8 Killer Web Design Tips for Your E-Commerce Website
Noticing a lot of competition for your E-Commerce website? Follow These Killer Web Design Tips to up your competitive edge.
The growth of e-commerce in the past couple of years has been completely off the charts, and its meticulous rise has smashed estimates, left, right and center.
It has completely changed the shopping experience for many, and increasingly more people prefer to shop on the internet, rather than the cumbersome process of mall-hopping.
With an extensive array of options available at just a solitary swipe on your smartphone, the entire effortlessness of the experience has made shopping online, the way-to-go for many shoppers. And it not just fast-moving consumer goods, that people are buying online — it’s everything from expensive jewelry to cars. Just about everything is available on the internet for consumers to choose from complete with an extensive array of options.
The e-commerce market may be dominated by a few sharks (Amazon, Alibaba, Target, eBay, Taobao, Flipkart) but there is still enough to go around for even the small fish in the expansive ocean of online shopping.
If you’re an entrepreneur who wishes to begin an e-commerce business or improve his existing business, your e-commerce website is the perfect place to begin.
There are a lot of very effective tips that you can take into consideration to improve your e-commerce website’s design, the best way you possibly wan. Here are 8 killer Web design tips for your e-commerce website.
1. KISS (Keep It Simple, Silly!)
Simplicity is at the core of some of the greatest things and experiences in life and the same applies to great e-commerce web designs.
You are always encouraged to do your best to improve the visual appeal of the design, but you should never make the fatal mistake of going overboard with it by making it too flashy for comfort.
Keep the banner ads and pop-ups in check and also subtle with the colors, if you want to convert your visitors into your customers. Design your website with an unwavering focus on your goal of compelling visitors into turning into consumers and keep the flash, razmataz and all the needless distractions to a minimum.
2. Prioritize Branding
When it comes to online shopping, brands do matter!
Often times there’s a disconnect between brand and website, but in terms of web design tips for eCommerce — you should focus on building a solid brand with the best of your ability. People are more inclined to buy from popular and established brands as the universal myth of ‘branded is better’ continues to remain the driving force behind their preferences and purchasing habits.
Whether people are wrong or not with their beliefs is a story for another day, but you, it is imperative to build a brand which has a distinct identity from the rest of your competitors in the market.
For this, you will need to sit down with your branding team and brainstorm till you have a definite idea of who you are as a brand, what do you offer, how are different from the others, what is your USP.? The answers to these questions are integral as they will bring forth certain insights which can be infused into the design of your website for much better chances of success as an e-commerce business.
3. Make Navigation Easy
Make life easy for your customers by making the navigation of your site easy and they may end up making life easier for you in return, by converting their visits more often into sales. Especially if your scale of operations is on the larger side, you need to put extra efforts into ensuring the ease of access to different categories.
A great example of a large site making use of flyout, dropline, and dropdown menus to keep the navigation easy is WayFair. You should try to use Breadcrumbs as it has proven effective for many website users to make the navigation of their sites very easy.
The ease of navigation from your homepage to the payment page is likely to have the most impact on your ability to convert visitors into sales, and that is one area that you should focus more than the others when it comes to website design.
4. Make it visually appealing
A great e-commerce site needs to be eye-catching and aesthetically pleasing. Great web design entails the best possible combined use of the colors, fonts, and graphics to make the experience as visually pleasing for the visitors as possible, which will entice them to return more often to your site and also compel them to react favorably to the many Calls-to-action on your website page.
Your website should be visually pleasing along with being optimized efficiently for sales and that entails making the purchasing process as seamless as possible
5. Make it a point to include reviews
More than the majority of the people who shop online (61%) are reading reviews and testimonials before making their final decision.
Hence, it is no surprise that products with higher positive feedback do well the others. You should design your website in such a way that it can facilitate reviews and aggregate ratings of different products on your website.
6. Make use of high-quality images
There’s no denying that if your web design can hold the attention of the visitor then there are higher chances of the conversion of said visitor to a purchaser.
There’s also you can do to make your e-commerce site visually appealing but always carries a risk of going overboard and appearing a little flashier than comfort.
To avoid going over-the-top and still ensuring that your e-commerce site remains eye-catching, you can resort to the use of high-quality images. People often need a visual representation of a product before they buy it and you need to only use the highest-quality images which are going to entice your customers into making the purchase.
Pictures from professional sources of the products enlisted by you and preferably from various angles are the best bet going forward as it does a world of good to the potential customers’ confidence in the product. Different angles also convince the visitor that nothing is being hidden, that the product is fine along-with being genuine.
7. Make stock numbers visible
Image Source: Apps.Shopify
One of the best ways of increasing sales quickly is by making it clear your website the reserves of which particular product are fast getting depleted.
When visitors see the tag of ‘Stock running out’ or ‘Limited Stock’ next to a product it intrigues them and makes them wonder just why exactly has it been selling like hotcakes and that’s enough for many to make the purchase.
No one wants to be left out which is a trait among shoppers known as FOMO (Fear of Missing Out). You should always monitor stock numbers and make it visible to all on your website.
A product selling more is likely to be perceived of being of a better quality than the others by most shoppers and this can be used to your benefit by making depleting stock numbers prevalent on the website, which creates a scarcity and an air of exclusivity around the product, which drives more consumer interest towards that product.
8. Make honesty the best policy
Honesty is the best policy as told to us by the many moral compasses of mankind, and though it may or may not be the best policy for everyone in every situation, it should be the most preferred for you as an e-commerce website owner.
You should be honest at all times with your visitors and not try to sell more by hiding crucial information about a product or resorting to other shady ways. The prices should be reflected just how they are without any underlying trickery or catch and the same should extend to shipping and return policies. Being honest is the best way to foster trust in your customer base, which will surely help you in the long-run through the continued loyalty of your customer base and all the repeat business that will further come from them.
Conclusion
Having a perfectly designed e-commerce site is integral for the success of your business. It proves very effective in building a solid brand, connect on a deeper level with existing customers along with attracting new potential customers.
You may have a solid business model along with great products and services, but you won’t be able to generate the revenues that you aim for, without the help of an immaculately designed website which promises amazing user experience to the visitors.
Running an e-commerce business is pretty challenging and it gets very tricky when you have to design your website, which is going to be the way how your business is perceived by the masses.
There’s so much to do, and there’s so much you can do, but there’s no guarantee that it always will be effective even when you are putting your best foot forward. So, make the full of use of the aforementioned tips, (if you haven’t done so already) and give your web design the much-needed change that it deserves.
