Whether you've just launched your company and provided a platform for your online store, or have been in the eCommerce landscape for some time, boosting customer trust is essential for your business. What are additional details and steps that can you implement as a merchant to secure your online store and sustain sales growth?
Within this text, we will outline the essential steps to be unquestionably acknowledged as a secure online store and develop trust and a positive relationship with your clients and customers. As these details and information directly influence the confidence of your customers and users, they simultaneously shape the trajectory of your e-commerce business.
Footer Section for Empowering Trust and Confidence Among Customers
Certainly, for e-commerce businesses, emphasizing product and category presentation and efficient search for offers and services stands as a top priority. However, while browsing many webshops in Serbia, we find supplementary information and pages. Notably, the footer situated at the bottom of the site is exclusively dedicated to official information concerning purchases and products.
With this information, users can familiarise themselves with your business, instil trust, and feel secure about the integrity of your online store. The clarity provided allows customers to easily identify the responsible legal entity supporting the site, fostering confidence in their purchasing decisions.
The footer section serves as an optimal space for linking additional pages, ensuring visual clarity, and enhancing the overall user experience.
Segregating this area into smaller, focused segments facilitates the presentation of official information related to the purchasing process, contributing to a seamless user journey.
- Terms of use and sale
- Complaints and complaint form
- Refund policy
- Right of withdrawal
- Delivery terms
- Payment methods
- Privacy policy
- Product replacement
- Credit card payment
- FAQ
This part should include supplementary information, such as:
- Official information about your company (About Us page)
- Contact
- Customer service details
- Supported credit cards
- Social media and newsletter signup
- Additional details, such as searching the location of your retail stores.
Official Company and Business Information
For your business, it is crucial to have dedicated pages with all official and unambiguous information about your company:
- Full company name, address, and contact details. Additionally, consider providing options such as a contact form and a map of your locations.
- Facts related to the company, such as the year of establishment, the number of physical sales outlets (if any), the number of employees, or any other significant information. Try to present them briefly and in numerical form, as visuals have a huge impact on visitors.
- Mission and vision of your company, a description through which your customer can get to know you better.
- Something that makes your company unique, whether it's a significant partnership, sponsorship, team, collaboration, and/or the uniqueness of your products and services (USP).
Depending on your business, you may include other information, but always prioritise the details mentioned above. We recommend showcasing them on pages that are concise and visually categorised. All these details, including the way you present them, have a huge impact on establishing trust among your customers and potential new partners. If you are a new company, we highly advise dedicating time to planning and designing these sections. The better you organise such content, the stronger foundation you'll create for building trust, future marketing campaigns or moves, and consequently, sales and new partnerships
Official Purchase Information and Documents
Official documents on purchases, such as privacy policies and terms of use, play a crucial role in assuring your customers that you offer professional services. It is imperative to feature these documents as distinct, well-defined pages on your website.
In addition to that, we advise you to include information regarding potential complaints, the right of withdrawal, and refund procedures to ease both your customers and the customer service team during the order process. This ensures transparency in your business practices and instils confidence in customers, knowing you are promptly accessible, responsive, and available for contact when needed.
Assistance in Purchases - Using Different Payment Methods and Card Payments
Ensuring the trust of your customers and fostering a positive user experience during the purchasing process is of utmost importance. Provide comprehensive assistance options and transparently outline all payment and delivery methods to enhance their confidence.
Dedicate pages and guidelines to user registration, online payment instructions, and payment method selection. This streamlines the process, particularly for customers new to online shopping.
We highly recommend facilitating credit card payments, offering a dedicated page with instructions, detailed information, card data descriptions, and, if feasible, visual representations. Specify the types of cards accepted for purchases on your site in a separate section at the bottom of your web pages. The affiliation with official, reliable card organisations also assures your customers of the security of the purchasing process on your site.
You may question the presence of a bank's logo on your online store, but it is crucial to acknowledge that customers feel significantly more secure when they see the bank's logo, signifying a verified site.
Quality information about product
For a successful e-commerce business, informative, optimised, and aesthetically crafted product detail pages play a pivotal role. These dedicated pages are where your customers transition from the homepage, ultimately deciding whether to commit to a purchase on your online store. Beyond ensuring the visibility and clarity of the Call-To-Action, sellers should furnish a wealth of specific, unequivocal, and high-quality product information, covering:
- Accurate product name
- Product code
- Recent product images, preferably from various angles, and videos
- Exact product price with a clear and transparent indication of VAT
- In the case of a sale – the precise price before and after the discount, alongside the discount percentage
- Specifications or comprehensive descriptions of product features
- Real-time information on available stock quantities
- Order and delivery particulars
- A section for customer comments and ratings, if desired
In addition to this information, a product description can be artfully crafted for a more engaging reading experience, potentially featuring a link to another page. Including a segment for purchasing assistance and contact information further enhances the functionality of product pages.
Customer Support Contact Centre
A visible section for purchasing assistance significantly contributes to the security of transactions and enhances customer trust. Within this section, it is essential to provide contact methods, including email, a contact phone number, and, increasingly popular today, the option of live chat, as it expedites the purchasing process. Through the help section, customers can be directed to frequently asked questions or additional instructions related to product selection and purchase.
Purchase and Post-purchase Information - Order Confirmation
The automation of messages during and after purchase not only expedites and streamlines the buying process but is also a crucial feature of a secure online store. If customers receive information during the purchase and email confirmations after product payment, they are fully informed about all steps included, trust your business, and are assured that the selected product will reach them.
HTTPS Protocol and Site Security
Since the introduction of the HTTPS protocol, an enhanced version of the former HTTP protocol with additional security features, it is considered indispensable for a well-configured online store. While it entails some additional investment, we strongly advise every seller to use the HTTPS protocol to boost customer trust and increase the number of loyal customers who return to your website (returning visitors).
The customer and visitors will be more inclined to stay on the site if they immediately recognise an indicator that the site is technically secure and their data is protected, and therefore, will be more inclined to stay on the site. This is an additional incentive for a new visitor to become your customer, to return, and to repeatedly use your services. If you already have an established online store, implementing the HTTPS protocol will also contribute to conversion rate optimisation
Optimizing Your Online Store: Further Insights
After fortifying your online store's security measures, it's necessary to regularly fine-tune the user experience. The loading speed of your website not only encourages online visitors to make purchases but also serves as a key indicator of the site's secure functionality. Similarly, major search engines like Google favor websites with frequently updated content and user-friendly interfaces, influencing both traffic and sales. Leveraging free tools can be invaluable in elevating the user experience of your webshop, offering valuable insights into areas for improvement.
Evaluate and enhance the search engine optimization (SEO) of your online store using free SEO tools. These resources not only assist in optimising SEO but also inspire fresh ideas for planning new content on your site. This data collectively aids in gaining a deeper understanding of your online store, pinpointing potential weaknesses, and discovering fields for further improvement. When combined with security measures, these refinements contribute to the excellent development of your e-commerce business.
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