It is imperative that you take excellent e-commerce web design into consideration, especially if you want to keep on turning as many website visitors into customers as possible.
However, web design (in general) is more than just having a visually-pleasing site. It should help your site visitors finish their tasks as quickly as possible. On the other hand, it should also enable to encourage visitors to take your desired action.
That said, we have listed down eight design tips that can let you attract and retain visitors on your e-commerce site:
1. Keep it simple and clean
Humans, as a whole, avert clutter. Mind you, our average attention span is eight seconds.
So if you clutter your online store with tons of elements, it can distract your potential customers into doing what they want to do ‒ which is to look for a product and buy it.
Worse, they will hit the back button as soon as they land on your online store. And this could have a negative impact on your e-commerce site’s search engine optimization (SEO) efforts. This can also lead to poor revenue for your business.
Hence, it is important to keep your e-commerce web design clean and simple.
Always ask yourself whether a particular design element can improve or hinder your customers from doing what they should do. If it is the latter, better not add it.
2. Leverage the use of cart icon
One of the common characteristics of all e-commerce platforms is the online cart. In fact, you can see it prominently on every page of an online store.
So, how can you use the cart icon to engage your site visitors?
One, make sure that the cart icon is visible (but not distracting) at all times. Use a recognizable icon and use a contrasting color so that it stands out. Most importantly, it should be larger than the other icons and buttons on your site.
Doing so prevents your potential customers from being confused.
3. Write a compelling product description
According to Syed Balkhi, making your site visitors click on your headline is one thing. However, it is no use if the title does not match the content.
If you want to keep your site visitors engaged, as well as encourage them to buy, make sure that your headline and content are matching and compelling.
As far as e-commerce copywriting is concerned, you might need to practice the following:
- Use words that entice the senses
- Make it simple
- Be specific
- Use your target customers’ language
- Convey the benefits
When it comes to your product description, it is best to talk about your products’ benefits.
Instead of saying that your bag is large with its length, width, and height, you might want to explain how can it solve your buyer’s problems. Perhaps you can say that your bag can fit 50 pieces of clothes, and can still fit in any airlines’ overhead cabin.
4. Produce a readable content
This might sound counterproductive, but having a blog on your e-commerce site can be helpful in making your visitors stay longer.
For one, it allows you to showcase your expertise. Second, long-form content is a great way to incorporate your target keywords. Not to mention that this is another avenue where you can promote your products.
However, not every site visitor would read your blog posts word-for-word. Hence, you should make it scannable.
Here’s how:
- Focus on one topic
- Use sub-headers
- Break your paragraphs (three sentences per paragraph at most)
- Talk about one ide per sub-header
- Add multi-media content where needed
But the most important tip of all is to always add a call-to-action. That way, your site visitors would know what to do next after reading your post.
5. Make sure navigation is clear
Your e-commerce website’s navigation serves as a map to your customers. Plus, this also allows them to instantly figure out what products do you sell.
In relation to this, Marc Schenker shared some tips on how you can make a clear navigation menu:
- Do not hide your navigation menu
- Use easy-to-understand labels
- Place your navigation somewhere conventional
The key here is to make a navigation menu that will make it easy for your site visitors to find what they want.
However, there are no hard and fast rules on how to make clean and usable navigation. What we suggest is to make something functional, and then conduct an A/B test to see if it delivers your desired result.
6. Make it a mobile-friendly site
According to statistics shared by OuterBox, 79% of smartphone users made an online purchase using their devices within the last six months.
That said, it is important to make sure that your online store is also mobile-friendly. Doing so prevents your site visitors from encountering any usability issues.
Here are some quick tips:
- Make sure that your text is legible
- Provide enough white space between important touch points
- Make sure that a single block of content will fit the screen
Also, keep in mind that mobile data are inherently slow. So make sure that your online store has fast page load speed ‒ especially on mobile.
7. Proper placement of CTA
As mentioned earlier, calls-to-action informs your site visitors on what to do next. However, it will still be ineffective if you do not know where to place it.
According to Tracey Wallace, one of the best places to add a CTA button is above the fold. That way, there is no need for your potential buyers to scroll down just to take action.
In addition, you should not place too many CTA buttons in one area. Doing so will just make your customers confused. As much as possible, limit your CTA to two buttons only.
8. Update your site regularly
Of course, it is important that you update your online store regularly.
And by “update” we mean informing your potential customers whether an item is out of stock or still available. This is also imperative if you are running a promo or you just launched a new collection.
Making regular updates is one way to make your online visitors excited to check your business.
Do you know other e-commerce website design tips that can engage an online customer longer? We would like to hear your thoughts in the comments!
Digital Web Services (DWS) is a leading IT company specializing in Software Development, Web Application Development, Website Designing, and Digital Marketing. Here are providing all kinds of services and solutions for the digital transformation of any business and website.
