20 Tips for eCommerce Web Design
As the subject matter experts over at runrex.com will tell you, eCommerce web design is crucial in turning visitors to your website into customers. You want your design to make the purchase process as easy, quick, and hassle-free as possible. If your website is not optimized for sales, it doesn’t matter how good your online advertisements are, you will still end up losing customers. This article should, therefore, be of great help as it will list down 20 tips for eCommerce web design.
Make your user front and center
One of the most important tips for eCommerce web design, as per the gurus over at guttulus.com, is ensuring that your user is front and center to whatever decision you make here. User experience is crucial in turning visitors to your site into customers, and also turning your customers into repeat customers, make sure that everything is designed with them in mind.
Add a “View Cart” button
Adding a “View Cart” button is a crucial part of eCommerce web design, as it enables users to easily view and edit items that they have just added to their carts. As is outlined over at runrex.com, this article should be visible at all times and that you use an easily recognizable icon, with the most common one being a shopping cart as you don’t want to confuse people. Also use a bright color to make it pop out, and make sure it is larger than the other buttons.
Don’t add too much information that you distract users
Remember, the unique thing about an eCommerce website is that its main focus is on getting users to make a purchase. This means that, while it is nice to include additional information on your site such as a blog, among others as discussed over at guttulus.com, make sure that these additional pieces of information don’t distract your users from making a purchase. Avoid, for example, adding a pop-up, requesting users to sign up for your newsletter as it may not only distract them from making a purchase, it could also annoy them and lead to them leaving.
Honesty is crucial
An important part of eCommerce web design is being honest with your users when it comes to pricing as well as shipping and returns policies. Don’t try and hide these important pieces of information or make it difficult for visitors to find them on your site as this will make it seem like you are trying to deceive your visitors, who will leave never to return. Display these pieces of information clearly and early in the purchase process for the best results.
Include a navigation menu bar
A menu bar will allow your users to navigate easily the pages on your website and find what they are looking for. Make sure that you incorporate a navigation menu bar, which is usually across the top of the page or vertically along the left-hand side of the page. However, be careful not to load up your menu with too many options as this will make things appear cluttered and confusing.
Go for a simple web design
As is revealed in discussions on the same over at runrex.com, websites with a minimalist design are consistently considered as more visually appealing, and more trustworthy, than those with a more visually complex design. Simplifying your web design is one of the ways through which you can optimize your website for conversions. Remove any unnecessary information and utilize a minimalistic design with lots of white background space.
Add quality photos
When shopping online, people are not able to see your products in person before purchasing as they would when shopping at a brick-and-mortar store. This means that adding quality photos is a crucial part of any eCommerce web design, according to the experts over at guttulus.com. Add high-quality product images, and even video, to enhance your eCommerce web design and increase conversions. Use high-resolution images, and add lifestyle images of people using or interacting with your products, if possible.
Add reviews
As is explained over at runrex.com, about 60% of online shoppers have revealed that they read customer reviews before making a product purchase. This means that adding customer reviews and testimonials should be a crucial part of your eCommerce web design.
Ensure that your products are organized
It is also important to make it as easy as possible for your users to find the products they are looking for on your site. This is why you should also make sure that you keep your products organized into categories to enable them to narrow their search down to a specific option, while also showing them your full repertoire increasing the chances that one purchases something that they didn’t come in looking to purchase.
Add a search bar
On a related note, other than having your products organized into categories, you should also add a search bar as part of your eCommerce web design to make it easier for visitors to find whatever it is that they had in mind when they came to your site. You don’t want people living because they can’t easily find what they were looking for.
Make sure your site maintains the correct natural flow of things
As the gurus over at guttulus.com will tell you, an important aspect of eCommerce web design is making sure that you keep in mind the natural flow of the eye when designing your site. According to studies, people tend to view websites in an E or F formation, staring at the top-left corner and working their way horizontally across the page, and then down the left side, and so forth. Utilize the E or F formation in your eCommerce web design for the best results.
Don’t forget about contact information
As is discussed over at runrex.com, you should also make your contact information as easy to find as possible, while also including as much contact information as possible, from your email address to your phone number and even a contact form and many others. Additionally, you can add a widget that lets your users send you a message on your social media pages.
Add “Thank You” pages
Yet another key part of one’s eCommerce web design is making sure that they incorporate a “Thank You” page. As is explained over at guttulus.com, this is the page where users will be redirected to once they make a purchase. Not only do these pages help track conversions properly, but it also helps show your customers how much your value their business, increasing the chances of them being repeat customers.
Add a FAQ page
On top of your “Thank You” page, you should also add a FAQ page as this will not only help users find answers to some of the questions them may have, it will help build trust by showing how transparent you are with your products and services, increasing conversion rates.
Include social media links
Yet another important aspect of eCommerce web design is including social media links, as this invites your visitors to keep in touch with you, encouraging longer-term relationships. On top of that, including social media links to your site will improve your eCommerce SEO, boosting your rankings. A pro tip here is to make sure that the links open to a new tab so that they don’t lead to people leaving your website.
Add a filter function
By adding a feature that allows users to filter their search results, you will improve your site’s search features, improving user experience and conversion rates with it, according to the gurus over at runrex.com. You should, therefore, try and include a filter feature in your eCommerce web design.
Incorporate a grid-style layout
As is revealed in discussions on the same over at guttulus.com, the best eCommerce websites are those that have a grid-style layout. This is because such a layout makes it easy for users to navigate and browse products on your site, as they are organized in columns and rows. It is, however, important to ensure that you don’t cram too many different products in one row or column. Having three or four products per row or column is recommended.
Make sure that the checkout is quick and simple
A complicated checkout process, as the folks over at runrex.com will tell you, will lead to a high cart abandonment rate. This is why, as part of your eCommerce web design, you should make sure that you make your checkout process quick and simple. You can do this by allowing users to check out as guests if they wish, request only the necessary information, and add more payment options, among others.
Keep text to a minimum
If someone comes to your eCommerce site, they most likely are looking to make a purchase, not to read through mountains of text. Internet users have a very short attention span, and nothing loses them quicker than a site with too much text. This is why you should keep all the text on your website, such as your product descriptions, as brief as possible, using short paragraphs, bullet points, and infographics for the best results.
Optimize for mobile
There is a no bigger mistake you can make than failing to optimize your eCommerce web design for mobile, particularly since more and more people open websites from mobile devices. Make sure that you have a responsive layout so that your website can adapt to any type of screen or operating system, eliminating the need to create a separate mobile version of your site.
Hopefully, the above tips will help you come up with an eCommerce web design that will bring you high conversion rates, with the subject matter experts over at runrex.com and guttulus.com having your back if you need more information or help on the same.