Whether you’re just starting your online business or are in the process of refreshing your page, it’s important to keep up with ever-changing e-commerce trends and best practices. New ways of managing your online business are constantly evolving, and if you don’t keep up you can risk losing business.
Keeping up with changing e-commerce trends can keep you one step ahead of your competition, and will provide the following:
- lower cost
- personalized experiences
- increased customer reach
- and more
The easy accessibility and time-saving nature of online shopping has led to its increased popularity as a leading method of shopping. The number of online shoppers continues to increase year over year, meaning that businesses need to provide an optimized e-commerce website to keep customers coming back.
This article will cover our top 8 points to consider while creating an e-commerce website:
- Professional design
- Provide enough information
- Easy navigation
- Prioritize branding
- Responsive web design
- Sign-up button and CTA (Call To Action) buttons
- Avoid exhausting dynamic code
- Include trust symbols
Interesting e-commerce stats
The number of online shoppers worldwide continues to grow. According to Statista.com, there will be 2.05 billion global digital customers in 2020. This number is expected to rise to 2.14 billion in 2021.
In addition, e-commerce sales are expected to grow by 15.5% of all retail sales. Saying that it is taking over is not wrong. These statistics prove that e-commerce is becoming an essential part of global commerce. This growth rate will surely touch 17.5% in 2021.
Here are a few statistics on buyer behavior:
- 65% of consumers trust online search engines the most when conducting research on a business
- 97% of consumers search online for local businesses. 12% of consumers do so on a daily basis!
- 85% of consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations
Now that we’ve highlighted the benefits and trends of the e-commerce landscape, it’s pretty obvious that any online store owner needs to focus on making their site the best it can be. This includes not only optimizing the online store (which we will discuss in further detail below) but also maintaining a positive overall reputation. The more well-liked your brand is, the higher your revenues will grow.
Business goals
Your e-commerce website design can be used as a catalyst to achieve your online business goals. It should look like a seamless task. The more engaging your online store is, the more likely it will be for visitors to purchase from you.
But, neglecting that your competitors are just a click away will give you dreadful results. Hence, it is very important to build an e-commerce website that appeals to visitors. So, if you want to secure more footfall at your website, then it is important that your website is the following five things:
- User-centric
- Scalable
- Usable
- Responsive
- Flexible
Hence, even if you have competitive prices and the best products from the market, you can lag behind if your visitors are finding it complicated to understand your website.
Therefore, it is essential to have the best e-commerce website to give the best purchasing experience to your visitors. So, while building an e-commerce website from scratch, we have gathered a list of tricks that can improve your website visibility and customer volume. These tips can be used as a jumping off point for you to develop your own website, or can be used as a guide if you choose to hire outside e-commerce website development.
Better design. Less clutter.
Professional design
The look of an e-commerce website matters quite a bit. Its web design should be professional so that visitors can understand your overall brand. It is crucial to have your business information, policies, and different web pages on your online store.
It is not recommended to include too much information on one web page. Evade the lousy, inferior graphics, grammatical errors, and broken links in content. Minimal boxes, fewer advertisements, and light colors are more preferable. Do not clutter your e-commerce website - it makes your website look clumsy. The more streamlined your website design is, the easier it will be for customers to understand your products and, therefore, decide whether they want to buy them or not.
Remember that your customers are the backbone of your online store. You must make them believe that you value them, and that can be achieved with professional and attractive web design.
Provide Enough Information
Another factor is that your website should include sufficient information - explaining why one should trust your brand. While purchasing online, the shopper cannot touch, feel, and see the products. So make sure to give brief but compelling information on the website and to include high quality images. Furthermore, provide additional product details as a choice for customers to see.
Image quality and selection is everything. While it is important to include written product content, remember that only 20% of the visitors read the information on your webpage. Remember to make your written content scannable. It is recommended to:
- Disperse the content appropriately
- "About Us" page, product details, and the blog posts should be broken up in an easily scannable format
- Make your paragraphs and sentences short
- Use bold font to highlight crucial information and gain attention
- Use bullets to segment large text blocks into smaller ones
Easy navigation
On some websites, it can take visitors up to eight to ten menus to get to the desired page. If that happens, then they will likely abandon your e-commerce website in the process. They will move to some other website, and it gives rise to an increase in your bounce rate.
Therefore, it is very important to get the product pages and product categories easily navigable. Make the process easy for the customers to find the products. Let them get to know the product by filtering product type, color, and size.
By making the pages and categories easily navigable, your customers can easily find whatever they are looking for. Breadcrumbs can be used for smooth navigation.
You can use categories for classifying your products. In addition, make sub-categories underneath to make the search easy.
Prioritize branding
While searching for any product, we all prefer to buy from popular brands. A faceless website will not attract any customers to your brand or products. Your brand is a reflection of your overall online reputation. If people perceive you in a positive light, they are more likely to trust your brand and, as a result, more likely to purchase from your online store.
Your brand reflects your business DNA; it defines what you are about, what makes you different, who you are, etc. These factors have an important role in establishing a connection between your customers and you.
With an appealing and engaging e-commerce design, you can define your brand adequately. But, if in any case, you are not sure who you are as a brand, then, don’t worry! Check out the below questions to make it apparent.
- Can I define my brand in three words? If yes, then, what would these be?
- How would I consider the brand as a person?
- How is my brand different from others?
After knowing who you are, work on it, and make your brand noticeable.
A design that changes with the screen size
Mobile is everywhere. Most people are using mobile devices as their primary devices. They’re searching Google from them. They’re checking the weather on them. And, most importantly, they’re shopping from them. Mobile has surpassed desktop to become the leading way for people to surf.
It is critical to make your e-commerce website responsive so that it offers a cohesive user experience when viewed on phones, tablets, or laptops. In order to get new customers, your e-commerce website should be adaptable to any screen size. If you fail to do so, then you might not be able to convince those potential customers who can give a boost to your sales.
Generally, there are three factors that you should consider while making a website responsive. Check them out below:
- Flexible layouts: With a flexible grid, you can generate a website layout that can fit into any width.
- Media queries: These are the media-type extensions used while targeting. It enables the designers to mention the varied styles for a particular browser and device.
- Flexible media: It enables the media (video, images, etc.) to be scalable by modifying the media size according to the size of the viewport changes.
Sign-up buttons and CTAs
There will be times when you’d like to learn some more detailed information about the people who are viewing your web store. Do not use long sign-up forms. It usually takes a lot of webpages to complete the process of signing up or to get registered to an e-commerce website. It’s better to simply require an email address and password for a sign up. Asking for too many details, such as a phone number, address, or occupation, can scare people away and result in a loss of sales.
At the same time, do not undervalue CTA buttons. These are beneficial in generating conversion rates and for enhancing the website visibility. When designing a CTA button, consider the font, positioning, wording, color, and size. It should pop on the page, with an eye-catching color. In addition, local languages have to be considered. For that, acknowledge the IP delivery to push custom versions of the CTA button as per the customer’s location.
Avoid exhausting dynamic code
While it is tempting to include dynamic content in your online store layout, try to do so sparingly (if at all). We recommend that you do not overstuff it. Yes, JS and HTML5 enable some exciting effects and animations to improve the layout. But when it is used more than required, then it makes the design look clumsy and, therefore, decreases the customers' overall experience.
The one area that you should include dynamic content is in your product photos and videos. Your customers will want to see what your product looks like, both in action and up close. Dynamic zoom and can make your website more desirable and high end.
Include trust symbols like BBB, SSL, and others
Lastly, it is worth mentioning that you can include trust symbols on your online store to make visitors feel more comfortable handing over their sensitive credit card information. Enable your shoppers to feel comfortable while purchasing from you. It is important that you make them feel that your website is reputable and offers features to maintain their privacy. Highlight certifications such as VeriSign, Hacker Safe, or an SSL certificate to make customers trust your brand with better security.
Wrapping Up
Yes, creating an e-commerce website is complicated, but it is not impossible. Now, you have the tips and tricks that help to make a useful e-commerce website. Implement them and experience the difference. Give your online store the overhaul it needs to create a thriving online business.
If there are any other points we missed, then please share them with us! Let us know about your queries and suggestions in the comment section below. Thanks for reading!
E-commerce web store design FAQs
How do I create an e-commerce website?
Consider the following when creating an e-commerce website. Professional design. Provide enough information. Easy navigation. Prioritize branding. Responsive web design. Sign-up button and CTA (Call To Action) buttons. Avoid exhausting dynamic code. Include trust symbols.
How do I increase traffic to my website?
If you want to secure more traffic to your website, then it is important that your website is the following five things. User-centric. Scalable. Usable. Responsive. Flexible.
How can I improve my website's written content?
Disperse the content appropriately. About Us page, product details, and the blog posts should be broken up in an easily scannable format. Make your paragraphs and sentences short. Use bold font to highlight crucial information and gain attention. Use bullets to segment large text blocks into smaller ones.
