E-commerce: Four Tips for a Better Customer Experience on the Web

Methods to improve Web sites were the order of the day at Internet Retailer 2006, held last week in Chicago. Several industry experts were on hand in one session to offer their strategies on how to create opportunities for sales and conversions. Below are tips they offered:

* Give your customers what they want. “While 92 percent of customers say that customer reviews are helpful to their shopping experiences, not many merchants actually are employing customer reviews,” said Lauren Freedman, president of e-commerce consultancy the e-tailing group. She cited a recent joint survey conducted by her company and retail consultancy J.C. Williams Group. Other site features that customers rated extremely or very helpful included, onsite keyword search, 71 percent; store locator, 68 percent; onsite product comparison, 64 percent; and product zoom and rotate, 64 percent.