Setting up an eCommerce website is not so difficult these days. with the increase in the usage of eCommerce open sources like OpenCart and Magento, an eCommerce web designer can launch an eCommerce website in less than a week (with basic eCommerce features at least).
However, the real challenge lies in getting maximum revenue from an eCommerce website by making it user-friendly. For the success of any e-commerce website, its usability plays an important role. In this blog post, we will share 10 great tips to make your website sellable by making it user-friendly.
Tip #1: Easy Navigation
It is likely for an eCommerce website to have several categories, sub-categories, and products which may leave a huge scope for the users to lose control over the website.
Easy navigation will help the users to stay in control and help them to search for their desired products. In other words, the navigation of an e-commerce website should be able to show clear gateways to its users.
Top #2: Prominent Search Bar
Users don’t want to spend time visiting several pages to find their desired product, therefore having a prominent search bar on an eCommerce website will enable them to make a search and find their desired product(s) in just a couple of clicks.
Amazon is a great example of such a great website that has utilized a search bar effectively needless to mention that Amazon has the highest conversion rate than any other major eCommerce platform.
Ask your website maker to add an intuitive & robust search bar to your online store to make it easier for users to search, find, & buy their desired products.
Tip #3: Clear Pricing
Users hate to see surprises on an eCommerce website especially when it comes to the pricing. Hence, every business must make sure that their eCommerce website has clear pricing, in other words, there should be a clear indication of any additional charges if any for eg. shipping charges, packing charges, or any other special taxes which the users may not be aware of before reaching the final checkout page.
Tip #4: High-resolution images
As we all know the old saying which goes like this ‘An image portrays thousands of words, the same applies to an eCommerce website as well. We can’t simply expect users to pay for the products from our website unless we show them high-resolution images because the truth is, if people can’t see what they are thinking about buying from you, they aren’t going to buy it.
Tip #5: Add to Cart Button
For me, add-to-cart buttons are the lifeline of an e-commerce website. I have seen in many low-performing eCommerce websites that they would generally have light color or low-intensity add-to-cart buttons.
The overall objective of an eCommerce website is to get maximum sales and add to cart button is the first step towards it so while designing an eCommerce website, a web designer must make sure that the add to cart button stands out from all other elements of a cart page. This could be done by using bright or contrasting colors, using correct typography, and using appropriate space.
Tip #6: Using Breadcrumbs
As I already mentioned above it’s easy for a customer to lose sight of eCommerce websites that have a huge variety of categories and products. Therefore using breadcrumbs would be a great idea to let them know where exactly they are.
Breadcrumbs also help users to go back to the pages or sections from where they had clicked the link to come to the present page.
Tip #7: Offers & Promotions
Let’s not ignore the fact that every one of us likes to see promotional banners and offers. So, never shy to include offers on your homepage which will help you not only to encourage the users to stay on your website but also to increase the sales on your eCommerce website.
Another important tip for using offers & promotions on your website is to include a sense of urgency with them so that the users do not postpone their decision of availing the offer & buying the products from your website.
Tip #8: Security Assurance
Having security elements on your website encourages users to buy the products by revealing their secret payment details on your website.
Having the whole checkout & payment process on a secured layer (HTTPS) boosts the level of confidence among users to enter their credit card or bank details for purchasing the products on your website.
Therefore, the security of an eCommerce store is another important factor that every professional eCommerce website builder should consider seriously.
Bonus Tip #1
Studies have proved that eCommerce websites that have a checkout process of more than a minute will generally have a higher abandonment rate because users may find it time-consuming to complete the checkout form, therefore, they may decide to quit your website in frustration. To avoid this situation, try to eliminate unnecessary form fields during the final checkout on your website.
Bonus Tip #2
Studies have proved that an e-commerce website that takes more than 5-7 seconds to download webpages has a higher bounce rate and higher abandonment rate because the users literally hate to wait especially when there are lots of options available to them.
You can check the loading speed of your website through tools like https://tools.pingdom.com and if you find your website pretty slow (taking more than 7 seconds to load), you must consult your web developer to fix this issue.