There are many helpful guides online on how to design a website, but creating an eCommerce website is different. Its purpose involves selling and buying products and services. More than the web design—overall looks, right fonts, images, and copy, you must consider other factors to make the customer experience better and safer.
Let us tell you about these five important eCommerce site features to help make your web page customer-friendly. If you are in the web design stage of your eCommerce website, you should not forget to add the following in your checklist:
1. Search bar
Often, customers will visit your site searching for a specific product. Make your site more user-friendly by adding a search option and making it visible on every page. Adding an auto-complete functionality will also make the product or service hunt easier for them.
You can maximize this feature by adding the related products or related articles if you have a blog once the results come out. This functionality will bring convenience to your customers and random visitors to your page.
2. Option for guests on checkouts
Understandably, customer’s account registration is important for any eCommerce business. Making your potential buyers create an account on your site will enable you to get their email addresses and create more opportunities for marketing. However, your site should always be inclusive.
You have to remember that not all are interested to give their details if they are determined to purchase only one item from your online shop. Provide them with an option to continue shopping without the need to register.
You can emphasize the benefits of having an account for repeat customers, but if they don’t want to take part, allow them to skip. This way, you do not lose a sale and leave a bad impression on them.
3. Make your site mobile-friendly
Most people surf online through their mobile phones. According to statistics released in 2019, 80 percent of internet users use their phones when searching online. To capture these mobile users, make sure that your website design is responsive and mobile-friendly.
Having your website optimized for mobile will make it easier for potential customers to shop whenever and wherever they are. When we say mobile-optimized, your website’s navigation should be user-friendly from the search to checkout and payment.
4. Optimized performance
It’s not enough that only your site’s mobile version is optimized. Your whole website should be optimized too. Many online users tend to exit a website that takes time to load.
Here are some things you can explore to improve your site’s loading performance:
- Consider combining the JavaScript and CSS resource files into one and see how it will speed up your site.
- Use cache when sending data between the web and database servers. This can help save time too.
- Compressing images is also one way to speed up the loading time and reduce the download time of your website.
5. Invest in Security
Having an eCommerce site means that every day, you are dealing with important information, especially when it comes to payment details. As the site owner, it is your responsibility to keep your website secure.
Customers are expecting your site to protect all the personal information they share with your site. Having a site that supports and implements SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) would help encrypt important information. Moreover, a highly secured site is one requirement for any business accepting credit card payments.
Conclusion
Web design and development for eCommerce businesses should not only focus on the visual, copy, layout, and navigation. Other aspects, like the five mentioned above, should also be part of the plan to make it a more effective and efficient eCommerce site. In other words, when creating or developing a website, always think of how you can make your customers’ experience better and more secure.
If you’re looking for web design services in Kansas City, we’re here to help you. We offer eCommerce solutions from web design and development to branding and other marketing services to clients around the globe!