10 Ways to Give Your E-commerce Website a Spring Clean

01/03/2019 | Share:

With Spring just around the corner, you may be thinking about clearing out your kitchen cupboards or dusting those shelves that are just that bit too far out of reach- but what about your E-commerce website? It’s easy to get caught up in the excitement when you first set up your business’ website, and then hopefully you’re so busy with the flurry of sales it facilitates that you don’t have much time to spare a thought to keeping it spick and span! But now is the perfect time to pause and reassess if your website is still doing what you want it to- here’s our tips for the sort of things you can look out for…

Remove discontinued products



Have you got any products sat on your website that you’re no longer selling, or that have been out of stock for a while? If you’re no longer selling the product and have no plans to bring it back in the near future, then remove it. If it’s been out of stock for a while but you’re still getting enquiries/views on the page, could you give customers an indication of when it will be available to purchase again?

When did you last update your blog?

It looks better if you’ve posted regularly and recently- if possible, you should aim for one post a month as a minimum. Do you post regularly on LinkedIn or Facebook? You could utilise the effort you put into these by padding existing text out into a blog post- or give your social media schedule a healthy boost by sharing both past and new articles from your website on your various channels.

Pixellated/outdated imagery from when you first set up the site

It’s easily done- you’re in a rush to get a product or page live on your website, and you don’t quite have the time to find the correct image, or one that’s large enough to fit the dimensions required. You pop in a placeholder image and tell yourself you’ll go back and change it- but you never quite got round to it. Now’s the time to give your image library a good combing through- do you have better product photography you can use to update any pixelated or dated imagery? If you’re in need of some lifestyle imagery without the price tag, free stock photography websites like Unsplash offer quality imagery without licensing restrictions that will give your site that professional edge.

Is the site consistent with your branding? 



You might have had a rebrand or brand refresh since launching the site, so it’s always worth going through and checking that the colours and fonts are still in line with your brand identity. Or you may have a template that you never thought about altering, but that you can actually easily tweak to reflect your brand’s personality- try changing the colours of call-to-action buttons to either a main or accent colour from your branding to give a subtle nod to your logo.

Offer a seasonal discount code

If you’re thinking of doing a spring clean, chances are your customers are on a similar wavelength. Why not offer them a discount code to show you’re paying attention to their lifestyle habits? You could send this out in a spring-themed email newsletter, or add a new banner to your website to show the code to them when they next visit.

Lighten up the colour scheme



Speaking of banners and brand colours, if it is relevant to your brand and/or product range, you could give these a tweak on your website to reflect the lighter, brighter feeling that comes with spring.
Update your ‘About’ page and Contact Information

When was the last time you updated your company history or information? Have you had any more achievements worth mentioning since then? It’s also worth checking that your business address, email and phone number are all correct- a typo is easy to miss but can cause problems for people trying to contact you!

Is your mobile experience intuitive? 



Visit your website on your own smartphone- how easy is it to a) make a purchase b) search for a product and c) contact the business? If there are any sticking points when trying to do any of these things on your phone, then chances are your customers have encountered them too- and it may have put them off purchasing from you. Make a list and either try to rectify these yourself, or speak to your website provider to see what they can do to help.

Are your social media accounts linked?



Have you got clear links to your social media platforms on your website? It might not be necessary to show them all, but the most relevant to your industry- and the ones you’re most active on- should be your priority. If you can show them in both your website header and footer, as well as on your contact page, then users should have no trouble finding you.

Look through latest positive reviews and add these to the site

If you take pride in your excellent customer service, or know that your customers love your products, make sure that prospective customers know it too! If you have glowing testimonials scattered around your social media or Trustpilot page, for example, why not check with the customer that they’re happy for you to use it on your website? You could add a dedicated ‘What Our Customers Say’ page to your site, or simply put a choice few into a banner on your home or product pages.