Good usability is essential in any website, especially ecommerce sites. However, not all ecommerce sites should be designed the same or, indeed, have the same set of requirements. And with between 12 and 24 million ecommerce websites out there, offering a seamless user experience is vital to them choosing your business over someone else.
For online pharmacies, the need to offer excellent customer service to help refill prescriptions and provide customers with an easy transaction without having to visit a store means you need to make sure your website is geared to allow them to request their medication quickly and have it delivered at their convenience. That being said, online pharmacies can face more significant challenges and stricter regulations than standard ecommerce sites to ensure they operate legally.
Make It Easy
In the first instance, your website needs to be easy to navigate and well-categorized. This means all products should be grouped together in a way that makes sense, e.g., antibiotics, pain relief, medicated creams, ointments, etc. These categories should be clearly displayed on the homepage, along with a search bar so users can directly input the medication they need to find it faster.
Avoid having too many distractions on the page, and set each product up with the description, cost, pack sizes supplied, and strength you offer. Use clear, objective language and avoid medical jargon that will confuse users; remember that most people don’t have medical degrees, and they need to know they are ordering the proper medications for their prescription or ailment.
Clean Layout
All websites, in general, should avoid over-complicated design and hard-to-use websites; however, as a pharmacy, less is more on the design front. It should be about finding what you want easily with no distractions. A clear and straightforward layout is often preferential to support an organized and categorized site. Use colors and texts appropriately to highlight important information or warnings for specific medications, for example, and avoid using hard-to-read fonts.
Don’t Forget Mobile Users
Most people access the internet via their mobile devices these days. Ensuring your website is responsive to help them navigate the site via their cell phone or tablet device is vital. In fact, Google prefers sites that do this over those that aren’t mobile responsive. Ensure good loading speeds, clear text, easy-to-scroll pages, and an orderly layout that allows people to find the information they need both on mobile and desktop.
Excellent Customer Support
Your pharmacy needs to offer the best custom service online as you would in-store. People will likely need to ask questions or need guidance if they make the correct purchase and order the correct medication. You should have a customer service agent online or outsource this to a third party to allow you to keep on top of queries and get back to customers quickly.
Don’t forget the person answering your chat, replying to emails, or even writing your FAQ pages. You need to be someone who can answer medical questions pertaining to the supply of medications, both over-the-counter drugs or prescription medicines. While they don’t need to be a doctor to answer health-related queries, they at least need to be knowledgeable in your business or the pharmaceutical industry.
Display your Licenses
As an added peace of mind for customers, displaying your qualifications and licenses to dispense medication is an excellent idea to help people distinguish you from fake pharmacies. There are many illegally operating online pharmacies in the US, and people need to be confident they are buying FDA-approved and supplied medications for their health, not getting an unknown quantity. Genuine pharmacies will always require prescriptions to be submitted to complete the transaction and be able to prove you are genuine by displaying your credentials vna goal one way in boosting your profile and reputation.
Secure Payment Options
Every online pharmacy needs to have a secure payment option that allows for payment to be made and insurance company details to be obtained for reimbursement for costs. Due to the nature of the industry and the high level of fraudulent and illegally operating pharmacies, it isn’t always as easy to get a payment merchant to process your payments. You need to be careful about researching and securing your merchant account for online pharmacies so you can be confident they understand the nature of your business and that you can offer customers a secure way to pay for their medications.
Offering the best customer service for your customers as an online pharmacy isn’t about just having everything listed on a website. You need to cater to customers as you would if they were in-store and offer excellent service, an easy way to order their medications, and added security.