Ecommerce Website Maintenance Has Benefits, It feels like there isn’t a single person alive who hasn’t bought something online. In fact, eMarketer predicts that by 2021, there will be over 230 million digital shoppers in the United States.
This statistic comes as no surprise. After all, we have a whole internet full of goods at our disposal. After COVID forced us all to stay inside for months on end, the popularity of ecommerce has exploded. In May 2020, online store spending was up by 77% on previous years, says Forbes. And this trend is only set to continue.
Yet, it’s not enough for a business to simply think about website design at the outset, fill the site full of new products, and expect the rest to take its course. Like anything that you do, an ecommerce website needs ongoing maintenance.
Think of it as moving into a new house. At first, everything is shiny and clean. After a while though, dirt builds up, the washing machine isn’t quite doing its job, and the wardrobe door won’t shut properly.
But because you care for the house, you clean it, you replace the washing machine, and you fix the door. Basically, you maintain it.
Having an ecommerce website is much like this. You need to keep up the ecommerce maintenance on the site to make sure you have the best online presence possible. Replace products where needed and fix any problems that may occur. Give people not just a good, but a great impression as to who you are, whether you are a fashion enterprise or a B2B events development company.
Maintaining your site isn’t just about changing the color scheme or marking things as ‘out of stock’. It’s about creating great content, keeping it safe from hackers, and making sure the marketing team is doing its job.
This guide will talk you through why all this is so important and what you can do to make sure you are maintaining your ecommerce site.
Ecommerce Website Maintenance Has Benefits
The point of having an ecommerce website is to make sales. So, naturally, failing to keep your website properly maintained can lead to loss of sales. There are several ways that keeping your site fresh will help your sales figures. They include:
- Reduced cart abandonment.
Let’s say you sell shoes. A customer is on your site and after scrolling through, they add three pairs to their cart. However, a technical glitch causes the basket to empty. Frustrated, the customer leaves the site and chooses a competitor instead.
Keeping on top of an ecommerce website means that you can spot when something is wrong and fix it straight away. Before the customer notices, and you lose out on sales.
Keeping these glitches at bay, then, helps arrest your customer churn. You’ll lose fewer customers to your competitors. Anyone who’s looked into customer churn analysis will tell you how beneficial that can be to your business.
- Better user experience.
Think about things from a user’s point of view, and how you navigate around any site.
Now consider how your site is laid out. Are new products showing on the landing page? Are contact details easy to find?
It may be that as you have added more products to your pages, things have become jumbled. So, it’s important to maintain a clear website, ensuring navigation is straightforward. It’s all about being clear and organized.
You can link your website maintenance to other business processes here, too. Your product mapping, for instance, can help you plan out where to put products on your site and how to link them together.
Maintaining an ecommerce website ensures a smooth shopping journey and user experience from start to finish. Meaning customers will be much likelier to return.
There are lots of landing page examples across niches that show strong awareness of user experience. Skullcandy is a great example of a successful ecommerce site that gives great customer experience. Look at the following screenshots from the brand.
Credit: www.bigcommerce.com