11 Online Store Changes That Will Drive Sales

Customer experience (CX) is everything when it comes to dropshipping success. And while things like responsive customer service and fast shipping times are important, CX really begins when a visitor arrives at your online store. You can improve CX and drive sales with these 11 online store changes.

Improve Your Website Loading Time

Your slow-loading website is costing you sales. Aberdeen, a research consulting group, found that a one-second delay in web page loading time decreased sales by 7% and decreased customer satisfaction by 16%.

HubSpot reports that, according to current business trends, the average web page loading time was 2.5 seconds. Still, don’t settle for average. One study found that less than 4 seconds is the optimal loading time for increasing sales.

In addition to decreased conversions, your slow-loading webpage also hurts your SEO rankings. Page loading time is one of the factors Google assesses when awarding top rankings.

Many things affect your website’s loading time, including the user’s location and internet speed. But there are quite a few things you can do on your end to speed things up. Start by testing your webpages for free with Pingdom’s Website Speed Test. Then, make these changes to help your website load more quickly:

1. Reduce the file size of your images and pages. Simply put, large files take a long time to load. You can reduce your file sizes without impacting your customers’ experience.

2. Reduce unnecessary elements on the page. Every element on your webpage, from photos to text to video, increases its load time. Eliminate unnecessary items, and break up one hefty page into multiple smaller ones, if appropriate.

3. Use a Content Delivery Network (CDN) to store copies of your web pages on servers in different locations. Your website will load more slowly if users are geographically far away from your web hosting servers. Using a CDN will put static portions of your site closer to users for faster loading times.

4. Find a web host that prioritizes performance. As your online store grows, you’ll likely have more visitors and products. Choose a host that specializes in fast performance and can handle increased traffic.

5. Consult with a professional website builder. Much of what goes into having a fast-loading website is on the technical backend. Investing in your online store with professional help can help you make money in the long run.

Include Appealing Photos

We’ve all gone “browsing” in a brick-and-mortar store only to buy goodies we hadn’t planned on. Oftentimes, we make an emotional connection with items we can touch and hold.

You can recreate the browsing experience in your online store by including a lot of quality photos. By including lots of photos, you encourage visitors to linger and imagine themselves using the item. You’re weaving an emotional connection that leads to impulse buying.

Use these tips to take appealing product photos that sell:

6. Position the item so that the user could “grab” it with their right hand. One study found that yogurt sales were 20% higher when the spoon in the product photo was orientated to the right. This is because most people are right-handed. Even if your product isn’t “grabbable,” you can position a prop, such as a wine glass, to the right to encourage viewers to imagine themselves in the photo.

7. Use a white background for most of your photos, and show the items from several angles. This will help the viewer feel they are examining the product’s quality and workmanship.

8. Include at least one photo of the product being used in an idealized setting. We’ve all seen SUV commercials showing people driving to mountain overlooks. Yet, most of us buy a vehicle to drive to our daily grind. Likewise, a consumer’s new BMC bike may end up collecting dust in the garage. But when they’re shopping for biking accessories, they’re imagining themselves training for the Tour de France.

Write Persuasive Product Descriptions

Just like product photos, your product descriptions need to make an emotional connection with your audience. You can take persuasive writing even further by eliciting the emotions readers want to feel when they imagine themselves using the product. Here’s how:

9. Know your audience. Gardeners love getting their hands dirty and watching things grow. On the other hand, a gamer wants to master the latest Call of Duty and beat his friends. Likewise, tap into what your audience really wants.

10. Highlight the product benefits, not just its features. For example, don’t just tell your readers that a cell phone case has a waterproof rating of IPX8. Tell them they can safely record the views with their iPhone 14 Pro Max while kayaking off the coast of the Baja Peninsula.

11. Use short paragraphs and bullet points. Reading a screen strains the eyes. So, help your readers by keeping paragraphs short and using bullet points.

Improve CX with TVCMALL

When these online store changes increase your sales, you want to keep the good CX vibes going. Partnering with TVCMALL will help you make sure your customers love your brand and will come back for more. With our quality-tested products and reliable shipping, you’ll have the goods to make your online store THRIVE.