The Essential Elements of E-Commerce

Illustration by Jessica Zhang

In the age of uprising technology, businesses are turning to alternative ways to sell their products, services, or ideas. Electronic commerce —better known as e-commerce— is a method of buying or selling over the internet; its convenient buying process makes it popular among consumers worldwide. Businesses can utilize e-commerce through creating websites with varying styles, formats, and features. For a successful customer journey behind a screen, businesses often touch on five elements; to entice, explore, evoke, ensure, and extend. 

    Because the internet is so vast, establishing one’s business is arguably one of the most important components of e-commerce. A concise phrase or statement about the company’s mission and its main products allow customers to know what the company offers as soon as they click on the website link. According to theideagirl founder Brittany Antoinette, accountability and ownership are also very important things to consider; securing all business domains (ie .com, .org, .co) is helpful in making sure online shoppers are able to correctly navigate onto the site. 

    Once a customer reaches the company’s website, they may start to explore what it has to offer. Making exploration simple and crafting a path for viewers to follow increases the likelihood that they may make a purchase; this can be done through being mobile website responsive, having an appealing layout, and displaying clear calls to action. Because layout design varies between devices, it is important for businesses to be attentive to any device website changes. Creating an effective layout includes calls to action on the website’s homepage, ensuring each web page has a title and description, and an inquiry or about page. A clean strategic site layout utilized to map discovery encourages customers to both buy products and learn about the company and its goals. 

    As a customer explores the site, businesses can illustrate their uniqueness and motives through professional lifestyle graphics, having a uniform color palette throughout the site, and selective typography. By doing so, businesses are able to influence consumers to buy their goods or services— while also evoking a feel-good sensation in the customer. Just like in branding, color palette and typography are also crucial in ecommerce; a uniform color palette and a clear, consistent type hierarchy throughout the site not only looks visually pleasing, but also sends a message to its viewers. These visual elements of a website all contribute to creating an image for a business; a good balance between creativity and practicality on their website allows them to make their mark in the ecommerce world.

Once an online shopper is interested in buying the content seen on the site, the next step for brands is to ensure a good customer shopping experience. The relationship between customer and company is crucial; it creates a sense of trust between the two and makes the shopper feel that they are in good hands. Therefore, having a “reviews” column for each product/service, having an FAQ page, stating shipping and return policies, and having an email funnel series (sending welcome, abandon cart, and thank you emails) generates a sense of accountability and leaves the customer satisfied with their purchase experience.

The final step in a successful ecommerce website is “extending an arm” for a customer’s return to the site. Triggering a repeat purchase or influencing the customer to return to the site is key in getting returning customers and further building a sense of trust. Becoming a part of the customer’s lifestyle through impactful content, blog posts, videos, and tips help to inspire viewers. Using newsletters—bi-weekly or monthly— keeps customers in the loop of updates, releases, and new events. Keeping customers engaged after their purchases increases the success of a business’ ecommerce.    

Through this five step process of enticing, exploring, evoking, ensuring, and extending, businesses can take their ecommerce sites to the next level and allow their customers to have a more satisfactory experience. Being able to influence customers in such a way can increase profit, growth, and reputation for the company. One can expect that along with the coming of new technology, business growth methods such as ecommerce will continually adapt as well.