A few years ago, an e-commerce website was a novelty only available to a few. But today it is impossible to imagine our life without it. By 2023, e-commerce will account for 17.5% of transactions worldwide.
With the increasing popularity of online shopping, having an e-commerce website is essential. It will attract visitors, increase your brand awareness and help you sell products without spending a lot of money.
However, for all of this to happen, you need to ensure that your website has a top-notch design. Where to start? You can get started with this eCommerce web design guide.
What is eCommerce web design?
Ecommerce web design refers to the design of an online store or shopping website. The idea is to make the user experience on your site as smooth as possible so that visitors can easily browse and purchase products from your site.
E-commerce design usually includes:
- A home page that showcases your online store’s products, brand and value proposition.
- Product pages provide detailed information about each product (photos, descriptions, prices, sizes and color options).
- A shopping cart where you can add items to their shopping cart and check their order before checkout.
- A checkout process where visitors can enter payment and shipping information, select a payment method, and place an order.
- Customer account area where customers can view order history, update their details or manage account settings.
- Features such as customer reviews, product recommendations and search functions to help customers find the right product.
Why is eCommerce web design important?
Here are some specific reasons why eCommerce web design is important.
- A well-designed website can create a positive first impression and make customers feel more confident about the store and its products.
- Customers can easily find and purchase products through a user-friendly website with simple navigation and logical flow.
- A well-designed e-commerce website can create a consistent look and feel, building customer trust and loyalty.
- Conversion rate. A well-designed e-commerce website can help improve a store’s conversion rate by allowing customers to easily find and purchase products.
In short, e-commerce web design plays a crucial role in the success of an online store. It can help you build a positive reputation and establish your brand in a positive light.
Ecommerce Web Design Best Practices to Improve Your Online Store
1. Keep your eCommerce site simple and user-friendly
The ultimate goal of an e-commerce website is more than just attracting customers. Instead, you want to ensure that customers buy from you. Therefore, you need to combine aesthetic visuals with simple navigation. That means you need to create a simple and attractive e-commerce web design that easily navigates customers and directs their attention to the most important products and features. This will ensure that customers buy from you.
2. Make your eCommerce website mobile friendly
In an era where mobile accounts for 65% of e-commerce website traffic, assuming that customers will browse your site from desktops would be a big mistake. You can only convert mobile visitors if you optimize your website for mobile phones. Otherwise, you’ll miss opportunities.
Make sure your website works smoothly on mobile phones and tablets. Cell phone users are often the most spoiled and impatient. They are quick to jump ship if they don’t find the site experience desirable.
3. Use high quality images
High-quality product images create visual appeal on your e-commerce site. So, you should use clear photos that accurately represent your product. You should also use multiple images to show different angles and features of your product.
Also, back your product images with detailed product descriptions. Not only will it increase your search ranking, but it also provides customers with the information they need before they decide to buy the product.
4. Include customer reviews
Customers are skeptical about online shopping. They don’t buy a product unless they are sure it will benefit them. So they need social proof i.e. customer reviews. These customer reviews can be a powerful weapon for e-commerce sites. You should include product reviews on your e-commerce site. You can add a rating system to make sure customers can rate the quality of your product.
5. Make your eCommerce site easy to navigate
Straightforward navigation makes it easy for customers to find what they want. Therefore, you should include it in your e-commerce website.
Here’s how you can ensure smooth navigation on your e-commerce site.
- Use clear headings to direct users to your site.
- Create a simple and intuitive menu for your website. You must clearly identify all product categories and subcategories.
- Leave grain marks on your e-commerce site. It will help users understand where they are on the site and how to navigate to their goals.
- Add a search function so that users can easily find products and pages on the site.
- Use internal links to help users find relevant products and pages on the site.
- The call-to-action button should be clear and concise to guide users through the purchase process.
- Regularly review and update the content of your e-commerce site to ensure it is relevant to users.
6. Include customer support options
Customer support is important on an e-commerce website. It can help your online store in many ways eg
- Improve customer satisfaction by quickly answering their questions and solving their problems.
- Build brand loyalty by offering fast customer support when a problem arises.
- Driving sales by building trust and confidence in your brand among customers. Customers are more likely to buy products when they can get quick help.
- Reduce order returns by addressing customer concerns before they return the product.
- Enhancing your brand reputation by showing that you care about your people and are willing to go the extra mile to offer them the best experience.
Overall, including customer support on your e-commerce site can help improve the customer experience and build trust and loyalty, leading to increased sales and a more substantial brand reputation. Therefore, your e-commerce website must have customer support.
Bonus: A few more tips for designing an eCommerce website
- Make the search bar visible on every page so customers can quickly find the products they are looking for.
- Make sure the shopping cart icon is always visible on your e-commerce site. They can track how many products have been added and quickly access them.
- Display your business logo and contact information to establish brand credibility.
- Enable sorting and filtering to ensure customers can discover products by price, type, color or brand.
- Show your stock availability to save customers the disappointment of realizing the product is out of stock.
- Don’t ask customers to provide too much information, as this can confuse them. Ideally, you want them to register on your website. Therefore, the guest login option can be a great alternative.
- Show customers that your e-commerce site is secure with SSL certificates and provide an in-depth description of how security is handled on your e-commerce site.
Summary:
Customers expect a seamless experience on an e-commerce site. Therefore, when designing an e-commerce website, you should focus on creating an immersive shopping experience. So you can even convert passive buyers into loyal customers.
Hopefully, this eCommerce web design guide has given you enough ideas to design an eCommerce website that leads to maximum conversion. Now is the time to apply these tips to improve your online store and see the results.