How do I make my online shop stand out from my competition?

Clearly Outline Your USP

Every business, big or small, needs a USP (unique selling proposition) as a way of making its branding clear to customers and rival companies. When your customer clicks on your website, they want to know, straight away, what it is that makes your online shop different from – and better than – the others they have seen. If they cannot easily locate and understand your USB, they are almost certainly going to click away.

So, if you haven’t done this already, one way of standing out from the competition is through placing your USP in a compelling, concise format on your home page, where visitors will immediately see it. This message needs to be short and snappy; it must not come across as a slogan or marketing message. You are speaking to the customer. Anticipate what they are thinking and speak to their concerns as a consumer. Grabbing their attention in this way puts you ahead of many other shops.  

Make Your Layout Beautiful

Studies have claimed that 93% of shoppers take notice of the visual layout of a website before anything else, so if your online shop’s layout is not striking, there is no way that you will stand out from other businesses in the mind of your customers. Yes, you may have great items and compelling product descriptions, but that means very little if your website’s visual layout fails to make people say “wow”.

To create a shopfront that dazzles customers, there are a few pillars to rest on. Your logo, first and foremost, must be powerful and clear; calls to action must be frequent, snappy, and included within clickable buttons; and, of course, you must include beautiful, high resolution images that immediately draw the eye. But remember: having a slick, smooth layout that looks modern and accessible is great, but not if it compromises loading speed as a result. Keep this notion in mind – you don’t want a beautiful website that doesn’t load.

Make the Most of Social

In the year of 2020, social media is an unavoidable pillar of our modern world, yet many businesses don’t know – or are reluctant to know – how to use it to their full advantage. Hitting the right tone on several social media platforms doesn’t just help to generate new leads; it casts your online shop in a completely different light to other online shops who only have a minimal social presence. Platforms like Facebook and Instagram allow you to further illustrate your brand to more people. More importantly, though, the integrated social buttons on your home page will enshrine in the mind of a consumer the notion that you are a modern, reliable, dynamic business.

But how do you make the most of social, exactly? You could, for example, host Q&A sessions on Instagram Live, create giveaways, promote user content, create friendly ‘How To’ videos, answer questions on Quora, ask questions of your audience, and so much more. Most importantly, though, you must frequently post updates. A big flurry of posts followed by weeks of nothing looks unprofessional. Facebook and Instagram are the two main areas to focus on, and make sure that the tone and style of your posts have a human touch and are consistent across all platforms.  

Take Time With Your ‘About Us’ Page

When it comes to setting yourself apart from your competition, the most important page is not your product list or home page, but rather the ‘About Us’ section. And yet, time and time again, this page is largely ignored by online shop owners, who will usually just provide some basic information about how their business came to be, what they do, and so on. If you can craft a snappy, compelling ‘About Us’ page, one that feels truly unique and makes people want to read on, your website immediately stands out from many others.

How do you do this? One way of presenting your ecommerce website as different, as a group of people who customers can connect with rather than just a faceless commodity supplier, is through including videos or images that show off the team behind the business. Perhaps give some information about what each team member likes to do on weekends, or what their favourite takeaway option is (Caribbean, before you ask). Tell your company’s story in a way that draws people in. Outline the progression from fledgling idea to the brilliant online entity that you are now. This section is so often overlooked; some care and attention to getting this page right can go a long way to wowing your customers.