The foundations of every online hospital gift store website are critical to getting right in order to offer an enhanced experience and to support online conversion that leads to an increase in revenue. A digital experience that is easy to use and navigate, with a secure checkout process, offers immediate confirmation email and online support as needed can help family and friends send a gift to a loved one during their hospital stay and brighten a patient’s day.
There are four essential elements to focus on for the foundation of a successful online hospital gift store.
Determining Which E-Commerce Solution To Go With
Choosing an e-commerce platform can be a complex and challenging task. Knowing where to start, what platforms to consider and what requirements you have at a minimum can be difficult to identify if you are new to this space. Luckily, there are many platforms that offer use of customizable templates for website design that can be easily customized to mirror your organization’s brand, they also offer settings to configure the e-commerce websites without the need for leveraging code depending on what it is you are trying to achieve, secure payment checkout processes as well as automated emails.
Shopify is a leading platform that is easy to use for beginners and professionals that does not require coding skills, hosting is included and a number of subscription packages available to meet your organizations need in launching and managing an online store. There are a number of other popular platforms including Weebly, Wix, and SquareSpace to name a few for small online stores.
Identifying The Right Site Structure
Creating a site structure of the online hospital gift store website where families and friends of patients can intuitively and quickly perform key actions that are created based on use cases will ensure enhanced user experience. Having relevant information that is organized in an easy to locate place can reduce friction points. Accommodating frequently asked questions for returns, exchanges and cancellations, information about the hospital gift store including where the proceeds go (e.g. do they benefit a particular department?), nonprofit status, delivery information, etc. are all important things to include and require as much thought as product categories.
Incorporating Brand Identity
It is important to consider how will incorporate your brand into the online gift store website. Weave in your logo, brand colors, and fonts as simple first steps to offer some consistency with the rest of your digital footprint. Select a website template that is similar to your existing public-facing flagship website to mirror the design and user experience as closely as possible. Offering this consistency and adding the organizations brand identity will create a sense of trust reputation.
Secure Payment Methods
Offering a secure checkout process is of paramount importance. Multiple payment methods will ensure convenience for the user and all transactions should be carried out in compliance with legal regulations. Some e-commerce platforms will manage this process for you or low you to select your own payment processor. Be sure to consider processing fees and associated costs for each online transaction so there are no surprises later down the line.
Investing time in researching and planning for the above four items will ensure the foundation of your hospital online gift store are solid. Through these essential items, user experience for families and loved ones who are using the online hospital gift store website will be positive and offers an opportunity to increase revenue for the channel. It can be challenging and a daunting task but well planned and executed can offer an enhanced experience across the many touchpoints consumers have with your organization.
I would love to hear how you have tackled these areas listed above and any additional learnings that should be considered for those embarking on this journey.
