E-commerce refers to electronic commerce. It is an online activity that involves buying and selling products and services to consumers. Whether you are buying tickets to a concert, a new dress from your favorite store, or a plane ticket to a new destination, you are participating in the ever-growing e-commerce industry. In this article, we’ll discuss best practices in e-commerce website design along with how to find the right local e-commerce development agency.
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Explaining E-Commerce Website Design
E-commerce website design is what we call the process of setting up a website whose main goal is to sell products online. While e-commerce web design is very straightforward in meaning, there are many factors to consider.
What to Strive For on Your E-Commerce Website
One of the most important things you need to consider is how your website appears to customers. While it is very nice to have a straightforward page that gets right to the point of what you are selling, you need to make the consumer feel connected and involved. When creating your company’s website design, you want it to reflect how you want your consumers to feel. You do not want to give them the impression of every other website. You want to remain creative and unique in order for them to continue coming back.
While you want your products to show the aesthetic of your store, you want your website to do the same. Since you are creating this website from scratch, you can have full creative control. If you want a colorful, vibrant energy on your site, you can design it that way. If you have a more eclectic aesthetic, then you would design your site the same way. There is never a wrong way to design your site, as long as it attracts the type of consumers you want to connect with.
What to Watch For in Web Design
We live in a digital age, where everyone has a smartphone, laptop, watch, or some sort of device at all times. Because of this, marketers need to ensure that their website designs can adapt to each of these devices. For example, when you are online shopping, you may alternate between shopping on your phone to your other devices. And you want to do so without losing what’s in your shopping cart. But if a site doesn’t have a responsive design, this isn’t possible. And oftentimes, a consumer will never return to a site once they have a negative experience with it.
What to Consider
At the start of your company’s website design journey, there are a few things to consider right off the bat.
Your Home Page
The first point of contact a consumer is going to have is your home page. The home page they see is going to determine if they proceed past it, or if they decide to leave and choose another site entirely. What they see on your homepage is what they will see and think of the company as a whole. If it is poorly put together, they may assume you also put in minimal effort when producing the products, solving customer problems, etc. If your homepage is attractive and pleasing to the eye, you are more likely to receive positive feedback and get more traffic on other pages as well. You do not want pictures crammed together, unappealing fonts, or words jumbled together with no clear layout. You do not want a user to be overwhelmed at first glance. Ideally, want them to feel calm, intrigued, and clearly understand where to go next.
Easy Navigation
As a consumer, we want to find exactly what we want as soon as possible. So, you must make sure your goals are aligned and laid out on the first page. An easy example would be if you are a clothing site. You’ll need to have the different sections of clothing or apparel laid out before your viewers so that they can effortlessly find what they hope to purchase.
Contact Information
In addition, you want to make sure that there is a way to contact you or someone on your team on your site. Whether that be by phone, email, or a contact form, there needs to be some sort of page or link that can get them in contact with your business.
Product Descriptions
Understanding how crucial product descriptions are in your product pages will be very important to your e-commerce website design as well. SEO is everywhere and involved with everything. When a consumer is looking for something new or relevant to your company, you do not want to be lost in the weeds with the hundreds of companies that have similar products. With clear, concise descriptions and smart keyword usage, you will increase your odds of appearing as a priority to a search engine.
Social Media Presence
One of the more overlooked aspects of e-commerce website design is how often people look at your social media before making a purchase. Ideally, you would like to have a good social media following. But if you are looking to expand that following, e-commerce web design could be beneficial. When visiting your website, many users will click the links to your social media accounts. It is important that these links work and take the consumers to whichever site they have selected in order to give them a better idea about you and your company. If these links aren’t there or don’t work, it can potentially shake the trust you have formed or hope to form with the consumers.
Checkout Page
Another one of the most important aspects of your website design is the checkout page. This can make or break your website very easily. While there are very important aspects of your site that are necessary to keep consumers engaged and using your site, the checkout is the final step. Since this is an online shop and not a physical store, you must take an electronic payment. Most companies will typically accept credit or debit cards. However, this can prove to be either inconvenient or untrustworthy to many people. One of the best alternatives to give buyers extra options is for you to include PayPal, ApplePay, etc. This way, customers’ information is already automatically uploaded into these forms of payment. It allows for an easier purchase experience and makes the buyer feel safer purchasing online.
Customer Reviews
Reviews are crucial to any business and any product. One bad experience can cause a stream of negative business or a drop in sales. Approximately 95% of consumers look to customer reviews before making a purchase. While marketing your business is very important, that means far less if a customer gets to your site and sees negative reviews.
Whether the bad review is about the product, shipping, communication, or lack thereof, it can deeply affect your sales in the future. With positive reviews, you are likely to see your brand/website scoring a higher ranking when it comes to search engines as well. By taking customers’ thoughts and opinions into account and adapting to them, you are likely to see better results. With more reviews, specifically positive ones, you are more likely to see 3.5 times higher conversions, which hopefully will create a larger stream of traffic continuously.
E-Commerce Website Design From SEO Design Chicago
If you need help creating your company’s e-commerce website or would like to speak to a local e-commerce development agency, an agent at SEO Design Chicago is ready to assist you. While building your own website is fun, it’s also a time-consuming process that many companies need assistance with. Whether you are just starting out or want to update your current website, SEO Design Chicago is here to help you. There is no better place to come for e-commerce web design in Chicago.
FAQ:
- What does e-commerce mean?
- Why does your home page matter?
- Why do product descriptions matter?
- How do customer reviews affect your website?
- What kind of payment options should my website have?
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