Being sensitive to your audience’s needs is the one thing many e-businesses need to learn. The big boys of industry often serve as the best examples of how to listen to what your audience wants. Not caring for your audience can have disastrous consequences, especially in the highly competitive world of e-commerce.

Some of the major tasks that e-commerce websites need to perform for customers or prospects are:

Customer Relationships

1. Use quality content (read info) onsite to attract them
2. Offer at least best-in-class services or products
3. Provide highly efficient after-sales care

Some of the major practices that e-commerce websites need to avoid indulging in are:

1. Using ordinary content on their business website
2. Offering services or products that are, at best, second rate
3. Providing little or no after-sales support

If these six e-commerce commandments are taken seriously, there’s absolutely no reason why a business will not call the shots. Keeping it simple and straightforward does work in our complex world. Businesses cannot afford to be complex.

Even the idea of viral marketing and luring unsuspecting visitors to your business website into some trick to get them to make that purchase sounds like such a bad idea. When a visitor comes to your website, he/she should feel in control of things, not be overwhelmed by them.

Clever marketing is that which appeals to the visitors’ sense of aesthetics and purchase decision-making prowess. The options that you provide your visitors should be put across in black and white. Fine print on ecommerce websites should be kept to the minimum, or none at all where possible.

It is the individual acts of providing quality products, services, and after-sales service that will eventually be responsible for bringing potential customers to your website. Privacy is another important matter that deserves your attention. A single lapse can create major problems for your business.

In addition to the dos and donts mentioned previously, make sure that your  customers’ passwords are stored encrypted in your database. Never mail passwords in plain text; instead, try sending reset links to customers. If your site is managed by more than a single administrator, make sure that they have the rights to only reset the passwords, not view the original ones.

All such precautions will go a long way in creating a positive image of your business in the minds of your customers. So how concerned are you about your customers’ experience at your website and privacy? What special steps have you taken to safeguard your customers’ interest?

In my next post, I will deal with privacy- and security-specific steps you can take to ensure high levels of customer satisfaction with your ecommerce website.

Take good care of your e-business and website.