5 Reasons to Add a Wishlist to Your eCommerce Site
The holiday season can be a stressful time for shoppers. How do they know what to buy? How do they know where to find it? And, how do they know for sure the recipient will like it?
The good news is you can help shoppers find that perfect gift this holiday season while increasing your site traffic, and possibly sales, simply by including an online wish list on your e-commerce site.
And, you don’t have to be one of the big guys, like Amazon, to offer a wish list. There are lots of e-commerce platforms that provide built-in wish lists. There are also many wish list plugins that will easily integrate with popular website platforms like WordPress.
Wondering how having a wish list helps your business? Here are five reasons.
1. Bring more visitors to your site
What better way to get new visitors to your site than to have your current customers share their wish lists? It’s a great method of promotion, but it’s also less expensive and a lot more productive than advertising—these new visitors have built-in confidence as a result of being sent to your site by someone they know and trust.
2. Increase sales
With more visitors to your site, chances are you’re going to make more sales.
Not only will your new visitors know that their friend or loved one wants your products, they may find something they want or they could tell others about your site. And, the great news is that once you make a wish list available to customers, it can be used year-round for special events, birthdays, baby showers, weddings or just because.
3. Fewer returns
Returns typically happen because someone receives an item they don’t like or don’t want. By providing your shoppers with a wish list option, you are helping the both the buyer and the recipient avoid the disappointment of giving or receiving an unwanted gift (or a gift of the wrong size or wrong color). And, the fewer unwanted gifts given, the fewer returns you need to deal with.
A wish list also allows shoppers to save an item, ensuring that they can come back later to easily find it. This gives the shopper time to think about if they want to purchase the item or not, or to slyly talk with a friend or family member to see if it is something they really want.
4. Retain leads
If a shopper provides contact information when they sign up for your wish list, you then have a way to remind them that they have items in their wish list ready to be purchased. And, if they opt-in for email notifications you could also engage them in a drip marketing campaign and provide coupons or discounts to encourage purchases.
5. Help gauge popularity of an item
Knowing which items are, or are not being saved to wish lists (and who is saving them) can help you anticipate stock levels. You can also use the data to tailor marketing campaigns to promote certain items, or to appeal to certain groups or individuals.
So, if you haven’t considered providing your shoppers with a wish list, you may want to do so this holiday season. Not only can they make life easier for shoppers and recipients, they can help you make more sales and avoid costly and time-consuming returns.
