What makes a good eCommerce site?

I have a big presentation to give on the 8th June for a job with FarnellinOne.

The question is: what makes a good eCommerce site?

I thought id share my brainstorming list here with the Salehoo members. Please feel free to add any others and talk about what really sells a site to you. I cant stand there and talk about every one because it would drive them to suicide, so id really like to know, which aspects are most important in getting you to hang around on a site and make a purchase.

In no particular order:

- Clean and Simple
- Search engine entry
- Keep the user interested
- Rapid order confirmation by email
- Branding should be linked in (marketing communications)
- Dont link to sites unrelated to your own company
- Everything must work - No broken links
- Free/Cheap postage and packaging (Buyer psychology)
- Snappy name
- Get onto shopping bots (Kelkoo, dealtime etc)
- Good server speed (capable of meeting heavy user demand)
- Efficient use of bandwidth
- Up 24/7
- Stored customer details
- Respond to customer feedback
- Respond to customer enquiries
- Accurate stock levels displayed
- Secure payment facilities
- Email templates linked to site and branding (marketing communications)
- Live help
- Variety of items for sale
- Easy payment
- Order tracking facility
- Account status
- Multi-browser friendly
- Slow bandwidth option
- Cart options (edit, remove, add)
- Contact details easily found
- Dont overload pages
- Font size and style generally all the same where possible
- Customer testimonials
- Product pictures (major selling point) (Enlarge, multi angle shots)
- Multi-language selection
- Clearly displayed special offers (becareful not to make them look tacky)
- Good technical information, which MUST be accurate
- Easy site navigation (clear nav bars)
- Advanced search options, filter by price, specs, weight etc
- Product comparison option
- Effective use of page space
- Currency conversion
- Buy without having to actually register
- International postage that will automatically take into account the taxes, shipping, duties etc of all the countries, which the company ships to.
- Weekly, Monthly newsletters that are 'customised' to a customers purchase history (what are they interested in). Keep customers informed, but let them choose to opt out of the emails. Dont overload them.

If anyone would like my finished booklet that i'll be producing as handouts to go with the presentation please post below your email address. I think it could be quite a helpful checklist for anyone setting up a site.

Also I was planning on doing a little questionnaire like 3-5 questions finding out peoples views on what makes a good eCommerce site. If you'd be willing to fill that in as well then I will copy and paste the questions in below later so people can use it as a template to reply if they have the time.

Many thanks
Ben

For me, I think one of the biggest things that keeps me at a site and makes me want to buy (other than good prices) is a site that is easy to navigate, and all of the information is easy to find.

Also I don't like too much information on one page. I don't like having to scroll for hours to find the product or answer I'm looking for.

Thanks Bianca, appreciate the input.

Ok heres the questionnaire template:

1) Name:

2) Gender

Male/Female

3) Age Band

15-19
20-24
25-29
30-34
35-39
40-44
45-49
50+

4) Do you buy items online?

YES/NO (If Yes miss out question 5)

5) What stops you from buying online? List as many reasons as you can in order of importance.

6) How often do you buy online?

Daily/Weekly/Monthly/Quarterly/Yearly

7) What are the 3 most important things that attract you to buy from a particular site?

1.
2.
3.

8. How could your online buying experience be improved?

9) Can you give a URL of an eCommerce site that you find particularly good?