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How E-Commerce Really Works, Part 1

By February 25, 2022No Comments

I wanted to get into some specifics on how to sell online. This is the first in a series of helpful articles.

58% of consumers expect to shop online more AFTER the pandemic than before.

 
Respondents estimate 60% of their interactions with companies will occur online.

The Process (for buying something online)

Before we get into the details of e-commerce, we’ll start with the basic process. These 6 steps will help us to better understand how to improve an online store.

Six!

  1. Awareness
    • The customer finds your website
    • They find the product in the store
      • This is where thoughtful planning and design come together
      • If the goal of your website is sales, then be sure to keep that the focus of the website
         
  2. Selection
    • Customer chooses product(s)
      • and product options?
        • Be sure the client gets what they expect
      • then selects shipping
        • Or digital delivery
        • Be sure the options are dependable and easy for you to fulfill
           
  3. Purchase
    • Payment is made
      • Directly via credit card
        • Probably the easiest and most direct way
      • Or a digital payment through a company like PayPal
        • Be careful creating extra steps where the client isn’t on your website
      • Or with a service offering flexible payments like Sezzle
        • These can help ease large purchases but be careful not to confuse your customers with too many options
           
  4. Shipping
    • Fulfil their shipping choice
      • Be sure you collected enough to cover the full cost of shipping
    • Customer tracks shipment
      • If it’s a digital product you want it to be easy for clients to access their purchase later on
         
  5. Delivery
    • Customer receives the product
      • Hooray!
         
  6. Post Delivery Service
    • Customer communication
      • Thank you emails
      • Return/exchange options
      • Discount coupons for next time?
         

This is a broad overview, but now we know the steps an online sale follows. If you have any questions about this process please don’t hesitate to ask. Next time we’ll take a look at how all of this works behind the scenes.

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