The Official Screen Printer’s Playbook for More Online Sales

 

your company has been around since the early 2000s (or earlier), you probably remember a time when your shop did most of its business through paper order forms and customer quotes over the phone. Today, most screen printers do at least part of their business online, whether that’s emailing customers job quotes and art mockups, receiving digital order forms from school teams, or ordering goods from suppliers. Selling online has become the norm for everyone, from the mom-and-pop print house with two manual presses to the industrial operation with six automatics.

But mastering ecommerce has gotten a lot more complicated for decorators in the past few years. Especially with a population accustomed to buying everything online and getting it as quickly as possible. We’re not suggesting you offer every customer two-day shipping on a 500-piece order to compete with Amazon. But, as a screen printer with an online presence, there are ways you can step up your ecommerce game so customers know your shop is the go-to source for all their custom printed merch.

The best way you can do this is by providing customers with a user-friendly online store that makes the shopping experience as fluid and headache-free as possible. Fortunately, several platforms in the marketplace like DecoNetwork, InkSoft, and OrderMyGear make it much easier to sell decorated apparel products and services online without a web design background.

With the power of an ecommerce platform for decorated apparel, you can deliver more for your customers and build a better reputation.

Here are a few tips to ensure your online store is user-friendly and keeps customers coming back.

Mobile Optimization

More people are shopping on their phones now than ever before. So, an ecommerce website needs to be more than just hip and flashy. It also needs to be optimized for mobile so customers who want the convenience of clicking and ordering from their phone can do so with minimal headaches. By using a platform with pre-made online stores, you’ll get the benefit of a company that’s already built its web stores to be dynamic and responsive to mobile devices.

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Easy Navigation

Customers have very short attention spans when it comes to buying merch online, and by some estimations, shoppers have an attention span of about eight seconds. That means as soon as someone visits your online store, they need to find everything as easily and as quickly as possible. Use online store creators to effortlessly build sections on your website so shoppers can find the essential items rapidly from a top menu.

Full Product Offering

It’s easy to punch in some text into an online store template that says, “We print hats, shirts, koozies, and more!” But we live in a visual world, so your online store needs to follow that trend.

Think of it like a storefront window or a display counter. Add photos to your store that include mockups of popular products. If you get permission from customers, add some of their product photos.

Multiple Payment Options

Payment is another area where customers want the utmost convenience in shopping online. In addition to major credit and debit cards, setting your store up to accept popular payment methods like PayPal and Apple Pay keeps you open to a more significant number of customers. Most popular online store platforms partner with payment processing companies equipped to handle modern payment methods, saving you extra setup time.

Trusted Site (SSL)

Ever see that little red “X” when you’re browsing a website and a notification that says “This site isn’t secure”? You don’t want this distinction when customers visit your store. The easiest way to ensure your website is secured is by setting up a Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) Certificate. An SSL Certificate gives your customers an extra layer of security when they enter personal information and payment details as it secures the connection and keeps hackers from seeing that information.

Most platforms offer this tool as a free option to add to your online store and any subsequent pages you want to secure. An SSL certificate isn’t just peace of mind for your customers, it also improves your Google search rank.

Retail Experience

Customers shop predominately online in today’s marketplace, but they still want the perks of shopping in a brick-and-mortar store. Give them that old-school retail experience by maintaining consistent communication with them after they’ve reached out to you. That includes frequent contact during the order building phases, but afterward, too. A short, simple email after you’ve printed and shipped their order that thanks the customer for their business is an easy way to remind them you’re there for any future printed merchandise needs.

A follow-up a couple of weeks after the order’s been completed is also a great way to keep your business on that customer’s radar. Like your thank you note, the follow-up can be a concise email asking if they were happy with the order and if there’s anything else you can do for them.

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Easy Contact

Even with an online store, you still need to have a human touch to your business approach. Your contact information should be easy to find so long-time and first-time customers can quickly get in touch with you if they have questions about an order. One of the simplest ways to do this is to have a “Contact Us” button prominently featured on the main page of your online store so customers don’t have to fish around for an email address hidden on a separate tab. Many customers still want to connect by phone, too, so make sure your phone number is easy to find on the page.

Attractive Design

We’re not suggesting super-flashy colors and wild looping videos with bright graphics. But an online store with a clean, modern-looking design makes the user experience even more positive. Plus, it tells your customers that your business cares about quality and can trust you to print a top-notch product for them. Thanks to the templatized nature of online store services, you can typically set up a modern-looking store in a couple of hours, or even faster, depending on how many features you decide to add.

Fast Loading Speeds

Load time runs somewhat parallel to mobile optimization. Your site needs to load quickly, so customers can click through and get what they need. Typically anything less than three seconds is a good speed. Anything above that, and you’re going to start losing potential customers. Online store builders are generally already built for fast loading times, so you don’t have to worry about slowing things down with bulky multimedia like videos or graphics.

Clear Branding

Because of the aforementioned short attention span, shoppers need to know precisely who and what your business is the minute they land on your site. This means ensuring your branding is evident across the entire website regarding fonts, color scheme, and logo or tagline.

Even if it’s as simple as a shared document at your shop, it’s a good idea for your business to establish some basic brand guidelines.

Use online store builders to add these custom colors to your store and any crucial brand information in the header or footer of your webpage.

The sooner your shop gets its online store set up, the sooner you’ll see more customers reaching out to you for your services. And with a user-friendly online store, you’ll have a better chance at attracting customers from way outside your local area.

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