It is not just the product that sells online. Sure, an online purchase is motivated by a desire to buy a certain product or service. Conversely, that desire, as those in the brick-and-mortar business figured out precedent, is the result of a compound, multi-layered procedure that influences customer performance. That procedure is fairly alike to what we, in plan circles, referred to as the user experience. The variation in user practice is one of the major causes that give details about the inequality between the peak and lowest conversion rates in any industry.
All other kinds of stuff equivalent, can two Ecommerce websites selling the similar product is similarly victorious if one of them has lesser user experience? The answer is a resounding ‘no’. The latest research found that a retailer improved their income by 76% just by making one minor change to the user experience: the ability to filter products.
There are many ways in which improved user experience can help to convert your visitors into customers but this article will discuss the user experience insights most pertinent to the e-commerce sector. Here are a few design policies for guaranteeing your Ecommerce website is in the service of your sales objective – and not a barrier!
1. Give Your Website a Personality
While it cannot be objectively stated as such, all websites have personalities. Your Ecommerce site is a chief factor in your brand’s identity and you want it to convey the attributes and values you want your products to embody. Think of your website as a person and come up with one word (or a few) to describe how you would ideally want your target customers to see it. A word like ‘chic’ might come up for an apparel brand, ‘homey’ for a family owned restaurant and ‘trustworthy’ for financial services.
Once you have decided on the personality for your website, you can make key design decisions like the color scheme, choice of layout and copy and the type of photography you will use. It’s important to note here that ‘giving it personality’ doesn’t mean you have to make it bold or flashy merely for the sake of it. Your personality, as in real life, is at its best only when it’s true to who you are.
2. Group Products Together
The human brain is constantly sorting and organizing things in trying to make sense of them. One way that we link one object to another is through their proximity to each other. In an ecommerce website, you can boost your conversions and AOV by grouping products together – whether they are complimentary or merely recommended.
3. Leverage Quality Photography
More than ever before, the web is a visual medium and the dominant trend in web design these past few years has been gorgeous high-quality photography. In the physical world, the user can often directly look at and touch the product they are considering purchasing. However, online, one of the only reliable indicators they have to go by is product imagery.
You do not want your product to be represented by bad photography. And with services like Death to the Stock Photo or Gratisography, its become very easy (and inexpensive) to feature beautiful photography on your ecommerce website!
4. Optimize the Purchase Process
When it comes to the actual purchase process, simple, direct and without distractions is the way to go for the high conversion. As a general rule of thumb, there should be no more than two (straightforward and minimally designed) pages between your customer clicking the ‘Add to Cart’ or ‘Buy’ button and final checkout.
You should also avoid asking your customers to register before they can make a purchase. Obtaining your customers’ contact information should not come at the risk of driving them away.
5. Design for Mobile
Last, but not the least, you should always remember that your website is increasingly being viewed on tablets and mobile devices – and not on a desktop computer. This is why a mobile-first strategy for approaching your user experience can often drive up conversions. Google offers a useful little tool to check if your website is mobile-friendly or not.
A recent study by Adobe found that, for the US, almost 38% of the websites in their sample were visited on smartphones while the number was even higher – a whopping 52% – for the UK. The study recommended improving and streamlining the mobile experience to increase your website’s conversion and ‘stickiness’.
Conclusion
The strategies listed here approached ecommerce strictly from a design perspective but, for a successful ecommerce website, your design and sales efforts should complement each other. Check out this article for a list of sales strategies that you can implement within your user experience.
For more information regarding Ecommerce Website Development, contact Webnexs.