Women today control over 80 percent of spending in the U.S., but they are brutally ignored when it comes to the shopping experience. This causes endless frustration in the women, and a potential loss of business for companies. Women look for experiences that will appeal to them, such as convenient shopping, time-saving features, and appropriate marketing.

With this much buying power at stake, revamping your website to make it more accessible and appealing to women is time well spent. In order to attract a bigger loyal customer base, a few tweaks need to be made in many cases.

So what can you do to make your online store more female-friendly?

Start with a clean design. It turns out that women aren’t actually looking for frilly, pink, or sparkly during their online shopping anymore, and cluttered or disorganized websites turn them off. Every option should be in a neat box, a clear link, or otherwise tidy, but easy to find, place. No matter what she’s shopping for, she should be able to find it and buy it within a few minutes of being on the site. Catch her eye in a good way, and she won’t click away to find another site.

Respect their differences. No two women are exactly the same, and in today’s world, there are no longer “typical ages” for anything. A woman can have children at 20 or at 40, and she can be at the strongest point in her career in her 30s or in her 60s. No site should treat women as if they were all the same. Tailoring your website, especially one for technology, house hunting, or car buying, to speak to women everywhere is a great way to get more business. You will attract buyers of all ages, rather than just one set.

Have sales and clearance clearly labeled and organized. Women often juggle many financial goals, and saving money is very important. Girls’ clothing online is a great example of one of the best ways to employ this technique. By having different sections for sale and clearance, then dividing them up according to type, you save women both money and time. It’s the same with electronics, food, ad accessories. Convenience is a big deal. Again, women want to get online, buy what they need, and be done with it. Help them out by pointing them to what they want.

Add a human element. Women love stories, and often depend on the opinions of other women before making a purchase. Because women search for the best product, rather than just purchasing the first thing that fits their needs, the details matter. By adding an easy share option, whether through Twitter or Facebook or whatever else, you make it easy to spread the word about your product, something women will pay attention to and appreciate.

By employing these techniques to improve your website, you can generate much more business than by using traditional, male-driven sales methods. With woman dominating the buying power, any effort to update a website is well worth the time and effort put in. The payoff will be huge.

Sara Stricker is part of a team of dedicated writers who contribute hundreds of articles to blogs and sites. Follow her @StrickerSara for more articles.

Image Credit: sofandani