Starting your own online store is really fun. It’s an opportunity for you to stake your claim on your corner of the internet. Make it your own and tell everyone about who you are, what your awesome products do and how they will benefit your customer.
Sometimes we get a bit caught up in the fun stuff (ahem, guilty as
charged) and forget some of the more important elements that can
actually really help customers when they are thinking of buying your
product.
So, file this week’s post under “boring but important”
and have a look at the 3 pages all online stores should have below. Have
you got all of these bases covered or do you need to do a bit of work
around creating a better online communication strategy?
Help & FAQ’s Page
This is where your customers will go to find information on how to contact you and possibly even information on how to order products and services.
The HELP/FAQ page can contain valuable information that will enable
the customer to make an informed purchasing decision, making them feel
more confident and happy about their purchase. If your product has
specific instructions you may wish to include them on the product pages
also (if space allows) however the FAQs is a great way to share this
information without having to deal with lots of customer emails.
Not
sure what types of FAQ’s to add to your online store? Put yourself in
your customer’s shoes and approach it from their perspective, think
about the questions that might come up for them when making a purchase.
Another great way of finding out what your customers need to know is to
take a look at your Google Analytics and see what the search/keywords
are. If you still aren’t sure, ask a friend or a potential customer
where the gaps are in your info and work on plugging the holes. Your
FAQ/help page will grow as your online store grows, use customer emails
and feedback as inspiration for content.
Shipping & Returns Page
This is where your customers will go to find out how much the
shipping will cost, who the carrier is and how long it will take to
arrive. Whilst you cannot guarantee the shipping company will deliver on
time try to give the customer as accurate information as possible. If
you only ship on specific days, put that in here too, so your customers
will know that the item might take a few days to dispatch. If you are
using the same shipping company for all orders, including a link to
their tracking area on their website (open in new browser) so customers
can easily click through and enter the tracking number.
If you
are using multiple shipping companies, make sure you clarify in the
shipping confirmation email who will be delivering the order. If you
have lots of prices and shipping options, display them in a table for
ease of use for your customers. Being upfront and transparent about
shipping costs is a must for all online stores. If customers get stung
with high shipping rates in the checkout they will leave the site and
not come back (unless they absolutely love your product) so try and be
as open and honest about it from the beginning.
Blog
It always amazes me how so few online stores have their own blogs.
I
feel like there is a stigma that blogging is really hard, or you have
to be an excellent writer to have a blog. Whatta load of BS.
Think
of the blog on your online store as a newsletter to people who haven’t
signed up for your newsletter yet. Come up with a schedule that works
for you and start jotting down some topics that interest your customers
(go back to your customer profile bingo sheet to help you discover what
might be of interest) Start creating regular content around these
topics. Blog posts don’t need to be epic, start with around 250-300
words and see how you go.
Once you get used to blogging for your online store, ideas will come flying at you for new content.