In a time where your target customers will be searching online for your product, rather than scouring the shelves, it’s game-changing for your business to be able to offer ecommerce. An ecommerce site allows you to build your brand, connect with more customers and sell products easily through the click of a button – here’s how to make sure you’re doing it right.
Focusing on functionality in ecommerce
When creating the best ecommerce experience for your online visitors, your first thought may be to make your virtual shop look as appealing as possible. However, how your site looks is completely irrelevant if it doesn’t work. First, establish that you’ve got the logistics in place, including:
- Visible stock status: There are few things as annoying as choosing items for your online shop, only to find out they’re not in stock at the point of purchase. Keep availability of items clear to avoid your web visitors leaving disappointed
- Fully functional basket: We’ve all been there – you get to your online shopping basket and the total is a lot larger than you originally imagined! Allowing shoppers to modify their order whilst in the basket, such as removing items or changing quantities of items will make for a much smoother experience
- Easy, trackable process: Using a progress indicator on the top of the screen can help web visitors to know how far they are in the checkout process and help to reduce the number of sales being abandoned
- Allow checkout as guest: Sometimes, online shoppers are in a rush. Instead of needing them to make an account before shopping with you, ensure there is an option for them to checkout as a guest. The smoother your visitors’ shopping experience is, the more likely they will come back and potentially sign up with an account.
Bringing web design to the forefront
Now for the fun part – making your shop look as exciting as you envisioned. Ensure your site is incorporating colours that are consistent with your brand, your design is engaging and your products are displayed in the best possible way. Having designed our fair share of ecommerce sites at Eonic Digital, these are our key pointers:
- Keep checkout interface simple: Your online checkout should be visually appealing and clear as well as functional, so that it can be navigated to from anywhere on a page
- Provide photos: Do your product a favour by displaying it in the best lighting with professional, high quality photographs that are visible in both your shop and shopping basket
- Include key details at a glance: So that your customers aren’t second guessing their orders, include images, specifications and links to each item in the shopping basket.
Functionality and design are both integral to a fantastic ecommerce site that leaves your customers coming back for more. We hope these pointers from our experience in delivering successful conversions for our clients through ecommerce sites gives you greater insight into creating one of your own. If you’d like advice about creating a site like this for your business, we’d love to hear from you .