How To Build a High-Converting Farm Store Website in 7 Simple Steps

A growing interest in supporting local businesses and eating ethically raised food is propelling farm stores into the future, and direct-to-consumer (DTC) sales are the key.

Now, independent and family-owned farms have exciting new possibilities to prosper in the face of economic uncertainty. One study found that while only 6% of small farms participated in direct-to-consumer sales, it generated a whopping $4.5 billion in revenue.  

The foundation of a successful DTC strategy is a modern farm store website. An effective website is key to people finding your farm store, boosting sales, and delivering seamless digital shopping experiences that today’s customers expect. 

In this guide, we’ll draw on our decades of experience in DTC farm sales to teach you the essentials of building a farm store website that will delight visitors and, more importantly, convert them into loyal customers.

 

First things first:
what do we mean by “conversion?”

In online marketing, a conversion means getting someone who visits your website to take a specific action. The end goal is obviously to make a sale, but converting a customer doesn’t always mean they’ve bought something. Each conversion action represents a step towards turning a visitor into a customer or a customer into an advocate. Understanding your customers and ensuring that each step is relevant to them is essential to building a high-converting website.

Here are some specific conversion actions to consider when building your website:

Make a purchase

Get users to enter their payment information and buy your products. The ultimate goal of the website.

Sign up for a newsletter

Connect with existing customers and interested visitors to keep your brand top of mind.

Upsell and subscribe

Encourage customers to spend more through promotions or subscribe and save options.

Leave feedback

Ask for reviews and testimonials from happy customers to increase brand visibility and trust.

Input location information

Ensure that only customers you can ship to can browse your site and add products to their cart to cut down on frustration.

View product pages

Get a customer to go from reading about your farm to seeing what you have on sale.

Don't just guess, measure your results

When setting goals for your website, don’t be vague. Set specific, measurable conversion targets. Then, use the reports on your point of sale (POS) system and e-commerce platform to keep an eye on what’s working (and what isn’t).

Here are some key metrics to track:

Sales conversion rate

The percentage of visitors who made a purchase versus the total number of visitors to the site. This will tell you how effective your website is at enticing people to buy, and whether your advertising is targeting the right audience.

Abandoned carts

The number of customers who started adding products to their cart but ultimately didn’t finish checking out. A high number could indicate that part of your checkout process is frustrating or unclear.

Repeat customers

The number of existing customers who bought from you again. This is an indication of how satisfied people are with their purchases and the effectiveness of your farm store promotions.

Newsletter signups

How many people found your content interesting enough to sign up for your newsletter and stay in touch?

Bestsellers

See which of your products sell best. This will both give you insights into your customer preferences and show which of your pages are most compelling.

Key Website Elements

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  • Homepage
  • About page
  • Store and product pages
  • Contact and social
  • Checkout process

Key Website Elements

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Create an Attention-Grabbing Homepage

The vast majority of people find local businesses online. That means, for most customers, your homepage will be their first impression of your farm store — so make it count.

Create a homepage that immediately grabs attention and shows your value. Keep things short and sweet. Consider it as the elevator pitch for your farm — how can you convince customers you’re worth buying from in a sentence or two at most?

Without having to scroll far down the page, a visitor should know:

  • Who you are
  • What you sell
  • What makes you different

That last point is especially important. With so many convenient options out there for meat, produce, and dairy, it’s vital to put what makes you unique front and center. It’s also a good idea to include links to your store pages both in the navigation bar and right on the homepage to make it even easier for visitors to start shopping.

Key Website Elements

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Build Brand Trust With a Heartfelt About Page

When customers shop local, they don’t just care about the products businesses sell; they care about the people behind them. Use your About Page to tell your story and build trust in your farm store.

Just as no two farms share the same story, there’s no single winning formula for a great About Page. In general, you should include information like:

  • Who you are (putting human faces to your brand)
  • How long you’ve been farming and how you got here
  • Your mission and values (why you’re doing this)
  • Where you’re based and the region you serve (this will also help you rank higher in local search)
  • Farming practices and principles (e.g. regenerative farming, community-based, co-op, etc.)

Don’t be afraid to get personal. Many of our customers are incredibly passionate about what they do — and for good reason. The more that passion comes across, the better.

Last, include pictures of your space and the people who make your business what it is (a cute farm dog or cat never hurts, either).

Key Website Elements

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Create Mouth-Watering Product Pages

Effective store and product pages are what will transform a curious visitor into a paying customer. Start by ensuring your store is easy to browse with clear product categories. 

Depending on the size of your operation, you could also break your store down into subcategories (e.g. all beef, steaks, ground beef, roasts, bones, etc.).

If your e-commerce platform supports it, you might consider having a separate section for your current sale items or special promotions as a way to capture a visitor right away with a good deal.

 

Key Website Elements

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Ensure People Know How To Find You

Make it easy for customers to know where you’re based, the areas you serve, and how to stay in touch with you. 

At a minimum, include your address and contact information in the footer of your web page. The footer is also a great spot to include links to your social media accounts and a signup form for your newsletter.

You can also make a dedicated contact page and/or Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) page. This gives customers a way to get in touch and can help answer common questions like:

  • Where do you ship your products?
  • How do you package products, and what services do you use?
  • How do you process payments for catch-weight items?

The less intimidating or confusing the overall shopping process is, the more likely a visitor is to trust it. Including your address and contact information will also help with SEO (search engine optimization), which will help you show up higher on search engines like Google. 

Key Website Elements

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Create a Seamless Checkout Process

Displaying your products well is only half the battle. To turn a customer’s interest into a sale, you need a smooth checkout process.

First things first, many small farms don’t have the resources to ship nationwide. So, to avoid frustration and wasted time, geofence (put a virtual boundary) around your site either before a customer starts browsing products or at the point they add a product to their cart. 

This will prompt them to enter a zip code and inform them whether they qualify for shipping or not. Geofencing ensures that only qualified customers can start the checkout process.

It’s also essential that the checkout process doesn’t disrupt the user experience. When customers add an item to their cart, they should be able to see their subtotal, any subscription savings, and have the option to check out — all without leaving the page they’re on. 

Then, when customers are ready to check out, entering payment and shipping information should be painless. Since many farm stores sell variable-weight items, include a pop-up or obvious area that explains that exact pricing may vary once the item is prepared for shipment.  

Long story short, find an e-commerce platform that creates a shopping experience that is equally convenient to big brands. 

Must-Have Farm Store E-Commerce Features

Sell-by-weight functions

Sell items based on actual weight and update costs during fulfillment. An essential feature for selling fresh meat and produce, but not offered on all e-commerce platforms.

Website building tools

Create an attractive, user-friendly website regardless of your technical ability. Some providers offer no-code website builders or templates to make the process easier.

Inventory management

Update stock levels in real time, keep track of bin IDs, make batch updates, and other inventory features that simplify or automate your processes. Modern inventory management is the cornerstone of smooth online sales.

Flexible fulfillment

Support on-farm pickup scheduling, local delivery, custom delivery zones, and other flexible options that can grow together with your business.

Customer relationship management (CRM)

Keep track of customer contact and payment information, view order history, and other options that allow you to tailor promotions and simplify checkout for repeat customers.

Subscription support

Offer subscription options to customers for repeat purchases or hand-picked boxes. To reduce friction, find platforms that collect customer payment information but don’t require a deposit.

Automated communication
Automatically contact customers whenever there is an update to the status of their order.
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Advanced order management

Simplify order fulfillment with automated pick-and-pack lists, automatic invoice generation, order adjustment capabilities, and other industry-specific tools.

Mobile-friendly design

Create a website that works equally well on desktop, tablet, or mobile — ensuring the 72% of customers who shop on their smartphone have a seamless browsing experience.

How To Assess a Farm Store
E-Commerce Platform

Choosing a provider for your online farm store can be overwhelming. However, don’t let yourself be distracted by the various bells and whistles. Before you start booking any demos or talking with representatives, think about:

  • Your ideal website: Find some other farm or fresh food websites you like and make a list of the features that you like the most.
  • Your short-term goals: What do you want to accomplish within the next few months (e.g. build an inventory of all your products, offer online sales for local pickup)?
  • Your long-term goals: Where do you see your store being in a few years (e.g. shipping nationwide, offering curated subscription boxes)?
  • Your daily tasks: If you’re already offering online sales, what about your processes work for you, and which would you like to improve? If you’ve never done online sales, what should the process look like?

Considering these points in advance will help you narrow down your list of farm e-commerce providers, find a platform that will scale with your business, and ensure you can demo the features that matter most to you.

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Key Questions To Ask
a Farm E-Commerce Provider

What tools do you have to help build the website itself?

How can I build an inventory list?

What’s the process for fulfilling an order?

Can I set up specific order zones?

How much technical expertise is needed to use your solution?

Does your platform support subscriptions?

Does your system also support in-store transactions?

Does your solution natively support weight-based sales?

What kind of technical and onboarding support do you provide?

How customizable is your solution?

Looking for expert guidance on building an online farm store?

Ready to take the jump and take your farm store online? We love to hear it! 

Talk with one of our experts today to see how our e-commerce solution makes it easy to sell directly to customers online.

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Expert Design Tips To Boost Conversions

While the temptation to just quickly get a functional, but basic, website off the ground might be tempting, it won’t be enough to wow visitors and convert them into customers.

Follow these tried-and-true tips when designing your website to provide a better user experience and boost sales.

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Write compelling content

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Write clear, compelling messages.

As a small business owner, you know why you got into this business and what your customers want. Write descriptions and messages that convey that passion to your customers.

When you review your written website content, ensure it’s:

  • Relevant: Does the content serve a distinct purpose and connect with customers? Think about what your customers care about the most, whether it’s the quality of the product or how it was raised, and make sure your descriptions include those points. 
  • Urgent: Your content, particularly for products, should have a sense of urgency that encourages customers to buy now, not some other time. Emphasize freshness and limited supply (without being pushy).
  • Persuasive: Use sensory language and descriptors to get customers’ mouths watering. You write that you offer organic ribeye, or you could offer juicy, marbled ribeye from grass-fed cows. Which seems more appealing to you?
  • Concise: Be detailed without being overly wordy. Try to only include information that customers will care about. 
  • Personal: Don’t try to imitate big competitors with huge marketing budgets. You’re not a sales robot, you’re a small business — so write from the heart! 

Writing doesn’t come naturally to everyone — no worries. It’s a skill that will improve over time. Look for inspiration from other stores (without ripping them off) and start with your best-selling products. 

Before long, you’ll be writing great content like a pro!

Build trust

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Build trust with certifications and customer reviews.

Customers tend to trust food brands that carry certifications for sustainability, eco-friendliness, or organic. So, whether your products meet USDA organic standards or your farm follows regenerative farming practices, consider making it official and displaying it prominently on your website. 

However, official certifications aren’t the only way to build trust with customers. Positive (and negative) reviews also play a huge part in how customers perceive the quality of your farm store. In some cases, a lack of reviews might be just as concerning to a would-be customer as a negative review.

As your business grows, encourage customers to leave you reviews on Google or other parts of the web. Once you’ve gathered enough reviews, you could display quotes from happy customers on your homepage so visitors feel confident in their choices right away.

Keep it simple

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Minimize clutter to make your site easy to navigate.

No one likes being hit with a dense wall of text. Even if the content is interesting, many people will be turned off and overwhelmed, leaving your website before looking at your store.

Instead, use clear headings and concise text to break up your website into smaller, digestible chunks. Leave plenty of white space to make your content easy to read.

Clear content will also allow you to place your action buttons (e.g. “Add to cart”, “Learn more”, etc.) more strategically. 

As much as we hate to admit it, most people won’t read every word you write. As you review your website, ensure that your message and the desired action for customers are clear, simply by reading the headers on a page and the action buttons alone.

Use strong visuals

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Use appealing visuals and colors to create a strong brand identity.

Similar to the point above, people like websites that are cleanly designed and uncluttered. When building a website or choosing a template, focus on designs that lean into using pictures and visuals over blocks of text.

This will make your website easier to browse and put the spotlight on your products. Ensure your pictures are high quality so they don’t appear grainy, and use services like TinyPNG to compress any large images so they load quickly. 

You also want to use colors consistently throughout your website. If you haven’t already, start by designing a clean and eye-catching farm logo that incorporates warm, earthy colors. You can then use the colors on your logo (or colors that complement it) to create a consistent look and feel for your overall site.

Building Product Pages That Convert

Simply having a list of your products won’t be enough to convince a visitor to buy them. Your product pages serve two purposes:

  1. They act like the shelves in a physical store, allowing customers to visually browse everything you have to offer.
  2. They serve as a mini sales pitch for each product, providing compelling details that could convert customers. 

Follow these best practices for your product pages to maximize conversions and ensure every product gets the attention it deserves.

1
Take great photos
Take well-lit, high-quality photos of your products to capture visitors’ attention. Don’t skimp on this step — bad photos will make your products look cheap.
2
Write compelling descriptions
Include essential product information as well as appealing descriptions of taste, how to use, or other unique aspects.
3
Display prices clearly
Clearly display prices, including whether it’s a fixed price or charged by weight (and the average weight if it is).
4
Track inventory and show
what’s available
Ensure your inventory management system connects directly to your e-commerce to show accurate stock levels.
5
Show suggested uses

Inspire customers to try something new by linking to recipes or listing out bullets with a few of your favorite ways to use a given item.

6
Suggest related products
Use product tags to suggest related products or show other top-sellers to encourage upselling and increase order size.

Creating a Simplified and Speedy Checkout

Smooth payments are vital for getting new visitors through checkout and making it easy for existing customers to buy again.

Here are the most important factors to look out for when looking at the checkout process.

Minimize the number of steps a customer has to take to complete a purchase. Allow customers to autofill information when possible and remove any unnecessary questions from the checkout flow. 
Not all first-time buyers will be interested in creating an account. Offer guest checkout as well as options to save their information for later.
Provide multiple secure payment methods, whether it’s via credit card or digital wallet.
Provide clear shipping and pickup options, including costs and transit times.

Overcommunicate your payment policies to set clear expectations (e.g., if you require a deposit for subscriptions, if the displayed cost is an estimate, when a customer’s card will be charged, etc.).

Even the best-laid plans don’t always work out. That’s OK!
Keep track of your website’s performance and be open to making changes as you go.

Use reports for better decision making

Once your website is up and running, it will immediately start generating invaluable data every time a customer clicks a link, makes a purchase, or abandons their cart.

Many e-commerce solutions include built-in analytics tools, which take this data and contextualize it into easy-to-digest reports. In other words, it will give you a holistic, unbiased view of overall store performance and insights into how specific pages are used. 

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A High-Converting Farm Store Website Is Just the Beginning

Simply having a website for your independent farm store isn’t a guarantee of success. But by following the fundamentals laid out in this guide, you’ll be well equipped to create an online store that captures visitors and, most importantly, converts them into customers. 

But knowing what to do isn’t the same as how to do it. We can help.

GrazeCart was built by farmers to create an intuitive, all-in-one platform for farm stores, butchers, and other fresh food sellers to sell directly to consumers in person and online. GrazeCart makes it easy to get up and running with powerful features like:

  • A no-code website builder
  • No-deposit subscription support 
  • Easy delivery zone setup
  • Advanced inventory and fulfillment tools
  • CRM and customer loyalty
  • Sell-by-weight functions

With GrazeCart, farm stores can manage sales, marketing, customers, and inventory — all in one place.

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See if GrazeCart is the right fit
for your small business

Finding a technology partner that’s the right fit for your business is essential — even if that partner isn’t us. 

Get in touch with one of our experts today to get a custom overview of GrazeCart.

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