Managing & scaling an e-commerce business is often more cost & time-effective than operating a physical store. With an online store, you’re spared from expenses like rent, utilities, excess inventory, and payroll. However, having accepted the wrong approach or missed some crucial points when planning or scaling it, you may face issues in the areas where e-commerce could fall short. One of the key considerations is your website’s design – it forms the first impression and defines how possible customers perceive your services. Good design goes beyond pleasing visuals; it substitutes for the face-to-face interactions customers have in physical stores and significantly impacts the performance of your platform. Ready to enhance your e-commerce website design? Then this article will be helpful to you.
If you look at online shopping from the customer side, you will have a big choice of numerous web platforms ready to fulfill your shopping needs with a single search request. Naturally, if the website doesn’t appeal to us, we’re unlikely to stay, considering we can effortlessly find a more pleasing alternative.
Statistically, over 80% of visitors leave the webpage within the first three seconds if they do not like the e-commerce website design. At the same time, more than 70% of users say that the visual presentation of the brand/company/product directly affects their purchase decision, especially when they come across an unknown brand or a website that features not many reviews. As you can see, a well-executed e-commerce design is literally critical if you want to convert visitors into actual customers. A well-structured, trendy, user-friendly, and visually appealing website can provide your business with numerous advantages, including the following:
For visitors to have a first impression, they only need a couple of seconds, after which they either leave or stay to explore the website more closely. General style, media, harmonious colors and fonts, and visuals significantly increase the chances that customers will focus on the “showcase” and want to learn more about the assortment. If there’s something wrong with your site, it’s instantly apparent, and to 94% of users, it can be a cue not to trust your site.
E-commerce owners are well aware that there is often little difference between their products and those of their competitors, and therefore sales success will only depend on branding & promotion. Web design for e-commerce allows you to stand out from your competitors because your website is only subject to you, giving you opportunities for creative marketing strategies and solutions.
If the user didn’t leave your website in the first seconds – that’s great, of course, but it’s not an indicator that he will stay, come back, or make a purchase at the very end. Customer decisions are also greatly influenced by the user experience, an essential part of retail website design. The main factors that ensure a quality user experience include readability, usability, and intuitive interface, i.e., easy navigation and search, visible & functionally flawless shopping cart, etc. It may sound complicated, but by trusting professional e-commerce website developers like those at Centum-D, you can rest assured your website will have all of the above qualities. As a result, the frequency of page visits increases, and after the first purchase, customers are likely to become regular ones.
During the online store website design process, it is critical to complete & afterward properly implement the content & SEO optimization strategy, as well as prioritize security. And in order to make the design comprehensive & efficient let’s outline the important features that will help improve your eCommerce business.
Creating an outstanding competitive e-commerce website design is a task that requires a thorough preparatory process. Your platform should outcast your brand & stand out among competitors. Otherwise, the development & promotion costs are simply too high to get properly paid back with the sales. So you should start with strategic & tactical planning, in order not to waste your resources & implement not only typical or trendy features but those that will provide your very visitors with a user-friendly & credible experience. During this preparation, you or your web design & development partner will be able to complete the unique list of the best e-commerce website design solutions that will suit your platform.
The home page greets users as soon as they load the website (unless they follow a specific link, of course) so it has to catch their attention. It is an excellent practice to put a large image of your product on the homepage. Our brain perceives visual information much better and faster than text, so showing off your product range will grab the attention of whoever is looking for it. If you don’t have a specific main product, you can create a carousel with your offerings; observe and update your carousel by adding seasonal offers, a new collection, etc. In addition to images, your store’s home page should also serve as a map for the user, directing them to other sections of your website. Another good solution is to create popular product subcategories that users can click on to go straight to the right page, minimizing search steps.
Taxonomy is the logical structure of online store pages, broken down into categories, making it easier for users to navigate through the pages. This will be especially useful for those whose range of goods is quite extensive: you don’t want to confuse users and make it so that all your goods are in one pile; no one will want to deal with it. It’s essential to find the right balance here and not divide your products into too narrow subcategories because then it will give the impression that you have too small an assortment. Each category should have a clear name and redirect to the corresponding page.
Users often abandon the idea of ordering something on a site at the shopping cart stage because websites usually ask for too many steps to complete orders. The customer wants to call here, and now, so you should minimize the required fields. You can postpone the account creation or signup step until later by embedding this offer in your email and, when ordering, ask for only the information necessary to complete the order.
A lot depends on the usability level of your website, so you need to make sure you’ve thought through all the details to make users feel comfortable. To do this, use intuitive navigation and intelligent search, and optimize your website for mobile devices, as most users today shop from smartphones, less frequently from tablets. Moreover, keep in mind the advice from our marketing experts. → Tablets are important to take into account when completing mobile optimization because even though they do not convert as often as mobile phones they are the first-contact gadget. It means that many customers browse (and follow ads!) e-commerce websites using their tablets but then complete the purchase with their phones or laptops/PCs.
Enabling the publication & display of product reviews on your website immediately impacts the platform in a very positive way. Firstly, it boosts conversion rates, as customers heavily rely on reviews and ratings while making decisions about whether to buy or not. Positive feedback encourages potential buyers to proceed with their orders. On the other hand, critical or negative reviews provide valuable insights into customer behavior – this is something you can use immediately to refine both the product & the strategy.
In order to facilitate a smooth review process, consider providing customers with predefined evaluation criteria. By asking them to rate these criteria on a scale of 1 to 5 or 1 to 10, for example, you can streamline the review process while ensuring insightful feedback. This practice will both benefit the customers and provide your business with a deeper understanding of your consumers’ expectations and needs.
What annoys us the most when we visit a website? Pop-ups. Websites use them to draw attention to discounts, deals, new loyalty programs, or chatbots. These mailings are programmed to appear automatically within a certain period and are irritating. Therefore, it is better to minimize them. An effective way to solve this problem is to make all this vital information into sticky UI elements.
Trends in web design are actively developing, one change after another, and users can quickly notice if your website is outdated. Trends in custom e-commerce design can influence both the look (trending colors, fonts, button placement on the page, etc.) and the technical component, as users today expect a more personalized digital interaction with them. This includes interactive pages, data-driven product recommendations, and more. Being on-trend will always ensure you stay caught up.
Your website must provide users and their sensitive information with the necessary security measures when transacting online. The best way to do this is to use known payment methods, data encryption, and SSL protocol. Data leakage is a threat looming over all online business owners, so it pays to think carefully about security measures on your website.
Use the above tips to design e-commerce as your starting point in creating your successful website design.
E-commerce website design is a necessary solution to promote your business online. An optimized website has a better chance of being seen and heard and will help increase your brand awareness among users. Use web design best practices to provide yourself with these benefits.
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