With the shopping craze of Black Friday just around the corner, now’s the perfect time to think about how you can optimise your website to take home the win this year.
The big day is already jam-packed with madness and now with the effects of the global pandemic and endless restrictions, this year’s likely to be even crazier with a predicted increase in online traffic.
So, what better way to take advantage of the craze than by optimising your eCommerce website and snatching a few sales?
Reviewing your website thoroughly before the holiday traffic kicks in will set your business up for success and we’ve got the perfect tips to help get you there.
1. Keep your page load speed, speedy.
Your number one priority is to ensure your website performance is at its peak, because the faster your website loads, the higher the chance of visitors remaining on your website and having a positive user experience.
You might be surprised to know that every millisecond counts. Yep, your page needs to load at the speed of lightning to prevent user frustration, shopping cart abandonment and site bounces.
Check the loading speeds for every aspect of your site, from image size through to the ease of browsing through to checkout. Here’s an interesting fact. By compressing images and text, 25% of pages could save more than 250KB, and 10% can save more than 1MB, meaning faster page load times!
Why’s this so important? Because the one thing customers prioritise is website speed and ease of navigation, with 70% of consumers admitting that page speed impacts their willingness to purchase from an online retailer. In fact, the first five seconds of page-load time have the highest impact on conversion rates.
You may think you’re okay, but with the increased traffic during Black Friday, even the largest sites can be brought down.
2. Make your sales obvious
You always want your visitor’s attention, but on Black Friday you want it even more. Which is why it’s important to utilise your website design to highlight your company’s biggest promotions on your homepage.
You only have a few seconds to make an impression, so when potential customers land on your site, they need to know instantly what you’re promoting and offering for Black Friday, and more importantly, how they can get their hands on it.
Consumers don’t have the time to search around for the best promotions and sales on your site during this highly competitive day. So, quite simply, make sure your best deals are emphasised front and centre with large, bold, engaging visuals and a clear call to action that allows potential customers to engage.
Even better, highlight one amazing deal at the top of your homepage, rather than a mixture of promotions, as this will hook in customers and guide them to explore the rest of your site.
3. Optimise your website for mobile
With convenience available at the doorstep of users, shoppers are increasingly turning to mobile to make their purchases, something we all know, right?
So, ensure your website is mobile-friendly, because the big day will be here before you know it. Your mobile site should promote speed and easy navigation, with access to all the same Black Friday promotions as your website. This sounds really obvious, but you’d be surprised how many websites aren’t user-friendly for mobile devices.
Make sure your images and graphics are optimised for mobile, because the last thing you want is a frustrated customer. Because consumers expect their mobile experience of your website to be good, if not better than their desktop experience.
4. Get the picture-perfect product page
With a growing money-savvy generation, consumers don’t want to waste their money on a product or service they know nothing about. They want all the nitty-gritty on what they’re purchasing, meaning you need to provide it to them.
So, when it comes to product naming conventions for your products or services and their categories, ensure you overload with descriptions. Why? Because not only will each word act as a potential keyword for organic search, but it also allows users to easily find exactly what they’re looking for.
Now that you have the name, describe your product or service in a clear, jargon-free format, with an emphasis on its benefits. The description should provide vital information about the product or service and provide answers to your potential customer’s most pressing questions.
Finish it off with high-quality images. Visualise people using your product or service to give visitors a glimpse of ownership. And another great idea is to use video elements which can be optimised to demonstrate the use of your product or service.
5. Checkout your checkout process
Did you know that over 69% of visitors who load items into an eCommerce shopping cart end up not finishing the transaction? For one reason or another, they abandon the cart.
So, how can you make sure your potential customers stick with you to the end? You prove your checkout process to be speedy and efficient, that’s how.
Before the big day comes, make sure your checkout isn’t overloaded with unnecessary steps and questions. Why? Because if it all gets too hard, that’s when you’re likely to lose a sale.
A few easy-peasy tips to simplify it and boost cart conversions are to:
- Offer multiple payment options
- Offer free shipping
- Allow potential customers to modify product quantities and remove items
- Make it mobile-friendly
- Clearly show shipping costs
- Remove unnecessary forms and registering
- Allow for guest checkout
Your checkout process should always be spick and span, but especially for Black Friday which is traditionally the start of the Christmas shopping season. There are too many other options available for consumers for them to bother with a long and frustrating checkout experience, so make sure you’re bringing your best game.
It’s never too late to start optimizing!
Be prepared to continuously adjust your website to meet the changing demands of your consumers. If a certain strategy isn’t working for your business, adapt and adjust as necessary to ensure your website is performing at its peak.
And if you’re still a little unsure of where to start and want to learn more, our team at Studio Sondar can help guide you.
So, whether you’d like a deeper understanding on the tips above, or if you want to chat with us about where you’re at, where you want to be, and how to get there, we’d love to hear from you!
