User-Friendly-ing Your Business

Nowadays, it is not uncommon to find a 10-year old sending an email to somewhere across the world, a middle-aged man reading his now digital newspaper, or a group of teenagers ordering pizza online. With its unmatched speed and worldwide accessibility, the internet has undoubtedly become the most efficient way to send and receive information. And with this marvel of communication, businesses have come to realize that a digital shopping cart which caters to the entire world promises to be a more efficient means of transacting than the physical, squeaky-wheeled one at your local grocery's.

Because of the definite attraction of the internet, with its cost-effectiveness and huge return possibilities, online businesses have come to multiply in quantity like rabbits on Viagra, and thus competition is savage but not completely hopeless; a lot of these e-commerce websites make one mistake, one that can be easily avoided, thus giving you, the upstarting online business owner, a leg up on the competition: the user-friendliness of your website.

The central point to understand here is quite an obvious one: making your e-commerce website user-friendly makes it more attractive, and thus customers who had no trouble (one would even go so far to say as enjoyed) their first encounter with the domain will most definitely return to make another purchase. You can perhaps imagine the concept as a mutation of advertising; the only variation here is that you are not only selling a product (which, above all else, must be satisfactory, mind you) but also the entire experience of the purchase. Think restaurant ambiance and service.

Consider also the target market of whatever product you are selling; while retailing motherboards, processors and the like permit you to use some technical language, retailing toddler video games requires the simplest of words.

The concept of user-friendliness does not limit itself to the kind of language you use (though it is invaluable); the overall appearance of the website, including the ease of browsing through products and the steps a customer takes before making a purchase, is crucial. No shopper would want to make a purchase at a store that keeps all its items in the back room. Working with a largely visual medium like the internet, the online business owner is tasked with making his products look as pristine as he believes them to be. It would do you well to have professionally-taken pictures of all the products (preferably from various angles) posted on your website. This gives potential buyers the chance to inspect the product, letting them know that they are making an informed decision. A detailed description of each product wouldn't hurt either.

While admittedly, there are more steps to be taken by the online buyer before closing a deal, considering security measures and all, the online business owner should make it a point to make these steps as less a hassle as possible.

Bottom line: simple is good for the buyer, good for the seller.

By:
Donald Varner
Marketing Staff
http://websitedevelopment.org/