5 Ways to Add Value to Your eCommerce Site

Value drives every purchasing decision an individual makes. Nobody thinks of themselves as highly irrational, so people precede every purchase with a decision about the value of the purchase to them. Value is a highly personal concept, so there isn’t a set way of increasing the value to your eCommerce site, but there are some tricks you can implement to increase the value your site provides to its users.

Product Videos

Product videos add value due to the honesty they imply. If you are a customer and you see a video of the founder of the company showcasing the products on the site, any qualms you might have had about the trustworthiness of the site or the function of the products will dissipate. The video doesn’t need fancy effects or animation, just an HD quality, reasonable lighting and clear audio.

Free Returns

As a customer, part of the value you obtain from a purchase is the pragmatism of your choice. If the shop owner offers free returns, you can feel assured that the product you’re buying has value, because if it doesn’t, you can just return it. Make sure they know there will be no questions asked and you’ll find that your sales rates will increase far more than your returns rates. A good return policy can help to no end.

High Security

A customer might decide that, say, a pencil case has good value at $5. What is assumed in that decision is that $5 is the only price they will pay. You need to ensure that’s the case by having security testing measures in play to make sure that your site protects the customers that keep it going. You can’t afford to cut corners in this department – a site with poor security will be penalized by Google and quickly lose its customer base. In the expert words of Digivante Solutions: “any security breach, no matter how minor, puts your customers, business and reputation at risk.” Heed these wise words and make sure you’re secure.

Free Shipping

For some reason, free shipping is a huge attractant to customers. If you think about it, would you rather buy a pencil case for $5 or $3 + $2 shipping? Having shipping included with the price just makes the process seem easier, simpler and higher value. If you decide to offer this feature, advertise the fact like mad all over your site.

Have a Fast Website

The less time somebody needs to wait before making a purchase, the more likely they are to go through with the purchase. If you’ve run an eCommerce business before, you’re probably aware of the problem of deserted baskets at checkout. But you may not know that it only takes 3 seconds for a customer to abandon a page if it’s not fast enough for them. Don’t let that happen to you – make sure your page is running quickly (don’t use huge pictures or insert large file-sizes as part of the design), and if it’s not – create a nice loading page to keep waiting customers happy that at least something is working.