Ecommerce platforms like BigCommerce offer small and medium businesses a trove of built-in capabilities to build, manage and grow their online stores. However, with so many features available, it’s easy to get overwhelmed and not utilize some of the most useful ones. In this blog post, we’ll highlight the top 10 BigCommerce features that provide great value but tend to fly under the retailers’ radars. Whether you’re just getting started with BigCommerce or have used it for years, read on to uncover features you should take advantage of.
1. Advanced Product Options
The product options you provide can make or break customers’ purchasing decisions. BigCommerce’s advanced product options let you offer customizable variants beyond basic drop-downs. Configure options like personalization, file uploads, swatch colors and more to enable custom orders. Despite the power of these options, many retailers stick to basic variants. Unlock more flexibility and sales with advanced configurations.
2. Custom Checkout Fields
Want to collect additional customer details at checkout without an extra form? BigCommerce enables adding custom fields directly on the checkout page like phone number, birthday, referral codes and more. This reduces abandoned carts from extra friction and captures meaningful data. Yet, it’s common to miss this chance to learn about customers and personalize follow-ups. Put those checkboxes, dropdowns and text fields to use.
3. Built-In Coupons
Running targeted promotions with coupons and gift certificates is table stakes in ecommerce. Still, building coupon UIs and setting up the logic from scratch can be daunting. BigCommerce offers turnkey coupon creation so you can instantly enable discounts – no code required. Define all the parameters and deadlines visually and skip the IT requests. Despite the simplicity, many brands don’t leverage the tool. If you aren’t actively creating coupons in your store yet, it’s time to start.
4. Custom Thank You Pages
The post-purchase “thank you” page is prime real estate for cross-sells, upsells and branding. However, most stores send customers to a boring generic confirmation. BigCommerce provides complete design control over thank you pages using the Checkout SDK. Tailor messages, highlight related products, surface content and more. Don’t squander this moment to engage customers after checkout while their wallets are still open.
5. Enterprise Search
On-site search is crucial for store navigation and discovery yet subpar relevancy is all too common. Out-of-the-box BigCommerce search uses advanced natural language processing and machine learning for stunningly accurate results. It understands word intent, synonyms, misspellings and more. Still, many merchants rely solely on basic keyword filtering and category browsing. Leverage enterprise search to help customers instantly find what they want.
6. Automations Tool
Streamlining workflows with trigger-based automations is critical for ecommerce efficiency. Abandoned cart saves, post-purchase follow-ups and birthday promotions are just the start. BigCommerce includes a visual automation builder so you can set up sophisticated multi-step rules without a developer. Despite the intuitive interface, many brands don’t capitalize on automation. Identify manual efforts that can be automated and let software handle repetitive tasks at scale.
7. Native Gift Cards
According to various surveys, 60-80% of shoppers want gift card options at checkout. While some brands integrate third-party services, BigCommerce has baked-in support for easily selling digital and physical gift cards – including custom designs. Nonetheless, many stores still miss out by not activating this capability that caters perfectly to the gifting segment. Stand out with high perceived value while getting paid upfront with gift cards.
8. Smart Recommendations
Customers who viewed X also viewed Y. You bought X, consider Y. If you like X, you’ll love Y. These contextual cross-sells and recommendations turn browsers into buyers. BigCommerce automatically surfaces product suggestions across the shopping journey without manual merchandising. The algorithms get smarter over time too. Although the tool is active out-the-box, relevance suffers without enough interaction data. Proactively promote recommendations to maximize their impact.
9. Multi-Channel Selling
While branded .com sites remain important, selling across multiple sales channels expands exposure. BigCommerce seamlessly syncs product data with platforms like Amazon, eBay and Google Shopping via pre-built integrations. Manage pricing, inventory, listings and orders from one dashboard. Despite this flexibility, sometimes merchants avoid expanding distribution out of fear of complexity. Embrace multi-channel early on to grow, not just to offset declines.
10. Third-Party App Ecosystem
BigCommerce fuels thousands of niche extensions for nearly any ecommerce task imaginable across payments, shipping, tax, marketing, analytics and more. This ecosystem multiplies what the core platform can accomplish out-of-the-box. While capabilities like reviews, wishlists and loyalty programs come bundled, additional apps provide flexibility. Many retailers stay confined to default features when app marketplace solutions may better suit their needs. Continually assess available enhancements.
Why Choose Anchor Group for BigCommerce Implementation?
Assigning resources and budget towards selecting the right ecommerce platform is table stakes. Yet customizing, optimizing and expanding the technology to match business needs is how to maximize ROI on that foundation. As a BigCommerce Partner, Anchor Group delivers premium store setups designed to take advantage of built-in functionality through customized configurations. With deep platform expertise and proven methodology, we implement BigCommerce stores expertly calibrated for the brand, products, segments and goals at hand. This translates the wide spectrum of available features into an experience with standout conversion and growth.
Our BigCommerce consultants conduct extensive requirements gathering and market research around your specific product catalog, value proposition and customer journey patterns. These strategic insights then inform our tailored store builds encompassing design, UI/UX, expansive catalog management and seamless integrations across sales channels, data tools and operational systems. The end result is a visually compelling, high performance environment reflecting your unique workflows. From first search to repeat purchase and advocacy, we realize BigCommerce’s vast toolbox into reality.
Beyond launch, Anchor Group provides ongoing management and marketing to keep platforms running optimally as needs shift. Quarterly performance assessments measure feature adoption and business impact – adjusting configurations accordingly. We also continually test promising functionalities to progressively elevate capabilities over time while monitoring adoption levels. These improvement cycles ensure you receive maximum value from the platform’s ever-advancing suite of tools. Partnering with Anchor Group means leaning on BigCommerce experts who stay on technology’s cutting edge so you can focus entirely on your brand.
Conclusion
BigCommerce packs an expansive inventory of ecommerce features catering to essentials like custom design, security, promotion as well as advanced areas like personalization and automation. However, the risk for merchants tackling setup independently is wasting budget on unused capabilities while missing key functions that best serve their model. Anchor Group’s specialized approach makes BigCommerce’s full potential attainable. By combining the platform’s expanding toolbox with our hands-on guidance around configuration and adoption, brands can execute sophisticated digital strategies previously out of reach. Let our team handle unlocking BigCommerce’s possibilities so you can concentrate completely on selling.
