Simplicity is the best ecommerce sales tool ever. The easier you make it for shoppers to find what they want on your site, the more likely they are to buy it from you. While you, or your site designer might be thoroughly enthralled by the intricate design and slick functioning of your site, all your customers want is to find what they’re looking for and buy it. Incorporating the following key ecommerce website design elements into your store will help you keep merchandise moving.
Key eCommerce Website Design Elements
An Engaging Home Page
When visitors arrive at your site, you have less than a second to grab their attention, hold it and make them want to keep shopping with you. Often, their first impression of your site will be conveyed by your homepage. For this reason it must immediately telegraph professionalism, substance and security. Accomplish that, visitors then will settle in and see if you have what they’re looking for.
Mobile Friendly
While most of us came up during the days when desktop machines ruled ecommerce, mobile devices have become more the norm than the exception. Your site must look good on the small screen and all of its elements must be readily discernable in that environment. If you think merely shrinking your desktop site down to fit a mobile screen is good enough, you’ve a rather unpleasant surprise waiting for you.
Easy Navigation
Again, fanciful designs might be nice for winning contests, but simple design wins sales. Your navigational tools should be so intuitive they almost operate themselves. Conduct an enterprise ecommerce platform comparison and you’ll find the best sites have very simple navigational interfaces. Clarity, logic and user-friendliness are the ideal watchwords here. Give particular attention to your onsite search function. Think of it as providing a knowledgeable salesperson capable of taking your customer by the hand and leading them directly to a product. All the finest brick and mortar stores provide this service. You can too—at significantly less expense.
High-Quality Images/Solid Product Descriptions
Pictures sell—period. High-quality images sell even better. And, high-quality original photography sells best of all. Run your photos as large as is practical, with the capability of zooming in to them so shoppers can examine fine details. Keep in mind; customers won’t have the ability to touch things, so they’re relying upon their visual sense to convey the worthiness of your products. The best way to support these images is with succinct but informative original copy describing the product in enough detail to help the buyer make a decision.
Easy Checkout/Payment
Let your customers shop and checkout as guests when that’s what they prefer to do. Ask only for information essential to making the sale. Once they’ve paid, you can then offer them an opportunity to register for your newsletter, special offers and the like. Holding off on this until after the sale avoids subjecting them to distraction, or making them feel burdened. Simple and easy, is what you want your customer to experience.
Social Proof
Customer ratings and reviews edify your site while amplifying your search engine optimization efforts and driving sales. People feel better following in the wake of others who have had success in any particular endeavor. Incorporating the words and photos of previous shopper who have great things to say about you will help others feel good about you too.
Readily Discernable Security Features
Security remains one of the biggest concerns of online shoppers. Incorporating trust seals and providing copy explaining why conducting transactions on your site is safe will alleviate these concerns in most buyers.
These key ecommerce website design elements will reassure your customers, make your products easier to find and convey an air of competence. Get it right and you’ll enjoy a very healthy conversion rate.
Forbes Top 20 Social Media Power Influencer. 21 years of marketing experience. Currently obsessed with AI implementation done well. Lives in London, speaks worldwide, writes a weekly newsletter that 15,000+ founders read on Sunday mornings.
