CREATING A USER-FRIENDLY E-COMMERCE WEBSITE
Today, the Internet has millions of online businesses selling products and services. To attract more customers, these online businesses are optimizing their websites to provide the best user-friendly shopping experience.
As an eCommerce store owner, you have to understand that a visitor has very little patience while shopping online. You’ve only got 15 seconds to grab a user’s attention.
Focus on these essential factors to make your website user-friendly and convert a visitor into a lead.
Responsive website design
According to statista.com, worldwide mobile users will reach 4.07 billion. This implies that most of your targeted audience will be viewing your website on a smartphone. So, make your website responsive. By not creating a responsive website which adjusts itself as per screen sizes, you are doing more harm than good for your business.
Loading time
A study says that nobody spends more than 3 seconds for your website to load. If your website takes too much time to load, sorry buddy, you’ll see a deep dent in your sales.
Google considers website loading speed as one of the important factors in search ranking. Tools like GTmetrix, test site with Google and Pingdom are very helpful in testing your website speed. And they even give a way to decrease loading speed.
Latest products
People love new trends. So, showcase the hot trends and your best selling products. Steve Jobs once said, “A lot of times, people don’t know what they want until you show them.” So don’t make them go hunting for products, instead, just give it to them.
Live Chat
American Marketing Association says “businesses that used live chat on the website had increased sales by 20%.” While shopping on your site, customers will have questions. Providing an easy live chat button will help them clarify their doubts while they are on the website. Live chat also improves customer loyalty. From a monetary point of view, it cuts your customer service cost.
Deal and offers
Who wouldn’t like cash backs and special offers? Bill Gates? But I guess he would not either.
Deals and offers are the best baiting techniques, but still valid for sales. So, highlight your offers and deals with beautiful images and colours, and do not do it in dead red colours.
Enticing product images
The very first thing a user sees after coming to your website is your product images. Images capture most of the user’s attention. Add clean, rich and enticing product images. Allow the user to view images in a zoomed view as well. Product videos are very helpful too. But make sure that they don’t slow down your website loading time.
Clear product description
People really get annoyed when they don’t understand twisted product descriptions. Write simple and rich product descriptions that help customers understand product features, deals and offers, and terms and conditions. Take a look at Amazon, which is a pro at writing product descriptions.
Customer reviews
A recent e-commerce customer behaviour survey says that user reviews are one of the strong influencers in customer purchasing. A customer refers to 8 reviews, both negative and positive, before purchasing a product. So, user generated content (reviews) are very important triggers in purchasing. Learn more about how to use negative reviews for your business growth.
Easy check out process
How many times had you left shopping on an e-commerce site? What was the reason?
How many times have you left shopping on an e-commerce site? What was the reason? A difficult checkout process? We need to understand that people today are busier than ever. Your customers won’t like spending hours on your site. If you don’t provide an express check-out process, they are going to leave your site right away. And they won’t come back again.
Though you might want to show them the benefits they get from buying a product, don’t increase the steps involved at check-out. Provide a guest check-out process and ask them to sign up in the end.
Secured payment gateways
Don’t say your credit or debit card can’t be accepted at the end of the payment process. This frustrates customers. Mention all the details that are required for a smooth payment process. Show secured payment option on the payment page. This earns customers’ trust. After all, it is all about money and trust in the end.
Shipping and Return policy
A survey in the Journal of Marketing found that free and fast shipping of goods increased purchases by over 57%. After liking a product, customers look for the best delivery options. Though a small shipping fee is okay, free deliveries definitely increase customers’ love for you.
Although, most of the times you deliver the best product as shown on your website, satisfying customers a 100% is a high target. And, a smart online buyer will look for a better return policy before making purchases. So, state your return policy clearly and keep it visible for customers wherever necessary. Return policy helps in gaining the customer’s trust.
Search button
Add a search button on your website. This helps customers in findingtheirfavourite products with a single search button. Tag products with effective keywords that a user may use to find a particular product.
Social media
It goes without saying that social media is a must for any business. Especially for businesses like e-commerce,being active on social media is essential. People want to know how active you are on social media, the number of followers you have, the posts you share, etc.
People would love sharing their purchases on social media. Even if they don’t make a purchase, they might share your newest collection. So, provide social media buttons (whichever social media sites that your target audience is likely to engage on) wherever necessary on your website.
Contact info
Whatever may be the concern, make it easy for your customers to contact you via email or phone. Add location maps if you have a physical store so that people could walk in. You could also add a list of locations if you have multiple stores.
Final thoughts
These 14 essential factors shall make your e-commerce site user-friendly. But don’t implement them on a full scale without testing it with customers. Plan, execute and optimize for better results.
Good Luck!
