While many businesses are familiar with targeting their customers in the real world, online business is a little trickier. In some cases, you will need to throw everything you know out the window and start over. There are three main consumers types that use the internet for shopping, and you’ll need to figure out how to target each one. Let’s take a look at these types and see how you can fine tune your website design for each one.

1. The complete beginner. New people are starting to shop online everyday and they may not yet be familiar with the process of finding and purchasing the items they want. These customers are typically quite wary. They’re drawn to the ease of shopping online, but they’re scared that they may be putting their credit card information at risk. They may be a little hestitant about trusting you.

Solution: Make your site as easy as possible to navigate. This may involve hiring an outside design firm to get the job done. For website design in Canada, Royal Atlantis Group is a great choice with a proven track record. You will also need to make sure that your privacy policy is easy to locate, to give consumers more confidence in your store. The addition of a toll-free number in a prominent location on your site is also very helpful.

2. The internet expert. These consumers want to make their purchase as quickly as possible. They know what they want, they’ve been shopping online for years and they know how to spot a good company when they see one. While you might think this would be an easy group to target, they are actually very picky. If your site has a long checkout process, you may lose this customer.

Solution: Create a customized shopping cart that streamlines the checkout process to one page. Design your store so that everything is very easy to find. For this, you may need custom programming to create an application that meets your needs.

3. The hybrid. These consumers like to window shop online, but prefer to make their purchases in the real world. If they find a good deal, they may be convinced to buy online, but you’ll need to do a lot of work to convince them to make that purchase.

Solution: Build a store that contains a lot of product information. Run specials that are internet only to convince them to purchase online. Make your shipping process very quick and find a way to allow them to choose faster shipping options if necessary. Once again, custom programming can assist you in making an application that can answer all of these needs.

In order to be a successful online business owner, you need to find a way to target all three of these groups. A professionally designed website goes a long way in reaching out to all of your customers, regardless of their type and their shopping preferences.