Spring tech projects to improve the digital experience

As we enter the new year, it’s a great time to consider investing in digital projects. The latest ecommerce technology trends range from improving your workflow to revamping your user experience. Start the year off strong with one of our spring tech projects.

Spring technology projects to improve your shoppers’ digital experience

Perform a website audit to evaluate the user experience
Perform a security audit for your customer’s peace of mind.
Automate workflow processes for seamless operations.
Integrate apps within your ecommerce ecosystem.
Embrace ecommerce technology trends.
Consider replatforming if your current site isn’t keeping up.

As ecommerce technology advances, companies have more opportunities to match customers with the right products, deliver a seamless user experience and increase conversions to make more money. If you find your site has fallen behind on ecommerce technology trends, now may be the time to put your IT team to work — or hire an ecommerce software consultant — to take on these six digital projects that can put your website ahead of the competition.

6 Spring tech projects to improve your site performance

Perform a website audit to evaluate the user experience

A website audit reveals a great deal about user experience, site speed, and security. It can also show how well your SEO is performing to help your ideal customers find you. You can do an audit in-house, or hire an outside consultant to provide an objective audit. Outside technology consultants can often pinpoint trouble spots that you and your in-house team are too close to see.

Your website user experience audit should consider:

Ease of use, especially during registration and check out.
Site speed and page load times.
How well the products that are shown match the user’s search.

With a user experience audit done, you can now move ahead to fixing any problem areas and optimizing your site for a better user experience.

Perform a security audit for your customer’s peace of mind

A security audit is one audit that should not be considered optional and should be performed regularly. They are the least exciting audit because they will often uncover very little to improve on the website, which will usually be unnoticeable. The importance comes from the fact that a security breach, while rare, can be very bad. Not only does a security audit help you find and fix potential holes, but it also shows you are performing due diligence in the event of a breach.

A website’s security also contributes to a visitor’s overall user experience. It’s important to provide a secure experience to keep your customers’ financial data safe. It’s equally important to demonstrate your website’s security so people feel comfortable shopping with you.

Make sure your site has an up-to-date SSL certificate, uses an HTTPS:// domain, and that the site demonstrates its security with badges in a prominent location.

Automate workflow processes for seamless operations

During your audits, you may discover that your site is not working as efficiently as it could be. Perhaps your data lives in silos that keep your team working harder than they have to, or creates delays in inventory management. Workflow automation solutions offer many benefits to ecommerce technology users:

Reduce or eliminate errors in data entry
Improve communication between teams
Streamline the purchasing process
Improve inventory management
Save time
Increase profitability

Workflow automation has several different aspects. Whenever you embark on one of these technology projects or all of them, you - and your customers - will benefit from the increased efficiency of your ecommerce site.

Integrate apps within your ecommerce ecosystem

Whether you’re using homebrew applications or out-of-the-box Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solutions, using disparate systems can bog down your site speed and lead to inefficiencies and errors.

Plus, it makes it harder to offer consistent interactions for your customers. One ZDNet article stated that 66% of customers expect companies to understand their personal needs, but only 34% said brands usually do. Fifty-two percent of consumers always expect a personalized experience, the article stated.

By integrating inventory management, Customer Relationship Management (CRM), accounting, and your Content Management System (CMS) under one platform, you can create a seamless experience for your customers and your team alike.

Embrace ecommerce technology trends

The new year could bring an increase in social commerce, say the experts at FinancesOnline.com. Mobile shopping — and with it, a demand for multichannel personalization — more payment options, and voice search will also continue to grow. The right API integration can help ecommerce sites give consumers more of what they want, and help your site change as ecommerce technology trends evolve.

Spring is a great time to build the features you want into your existing site and keep ahead of your competition. On the bonus side, if the project is quick, it gets you up and running before the start of the next holiday season. (I know, I know, it’s too soon to think about Black Friday or Christmas, but it is coming.)

Consider replatforming if your current site isn’t keeping up

Replatforming. We don’t want to do it, so we put it off. And then you find yourself doing an audit and realize you haven’t had any new security updates or code fixes to your platform’s software in a long time. Or, you determine you have outgrown your platform. No matter what the reason, it is time to start looking for a new solution.

Often, an open-source framework provides greater flexibility to integrate new technology, offering enhanced productivity. For instance, the subscription-based support site LivePerson called on Acro Commerce to create a headless setup that was secure, scalable, and user-friendly.

Turn to an ecommerce consultant to assist with your digital projects

Whether you’re looking to increase personalization on your ecommerce site or dip your toes into the waters of social shopping, an ecommerce consultant that takes an agile approach to develop the right ecommerce solutions for your brand can help save you time and money.

As you embark on digital projects to keep up with ecommerce technology trends, keep the following in mind:

API integrations can help enable a seamless workflow
Workflow automation saves time and money
A personalized experience can help build brand loyalty
Ecommerce experts at Acro Commerce can help with it all

If you are ready to get a jump on the season, our team is always ready to lend a hand. Contact us today to get the tech help you need.

Dawn Allcot is a full-time freelance writer specializing in technology, ecommerce, and finance, and is the owner of boutique content marketing agency Allcot Media.