Let’s just get this out of the way: without an easy, intuitive user experience, your eCommerce website is doomed to fail.
It’s really as simple as that.
True, UX is important to any industry online, but eCommerce, where sales are dramatically affected by the ability to easily find and buy products, is completely dependent on it.
(Having bunk products won’t help you either, but there’s not much I can do about that).
What I can do is offer suggestions for improving your website’s user experience to boost conversions. In eCommerce, conversions can be anything from clicks on specific products to sales, both of which are helpful to your business, and influenced by your website’s interface.
Check out some of these tips for better ecommerce UX.
Use video
Your website should instill confidence in browsers. Obviously, they can’t see, touch or try on the item, so you need to create a virtual tactile experience. This goes beyond quality images and product descriptions (although those are important too).
To really convince users that they’re making the right choice, trying using video. According to a study by Invodo, a video strategy and production company, approximately half of online consumers feel more confident about their buying decision after watching a product video.
Your video doesn’t necessarily have to be a cinematic tour de force. All you really need to do is showcase the product, perhaps with a sales person explaining some of its features and benefits. You’ll most likely find that a single video can go a long way, as two-thirds of consumers who watch product videos more than once are much more likely to buy the item, according to the same study.
Add some personality to your product descriptions
While visuals play a big role in eCommerce, visitors to your site expect to be able to read about your products as well. Even if they don’t necessarily scour every detail of copy, just the site of a description will reinforce the fact that you care about customer service and quality assurance as well. Some companies simply list features of a product, which may work if they align with their brand voice.
However, other companies take a more creative approach. Perhaps recognizing that its customers enjoy wit, wordplay and storytelling (and are decidedly geeky), ThinkGeek invests heavily in copywriters who can spin a yarn out of a novelty item, such as a Death Star Bluetooth Speaker.
While you don’t have to necessarily write paragraphs of funny description, infusing some personality that conveys your brand voice and also provides useful details will definitely help consumers form a relationship with your products.
Use quality images
When it comes to e-tailers, I can’t overstate the importance of great images. Ultimately what’s going to sway people one way or another about a product is how it looks. Web design trends these days tend to be more minimalist and flat, which only emphasizes images more than ever before. In other words, make sure you use quality images of your items, especially if you have a modern-looking website.
Consumers will probably want to click on the images for enhanced, close-up, and alternate views, which means there’s no excuse for graininess. Design blog, Fifty-Three sells really classy pencils and styluses, and their photos are eye-catching.
You may fill your product pages with a little more information, but this is a great example of how appealing you can make your items look by putting a little effort into your hi-res images. Details such as shadows and – when juxtaposing different angles of a single item – alignment can go a long way.
Create accessible customer service pages
Anyone who’s ever bought anything online (so, most of us) knows that a website lacking in clear or easy-to-find customer service pages can be really frustrating. If you can’t find a contact page, FAQs, privacy policy or more, you start to feel like the business doesn't really care to share that info with you. This can quickly turn off consumers and send them to another site.
By contrast, a site that makes service information obvious and clear instills trust in consumers. They feel that you’re not trying to hide anything, and because of the ease of use, are motivated to invest more time in your brand.
Here’s a great example of customer service options that are simple and easy to find (thanks to Usability Geek for the reference).
Make products easy to find
No matter how amazing your products are, you’re bound to sell less if consumers have a hard time finding them on your site. Take a look at what competitors are doing. Is it effective? If they’re using other tools such as enhanced site navigation, would they work for your site.
Amazon uses just about every search and product feature under the sun to make interacting with items as easy as possible. While your company may not have the budget of the largest e-tailer in the world, you should consider adding these features to your site if you don’t have them already:
- Category browsing. Provide both general and specific categories for customers to seek out their items.
- Search box. Allowing users to find a product through a keyword search can greatly improve UX.
- Intelligent recommendations. Enhance the value (or just drive excitement) for a product by pairing it with another similar item.
Include user reviews
According to research, 63% of customers are more likely to make a purchase from a website that features user reviews. It’s no surprise really. Customers drive marketing online. They wield purchasing power, and brands reorganize to keep up. These days consumers are more inclined to trust the words of their piers over the promises of a manufacturer who may be perceived to not necessarily have your best interests in mind.
Plus, with the rise in popularity of pier review sites, eCommerce companies simply need to stay current with the times. If your website doesn’t feature reviews, it now looks out of fashion, and may even seem suspicious. Encourage purchasers to write a review of a product. It’ll show that you trust your own brand, and make it easier for users to make up their mind.
Give customers a simple check out process
Check out should be simple and painless. Keep each stage focused on one major task, such as billing info, and maybe even consider adding buttons declaring “you’re almost done!”.
Asking customers to register with your company when checking out is a great idea. Having their email or street address allows you to send them correspondence, coupons, and more (and you can keep their credit card info on file for faster service next time). Additionally, they’re already showing interest in your company, so you can request some personal info with confidence.
However, don’t ask for this in the early stages of check out. You don’t want to give people any reason to bail on the purchase. You can give them the option to register early on, but generally it’s better to wait until the final stages of checking out, when they have more to lose by not registering.
Make your site responsive
Reportedly, 1 out of every 10 eCommerce dollars is now spent using a smartphone or tablet, and the trend is only expected to grow. So if you haven’t made your online shop accessible on a mobile device, it’s time to get started.
Utilize mobile websites’ key features, such as drop-down menus, and focused, singular pages. Many shoppers may initially come to your mobile site while out and looking for the nearest brick and mortar location. Make sure you include basic info such as address and hours, as well as a click-to-call button. If people are out walking or driving, it may be easier just to dial the phone than search around your site.
Similarly, if people have a hard time on their phones with your desktop website, they may lose patience and change their minds about shopping altogether.
Hi Stephen, thanks for an insightful post! Great tips. I love that you say 63% of customers are more likely to make a purchase from a website that features user reviews. Integrating positive user reviews into a website is one of the greatest social proofs, so its got to be up there with having a responsive website!
Hi Pedro,
A great thanks! It is very important to acquire online reviews as they influence consumer opinions. When potential customers visit a site, they look for other users’ reviews to have a direct feedback from someone who has already used that product. This is what makes them purchase goods from that site.
Hi Stephen,
These are some great tips for ecommerce conversions. Using quality images is the key. images are more important for an ecommerce site than for a normal blog, The images are part of the product. They are one of the reasons that the product sells.
For an ecommerce site, having a responsive site is very important. They can potentially bring in more customers.
Thanks for sharing these valuable tips.
Hey Brian,
The power of great images is hard to ignore. Be it an online store or a marketplace, their importance is highlighted for business point of view. And, if you are running an eCommerce store, one cannot simply avoid images. Your virtual store must display the product images.
Hi Stephen,
Thanks for these awesome and helpful tips. These will really help to increase eCommerce site conversion rate.
Hi Fakharuddin,
Thanks. Am glad you liked the post. Often, conversion rates remain neglected though eCommerce is a highly customer oriented business. By investing in conversion optimization strategically and in a right manner, one can boost eCommerce business.
Websites tend more towards quality images, text only content is not liked by people. Images say a lot in less time. Images should be changed more frequently.
Hi Indo,
You are right in saying that. eCommerce has grown tremendously and is making it easy for everyone to buy and sell anything, anywhere. The online shopping cart technology has brought into place the beautiful display of product images. Bigger images and zoom functionality give real insights into products and help in taking business to the next level. Therefore, there’s nothing like optimizing images for your eCommerce business.
I think you can suggest fast loading templates also over at your points. Because fast loading templates support a promising for quality images,video and more.. 🙂
Hi Sneha,
Yes, both fast and lightweight templates can be wonderful for improving your page. This way the landing pages can affect your sales for your eCommerce business. These pages can help drive more online customers and ultimately optimize your conversions.
My most recent ecommerce discovery has been page speed, after I was able to increase the load speed by just 10% visitors and sales increased with more than 25%.
Hi Rowan,
That’s indeed great!!! By increasing load speed can actually speed up your web pages and make them work faster. I’m glad you have benefited from this feature. In fact, to a great extent, site speed optimization should be an integral part of your SEO agenda to get increased traffic and boost conversions
That was really useful article Stephen! I was wondering if you could explain a bit about how seo can be used to leverage maximum throughout from my niche eCommerce website?
Cheers
Hi Suumit,
Thanks for sharing your views. Abiding by Google’s SEO guidelines can be very effective in driving traffic to your eCommerce website. I am sharing a few tips to help you create a better eCommerce business and boost your profits. Do write back your feedback on this.
1. Firstly, create an effective and well-optimized website with proper URL structure.
2. Categorize your products effectively under main and sub categories.
3. Product text, product images, videos and proper keyword targeting are important to attract organic search traffic to your site.
4. Stay away from duplicate content on your site. Get a knack of avoiding this situation, as it can be common on your site and you may not be aware about it, at all.
Fantastic stuff from you Stephen.
I agree that conversions are really important to any successful business online. Unfortunately most marketers focus on increasing their traffic instead of increasing their conversions.
Such a great post!
Hi Anil,
Thanks for your comments. I feel if you are running an online store, you sure got to boost your sales and profits. And, this is possible only by increasing conversions.
From what I have read, using video is huge, especially for Google Page Rank. Personally, I find it hard to find time to make them. The ones that I think (my opinion here) are most effective in selling a product are the “how to” and “how does it work” kind. Be Totally Awesome.
Hi Stephen
The idea of using video is great for engaging customers. And yes having great reviews on your site is a big plus.
Hi Dina,
Videos are a great way for your online business to improve conversion rates! At the same time, customer reviews are equally an amazing tool to increase your conversion rates. By posting product reviews on your online store, you can see an increase of 14 to 76% in conversion rates.
Hi,
@Stephan Thanks very much for providing such an awesome article about eCommerce…And please provide some fast loading templates…
Hi Kevin,
Thanks for sharing your views! I will definitely provide some information on fast loading templates in near future.
I think video definitely makes a huge difference since it adds a personnel touch through communication and also reflects the language along with your gestures and expressions which is otherwise not possible though text.
Hi Prerna,
Thanks for sharing your view! Product videos are indeed important tools for sharing information regarding products and customer reviews. And, as you have said, so much can be said through gestures and expressions. They share true experiences and help in building customers’ views. eCommerce experts believe that videos increase conversion rates and sales.
These are some great tips for ecommerce conversions. Using quality images is the key, images are more important for an ecommerce site than for a normal blog A lot of bloggers have said a lot of great things about Hootsuite. I’m just going to have to look more into it next week when I have more time. I didn’t know the extra features it contained because I thought it was a tool similar to Buffer where you can schedule when to post your blog posts.
Hi Satish,
Thanks for liking my post! A lot of things matter in eCommerce business. Conversion is at the prime and how we can achieve it matters the most. Product videos, product descriptions, impressive product images, easily found customer service pages, customer reviews, etc. all help make an eCommerce site impressive and useful for the customers as no one wants to move around in the search of the right product details and how to buy products.
Hootsuite is a great social media management tool for keeping up with multiple accounts on social media and scheduling regular posts and updates on platforms. All in all, the Hootsuite features make your movements easy and smooth on social media, which is one of the prominent platforms of gaining traffic and online attention.
Thanks again, Satish. Will wait for your next comments.