Clunky layouts, dreary aesthetics and a confusing user experience can ruin the online shopping experience. Understanding how to effectively design your ecommerce site can go a long way in building your clientele, increasing loyalty and driving sales. The tips below are top-level concepts that should be employed in all phases of store design – so whether you are starting from scratch, re-launching with a fresh UI or making small tweaks to a layout that is performing well, it is critical to keep these 5 ideas top of mind.
- Make your site easy to navigate. Not every person that visits your site will be on the same level of web literacy, or able to view from the same type of equipment. Try and keep your pages simple; overloaded web pages can be intimidating or even distracting to consumers. It is fine to include supplements to your page’s primary mission, but be wary of how prominent you make these in your design. Along the same lines, make your site name and logo a bold, noticeable part of your design. No one needs to be left guessing what site they have stumbled upon.
- Know your audience. If your ecommerce site is geared toward the elderly, know better than to implement frivolous and color-happy backgrounds and images. Design choices should revolve around who you want to view your site, catering to your core demographics and buying audience. This type of marketing should be apparent and consistent throughout your site.
- User interactivity. Allow customer reviews and comments, which add a certain degree of trust between customers and your business. The social interactivity may even serve as a potential source of sales/advertising. You may also want to look into security badges that are often incorporated into a web page to verify a site’s security when dealing with sensitive credit card information that is incredibly valuable to a customer.
- Pay attention to what’s working. Your first site design should not be your last. Getting a firm grasp on what design choices work best for your business is important in maintaining healthy branding and, of course, sales rates. Don’t be afraid to interact with your customers when able; their design input is ultimately what matters to your business model and, thusly, your bottom line.
- Let your users search. This is an important feature to have included in your ecommerce site. Search boxes are standard on all sites, business-related or not. Your customer will at one point or another go looking for this particular tool, and if they do not see it, that hinders not only your credibility but your site’s grade as a user-friendly market.
This post was provided by the marketing team at Vendio. For more information on how to start an online store and the steps you need to take to begin selling online, visit Vendio.com today.
