You might know what eCommerce means if you’re a business owner. It means you use a website or app and sell your services and products through it.
You can also have brick-and-mortar store locations, but many companies no longer utilize that model. Some use both models, delivering products through their website while maintaining brick-and-mortar store locations locally, nationally, or internationally.
As a business owner with an eCommerce model, you should know about some of the terms that often accompany this setup. You will likely encounter these terms, so let’s discuss them in the following article.
Above the Fold
Having a good grasp of common eCommerce lingo can help you a great deal if you use this business model. But where should you start?
Learning some terms about your company’s website makes sense. If you hire someone to create that site and talk to you about it, you want to know what they mean when they use certain buzzwords common with site creation and maintenance.
“Above the fold” might come up if you talk to your company’s site creator. This means that you can see the item on your site when you visit your company’s landing page. You don’t need to scroll down. Instead, you should notice that element on the screen as soon as you arrive.
When a website creator often talks about a call to action they want to include, they’ll mention they want to put it above the fold. If potential customers or site visitors see that item without scrolling down, they’re more likely to engage with it.
Conversion
You might know the term conversion in another context. Sometimes, you might hear “conversion” if someone wants to go from one religion to another. In eCommerce, it means something else.
Conversion in eCommerce means someone is visiting your site or using your app to complete the buying process. They access the site or app. They go to a product page and put that item in their shopping cart. Then, they “convert,” meaning they buy the product with a credit card, Venmo, or whatever another payment method they prefer and your business accepts.
You probably want potential customers to convert more than anything else. It’s nice if they sign up for your email list or follow you on social media, but sales drive your company forward, which means you want as many conversions as possible.
SEO
SEO means search engine optimization. You might hear your site developer or perhaps other IT department members talk about this.
SEO often means structuring your website to appear at the top of the vital search engine rankings. If someone uses Google and puts in a particular phrase or keyword string, you want your site to appear at the top of that search which ties into your niche or industry.
You can hire SEO experts to optimize your site so that more people will visit it. The more individuals you can get to visit your site using SEO best practices, the more of them will convert.
Call to Action
You might also hear the phrase “call to action” as part of your eCommerce business model. A call to action means you have something in your app or website you want your potential customer to do. You should make that obvious, so your potential customer or client does it.
You might have phrases like “buy now” or “follow us on Twitter” as your call to action. You might want someone to download your free eBook, sign up for your email marketing list, etc.
You should have clear calls to action on your app or website. The better you can entice someone to engage with the site or app, the more likely you will see those conversions you want.
Abandonment
You probably know the term “abandon” means to leave something or someone behind. In eCommerce, your site creators and employees might use that term differently.
Abandonment generally means shopping cart abandonment. Someone will put an item or multiple items in their shopping cart, but then they won’t follow through and buy them.
You want to discourage shopping cart abandonment however you can. For instance, you might do that by accepting more payment methods. If someone sees they can buy a product using a credit card and Apple Pay, Google Pay, Venmo, PayPal, and other options, they’ll more likely follow through and buy the items in their cart.
