E-commerce web design can make a huge impact on the commercial success of your website. It is easy to get caught up in the aesthetics of a website and forget that this is only a portion of making a successful e-commerce site. A site may be beautiful, but if it is too difficult to refine products or navigate the check-out process, your customers will end up moving on. The key component of a successful e-commerce website is to make it as simple and as quick as possible for a customer to find what they want and complete their order. Here are a few design tips for creating an effective e-commerce website:
Keep product pages clean
It’s a difficult balance making a store simple and clean – Apple provides a good example of this – but also memorable and unique. You don’t want your site to be overcrowded. Question the benefit of every graphic and detail: each should have a clear purpose. There should be as little distraction from the product as possible. Text should be informative but concise: your customers should be able to skim the page and have a good idea of the product.
Make sure you have a lot of high quality photos. E-commerce is all about visuals and your photos are all your potential customers get to see of the product before they buy. The way you display the photos should be engaging but uncluttered.
Make the search bar and the shopping cart the focus
The search bar and shopping cart should be the focus of the website, in easy reach at all times. It is important to incorporate both while still keeping the website looking clean. Keeping the search bar at the top centre of the page reminds users of the potential to look at other products, encouraging them to stay on the site for longer.
Customers don’t want to be taken to the cart as soon as they add an item but also want to be able to see what they have added. The customers should be able to peek at what they’ve added to the cart without leaving the product page they are on. The basket should be visible without obstructing from the products.
A good menu is important
Fly out and drop down menus are a good way to make it easy for users to access all parts of the website while keeping the pages looking tidy. The menus should be simple, compact and make the site easier to navigate.
Let customers refine and change their options easily
Filtering options saves a lot of time and effort for your customers. This is particularly true with clothes and sizing; no one wants to spend their time looking at a great dress just to find out that it won’t fit. Make it easy for customers to change their choices, they should be able to remove and switch selections without having to click the ‘back’ button multiple times. This is tedious and will discourage them from exploring the site more.
Incorporate Social Media
Your social media links should be somewhere that doesn’t dominate the page but which is also easily visible. It will encourage customers to follow your accounts and return to your page again, and possibly share your products on their own social accounts. Pinterest is a good tool to consider, with one click customers can share a photo of your product to thousands of other pinners, attracting business.
Eliminate check out distractions
You want the check out to be as easy as possible for customers. Remove anything that might distract from the process of payment, don’t include any promotions or other products. Make sure each step of the check out process is clear, allow customers to see their progress and easily go back if they need to make changes to details along the way.
llicit Web Design understands the importance of building an e-store that’s flexible, easy to use and secure. To find out more about how we can help you develop your e-commerce website, contact us. We’re always happy to help.