Share these ideas with your clients and provide the IT solutions necessary to execute them:

1. Make checkout easy.

The checkout experience is the most critical part of an ecommerce buyer’s journey. According to Baymard Research, 70 percent of shoppers abandon their carts, and nearly one-fourth of the time because the checkout process is too long or complicated. Suggest that merchants offer guest checkout to expedite the process since 26 percent of users will abandon if the ecommerce business requires them to create an account. Also, help SMBs streamline the checkout experience with a single payment page with a one-click checkout option for repeat customers.

2. Offer payment choices to satisfy customer preferences.

Advise your customers that payment choice impacts revenues. Research shows that 13 percent of consumers have abandoned their carts because their preferred payment methods weren’t available. Ensure that your SMB e-commerce clients can accommodate payment types including credit cards, prepaid cards, gift cards, and mobile wallets, which accounted for half of all global e-commerce payment transactions in 2023.

Consider adding support for alternative payment methods like payment links. Payment links benefit merchants by providing a simple and secure way to accept payments without needing a website or complex setup. They can be easily shared via email or SMS, allowing businesses to reach customers directly and expand their payment options. Additionally, payment links streamline the checkout process, reducing friction for customers and increasing the likelihood of completing a sale. This flexibility can improve cash flow and customer satisfaction, especially for small businesses or those with limited technical resources.

3. Deploy an omnichannel payment solution.

Ensure that your clients who sell in both brick-and-mortar locations and online deploy an omnichannel payments solution. Centralized visibility into sales on all channels enables customers to move seamlessly across all channels for the best shopping experiences. It also streamlines back-office processes for merchants. Additionally, an omnichannel payment platform helps future-proof a merchant’s payment technology as it provides the flexibility to adapt as tech advances. It also allows merchants to offer omnichannel processes like buy online pickup in store (BOPIS) and returns much easier, building customer loyalty.  

4. Create content that effectively communicates messaging.

Help your SMB e-commerce clients look at their product pages through the eyes of their customers. The disadvantage to digital is that physical products can’t be “seen” in the same way they can in person. It is more critical than ever to ensure that the merchant’s online pages truly make their products shine. Best practices for effective pages include:

• Clean, simplified layout
• Brief titles
• Eye-catching, professional images
• Detailed yet concise descriptions, including dimensions
• Customer reviews
• Webpages optimized for search engines
  
  

Make sure your clients follow best practices so they can capture the most sales as possible.

5. Develop a marketing plan.

Ensure that your SMB e-commerce companies aren’t missing critical opportunities to get their products in front of potential customers. A well-planned marketing strategy will attract more customers by promoting products in the most effective ways, whether through search engines, retargeting ads, social media, email, or text marketing. Encourage your clients to learn where their target markets are most likely to engage and to test campaigns to find the most effective.

6. Use payment data to predict customer behavior.

Payment data can provide a range of insights to your SMB e-commerce clients. Help your clients understand how to track, review, and analyze data to gain insights for better decision-making. Show them how to generate reports that can easily and quickly identify patterns that can help avoid issues or capitalize on buying trends. 

7. Study the competition.

Help your clients create a list of competitors who offer similar products or services. Then evaluate elements of their operations, including pricing strategy, customer experience, and payment options. Help your clients implement strategies, technology, and tools to capitalize on those opportunities.

8. Emphasize sustainability.

Encourage SMB e-commerce merchants to highlight sustainable products and operations. A First Insight study found that consumers in all age demographics are increasingly willing to pay more for sustainable products. Urge your clients to align with this trend and to use energy-efficient solutions to do their part to preserve the environment.

9. Excel at customer service and support.

This is a key area of SMB ecommerce, and an opportunity to gain an edge over larger competitors. Help them deploy solutions that prioritize responsiveness and efficiency. Consider chatbots for handling frequently asked questions, and to provide customers immediate assistance during and outside of business hours. For more complex inquiries, have a process in place where human agents can be reached, or transferred to from a chatbot.

10. Deliver exemplary customer experience

Delivering a seamless, personalized, experience is essential for SMB e-commerce merchants to compete with industry heavyweights. From the moment a customer first clicks on the site to the final purchase and beyond, help merchants personalize the shopping experience to individual customer shopping preferences while ensuring a smooth, intuitive journey.