You are starting (or have already started) an online business in which you sell physical or digital items. You are super excited and maybe even figured out how to set it all up yourself. You are ready to go and make those sales! However, before you do you need to make sure that the rest of your ducks are in a row!
Setting up your store and inventory is obviously important in order to make sales, but today we want to let you know about what other pages your website needs that you may be forgetting about (and shouldn’t).
- Privacy Policy: Believe it or not, many people actually DO look for this page. Why? Because it is this page that will explain your policy regarding their personal information and basically assure shoppers that you won’t sell their personal information or use it unethically. You can use free services like freeprivacypolicy.com if you only really need a basic privacy policy. (The privacy policy can also get added to the “Terms and Conditions” page – however, some businesses like to keep them separate).
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Terms and Conditions: a.k.a “Terms of Use” or “Terms of Service” is a way for you to set up rules and regulations for visitors using your business’s website. It’s also a way to protect your business by limiting liability if a customer were to take you to court.
A terms page includes a variety of important sections you should not skip on including, like:
Limitation of Liability: This is a disclaimer that states you can’t be held responsible for any errors in the content on your website.
Permitted Use: This section highlights whether or not users are permitted to access and use content from your site (i.e., written text, graphics, data, images, logos, video clips, etc.). This is sometimes intertwined with the copyright section.
Copyright (sometimes included with Permitted Use):
No matter the purpose and nature of your website, always include a notice about copyright and trademark to protect your content and your business identity.Governing Law: It’s important to state where your website operates relative to governing law (state, province or country).
Again, there are sites like https://termsfeed.com/terms-service/generator/ that you can use in order to obtain a simple Terms & Conditions page.
We recommend that companies consider asking an attorney to help them draft their Terms of Use.If you’ve created your own Terms of Use or relied on a generator to produce them, it’s still beneficial to ask an attorney to review the language. Once you’re sure it covers everything, go ahead and place it on your site.
- FAQ: Most businesses include a section for “Frequently Asked Questions”. By including them in your online store, you will eliminate a ton of customer service requests. Place a link to your FAQ’s In an easy to find location on your page, and do not forget to also add a link to this page in your “Contact Us / Customer Service” pages.
- Contact Us: Do not ever leave your customers without a simple way to contact you should any problems or questions arise. In order to keep a customer as happy as possible, you need to offer the easiest ways for them to find your information and contact you. Also, make sure that if you are asking customers to send an email – you are always on top of email requests. And, don’t forget – the majority of customers will usually prefer to speak to a customer service rep over the phone. Sadly, nowadays many companies skip leaving a contact number and just leave customers with generic email addresses. Do your best to make sure they have a way of doing so.
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About Us / Media & PR / Services: The About Us page tells your story! Make this page an inspiring description of you and your brand. Make sure that you take the time to write something that will connect with the person reading it. This is a great place to share information about your staff/team as well. Don’t forget to add any Mission Statements or any other pertinent information about your business.
Also, if you have any media/press coverage – add a child-category to this page, where your customers can click and view your awesome press.
Services can be added here as well, or on a separate page – let others know about all the services you offer.
All 3 of these pages can be combined or on separate tabs altogether, however keeping them close or listing them all under “About” as sub/child links may make it easier for your customers to find.
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Shipping/Return Policy: Your return policy can make or break a sale! People want to make sure that when they are ordering an item, they are not stuck with it if something is wrong with it. The easier your return policy is – the better. Also – customers WILL look for this information on your page before hitting the “buy” button. They will ALSO look for your shipping information. Be transparent and clear with both items. Take a look at competitor sites and see what they offer as well – do they ship free? Do they offer free returns or in store returns?.
Be VERY specific – for example, if you offer 2 day shipping – make SURE that you are clear on what that really means (because if not, people will lash out on social media!) For example: Let’s say a customer buys an item on Friday night – 8pm – and your shipping policy clearly states that items ordered BEFORE 3pm EST on regular business days will be shipped on the NEXT business day – this customer should have a clear understanding that her package is not actually shipping out until Monday and she will receive it on Wednesday. In fact – having this information both on a page AND highly visible on the shopping cart/purchase page (as customers are checking out) will result in less headaches and complaints on your end.
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A BLOG: We have mentioned this before – make SURE you have set up a blog and that you are blogging consistently! A blog is another one of those “must-haves” in regards to your marketing strategy. Too many businesses don’t have a blog on their website and are missing out on generating additional traffic to their website. Make sure to read our post which will detail 7 reasons your business needs a blog. (Seriously, don’t ignore the importance of a blog) ALSO – this is the BEST way to share business content: new items, sales, tips and tricks, etc to your followers and prospective followers!
Don’t forget to add a bit of “you” or your “brand” into a any (and all) pages. There have been various pages who have even snuck quirky and fun verbiage into their “boring” pages – like Terms and Privacy policy. Of course, while making sure that the legal aspects of those pages content were still very clear.
This may all sound like a lot, but these are (important) pages that really will help you increase your sales and help you succeed. They will also help keep your customers happy and your brand secured (even the “boring” legal pages).
Have you added all of these pages to your e-commerce site?