How to attract customers to an online marketplace and increase the conversion rate
The success of every digital marketplace platform depends heavily on the number of consumers and vendors using it for value exchange. To gain a critical mass of users, it is important to implement a marketplace promotion strategy while satisfying the demand of all parties in terms of goods, services, pricing, and functionality. Applying a monetization model, marketplace operators manage to increase return on investment and generate profit.
Previously, we described best practices to attract merchants, as well as explained whom it is more reasonable to engage first: sellers or buyers. In this article, our software experts will consider how to attract customers to a marketplace application.
Best strategies to attract customers to a marketplace platform
1. Make a marketplace platform easy to use
According to Think with Google, 79% of survey respondents state that they are more willing to revisit a mobile site if it is easy to use. To attract customers and increase retention rate, it is crucial to organize information structure in such a way that users can interact with the app in an intuitive way.
When building a digital marketplace platform, software engineers have to enable convenient search—placed right on the main page—across numerous filters, categories, and subcategories. By providing smooth navigation, you will manage to improve user engagement.
It is also reasonable to implement an autocomplete feature, this way saving time for consumers. Additionally, you should include a FAQ section to give answers to common questions, for example, about making refunds or returns.
2. Optimize the website for search engines
If you are going to build a marketplace website and are thinking about how to attract customers, a company has to implement a search engine optimization (SEO) strategy. To drive traffic to a website, it is essential to increase its position in Google search results. With this aim in view, you need to use relevant keywords, publish unique content that provides value to the target audience, as well as create a backlink profile.
Furthermore, the more time users spend with an online marketplace platform and the lower the bounce rate is, the higher Google search rankings are. Therefore, it is crucial to improve page load speed, preventing customers from leaving a marketplace.
According to the research conducted by Portent, the first five seconds of load time have the highest impact on the website conversion rate. Analysts found that conversion rates decrease by over 4.4% with each additional second of page loading.
Deloitte also reports that load speed plays a significant part in the success of any digital initiative, especially in e-commerce sites and other platforms that accept online transactions. Specifically, 70% of customers say that page load times affect their willingness to make a purchase while in the US, latency is the main reason why users abandon mobile sites.
To enhance performance, software experts should compress images, cash server requests, use a Content Delivery Network, and apply other practices. What’s more, it is important to employ a technology stack (programming languages, frameworks, libraries, etc.) that will contribute to improved performance of a marketplace platform, this way reducing page load speed.
In addition, you can apply tools such as Lighthouse and Google PageSpeed Insights that will provide you with comprehensive reports on various metrics, involving SEO, speed, and accessibility while offering recommendations on how to optimize the website.
3. Create an attractive design
Creating an appealing design is a vital part of a customer acquisition strategy. Adobe revealed that 38% of visitors will stop using a website if its layout or content is unattractive. SWEOR reports that 94% of negative website feedback is related to design while a modern user-friendly design allows for making a positive first impression and retaining consumers.
For this purpose, a company should implement a unique branding style, this way increasing brand awareness and reducing chances to meet a marketplace platform clone to zero. Then, you should develop an intuitive user interface, keeping a color scheme clear and consistent, as well as not overwhelming the layout with various elements.
Analysts found that 83% of mobile users state that a seamless experience across all screens and devices is essential. Seamless is not about the same but consistent, meaning that customers can interact with a marketplace platform on all operating systems without confusion.
Seamless also implies convenient navigation, smooth transition between screens, clear menu structure, and other aspects. Thus, with a quality design, you will be able to drive the audience to a marketplace application and boost user engagement.
4. Provide a variety of payment methods
If you are wondering how to attract customers to a digital marketplace platform while increasing the conversion rate, it is crucial to provide a range of payment options. Thanks to this, consumers will be able to make purchases regardless of the currency they use, location, and other aspects.
With this aim in view, a company can integrate a payment gateway such as Stripe, Square, PayPal, or Braintree. For example, by incorporating Braintree, marketplace application owners will let buyers use multiple credit and debit cards, digital wallets, ACH Direct.
Braintree allows shoppers to make money transfers via online banking payment systems like SOFORT, Bancontact, iDeal, and GiroPay. Speaking of worldwide availability, Braintree is supported in over 45 countries and regions, PayPal — in more than 200 countries and regions.
When enabling payment methods, it is important to ensure compliance with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) that requires organizations to secure payment accounts, transactions, and information.
Find out how to choose a payment gateway for a marketplace application in 5 steps.