How To Improve Your Online Content and Watch Your Sales Grow

In order to be noticed, and – importantly – to be trusted enough to buy from, you need to ensure that your website’s content is as good as possible. You can have the best customer service in the world, but without the right content your potential customers might not even  make it to the point of getting to experience it. If you think that your online content might be letting you down, here are some useful ways in which you can improve it, and boost your sales at the same time.

 

 

If you’re an online retailer, you need good product descriptions. Without the ability of being able to see or handle the product in person, no one is going to risk buying from you if they are unsure about what it is they are going to end up with. Part of your content – perhaps the most important part – needs to focus on ensuring that these product descriptions are clear and concise. Again, information needs to be given so that a potential customer understands just what it is they are buying, and be confident that it is exactly what they actually want (or need).

 

Remember that this description is what is going to influence the buyer’s decision; it needs to be done well.

 

To improve your product descriptions, don’t just use the text that the supplier gave you. Think of your own, and make sure that it is unique and compelling. It needs to mention all the benefits of the product, not just the features. Providing key specifications is also a great way to ensure that your customers know exactly what they’re getting.  

 

 

Content on your retail site isn’t just about words; images are important too. In fact, images are going to be the first thing that people see, and this is what will determine whether they read on, which is what leads to purchasing. So the right images in the right places are essential, but they must also be of high quality. That doesn’t mean they need to be large – that’s a no no on a website since it takes so much longer to load and you will frustrate the customer. However, they do need to look attractive, professional, and unpixelated.

 

Having a number of product images will help give your customers a clear perception of what it is they are purchasing, and it is also worth checking to see if the manufacturer offers product images which can be used as these will typically be of high quality and may be produced using professional services which would be expensive for you to recreate. If you are going to rely on in-house product images, make sure they are consistent and in-line with your brand - anything less than professional or with a different tone may suggest that your site is not trustworthy. 

 

 

Making sure that your website is easy to navigate is a key part of your customer’s shopping experience. Customers don’t always know exactly what they want, so ensuring your categories are clear and relevant allows them to browse and narrow down their requirements much easier. Customers on average spend 9.4 minutes on a retail site, and poor category structure could lead to frustrated shoppers looking elsewhere for their purchases.  

 

Make sure that your website has clear categories, and perhaps try incorporating both descriptive categories alongside curated categories for events, styles or intended recipients to help enhance your customer’s experience further. 

 

 

If your products are sold via third parties, it is crucial that you monitor just what they are saying in their own product descriptions, and ensure that it is representing the brand in the way that you want it to be. One mistake here and your reputation can easily be damaged.

 

Working with these third parties where possible and where needed is always going to be worthwhile. If you can help them to represent your products in a more positive way, it is good for the entire supply chain, including the end user who might have missed out on buying exactly what they needed because they couldn’t trust the descriptions offered.

 

Building a close relationship with your sellers will make enforcing this much easier and providing marketing packs including standardised descriptions, product names and images will help make the process as hassle-free as possible and set the standard for your sellers moving forward. 

 

 

Product reviews are becoming more and more important as the number of people making online purchases increases. Eighty-four percent of shoppers trust online reviews as much as their friend’s opinion, so providing these on your website can really boost sales by providing confidence in the product and service offered. Allowing customers to write about their experience provides potential customers with a view of what to expect in what could be perceived as a gamble buying from a new retailer and can boost trust in your brand.  

 

It’s important to consider that in order for reviews to be effective, the product and service provided must be of a high enough quality for people to submit positive reviews, as poor reviews can actually have the opposite effect. Only implement this feature if you are confident that your customers will love your products and the service they receive. 

 

 

Finally, spelling and grammar count for a lot. If you write something that doesn’t make any sense when read, that is spelled wrong, or that is grammatically difficult to deal with, you will be alienating visitors who might have bought from you if you had just taken the time to run your content through a spell check tool and make sure the grammar was on point. Writing mistakes like these will give the people reading your content a very definite view of you, and it won’t be a complimentary one. You and your business will come across as slapdash, unprofessional, even uncaring. That’s not a good thing if you want to build your customer base.

 

We recommend using an online tool such as Grammarly to ensure everything on your site is up to scratch. 

 

 

Using the above tips to improve your online content is going to help massively when it comes to getting new customers on your website to make that all important first purchase. Give a good impression, show people that you understand what they want, give them the answers they are looking for, and you will find that your business grows, giving you the success story you want.