Stickiness begets sales. At least that's what every e-commerce site owner hopes. But trying to make your site sticky can be tricky. Most think that the more content there is available, the more likely your visitors will browse, however, too much information can often confuse visitors and lead them off the site.
Here are some suggestions for getting visitors to stick around:
Personalization — Customers that can configure the site to display the most relevant information generally hang around longer since almost everything on the page will be of interest to them. Account information, product recommendations, user reviews, and even a local weather forecast will encourage visitors to poke around their custom page.
Provide a valuable tool — A useful utility could get your site bookmarked and garner frequent returns. Greeting cards, classified ads, a character counter, and a news ticker are examples of tools that add sticky value.
Expert opinions can be considered valuable utilities too. Many Internet shoppers do considerable research before buying. If you offer information that helps them make educated choices, they will likely buy from you if your prices are competitive. For instance, if your site sells jewelry, provide articles on how to buy a diamond or create a list of which birthstones correspond to each month.
Navigation and Aesthetics — How your site looks and operates are critical to its stickiness. The featured element should be in the center of the page and navigation and other site tools in columns on the right or left. Text should be easy to read and images should present accurate portrayals. Style consistency is important and all colors should be pleasing to the eyes.
Don't try to provide everything to everyone unless your objective is to become a portal. Supply content that has relevance to your target audience, such as tidal information on a boating accessory site. Check your Web traffic logs to help you determine what keywords are used most often to find your site and then capitalize on that information to provide the most relevant content to your visitors.
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