Checklist On Launching a Marketplace Website in 2021

Marketplace Website In recent years, consumer’s shopping preferences have changed the market trends all over the globe. Customers are more inclined towards the online marketplace for apparel, groceries, gadget shopping, and even for services like salons and handyman. 

It takes great effort and hard work to build a marketplace website. There are multiple aspects to be taken care of while developing a marketplace. After successful completion of your development phase, it is vital to get your product thoroughly tested for a better user experience.

When you’re finally ready to launch your marketplace app a million thoughts run through your mind. Without entertaining frantic thoughts you should approach a methodical approach to your launch. 

If you are unsure about which things to examine while starting your own online marketplace, let’s dive into the most comprehensive pre-launch checklist to keep things on the right track.

Technical Functions

A successful marketplace website is ideally dependent on the correct hosting package. A perfect hosting plan with an SSL certificate is the most initial aspect that you should take into consideration.

1. Server Log

During the development phase, if there is any debug output you must disable it before launching your marketplace website. This affects site speed resulting in filling the hard drive of the server with just data. 

2. Sitemap

A structural sitemap is very important as it is intended for web crawlers such as search engines. The minimum parameter of Google SEO requires a sitemap to increase indexing. 

3. Site Speed 

It doesn’t matter how functionally loaded your marketplace website is, if your site speed is not up to the mark your marketplace can be easily unnoticed. Since site speed is the utmost priority for a great user experience, it is important to pay special attention to it.

Page Performance

Store setup is another prime aspect of a great customer experience.

1. Navigation Menu

The navigation bar elevates business and website value. Make sure the navigation menu is arranged based on priority and easy access. For instance, product, cart, customer service, promotions should be the main content on the navigation bar.

2. Homepage

The homepage will be the first page each audience will be landing on. Make sure your homepage is just crisp. Your homepage will speak about your marketplace. Your homepage should have clear navigation to store and other important links.

3.  Contact

If potential customers are unable to contact you, you might lose out on major opportunities. Make sure you display each means of contact. It is also advisable to put up a contact form so that customers can send you a message through the form.

Test core actions of customers

This is a vital examination as you survey what exactly users are going to experience being at your online marketplace app. You have to check out below functionalities to improve and test user experience:

• Add to cart button should be highlighted and easily accessible.
• A wish list should not be missed.
• Suggested items should be displayed and filtered based on the consumer’s buying history.
• Highlight the “Top Selling products” section.
• An approximate shipping date should be displayed based on the user’s shipping location. This boosts the user’s confidence.
• A fast and secure payment method should be incorporated. If possible users should be facilitated with a “cash on delivery” payment mode.

Content & SEO consideration

It is very important to have unique tags and meta descriptions for each product and category page. It is also important to take care that your marketplace website URLs should be short and keyword-driven.

Each product page should include a title tag, content, a keyword-rich description, and alt tags. Product images should be SEO optimized including alt-text.

Design

The first impression is the ever-lasting impression. When consumers visit the marketplace your design should make an impeccable impact on them. Here are few points to consider:

• Branding and color should be consistent.
• Button color should pop up and it should be actionable.
• High-quality images.
• Easy to access cart and checkout page.
• Well-displayed products.
• Retina version logo must be used.

Security

In your scariest dreams, you would not want your newly developed marketplace website to be hacked. Customer information is the most crucial data which cannot be compromised after launch.

Take the right steps to secure your site:

• Setup a Firewall.
• Get an SSL certificate.
• Passwords should be strong.
• Set up spam filters.
• Backup should be enabled.
  

Legal Infrastructure

A legal infrastructure protects you from the lawsuit and makes your customers understand how their data is secured. Make sure you have the following policies explained to avoid any chaotic situation.

• Strong terms and condition
• Privacy Policy
• Return Policy

Pre-launch marketing plan

Once you launch your marketplace website, make sure you have a marketing plan to promote your marketplace and increase the audience. You can also hire a branding agency to promote and elevate your brand.

Conclusion

Put yourself into the consumer’s shoes and examine the pre-launch checklist to advance user experience. Appeal to your audience with a perfect marketplace app. Good Luck!