The Expert Effect: Recent Episodes
Mode Effect
Discussing powerful web development solutions for technology companies & non-profits. Mode Effect has a passion to help brands you trust with powerful web strategy and development solutions. We do this by discussing strategic and tactical pointers to achieve your goals using your website.
What's the best option for your E-Commerce store growth? Thoughts on why WooCommerce is an excellent option for growth and ownership for ECommerce store owners.
Link to original post: https://modeeffect.com/ux-killing-conversions-ecommerce-website/
We recently joined the GoDaddy blogging team of experts in website development and design, hosting, domains and online marketing. This month’s post is focused on eCommerce conversions. Here’s a snippet:
A great user experience goes a long way towards creating a successful e-commerce brand and store.
A user’s experience on your eCommerce website will have a strong impact on how long they stay on your site, how much they navigate through it, and if they make a purchase while visiting.
When it comes to conversions, your user experience is critical.
So, let’s dive in and look at four key areas of eCommerce website UX design that will help ensure you don’t lose conversions for the users you’ve worked so hard to attract to your site.
Link to original article: https://modeeffect.com/4-ecommerce-design-trends-that-amplify-results-on-your-store/
eCommerce website design is a fast-changing landscape. At Mode Effect, we specialize in designing eCommerce websites on the WordPress WooCommerce platform, which we’ll talk a bit more about later.
To help keep you up-to-date on the latest trends that have a powerful impact on an eCommerce store and its success, we’ve rounded up four design trends to incorporate into an eCommerce site. Each will have an impact on your customer’s first impression, how they engage with the site, whether they make a purchase or not and if they become repeat and loyal customers.
One of the single best ways you can create repeat customers to your eCommerce store on WooCommerce or other eCommerce platforms is to provide them with an effective post-purchase experience. After all, retaining a customer is easier than acquiring a new one.
Read more here: https://modeeffect.com/tips-to-optimize-your-woocommerce-post-purchase-experience/
When contemplating a web application or website, it’s also important to understand that there are often additional responsibilities that come with web applications. Especially if you’re dealing with information that’s provided by customers, visitors, or members. While websites are largely information based, a web application often requires input from the end user. Anytime your users are inputting personal information or payment details, you are faced with the responsibility of safeguarding that information. Websites are certainly not immune to hackers, but the inherent nature of web applications means that they are faced with an increased risk of security breaches. Your developer is probably already aware of this, but clients rarely are. So, make sure you discuss potential risks with your developer.
Read more here: https://modeeffect.com/does-your-startup-need-a-web-app-or-a-website/
Not every URL you visit can be classified as a website. So your business needs to know exactly what this means for you and your customers. Today you’ll learn how your business can be clear about the needs for your website now.
Being clear about what your company needs in a website is incredibly important. Especially if you aren’t sure what type of website you need. Check out our last video on the difference between a website and web application for a good starting point here.
Read more here: https://modeeffect.com/does-your-startup-need-a-web-app-or-a-website/
If you're a business owner or marketing director in charge of a website you know the process of creating the website is truly never done.
One of the most frustrating things we face as entrepreneurs or marketing directors is knowing the best way to update and tweak our processes and messaging to get closer to our online goals. When it comes to updating and tweaking our website, analytics provide the best way to understand how to make iterative changes on your website.
Read more: https://modeeffect.com/using-data-from-your-website-analytics-to-tweak-your-user-experience/
The thing is, not every URL that you visit can actually be classified as a website. Some of them are more accurately referred to as web applications. It sounds like we might be dealing with a case of semantics, but we’re not. While the terminology may not make much difference to the end user, it definitely makes a difference to your business in terms of understanding your requirements, planning for the future, and communicating with potential web development agencies.
In order to help you differentiate between websites and web applications, we’re going to discuss some of the things that set them apart. We’re also going to cover the importance of planning for the long term. While your business might be in need of a website initially, that doesn’t necessarily mean a website is capable of fulfilling your needs down the road.
Find out more at https://modeeffect.com/does-your-startup-need-a-web-app-or-a-website/
Approaching e-commerce without giving consideration to Amazon is paramount to eating your lunch in the tiger cage at the local zoo. That’s not to say it can’t be done—because it can. You just need to be very clear about your strategic planning and what creates your competitive advantage—lest Amazon will eat you for lunch.
Learn what your store needs to do in order to compete against Amazon and win! https://modeeffect.com/how-your-woocommerce-store-can-compete-with-amazon/
For many people, the term website is synonymous with every URL that they’ve ever visited. They’re under the impression that anything entered into the address bar of their favorite browser will result in visiting the desired website.
The thing is, not every URL that you visit can actually be classified as a website. Some of them are more accurately referred to as web applications. It sounds like we might be dealing with a case of semantics, but we’re not. While the terminology may not make much difference to the end user, it definitely makes a difference to your business in terms of understanding your requirements, planning for the future, and communicating with potential web development agencies.
In order to help you differentiate between websites and web applications, we’re going to discuss some of the things that set them apart. We’re also going to cover the importance of planning for the long term. While your business might be in need of a website initially, that doesn’t necessarily mean a website is capable of fulfilling your needs down the road.
Websites vs. Web Applications: What’s the Difference? The truth of the matter is this: For the end user, there is no difference. I simply type your company’s URL into my browser and think nothing of it. You can call it whatever you want, the only thing that matters to the end user is that your “website” does what it’s supposed to do. End of story. But from a more technical perspective, there are some distinct differences between websites and web applications. Keep in mind that even here, you’ll find some conflicting opinions amongst professionals.
Learn more on this subject at our website: https://modeeffect.com/does-your-startup-need-a-web-app-or-a-website/
Communicate Your Value Proposition Quickly and Clearly on your WooCommerce website.
This design tweak that we’ll propose is making sure you communicate your value proposition as quickly and clearly as possible. Too many e-commerce stores take a “me too” approach, and it leaves visitors feeling uninspired and unmotivated.
When a visitor lands on your site, you want them to know what makes your store, and your brand, different than your competitors. It could be the quality of your products or a statement about your customer service. For example, Bose frequently uses “Better Sound Through Research” to convey an image of high quality, great sounding speakers. Zappos uses “Powered by Service” to put their amazing customer service at the forefront.
Conveying your value proposition is one of the easiest design tweaks you can implement on your e-commerce site. It’s also something that you can easily experiment with in order to discover what resonates best with your visitors. Just remember, your value proposition can’t live in a bubble. It has to be backed up and reinforced by all of the other elements on your website.
Endless Design Tweaks
While we’ve covered three very specific design tweaks in this post, hopefully these ideas have got you thinking about some of the potential changes or improvements you might consider implementing on your own WooCommerce site. The possibilities are quite literally endless.
Just remember that any change or tweak you make has the potential to give you a competitive advantage. But, the only way you’ll know for sure is by measuring and tracking your results. Never assume that there is only one “correct” way of doing things. Different images, different value propositions, and different checkout sequences can all provide you with a leg up on your competition.
Earlier we shared a post on our site outlining 3 design tweaks you can make on your WooCommerce website to gain a competitive advantage. Today we’re focusing on one of those tips in a video. If you can leave this site with one takeaway it would be this. Get your customers to convert with as much ease as possible by adding a tasteful opt-in.
You may or may not already know that the average shopping cart abandonment rate to be 79%. This figure consistently sits between 65% and 90%, depending upon the season. What does this mean? Most often customers are on your site to window shop. They’re doing research and comparing your prices with other websites.
How can the design of your site be tweaked to help customers complete their purchase? Examine your checkout process deeply. Is it too rigid? Are you sending customers off or your site to pay? Before you can get the customer to this point you’ll need to consider the opportunity to add customers to your e-mail list or persuade them with a coupon. You can give potential customers a coupon or some type of incentive to buy and then you have the chance to gain their loyalty with your amazing service and buying experience on the website.
You can find great online resources to easily add this to your site such as Sumo Me, Optin Monster, or Cart Hook for engaging customers who have abandoned their shopping carts. If you do nothing to get your customers’ contact information, you’ll lose them forever.
Whatever method works better for you, the objective remains the same: Find a way to open up a channel of communication between you and your potential customers as quickly as possible.
As a bonus for reading this article, we’re offering 5 more design tweaks to help your WooCommerce website gain the advantage you need.
https://modeeffect.com/tweak-your-woocommerce-store-for-higher-conversions/
The innaugural episode of "The Expert Effect" features Cody Landefeld sharing how we've scaled the Mode Effect website in the past year and what we've learned through it. Questions? Feel free to e-mail codyl [at] mode effect.com