6 Ways to Streamline Your Online Business with APIs
In today’s data-driven society, the organizations that recognize and implement technical solutions to help enhance their visitors’ experience are often the ones leading their industries. They do this by just offering their audiences new ways of getting the information that they want.
So what are APIs and what do they do?
In simple terms, APIs (application programming interfaces) allow different computer programs to communicate with one another. They can give eCommerce businesses easy ways to provide visitors with search-specific data and a wide range of shopping options to suit their needs. They also help retailers gather valuable data about their customers by tracking their online experience.
Here’s a look at a few ways that online stores use APIs to improve their bottom lines.
APIs for Product Delivery
Customers who purchase from online stores hope to get their products as quickly and efficiently as possible. APIs can help you to create a fast, seamless process that takes orders (and their delivery specifications) from the website and routes them to their respective vendors (if not you), who then dispatch them for delivery. Meanwhile, the system keeps your customer abreast of their shipment status.
APIs for Security
With database hacks and credit card fraud at all-time highs, APIs offer a great way to help online retailers prevent fraudulent behavior. Not only can they run transactions through online anti-theft systems, but they can keep track of IP addresses that may be engaging in suspicious behavior and block them from making purchases on your site.
APIS for Visitor-Specific Displays
With APIs, you can tailor your visitors’ needs based on their searches (aka “tracking cookies”). For example, if a visitor is mostly viewing pages related to women’s footwear, then the cookies can configure your site to show more women’s shoes in “suggested products” on checkout pages or other relevant areas on the site. APIs can help you to personalize your users’ experience by giving them more of what they’re seeking.
Product Catalogs
APIs can link your online product pages to outside networks to help share your product offerings on a global level. That can allow you to display product details, stock availability, brand-based visuals, and any other information related to your product offerings on international price comparison and specific vendor sites.
APIs for Streamlining Customer Interactions
You can also use APIs to create automation to assist with driving visitor engagement and outreach efforts. This includes automating newsletter content based on the pages that users visited on your site and setting up specific pop-up ads when users perform specific actions on product pages.
Social Media
Businesses are tuned in to the impact that social media can have on their online sales, which gives APIs an essential role in their e-commerce store functions. Not only can you use them to feed the activities from their social media profiles into your website (great for offering social proof), but you can get valuable insights on what products and posts users are engaging with the most.
Integrating APIs into your online store can offer you countless ways of interacting with your customers. Their use in the online marketplace is on the rise, and their ever-increasing capabilities make them a valuable resource for online retailers. If you need help anything related to online automation or setting-up an online store, give us a shout — we would love to help you build your business!
