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Website design is a crucial element of success across all industries in today’s business world. It can impact user experience, SEO results, and brand reputation. While all businesses should focus on web design, it is particularly important in eCommerce. One of the biggest issues eCommerce businesses face comes from hiring an amateur design company.
With hundreds of companies claiming they can build an effective eCommerce site, it’s difficult to know where to turn. Before you hire a design and development team, it’s important to not only understand what you need in design but to also know what mistakes to avoid. Here’s a quick look at the most common mistakes in eCommerce website design, how to avoid them, and how to get the best results for your business.
» Most Common Mistakes to Avoid in eCommerce Website Design
When it comes to design, there are a lot of mistakes you can make if you don’t have experience with eCommerce. These mistakes won’t just hurt your business but they can also gravely impact the future of your business.1. Creating a Lengthy and Complicated Checkout Process
As technology continues to evolve, customers want the online shopping experience to be faster and easier. eCommerce is extremely competitive. That’s why eCommerce businesses are always looking for new ways to simplify and speed up the checkout process. That’s why your eCommerce business needs to keep the checkout process short and simple. If your business uses a process that takes forever and it requires your users to work too hard, it will ultimately affect your revenue and growth.Some things you can do to optimize your checkout page are:
› Offer a “checkout as guest” option.
› Deliver a one-page checkout process.
› Add a progress bar when a longer checkout process is necessary.
› Avoid redirecting to separate pages for shipping and payment options.
› Be sure your checkout page compliments your brand. It should have the same look and feel as the rest of your website.
› Avoid asking for billing information first as this leads to cart abandonment. Instead, start with shipping information.
› Be sure all fields are clearly labeled.
› Remove unnecessary data and distractions.
› Be upfront about shipping costs.
› Offer a variety of payment options.
2. Not Securing Your Website
Security is essential to any eCommerce site. It doesn’t just protect your business, but it protects your customers as well. It creates a sense of trust in your brand as customers see that you value their well-being. That’s why one of the biggest mistakes eCommerce businesses make is failing to properly secure their website. When Google standards changed, any websites that failed to use an SSL certificate began to display a “not secure” message in the navigation bar of the user’s browser. This is a huge red flag for customers, especially those looking to purchase products online.The solution to this issue is simple but two-fold. Be sure your web development team installs an SSL certificate on your website. SSLs encrypt your customer’s sensitive information and other important data. They secure credit card transactions, important data, and passwords and logins. Once an SSL certificate is installed, all traffic between your server and the web browser used by viewers will be secure.
In addition to protecting your business and your customer’s information, SSL certificates increase Google rankings, improve conversion rates, and enhance customer trust. While installing an SSL certificate will automatically change your website to HTTPS, it is also important to display trust badges throughout your website. McAfee Secure, VeriSign, PayPal Verified, and BBB Accredited are examples of recognized trust badges that give your customers an extra feeling of security with your business.
3. Failing to Create an Excellent User Experience
Your eCommerce UX design is important for a variety of reasons. Most importantly, the effective user experience will engage your customers and enhance your e-commerce marketing strategy. Your customers deserve an amazing user experience when they travel to your website. Not only will it increase your conversion rates, but it will also lead to better reviews and increased brand awareness when your viewers get excited about your brand. Even further, the better your user experience, the higher Google will rank your business in the SERPs.To start, be sure you are using the right platform for your eCommerce business. Talk to your designer about what an eCommerce platform is best for the type of products and services you sell. Some ways to enhance the user experience are:
› Focus on amazing functionality
› Deliver an organized, clean design
› Add personalization to create meaningful customer relationships
› Simplify the checkout process
› Let customers create lists
› Add a search bar so customers can easily sort through your products
› Launch an eCommerce app
› Keep close track of industry and technology trends
› Pay attention to product pages, categories, descriptions, and images
4. Making Website Navigation Difficult
Site navigation has a major impact on conversion rates. Great website navigation will guide your customers through the sales funnel and help them complete a purchase. eCommerce website comparison shows that websites that are easy to navigate are more successful than those that are complicated. A common issue eCommerce businesses face when it comes to design is creating poor website navigation. This leads to higher bounce rates and frustration amongst your viewers.When it comes to navigation, make sure your website follows these best practices:
› Be sure customers can find the products they are looking for with minimal effort
› Make navigation menus organized, clear, and easy to understand
› Use meaningful labels to organize products
› Create a hierarchy amongst product categories that makes sense to any viewer
› Include a search option and make it easy to find
› Make top-level navigation clickable
› Consider a sticky navigation bar
› Optimize drop-down menus
5. Product Pages Lack of Focus
Finally, many eCommerce businesses fail to get the results they need to reach their business goals because they deliver ineffective product pages. Effective product pages can turn viewers into customers. Product pages are important because they actually get more traffic than your homepage. They are also shared more often. Because most searchers tend to search for actual products rather than brands when they head to the search engine, the average user will come across product pages before any other page on an eCommerce company’s website.If you fail to focus on creating effective product pages, you’re making a big mistake. Optimize your product pages by:
› Creating detailed product descriptions
› Providing high-quality product images
› Including product videos where possible
› Delivering clear and visible call-to-action buttons
› Including all shipping information
› Providing recommendations for related products
› Creating product pages that are responsive
› Incorporating social sharing buttons
› Making pages SEO friendly
» Conclusion
There is no doubt that eCommerce holds huge potential for business success. According to statistics, eCommerce sales were up to $504.6 billion in 2018 with a projected growth of $230 billion more by 2023. When it comes to eCommerce design and development, businesses can expect to spend anywhere from $1,000 to $100,000 depending on the size, functionality, and customization of their website.While this might seem like a lot of money to invest, the return on this investment is huge! Unfortunately, too many eCommerce business owners make this substantial investment only to find out that they have launched a website with a design that is unsuitable for their business and the market. Before you launch or redesign your online store, make note of the common mistakes listed above and the tips to avoid them. The more you understand about eCommerce trends, the better prepared you will be to line your business up for success.
