10 design essentials every eCommerce website has to have to succeed

Tuesday, 01 January 2019 / Published in Ecommerce, Emails, online business

Convert Traffic Into Customers: 10 Design Essentials Every eCommerce Website Has To Have To Succeed

Is your eCommerce website making an impression? In opening an online store, one of the biggest challenges that you have to face is creating a visually appealing site that provides an excellent user experience. Customers will always want an easy, and informed path to their purchase.

Creating an excellent eCommerce user experience design is all about getting customers to the entire process as effectively as possible. As you know, the very first thing a visitor will notice is their first impression on your site.

In this article, we’ll show you not only how to make a positive experience for your customers, but also how to improve your company’s digital footprint through your site’s design to increase eCommerce conversion rates.

1. Minimalist design

Think of your site as your digital storefront. If something is lacking in there, people would leave and are unlikely going to do business with you. So, going for a simpler, cleaner design has its advantages. For instance, most websites can quickly get outdated. By sticking to a much simpler design, you can withstand the ever-changing trends and will need less updating. It’ll require fewer revisions, and you would still have a visually appealing look of your site for years to come.

Not to mention, by going for a simple, minimalist design, your site is easy to scan, more accessible, loads faster, which helps boost your conversion rates. It’s easy to use, too!

2. High-quality product photos

We couldn’t stress the importance of good product photography enough. Gone were the days where you have a single photo, a price tag and a few bulleted posts in your product pages. Shoppers would want to see the product in different environments and see multiple angles. To get a better feel of the product, they feel that they might need to zoom in.

There are also technical considerations as well. If an image takes too long to load, drop off rates will start to dip, dramatically. That’s why that it’s crucial as an eCommerce website, to display multiple photos per product, and is highly optimized to load.

3. Mobile-friendly web design

Google already announced it to the rest of the world that by 2017, websites should have a mobile-friendly web design or else, they’re penalized in rankings. Therefore it must be done. It’s quite surprising though that there are still a lot of sites that haven’t adopted a more mobile-friendly version of their sites.

By having a mobile-responsive webpage, the content adapts to whatever device that’s accessing through it. Consequently, it provides users with a more mobile-friendly experience.

4. Interactive audio/visual chat features

As more and more people tend to get drawn to the world of online shopping, it’s vital to let your brand stand out from the rest of the competition. That’s why utilizing technology’s recent advancements could give your business a better position. One of which is using interactive audio or visual chat features which brings in a lot of potential in boosting your marketing strategy.

It gives the overall shopping experience more interactive, making it easy for shoppers to connect to an agent and adding a more human touch. Interestingly, most online stores lack these.

Interactive audio or visual chat features gives a more personalized ‘store-like’ experience. Ultimately, it also increases conversions and eliminating click-aways.

5. FAQ page

Frequently Asked Question (FAQ) page helps build the buyer’s confidence, by providing detailed information about the product. By giving your shoppers detailed product information, they become more comfortable making a purchase. It also adds to the credibility of the seller.

FAQs also provide a self-help area in which it strives to address common problems most customers come across.

6. Social share buttons

Amazon’s page social share buttons

A significant amount of online purchases come from social media sites, and you need to develop an excellent social strategy. Social share buttons make it easier for users to share your site content across different social platforms which helps broaden your customer base and builds brand awareness.

Social media also offers excellent platforms for self-promotion. Online communities provide unique opportunities in targeting the most active and influential customers, even new ones who haven’t heard about your store yet. These platforms also help shows off authenticity and for customers to establish an emotional connection with products.

7. Special deals and free shipping

Sample special deals and free shipping of Ebates

Once potential customers see that they’re getting an exclusive discount or receiving a special deal, it motivates them to buy more.

Utilizing ongoing promotions and providing a unique webpage that systematically lists offers will not only boost your sales but also enhances your SEO strategy.

8. Store finder tabs

eCommerce sites must strive to have a find-in-store feature. Sometimes, customers don’t want to wait for a product to ship. They want instant gratification.

It’s especially true for the millennial population. 72% of these young shoppers would first do their research online before ultimately making a purchase. So think about it ‒ some shoppers would do their research online and then complete the purchase in person.

9. Trustmark Logos

When setting up start-ups and branded stores, you need to build trust with your customers, as it’s crucial for eCommerce sellers to ensure that their site is legit and trustworthy.

Trustmark logos are symbols which represent the reliability and security of a particular website.

10. Security Features

Last, but certainly not the least, you must ensure your customer’s protection, taking lucrative steps to protect their privacy as websites tend to be a lucrative target for cybercriminals.

Secure your eCommerce platform by utilizing state of the art security features. Here are some eCommerce security features that you need to consider:

SSL certificate
Two-factor authentication
Firewalls
Privacy policy link in the footer

To Wrap It Up

So that sums it all up. Hopefully, by knowing these essential things above, you’ll make an eCommerce website that’s ideal for your buyers. With the right effort and finances, you’ll be able to generate a robust online presence that will be indispensable in the industry as you boost your sales in the long run.