Long gone are those days when mere SEO and paid advertisements were the key to conversions and higher sales. The 21st-century customer is smarter, more well-informed, and has a trove of information at his fingertips to make the right choice. Dealing with today’s customer is not only a challenge but quite an eye-opening experience with a lot to learn from.
Your website may have great content, cool images, and engaging videos, but it’s simply useless if a potential customer can’t find what he’s looking for. Remember, with the information overload of the 21st century, users have developed very short attention spans, where they want to see what they are looking for as quickly as possible. Websites nowadays depend greatly on eCommerce UI designing, simultaneously trying to streamline the UX or user experience as much as possible.
Now you might say, “Hey, I’ve got a great website and a product that customers would empty their wallets for. I don’t need to waste time in UI/UX brainstorming.”, and that’s where you lose the plot and fall into the abyss of Internet ignorance. Remember, you have to assume that your competitor is smarter and is willing to invest more in his online presence to kick you off the online podium. So you need to gear up, make smart decisions, and focus on your website, as if your life depends on it!
This is where your decision to hire a dedicated designer makes perfect business sense. eCommerce UI designing is the way towards increased conversions, higher user retention, and turns your website into a darling of the search engines. Times have changed, trends have evolved, and so has consumer behavior. eCommerce UI designing is the best way to attract new customers and create a user-friendly UX ecosystem that’s worthy of ‘word of mouth’ advertising.
eCommerce is no longer a mere market trend, but in recent years has taken the face of a revolution that has turned global shopping trends on their heads. British author, Thomas Gray, once said, “Commerce changes the fate and genius of nations“, and that’s exactly what eCommerce is doing and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. The launch of eCommerce heavyweights, such as Walmart, Amazon, etc. have not only made billions of dollars for them but has also given an enormous boost to their country’s economy, i.e. the U.S.
A recent survey by Statista showed that for 2019, the physical product sale on eCommerce platforms amounted to $343.15 billion and it’s projected to rocket up to $476.5 billion by 2024.
Here are some eCommerce UI/UX fun facts.
- Every $1 invested in eCommerce UX designing results in an ROI of $2 to $100.
- Conversion rates can skyrocket by as much as 400% with the implementation of well-planned and researched eCommerce UI/UX strategies.
- A responsive (mobile optimized) website is likely to see a return of 74% of its users.
- 52% of online shoppers credit accelerated page loading for their loyalty to an eCommerce website.
Now, having practiced what I’ve preached so far, I can safely say that eCommerce UI designing is no walk in the part and takes a lot of patience and effort to achieve the best results. So, let’s get to the good part and explore the five best tips on eCommerce UI/UX designing.
1. Simple & Intuitive Navigation
All the content, multimedia, and bling on your website means nothing if a user doesn’t know what to do on your website. Your website’s navigation will ensure how long a user stays there and whether it leads to a purchase or not. A hired dedicated designer knows the importance of simplicity and being intuitive when it comes to eCommerce UI designing.
Website navigation does not need a ‘reinvent the wheel’ approach, but a deep understanding of user navigation behavior. The simpler your website’s navigation is, the easier it will be for a potential customer to look around. Don’t go for extensive and long navigation paths.
Keep the interlinks short and pages should be linked closely to each other for ease of navigation. Here are a few tips on how to address your product page design.
- Remove clutter from your categories section. If your online store has numerous categories, try to limit them or bifurcate them by creating sub-categories. In the case of sub-categories, make sure you build user-friendly navigation pathways between the two.
- Similar to copywriting, when naming the categories, remember to opt for words that your potential customers might search for, and not the words you think will work. (mind reading is a myth and you aren’t Professor X)
- As mentioned before, patience is key to an effective eCommerce UI/UX design. Do extensive testing on category navigation and ensure that it is as simple and intuitive as possible.
Focus on ‘Call to Action’
Perhaps one of the most important elements of an eCommerce website, Call to Action (CTA) buttons require your undivided attention. These are the buttons that work on the one shot – one kill principle, wherein if a user lands at a CTA that is not clearly defined, then you’ve just missed a sale. The user will not be coming back to your website, because your site navigation either bored him or simply confused him.
- Make sure your CTA buttons are well positioned, easy to read, and contain direct words, such as ‘Buy Now’, ‘Order Now’, ‘Add to Cart’, ‘Shop Now’, etc.
- Your site navigation should always lead the user to a CTA section, thus increasing conversion chances.
- A well-designed and placed CTA plan will greatly reinforce your conversion goals and boost your sales significantly.
3. Optimize Website Speed
A slow website is a dead website. Users, especially in the eCommerce domain prefer to shop at websites that offer lightning quick performance. Remember, a user neither has the time to wait for your page to load nor is he short of options to go to. Head over to the Google Page Speed Insights tool to see how to improve your website’s speed. Besides taking Google’s help, you can also try out steps to optimize your website’s speed.
Image Optimization
Minimize the CSS, HTML, and Javascript codes by removing the excess punctuations, such as commas, spaces, and notes. Try not to use heavy images. Resize the images and optimize them using correct image formats to reduce load time and increase page load time.
Right Hosting For No Ghosting
Choose the right hosting option for your website, keeping in mind the targeted geography. Conduct thorough research and then pick the best hosting service that offers VPS (virtual private servers) or dedicated servers. This will provide your website with ample space to operate in, thus providing a significant boost to the page load time.
File Compression
Compress the files at the backend, especially the CSS and HTML ones. These file types tend to have duplicated or repeated codes, which can make them heavy. Compressing the files not only makes them lighter but also directly increases your webpage’s load time.
Custom Search For Customers
A customer-centric search experience is something that you should look into. Not only does it help the customer in quick navigation of your store but it also offers a personalized experience that brings a great first impression.
Thanks to smartphones and tablets, online search has evolved leaps and bounds, while becoming a mainstay of the eCommerce customer experience. You can check out these two search variants that if implemented in your eCommerce UI/UX designing plan, can lead to an increased user base higher conversions.
Image Search
An eCommerce website is all about pictures. While the written content is important in terms of product descriptions, an image is what captures a user’s attention in the first place. The image brings the user to the product page and then he checks out the description, leading to decision making.
Implementing image recognition search in your website provides your users with a great search tool to find a product, they might not know the name of but definitely be interested in.
Voice Search
Take a page from the general Internet search pattern and the first thing you notice is the rise of voice search or voice activated search. From search engines to maps, voice search has fast become a trend that is quickly catching on in the world.
Implementing voice search features in your eCommerce website can be a great addition for your users and your conversion goals. Voice search in your eStore will not only save users a lot of time but also provide a unique and personalized experience.
5. No Bling On The Checkout Page
The checkout page is the final leg of the user journey on your website, with you being just one step away from making a sale.
This page is perhaps the most critical element of eCommerce UI designing and thus has to be as frictionless as possible. A clutter-free and well designed Checkout page can easily lead to higher conversion rates. Let’s look at some of the Do’s and Don’ts when designing the Checkout page.
Do’s
- Display only purchase relevant information on the page.
- Order summary should be displayed at every step of the checkout journey. This provides the users with a personalized touch and sense of control over the purchase process.
- Give users editing rights for the cart basket so they can add or remove product quantity, without having to leave the page.
Don’ts
- Do not use dark color schemes on the checkout page as they seed confusion and increase the chances of a user leaving the page without completing the transaction.
- Do not stuff the entire transaction process on a single page. Users become overwhelmed with the process and information overflow and are likely to leave the page.
- Try not to place any advertisements or recommended product links on the checkout page.
