Top 20 Tips for eCommerce Web Design in 2021
As captured in discussions on the same over at runrex.com, web design is crucial when creating an eCommerce website. Your eCommerce website should be able to attract potential customers, provide an excellent user experience, and present your shop in the best light possible. This means that not only does your site have to look good and feel on-brand, it also needs to drive your website visitors to take action and buy your products. To help you achieve all that, here are 20 tips for eCommerce web design in 2021.
Keep it simple
One of the most important eCommerce web design tips is to keep it simple. According to guttulus.com, when it comes to designing an eCommerce website, simple is always best as the more elements you have on the page, the more it takes away from the entire point of the website – closing a sale. Keep your design clear, clean, and simple, and keep the focus on the sale.
Think like a website visitor
If you want your eCommerce website design to connect with your audience, then you need to think like your audience. As covered over at runrex.com, at the end of the day, there are only a few things your potential customers want in an eCommerce experience and they are a site that is easy to navigate, well-designed, and makes the process of shopping easy, straightforward, and free of any hassle. During the design process, put yourself in your visitor’s shoes and ask yourself: what kind of layout is going to be easiest for them to navigate? How can you organize your products in a way that makes sense for the end-user? How can you simplify the checkout process?
Use high-quality images
When it comes to web design, the gurus over at guttulus.com point out that images increase conversions, something that is brought into sharper focus when it comes to eCommerce. If you want people to buy your products, you need to show them what they are buying through high-quality images. Get professional images of all your products, and make sure the images are from multiple angles.
Invest in a professional website
An eCommerce site aims to get visitors to purchase something from you, which means that you will be asking them to turn over sensitive information such as their credit card information, and they are not going to feel comfortable doing this if your site doesn’t look professional. Therefore, investing in a professional website is a must if you want to build trust with your customers, something which is crucial if you want your eCommerce store to succeed. If your site is to be deemed as professional, it shouldn’t have typos or misspellings, your font color palette and footer designs should be consistent from page to page, and all your product links and buttons should work.
Make categories easy to navigate
If your website visitors have to click around ten different menus before they find the products they are looking for, then they are going to leave your site sharpish, and head straight to a competitor’s site. Therefore, you must make your product categories and product pages easy to navigate. Make it easy for your customers to search for products and to filter products by things like size, color, or product type.
Make your website responsive
As highlighted over at runrex.com, the majority of people nowadays use mobile devices to surf the internet as opposed to desktops. Therefore, if you want to capture the customers who want to shop on their phones or tablets, then you need to make sure your website design is fully responsive.
Make it easy for customers to checkout
If you have a clunky checkout process, then you are going to hemorrhage customers. According to guttulus.com, if you want people to buy from you, you need to make the process of buying as simple, straightforward, and pain-free as possible. Ensure that your checkout page design is clean, simple, and easy to navigate. Also, give your customers the option to register for your site or check out as a guest and make everything about the process crystal clear. Once the purchase is complete, direct your customers to a confirmation page so they know everything went through.
Use social proof
Social proof is another way through which you can build trust with your audience. When designing your eCommerce site, look for ways to show your potential customers the positive feedback you have gotten from your existing customers. As discussed over at runrex.com, this includes adding a ratings section where people can rate your products, and then get as many 5-star reviews as you can, adding a testimonials section where you feature customer photos with a quote or two about what a great experience they had working with you, and asking customers to review your products and what they like about them and then adding them to your blog.
Make your content scannable
Research shows that most web visitors only read about 20% of the text on any given web page. Instead of reading content word for word, they simply scan the text looking for key information, which means making your content scannable is crucial. Break up your content into an easy-to-scan format and keep sentences and paragraphs short while also using bolding to call attention to key information. Also, use bulleted lists to break up large blocks of texts.
Take full advantage of color
Color is an extremely powerful tool and if you can understand the psychology behind it, you can use it to your advantage. Different colors can inspire different feelings, emotions, and actions from people, so, if you want to get your eCommerce site to convert, you need to use those color inspirations to your advantage. For example, if you want people to make a purchase, make the purchase button stand out with a bright color like red.
Make branding a priority
As far as shopping online goes, people want to buy from established brands rather than faceless eCommerce sites that look like a front for trying to steal one’s credit card information. Therefore, if you want to build trust, you should put some serious thought into branding. Take time to define your brand and then infuse that branding into your design as discussed over at guttulus.com.
Use a view cart button
Most eCommerce websites, as outlined over at runrex.com, have a little shopping cart icon somewhere on every page (usually the top-right corner) that allows users to easily and quickly view items they have added to their cart. This is one of the most important eCommerce web design elements of them all. Having this button visible at all times while customers are online shopping has been shown to increase conversion rates. Just make sure that this button not only stands out on your website through the use of bright color and that it is larger than other buttons to make it easier to find, but that it also updates in real-time and that you use an icon that is easily recognizable like a shopping cart or a shopping bag.
Be honest about pricing
When it comes to eCommerce, honesty is always the best policy. Therefore, when designing your eCommerce website, remember to always be upfront and honest about the price of the products or services you are selling. Don’t try to hide information or make it difficult for visitors to find it on your site as this will lead to them feeling like you are trying to trick or deceive them. Put your buying price information somewhere where it is easy to find and ensure that it is simple to understand. Also, make sure that you are upfront about shipping costs as well as shipping policies as covered over at guttulus.com.
Show scarcity
Products with out-of-stock, limited stock, or sold-out tags on homepage or category pages are often the ones that users notice more. Creating scarcity of a product is a strategy that can play tricks with customers’ psychology, as it gives them a feeling of FOMO, or fear that they are missing out on a product. This will result in impulse buying, and, therefore, boosting your sales.
Incorporate a search bar
Many of the consumers visiting your website will likely have a specific product already in mind. Having a search bar allows them to find the product they have in mind easily without having to scroll through pages of information they aren’t interested in. If a user can’t quickly find a way to search your site for the product they want, they are likely to go somewhere else for it, which is why you should have a search bar and make sure it appears near the top of your website to make it easy to find.
Keep in mind the natural flow of the eye
You must make it as easy as possible for visitors on your site to find the products they are looking for and make a purchase. You should, therefore, keep in mind the natural flow of the eye when designing your eCommerce site. As discussed over at runrex.com, people tend to view websites in an E or F formation, starting at the top-left corner and working their way horizontally across the page, then down the left side, horizontally again, and so on. This is why navigation menus typically appear horizontally across the top of each page of a website. Utilize the E formation in your eCommerce website design to guide visitors’ eyes towards main conversion points.
Utilize grid layouts
According to guttulus.com, grid-style layouts tend to be the best for eCommerce sites, and most sites in general. When users are browsing products, it is best to keep them in organized rows and columns, although you should be careful not to cram too many different products in one row. It is recommended that you have three or four products per row to make your product catalog pages visually appealing, keeping plenty of white space around each item to give people breathing room and allow them to differentiate between products.
Don’t forget about your contact information
If a customer has a question or concern while viewing your site, they are likely to search for a “contact us” page or scroll down the bottom of your homepage in search of contact information. As explained over at runrex.com, make your contact information as easy to find as possible, with the best practice being to include as much contact information as possible. This includes an email address, a phone number, hours of operation, a contact form that will allow users to directly send an email, or even a widget to let them send a Facebook message to your company directly through your website.
Thank you pages
Once someone has purchased on your website, they should be redirected to a thank you page. This page not only helps you properly track conversions through social media ads but also allows users to be confident their purchase has gone through while also letting them know that you appreciate their business.
FAQ page
Including a FAQ page on your website’s navigation menu is also very important as it not only alleviates the flow of product questions but can also establish more trust in your website visitors as they let visitors know that you are making an effort to be transparent with your products or services. Additionally, an easily accessible list of answers to common questions about your brand establishes you as an expert and will have you looking reputable and knowledgeable, making you more attractive to potential customers.
Hopefully, these tips will help you with your eCommerce web design in 2021, with more tips, insights, and help on the same being available over at the top-rated runrex.com and guttulus.com.