How to increase revenue through your eCommerce website

Starting an eCommerce business has never been easier. There are so many tools out there to help someone create a website (check out one of our favourites – EKM, with an exclusive free trial here), produce their own products or dropship them.

The ease in which it is possible to start an eCommerce business also means that there are more ‘new’ companies with an online presence than ever before. For the would-be customers of these sites this can present a problem.

How to trust a site that you don’t know with your purchase?

This migration to ecommerce was further fueled by the pandemic and lockdowns. Bricks-and-mortar businesses were in a new reality, forcing many of them online for the first time. This included SMEs, that were forced to digitise quickly, entering a market they were not familiar with. Looking at some statistics issued by Simply Business (COVID-19 impact on small business, 2021) 18% more businesses made the leap in 2020 compared to 2019. What they found when they got there was a space dominated by giants. Amazon reported an incredible 84% increase in profit in 2020 alone.
The time prior to the pandemic is a fascinating one to look at, as research found that 90% of new ecommerce startups ended in failure within their first 120 days. 

A shocking statistic, but why did so many eCommerce businesses collapse and why do so many continue to do so?
One of the main factors, research has found, is trust.

Unless there is prior brand recognition or significant word of mouth, customers coming to an unknown site looking for a product they can’t find elsewhere don’t really know what lies behind the webpage. There is a lot of trust required by the customer from the eCommerce company in order for that order to be seen through to completion.
According to buySAFE (Simply Business ‘COVID-19 impact on small business, 2021’ survey), 81% of customers feel concerned when shopping on a website with which they are not familiar. The vast majority of us experience this during online shopping.

Pre-pandemic, 70% of virtual shopping carts were abandoned. This was down to a lack of trust, yes, but also due to the fact that then, before lockdown, people had another option: they could go to a physical store. With lockdowns seemingly a thing of the past, it is expected that cart abandonment will return to this level.
Firstly, we need to address why customers leave sites without ordering the items that have interested them.
The biggest fear customers listed is that the company will run off with their money or at least steal their card or identity details. This works in tandem with the idea that the store is not real.
Another major fear is that they may not feel that they know what the product is really like. If this were a site they already trusted, it would not be an issue, but on an unknown site, it is a major issue. A lack of things we take for granted from the likes of Amazon, like easy returns, responsive customer service or package tracking will set off alarm bells within the customer and lead to abandoned carts.

Do you still experience abandoned shopping carts? Would you like to convert and sell more?

If your customer is acting like this on your site, you may have a serious legitimacy issue. Your new customers do not yet trust you, and you must act now to build their trust. The beauty of online stores is that you can order with a few clicks. The downside to that is that people can leave with one click. With physical stores, the maybe customer drove their car there, paid for parking and actually walked in. If they left empty-handed, a part of them would feel like they had lost out a lot more than someone scrolling on their phone. Of course, they also feel that they can come back and complain if something goes wrong, and that it is likely the store will still be there in a week, or a month time.

Now we can address how to build the customer confidence that your business needs.
In an eConsultancy Survey, as the highest scoring reason, 48% of respondents stated that, when shopping on an eCommerce website from a company they don’t know well, they decide whether to trust the site if it displays trust marks.

Trust marks are about being recommended by a verifiable and trusted third party. These can include grades from review platforms, an SSL certificate on the website, quality certification marks such as the BSI Kitemark or ISO and, of course, Credit Passport®.

How does Credit Passport create trust?

Credit Passport is a recognised trust mark. That’s why we have designed the badge to show the most accurate view of business financial health.
Credit Passport by CRIF Realtime is constructed around international banking standards and because Credit Passport is officially recognised by the FCA within the UK and Central Bank of Ireland within the EU as an Account Information Service Provider (AISP). It empowers SMEs to take control of their finances, by revealing the financial health and stability of a business, while also allowing them to demonstrate this stability to prospective customers, suppliers and partners.
Powered by safe and secure Open Banking, the business credit score updates in real-time, meaning any company listed with a good Credit Passport score is healthy right now, not 6 months or 1 year in the past.

Simple yet powerful, Credit Passport is easy to set-up and offers a clear, unambiguous system to understand an SMEs’ financial health. The most important feature of Credit Passport, for eCommerce businesses, is the Web Badge.
The Credit Passport Badge is designed to be embedded on a website to show that that business is Credit Passport certified as financially healthy. It is updated in real-time so it keeps up with the changes in the business.

Embedding this ‘Financially Healthy’ badge on the checkout or shopping screen gives those 70% of customers that might otherwise abandon their purchase vital reassurance. It means that your business will be there if things don’t go well, and it means that you have been checked and are as real as larger companies or high-street shops.
This adds confidence, reduces uncertainty, and allows you to get on with growing your business.
And, rest assured, if the company’s health drops, the badge is automatically hidden from the website. Finally, trust is protected as clicking the badge takes the user to a verification link, ensuring that only real companies can get the badge!

Learn more about the Credit Passport Badge and Plus Plan.