If your business is going to be reliant on an ecommerce platform to ensure that it flows and works effectively, then you need to have the right platform to work from. These are the platforms that will enable you to centralize your operations and do your business the way you want to do it.

Without adapting to the current digital trends, and incorporating up to date ecommerce platforms, you’re going to struggle to get your business going and you’re going to fail at giving your customers a shopping window that continues to attract them.

As you can see already, a good ecommerce platform is a must!

With the right set up, your business will keep your customers interested, make sure that you are up to date with what customers expect, and you’ll be able to increase your sales and your profits. Whether you are choosing between ClickFunnels and Shopify, or you are trying to see what Etsy could offer you, you have to make sure that you are choosing the right digital space.

So, with this in mind, we’ve put together some tips to help you to choose the best, the right ecommerce platform that will serve to elevate your brand.

Need a New ECommerce Platform? Here Are Some Tips to Help!

Figure out your budget.

Before you can go all out and choose the right platform, you really need to know what you are willing and able to spend. Ecommerce platforms aren’t free, and you can bet that you will spend a lot of money unless you budget efficiently.

Costs are always going to be one of the main deciding factors, so you should ensure that you get every feature you’re looking for for the budget that you have. Processing fees, startup expenses and the ongoing expenses will all be a factor in your budget so do some thorough research on costs before you commit.

Read up on the shipping experience.

Do you want your products to be handled by a company that cannot deliver on time or one that has poor reviews? Your chosen platform has to be effective in its integration and interaction with shipping couriers, and it has to be efficient. The last thing that you want is anything that stops your customers from getting their products.

There should be good experiences and that’s where reviews come into the picture. Don’t be afraid to look into those or ask the company to provide you with previous customer experiences.

Make sure that it has the right security.

Data privacy is a must, and with that protection you can safeguard your customers. The right ecommerce platform should be robust in its security features, especially with the rise in cybersecurity attacks happening. There are some big companies out there that have been breached and you don’t have to be a part of that!

You need to ensure that the platform you use has the right site security so that you don’t end up losing your customers’ information. You will not be trusted as a business if you don’t keep their information secure.

Don’t forget about SEO.

You need to work with an ecommerce system that offers decent SEO and organic search. Using a range of different marketing channels is a must to build your business and market your store, and without good SEO your brand is going to struggle to see success.

It does take time to build the right SEO strategies as you know, so make a point of doing what you can to ensure performance.

This starts with picking up a platform that has the right infrastructure. Usability also matters, and if you want your ecommerce website to rank highly, you have to think about how people experience the site. Loading speed shouldn’t be too long unless you’re excited about high bounce rates (sidenote: you shouldn’t be!).

Can it grow with you?

The idea is to grow your business into something amazing, right? Well, for that to work you need to make sure that your ecommerce platform has the capability to grow as you do. This will prevent you from having to search all over again later as you grow.

You need to make sure that the site you choose can happily handle the extended traffic you will look forward to as you grow, and that’s where conversations about budget still have to happen!

Review the payment gateway.

What payment gateway do they use? This is a big question because you need your customers to feel assured that their information will be intact. This comes under security, sure, but you want to ensure that the ecommerce platform used is one that is friendly to multiple payment or card types.

There are plenty of things to consider with this one, such as the fact that payment gateways should always be encrypted, and you need it to be flexible. Appealing to a range of customers is much easier when you can accommodate their needs.

Make it easy to use.

You have to choose an ecommerce site that’s accessible and easy for customers to use any time and anywhere. So, if they are on the go and they want to shop, your site needs to be mobile friendly. We already know that most people prefer to use apps and mobile sites to shop because their smartphones are in their hands.

Therefore, when you make it easy for people, you’ll ensure that people prefer to use your website over your competition!

Final Thoughts

The perfect website probably doesn’t exist, but you can get as close to perfect as possible when you have a great ecommerce platform set up for your customers to use. While you want it to work well for them, it has to work well for your business goals, too. The tips above should hopefully help you to make your products far more accessible both online and on a global scale.

You don’t have to waste your time on this one: it’s easy to compare the ecommerce platforms out there and make a choice that makes sense to your business brand and to your customers all at once.

Ciao,
Miss Kemya