Whether you are an independent retailer, a high street store dipping your toe into online retail or veteran retailer experienced in selling online, physical products or dropshipping. This summary is absolutely perfect for you.
Visit the store on showcase at www.northboundgear.co
Part one:the page header
Part two: an overview of the brand and vision
Part three: the product section & description
Part four: key pages full of good content which oozes authenticity
Part five: the footer with key information and social proof
Part six: try the theme they used – Motion
When you are selling online there are several key factors in generating targeted traffic to your store and converting them into sales. However, getting customers brain-washed into fully fledged loyal followers that produces repeat business ‘on tap’ is a topic for another day.
1) Creating a store that is appealing, easy to browse and you can resonate with what you are selling or trying to achieve.
2) Having tonnes of information, but not jam-packed with total irrelevant garbage that will draw them to bounce.
3) Less is more, but great content value is sometimes easily classified as less.
4) Pixel perfect photos of your product(s), not too many photos on the actual product page and having them compressed so it’s easily loaded. It’s actually scary how many people even in the UK that doesn’t have great broadband.
5) The ease of viewing a product and quickly accessing the checkout.
6) Key information easily accessed such as an FAQ, refund policies, shipping/delivery policies and the most important, an easy to find and read contact details section.
Part one: the page header
Other than the part of the page where you showcase the actual product you are selling, this is on par with importance and necessity of spending time analysing and modifying as it will no doubt help increase your conversion rate.
As you can quickly see, Northbound Gear knows exactly who they are targeting and what resonates with the name of the store, right the way through to the first landing page experience.
A large title saying ‘Made for Explorers’ is a statement saying, this is what we are about and this is why you are going to love what we have to offer. The subtitle where they mention ‘Designed in Canada’ is another winner. Whether it’s made or designed in Canada or the moon, this is perfect to showcase brand value and location.
The header’s navigation bar is simple, sleek, easy and everything you need from a navigation bar. It’s perfect for all ages – whether the targeted customer is used to shopping online or not. It makes it very easy to find the key information any visitor may need.
The shoutout banner exclaiming from the rooftops that they offer free shipping on all orders is great. It isn’t jam-packed with unnecccesary information like I’ve seen before, such as:
BUY NOW AND RECEIVE FREE SHIPPING TODAY
TODAYS LIMITED OFFER: FREE SHIPPING ON ALL ORDERS
Don’t pressurise customers into a position where they think you’re hard balling them into a sale, this makes the average customer think, “wow, if they’re this keen to get a sale, I bet their customer service is woeful”.
Drop down menu on help to showcase the pages customers are most likely to look for:
Before we move on to the next section of their store, the placement of the phone number is ideal for most stores. Whether the phone number is real, ideally it is if you’re going to have it online, but it shows authenticity.
Part two: an overview of the brand and vision
I said above in part one that getting across your brands mantra or your businesses mission broadcasted someway or other into your header. Whether that’s through choice of image and text, this will explain in ease what your brand is all about.
In the case of this store, it’s outdoors. You can quickly tell you’re buying something that is suitable for outdoors and that you can trust them.
If a store is badly designed or little to no thought put in to it, consumers are 5 times more likely to bounce from your store in fear it’s a scam.
In the header they used their call to arms to their target audience as ‘Made for Explorers’. They carried this on in the next section as you scroll/swipe down. It carries on to say ‘Made for explorers, The adventurous, And the bold’.
Just above it, they showcase the option of mens and women apparel with the statement of ‘We design durable outdoor apparel with a conscience’, which we see on their about us page and product page that they claim to be proud reforestation partners.
Making customers think they are part of a cause, that they are buying into more than just a product and that the business is more than just making money – customers are more likely to buy into it.
It’s why you see such brands perform so well that partner with charities or pledge sales to causes, such as TOMS shoes, John Lewis partnering with a community support fund and Iceland donating all profits from Penguin chocolate bars to Chester Zoo.
Igniting customers emotions are the surefire way to making sure they become interested in your store, your brand and most importantly, become an avid supporter of your brand.
Part three: the product section & description
This is the single, most, important part of the whole showcase. Unfortunately, I see it any time I consult or give advice on other stores whether they are local retailers or a person dropshipping. They simply do not spend the required time and energy on the main area, the product and description.
We can quite clearly see that they’ve got the product and taken professional photos of a model in a studio backdrop, then taken to the hills and outdoors for action shots.
I can’t understand why people don’t do this?
They’ve branded the product name from just “Water resistant pants” to “Northbound Gear Adventure”. You see it countless times in large branding companies, they never describe a product as a white. It’s ice white, or it’s hazel blue. Spend the time on this area the most.
You can see quite clearly on their product section the ‘guaranteed safe checkout’ and the policies they have of free shipping, easy returns, secure checkout and money back guarantees. These are the top things people want to know about and if they can view your product section without having to navigate through the site to find this information, it’s only going to help with your conversion rate.
We can see again they have said about their pledge of one tree planted with every sale. Whether they do or not is another thing, but hey, customers can relate to that – especially since it’s an outdoor related brand.
If you ever read the book, Start with Why by Simon Sinek? I advise you read it, the Northbound Gear guys are doing a great job putting it into practice with this store.
Here we go again, very easy to read and navigate to key information on the product section which is below the add to cart button. I know a lot of people experiment with placing the call to action below the description, but I have always found it better with the description below the call to action.
Call to action = add to cart or add to bag or buy now.
3 very clear sections in their description. The key features which clearly shows WHY you need this product in your life and how it will improve it, if you enjoy venturing outside…
The fabric section including what all is in it – it surprises me so many local or small retailers online don’t bother to include this.
I would say the only lack lustre part of their product description has been the ability to include a size chart. Customers, especially in clothing, always look to see what size they are in a particular garment.
They’ve included 2 gifs of the key features of why someone would buy this product which includes it showcasing water pouring onto the leg and scissors being pulled across the fabric to show it’s rip/tear resistant.
Another part I love to their description is the drop down menu at the end. It includes yet again, at great ease for the customer, to gain key information they may have ventured away to try and find.
The rule of thumb for building out your product description is:
– What is the product?
– Why do I need it?
– How can I buy it safely?
– Can I get it returned or exchanged easily?
– Then, the FAQ selection of deeper questions such as: can I wash and tumble dry these without shrinking? Will the colour fade over time?
Part four: key pages full of good content which oozes authenticity
I’ve seen some absolute nightmare about us, FAQ, contact us and even shipping pages. The odd time a customer ventures to these pages to put their mind at ease that this store is legit, if you’ve just threw up a few sentences to say who you are and where you are based – it isn’t going to cut it.
Northbound Gear have done this brilliantly. They’ve teamed into their about us page of their pledge to planting trees along with their mantra of ‘Clothing with a conscience’.
They include on their about us page their company values, a section to allow you to join their ambassador program and a message from the founders.
This all adds up to an excellent about us page. If a customer was unsure coming from a Facebook, Instagram or Google Shopping ad and needed reassuring, this page will definitely do it.
You can view their full about us page here. It gives you an idea of what depth you should go to.
The next part is another personal favourite when I’m constructing my own stores inner pages. The frequently asked questions page, or knowledge base, whatever you wanna call it.
Customers do visit here …. A LOT!
If you have only 4 questions which relate to your shipping/delivery page, you deserve a higher bounce rate.
Put yourself in the shoes of a customer, or browse through previous emails or messages on Facebook or Instagram customers may have sent you. Include them!
You can view their FAQ page here.
Part five: the footer with key information and social proof
I have always judged an online store by it’s footer because it’s generally the last thing the customer sees before they exit a page. Most visitors are browsing and scrolling down, then hit the bottom.
If they viewed a product and skimmed past the key information set out in part three, such as FAQ, delivery/shipping info or contact details. This is your last port of reeling that customer back in again.
I feel like this is a superb footer albeit the squished newsletter form.
All the social proof and authenticity factors are right bang in the footer and very clear for everyone to see.
Social media links to Facebook and Instagram. Links to go back to the product pages and a huge list of help links. The telephone number yet again is there to secure-proof. It’s scary the amount of people that don’t actually ring but feel safer on an online store if they see a phone number.
The secure payment providers showcased down at the bottom along with the currency buttons.
Try out the theme they used – Motion for free
View the Motion theme on Shopify themes.
As you can see from Northbound Gear, it’s extremely easy to build your online store and make it look like an established brand. Make customers believe that you’re trustworthy and backing a good cause.
I’d love to hear your thoughts on the summary and if it has made you think of any changes you may implement.
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