Escalating your eCommerce business in 2021 is quite a herculean task. Aesthetic and functional presentation is the key. An effective eCommerce web design will play a crucial role in customer satisfaction and sales in today’s context. A vigorous design is one that does not make the user worry about design at all. In other words, he can smoothly buy, search and compare products without any hindrance. According to a study, 88% of visitors won’t come back to a website if they had a bad experience in web design, navigation, and images. But why is a web design such a matter of concern for businesses today? Why are they spending millions of dollars in developing a vigorous web design? Well, let’s find out.
Why do eCommerce Web Design matters?
In the online world, how a business presents its products to the user makes all the difference. A bad web design irritates the users, and they develop a bad feeling about the website. When a customer visits a store to buy a product, the web design should not even get in his way. He must be allowed to make his purchase smoothly with the least formalities; otherwise, he will leave the store searching for another to complete his purchase.
Good products/services when joining a lousy web design, get sidelined, resulting in empty carts and zero sales. Thus, no matter how well you have built your product, it does not matter if you don’t have a vigorous web design to back it.
Tips to Create a vigorous Web Design
1. Users should be the top priority while building a Web Design
You never know which fragment of your design can assist the user in making his buying design, which is why you must develop all of them by keeping users in mind. Images, text, videos, contact forms, checkout pages, and cart presentation all influence a consumer’s decision to buy a product. You don’t want a user to sail through to your website’s checkout page, and then a technical glitch draws him away from your website. So, keep your target audience in mind while building a web design.
2. SSL security is a must to protect Consumer Data
An SSL or Secure Socket Layer Certificate is a security protocol deployed to secure a website from outside threats posed by cybercriminals. SSL performs handshake, symmetric and asymmetric functions, which involves generating public, private, and session keys that ensure a smooth flow of information between two computers.
Why do we need SSL?
Every day hundreds of sensitive information like passwords, IDs, credit/debit cards, and bank details are exchanged between people. Information, when sent, passes through various computers to reach its intended receiver. If it gets passed over an unsecured network, any computer can easily see the decrypted information and use it to its advantage. An SSL certificate encrypts the data transfer and sends it over a secure network where no user except the intended receiver can access it. However, single-domain SSL certificates won’t do the job for all your first-level subdomains. For that, you need Wildcard SSL certificates.
Wildcard SSL protects all first-level subdomains along with the chosen primary domain. They are cheap and have a single dashboard to manage all your domains in one place. If you are looking to expand your business soon, then you must invest in a wildcard SSL.
3. Choose minimalistic Web Designs
Websites with intricate web designs deviate users from their goals, leaving them undecided on what to do. Websites try to show as much information as possible on their homepage, thinking that would induce users to buy all their offerings. But that never happens. Confused users bounce back in search of a simple website from which they can make their purchase. Thus, always invest in a minimalistic design with a clearly defined CTA that does not have unnecessary links, images, and videos to baffle the user.
4. Remember to build in a “View Cart” button
eCommerce giants had claimed that their sales hyped when they first introduced a “View Cart” button that allows users to save their items and view them later. View cart is an integral part of the eCommerce Web Development strategy. Here are a few things you need to keep in mind while adding a view cart button.
- Always add the button on the top right corner.
- The button should highlight itself over the website theme.
- The button should be more significant than other controls.
- The view cart option should have a simple interface.
5. Don’t force users to take Secondary Actions
If you want to include a blog section or a newsletter signup section to improve traction and build brand engagement, it is fine but don’t go overboard. Your eCommerce store’s primary function is to help users search and buy their desired products; everything else is secondary. You don’t want to pose distractions by popping up an unnecessary newsletter sign up form or a blog subscription form. If a user is interested, he automatically scrolls to the bottom of your website and fills the form. You do not need to force him to take any action.
6. Include high-resolution images
The only drawback that a user has is that he cannot try a product or see it in person, like in an offline store. You need to fill that void with high-resolution images in your eCommerce store that give them a festive feel about the product. Instead of using models to wear your stuff, try showing ordinary people in action wearing the same product. Users get a better idea of a product when they see someone using it casually instead of a model made to look classy.
7. Have a Smooth after-sales Service Policy
You cannot call it a job done in the online world after a customer makes a purchase. You have to be at your toes at all times to ensure that he does not have any problem after using your product. An appropriate after-sales service policy includes easy returns, smooth replacements and speedy refunds. After-sales services act as a make-or-break factor in a store’s reputation. Customers expect businesses to be solution-oriented instead of profit-oriented entities. So, apart from how great your design looks to a customer, he should equally be satisfied with the quality of your service.
8. Be honest about your product Reviews and Testimonials
The product review section directly impacts your sales because 81% of users prefer to read a product’s review before buying a product. Consumers believe other consumers and reviews play a crucial role in their decision making. Some websites even fool users by adding fake reviews about their products; such websites never do well in the long term because customers understand their bad intentions upon using the product. So, always allow the space for honesty to flourish by getting organic reviews on your websites.
9. Don’t forget to add a Navigation Menu
First-time visitors on your website have no idea about what you have in store for them, so the navigation menu helps a ton. eCommerce stores cannot function without a navigation menu as users cannot scroll down for hours to reach their product. A navigation menu makes the search easier for visitors and adds suggestions in the dropdown list to help them search for authentic products even further. Also, add a navigation menu on the top right corner as that is the most appropriate place to add it.
10. Categorize your Products
Create specific product categories to make the purchase easier for users. Mention all product categories in the menu bar and add a dropdown menu for each type. Users can select a specific category based on their preferences and will land on a page consisting of all the products in that category. The best part about this type of product arrangement is that users might buy several other products related to the actual product. For example, if a user is willing to buy a T-shirt in the apparel category, he might see matching denim light wash jeans in the results and end up buying it along with the T-shirt.
11. Keep a Grid
Grid layouts are best for eCommerce stores as they allow plenty of designated space for each product’s showcasing. However, some websites do cram multiple products on one page, which is a bad UX/UI design. Customers need space to breathe and differentiate between multiple products in a category, which is why you must allow white spacing after every product. There should be a clear distinction between products with their detailed short descriptions added underneath.
To Conclude
The eCommerce industry is an ever-growing one. Given that new players are coming into the fight for a limited number of customers, the room for new marketing methods is immense. But, if you follow these tips on eCommerce website building, you can surely beat the competition that lies ahead of you. So, create a vigorous eCommerce website for your visitors and stand out from your competition by using these 11 tricks.
