The document provides best practices for ecommerce websites. It discusses three key concepts: awareness, usability, and clarity. For each concept, it lists three related practices and provides additional details. For example, for awareness it recommends search engine optimization, email marketing, and social media engagement. The document also lists features that should be included on the homepage, product pages, categories/search, basket/checkout, and global elements. The goal is to help ecommerce businesses understand strategies that can help their site perform better and drive growth.

3. 2014
ECOMMERCE
BEST PRACTICES

4. WHICH NEW FEATURES IN THE
ECOMMERCE MARKETPLACE
ACTUALLY WORK AND WILL
HELP YOUR BUSINESS GROW.

5. SHOPPING BRICK & MORTAR
VS.
SHOPPING ONLINE

6. AWARENESS
3 CONCEPTS TO
STRIVE FOR

7. USABILITY
3 CONCEPTS TO
STRIVE FOR

8. CLARITY
3 CONCEPTS TO
STRIVE FOR

9. AWARENESS
• Search Engine Optimization
• Email Marketing
• Social Media Engagement

10. AWARENESS: SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION
• Site-wide SEO
• On-page SEO
• Off-page SEO

11. AWARENESS: EMAIL MARKETING
• Weekly Newsletters
• Remarketing

12. AWARENESS: SOCIAL MEDIA
• Socially Engage in your visitor’s communities, don’t just advertise
• Offer discounts
• Purchase Advertisements

13. USABILITY
• Website Performance
• Responsive
• Intuitive

14. USABILITY: WEBSITE PERFORMANCE
• Every second counts
• Majority of online shoppers will abandon a page after waiting 3
seconds for it to load.
• Mobile users expect speed to be equal to a desktop experience
• Page Speed Analysis Tools
• How to lose weight in the browser
• Does your site follow webmaster guidelines?

15. USABILITY: RESPONSIVE

16. USABILITY: INTUITIVE
• Help customers find what they need
• Consistent & Clear navigation
• Easy & Effective Search Results
• Category/Search Page filtering
• Highlight calls to action

17. CLARITY
• Showcase Products
• Be Transparent
• Understand Your Site

18. CLARITY: SHOWCASE PRODUCTS
• Use Product Videos
• Have high quality product images
• Show product reviews
• Have detailed product descriptions & feature specifications

19. CLARITY: BE TRANSPARENT
• Reveal as much information as you can
• Show inventory levels
• Display Trust Badges
• Clearly display shipping & return policies
• Offer Free Domestic Shipping (If possible)
• Notify them of any warranties or guarantees

20. CLARITY: UNDERSTAND YOUR SITE
• Consistently Check:
• Who is using your site
• How they are interacting with it
• What is being purchased
• Track Changes
• A/B Test significant changes
• Multivariate detailed changes

21. FEATURE LIST

22. GLOBAL ELEMENTS
• Mega menu or drop down navigation
• Search with auto complete
• Breadcrumbs
• Mini Basket
• Contact Information
• Live Chat
• Policy Links

23. HOME PAGE
• Don't use rotating banners
• Show various high level categories
• Show best selling products
• Show new products
• Show products that are on sale

24. PRODUCT PAGE
• Multiple Large Product Images
• Show Product Videos
• Have A Clear Add To Cart Call To Action
• Display Customer Product Reviews
• Related Products
• Show Products That Other Customers Also Bought
• Display Recently Viewed Products
• AJAX Add To Cart
• Answer FAQs

25. CATEGORY & SEARCH
• Add Facetted Filters options
• Display Ratings
• Quick-view product details
• Product Comparisons
• Various sorting options
• Create a "New Products" category

26. BASKET & CHECKOUT
• Shipping Estimator
• Wish lists
• Coupons
• Gift Certificates
• Various Payment Methods (PayPal, Amazon, etc.)
• Once order is purchased, suggest a follow up action:
• Share order in social network
• Offer discount code to come back again
• Show products related to their order