Get Products Off Your Virtual Shelves With The Right E-Commerce Web Design

From the way we get our news to the way we network, many elements are steadily moving online. Shopping is no exception. The e-commerce industry and the Internet have significantly changed the way people across the globe research and shop for the products and services they need. Today, online shopping has become a common practice among millions of people. If you are planning to start an online business, creating a good e-commerce web design is more important than ever before.

Business owners who wish to capitalize on this multibillion-dollar industry are adding new services and features to meet the needs of online shoppers. For example, they implement systems that offer the same comfort and support that people typically get during an in-person shopping experience. In fact, shopping online is becoming increasingly like shopping in person!

Good e-commerce web design should utilize the right mix of graphics, content, images, fonts, and colors to convince visitors to make a purchase. Your website design should attract potential customers, deliver stellar user experiences, and present your business in the best light. Below are several e-commerce web design elements that can help take your retail store to the next level:

Responsive E-Commerce Web Design

It is official news that mobile devices have surpassed desktop computer as the most popular way to surf the Internet. If you want to attract potential customers who usually shop via their smartphones or tablets, you need to ensure that your retail website design is fully responsive. Otherwise you might not convince visitors that your online store is where they want to make a purchase. If a website design is responsive, it means that certain page elements will automatically reshuffle based on the orientation and screen size of the device.

Easy-to-Use Checkout Features

Nothing kills a sale faster than a clunky product page. While that is true, an awkward checkout process also has the same effect. If the checking out via your online retail store is tedious, chances are you will lose customers. Online shoppers may abandon their carts and head to another competitor if they start to get confused. If you want shoppers to buy from you, find ways to make the purchasing process as pain-free and straightforward as possible.

For starters, you can make the checkout page design easy to navigate, simple, and clean. Provide potential customers the option to check out as a guest or become a member for increased convenience and access to special offers. In addition, try to make everything about the process crystal clear by showcasing all of the available shipping methods, explaining what information is needed and where customers can enter it, and finally what to do in case customers encounter an issue with their order (e.g., returning a product).

Once customers complete a purchase, it is a good practice to direct them to a confirmation page, so they know everything successfully went through.

Good Website Navigation

If retail store visitors must click around eight to 10 different pages before finding the products or services they are looking for, they may become frustrated and leave the website. In other words, they may seek a competitor’s site that requires fewer steps to complete a purchase. In addition to making product pages and categories easy to navigate, ensure that visitors can filter products or search for products by type, size, function, and color. The easier you make your website pages to navigate, the easier it will be for customers to search what they are looking for and place an order!

Reviews and Testimonials are Important E-Commerce Web Design Elements

Because customers do not have physical access to your product, it can be difficult for them to determine the product’s quality and reliability. After all, they are only viewing the product through a screen. When you are designing your e-commerce website, show potential customers the positive feedback you have received from existing clients. For example, a testimonial section can be added to feature customer photos with quotes on their positive experiences while working with you. In addition, a ratings section can be featured to showcase the many 5-star reviews that you have earned so far. By showing visitors and potential customers that you run a trustworthy business, your conversions will go up as a result.

Proper Content Structure

You can spend days or a week crafting a 5000-word product page on your e-commerce site, but it is important to note that not every visitor has the time or mood to read it in its entirety. Studies have shown that many website visitors only read less than a quarter of the text on any given web page. That is why breaking down the wall of text is important. By making your content easy to scan and getting the point across in a concise manner, you can drive sales in the process.

When it comes to breaking up your content, it means using bulleted lists to shorten large blocks of texts, using bold text to highlight key information or call to actions, and keeping paragraphs and sentences short. While it is important to keep your content shorter, you should still publish relevant, high-quality content. Optimize your headlines and HTML tags (e.g., headers, metas, and H1 titles) so that the website maintains a high level of trustworthiness, authoritativeness, and expertise. These on-page SEO best practices are essential for enhancing your site’s ranking on SERPs (search engine results pages) and ability to attract organic traffic.

High-Quality Product Images

Product images can help increase conversions in the world of web design and e-commerce. No one has the confidence to purchase a product they cannot see. If you want visitors to purchase your products, show them what they are buying through high-quality product images. If possible, it is a good idea to invest in professional photography services. Showing products from different angles goes a long way in building trust and confidence in one’s customers. If these individuals feel confident about what they are buying, the deal is likely to happen.

Sometimes Less is More When it Comes to E-Commerce Web Design

If you experience doubt during the e-commerce web design process, just keep things simple first. You can always add to your design when certain ideas prove to be valuable to your online marketing goals. Remember that the main goal of having an e-commerce store is to close a sale. You do not want to distract your target audience through the excessive use of annoying pop-ups and banner ads. Keep it simple – you do not always need a ton of bells and whistles on your online retail store.

If you want an e-commerce web design that connects with your target audience, start thinking like them! When your team can anticipate what visitors want from the e-commerce store, the site can be effectively designed to meet those needs. In most cases, potential customers want a pleasant e-commerce experience – a website that is well-designed, easy to navigate, and has a straightforward checkout process. At SmartSites, we understand that e-commerce web design and development can be tricky, and that is why we are here to assist businesses like yours. If you want to design an online retail site that looks amazing and converts like crazy, give us a call today!