elements we have to focus on when we follow the rule discussed above. The products must be visible and their features as clear as possible. The Call To Action Buttons (Order, Click Here To Order, Buy etc.) should be highlighted as less as possible through distinctive graphics, through pop-up type applications, through strategic page positioning. Also, the order forms must be clear, strictly oriented toward the customer’s comfort and toward the selling of the final product in a short time, with minimal effort. The boxes must be delimited clearly and arranged on the web page in a pleasant way. The SUBMIT buttons (the decisive steps on sale – the clicks that send the customer to forms and checkout) must be graphically highlighted (bright colors, large font, graphic frames etc).

Website optimization

Another very important element regarding online sales by following the golden rule is the website optimization. The website must have a fast loading speed, be generally fast thus allowing the customer move over the intermediate steps in a very short time to reach the checkout. A person usually spends on average around 2 minutes on a web page. However, he can leave that page in less than 30 seconds if he does not find the information he is looking for.

Therefore, the information on the web site must be of interest to the customer, must not be useless and it must not frustrate the customer via a plurality of elements. The checkout road must be short and the intermediate steps must carry on fast, the speed at which the ordering process goes being thus optimal.

By following and respecting all these steps and building a professional online shop we will assure business productivity and we will always enjoy sales that just keep on growing.

To be sure that your online shop follows these rules and that it is built in a professional manner you can contact the Baboon professional web design team.