An ecommerce website is designed to attract customers, offer a seamless user experience, and provide an easy online shopping process. More than the usual business website focused on static content, your ecommerce website needs to captivate your target market for effective business conversion and increased profitability.
Think of your website as an extension of your brand. It needs to give a great first impression by creating a smooth customer experience from the time the site first loads to the check-out page. In addition, the graphics, videos, and other content should be consistent with your branding and messaging.
If your goal is to create and publish a professional website with sophisticated e-commerce features, it’s better to outsource this service to a highly-rated web design agency in the Philippines. With their years of experience in the field, these professional web designers would have the expertise and creativity to execute your vision.
Throughout the web design process though, you should look out for these six best practices for designing an ecommerce website. Make sure that whoever is creating your website observes these protocols.
Post High-Definition Product Images on Your Homepage
In most cases, your website is your introduction to potential customers. You need to create a powerful first impression to get their attention and get them intrigued about your brand and your value proposition. One of the best ways to achieve this is through visual presentation via high-definition product images. Whether you’re featuring one primary product on your homepage or a carousel user interface with multiple products, the most important point is to ensure that the images are vibrant and crisp.
It is a good idea for you to invest in the services of a professional photographer, especially if your product relies heavily on customer perception, such as food or clothes.
Consider a Preview Function
You can improve your visual merchandising even further with a “preview” option. This feature allows customers to quickly view multiple product images in a larger format without leaving the results or category page. With this useful tool, the customer experience is not disrupted by having to open new tabs and windows. They can simply pick the products they are interested in from the multiple previews.
Keep in mind that site speed plays a crucial role in customer conversion — the faster your customer can navigate around pages, the more likely they’ll patronize your business. Offering a preview function helps reduce any site speed challenges and makes the selection process easier.
Create Clearly Defined Categories
Your ecommerce website should have a logical structure that allows customers to easily switch through tabs and find the items they are looking for. For this, you need to organize all your products and create descriptive categories and subcategories to define your different product lines.
Coordinate with your web design agency to organize your categories. Having too narrow categories can give the wrong impression that your business offers a limited variety of items, whereas having too many categories may overwhelm and frustrate your audience.
Display Product Reviews, As You Receive Them
Shoppers rely on social proof before purchasing any product. These are reviews and testimonials that are prominently featured on websites to assure potential customers that the product or service you offer is legitimate and of high quality. There are a variety of ways to display verified product reviews— from linking your social media sites to offering a numerical rating next to each product. Whatever you decide on, consider a style that matches your company branding.
In line with this, you should also consider creating a standardized product review form that customers have the option to fill out after receiving their items. Not only will this simplify the review process, but it also creates a consistent way to check for item quality.
Limit Form Fields During Checkout
Now that you’ve enticed your customer to add items to their cart, you should make sure that it’s easy for them to check them out. Limit your form fields to include only essential information, such as delivery and payment options. While it would be ideal to have the customer registered to your website, it may disrupt the checkout transaction. As such, it’s recommended that you leave forms for account creation or loyalty program subscription for the next page or until after the checkout transaction is done.
One of the recommended best practices for this situation would be to ask the customer to create an account a few days after receiving their order. If they are happy with their purchase, they are more likely to complete account registration and sign-up.
Offer Multiple Payment Options
Some customers prefer paying through credit card, while others prefer cash on delivery or direct bank transfer. You should be cognizant of all these options, offering them a variety of options during checkout. Some merchants may prefer giving customers their bank account details separately in a confirmation e-mail, but it’s recommended that your ecommerce website already provides direct transfer through partner websites. This way, your customer doesn’t have to open a new tab or go through an extra process just to pay you.
This list is not exhaustive, but it should give you a general idea of what to look for when designing your ecommerce website. Remember that convenience is always key, and your customer’s experience should be the highest priority. When building your website, you should always think about what your customer would think and experience as they browse through your online store. Your goal is for them to feel assured and satisfied from start to finish.
Are you ready to create your ecommerce website? Contact SearchWorks.PH to learn about our web design services. Our professional web designers are more than happy to work with you on your ecommerce website project.
