How to Design User-Friendly e-Commerce Websites

Create a user friendly ecommerce site

Businesses today need striking and user-friendly websites. The best way to attract visitors is to design your site in such a way that it will showcase your products and services. This, in turn, will boost your sales. By contrast, if your website is designed poorly, prospective customers will probably ignore you.

Website design requires careful planning since it will involve various components, such as:

  • Layouts
  • Colours
  • Text and font
  • Structure
  • Images and graphics
  • Interfaces for all pages

To help people navigate your website with ease, consider the following design advice.

Speed is essential

If your website has a slow loading time, it is unlikely that you will attract many visitors. Most users demand speed. For example, if your site takes four seconds to load, around one in four users will leave before seeing what you have to offer.

So how can you optimise your website’s loading speed?

You need to consult a website designer and ensure that:

  • The amount of data and photos on your site is reduced to a minimum
  • You remove any unnecessary files such as complicated animation or extensive data

You can also make use of various online tools to check your site’s loading speed. To find out more about how website designs can boost your business, visit this site.

Keep your site clean and presentable

It is crucial that you grab your visitors’ attention immediately. Studies have shown that you only have eight seconds to keep them interested. Therefore, you need to ensure that your design will make a favourable impression once potential customers have landed on your site. You can begin by using:

  • Content that will engage your readers about your brand and products
  • Images and videos that use clear and concise captions

Also, consider including some white space to help make your page appear neat and readable. Besides making the site less cluttered, blank spaces can give it a clean appearance.

Use content that your audience will clearly understand

In terms of your content, consider removing any jargon or terminology that the majority of visitors will not understand. Also, overused words and clichés will make them think that you don’t have anything unique to offer, so avoid using them at all costs.

In addition, think about creating a content strategy. For example, besides blogs, you can upload:

  • Social media posts
  • Newsletters
  • Emails

Write content like a human being and improve your search ranking

When drafting your content, pretend that you are talking directly to somebody sat in front of you. This will make your writing appear more natural. Avoid using black hat SEO tactics such as ‘keyword stuffing’ as this will negatively affect your ranking. However, you still need to use keywords.

There are three types of keywords you can use:

  • Generic – Although non-specific and general, generic keywords can provide high traffic. However, they are also competitive.
  • Broad match – These are search terms that are relevant and bring online traffic. Using them gives you a better chance of converting visitors into leads or customers.
  • Long-tail – These are often long phrases or complete sentences. Whilst they will not provide much traffic, those who visit are more likely to buy from you or hire your services.

Always include clear call-to-actions (CTA)

CTAs are used to prod visitors to take action. They can take the shape of a:

  • Button
  • Image
  • Link
  • Clickable object

By using CTAs, readers are encouraged to buy your products or subscribe to your services. Here are several tips to help you create effective CTAs:

  • Often, CTAs are placed at the top of the page. However, you can put them at the bottom if you use enough directional signs.
  • Use direct and concise language.
  • Choose verbs that will encourage visitors to act, such as ‘download’ or ‘get’.
  • Add a sense of urgency by using words such as ‘now’ or ‘today’.
  • Always tell visitors about the benefits of your brand or products.
  • Design the site in such a way that it will guide users to your CTAs. For example, users will immediately notice a CTA that is surrounded by white spaces.
  • Avoid distracting your users by minimising animations and pop-ups.
  • Every page should have a CTA.
  • Test your CTAs to ensure their effectiveness.

Make your site mobile friendly

Most online users use mobile devices to access the internet. Furthermore, Google now checks for mobile versions first before looking for desktop websites. So it pays to have both mobile and desktop versions of your website. However, you need to ensure that your site is both easy to navigate and intuitive.

Show all your best-selling products on the homepage

Help your customers and increase sales by showcasing your best-selling products or your most popular services. By displaying them on your homepage, you will boost your chances of closing sales almost immediately.

Offer multiple payment options

Even before the design phase, you should consider adding various payment gateways. This will allow your site to accept payments from customers in different ways. One example is PayPal, a third-party portal which will store your customers’ payment details and encrypt transactions.

Allow and encourage people to engage with your site

Your site should have content that will engage your readers and encourage them to:

  • Share your products – When visitors and customers like your products, they are bound to show them off and share the information with their friends. Make it easier for them by adding social media buttons on your product pages. This strategy will help your business generate additional customers.
  • Write wish lists – Sometimes, visitors will like a product in your online store but perhaps won’t be able to afford it or maybe they don’t need it at the present moment. Fortunately, there’s a way of making them come back to buy your product. Consider providing them with a wish list to remind them of the product when they are ready to make a purchase.
  • Make enquiries – Remember to add a section on your product pages that will enable customers to ask questions about your goods.

Conclusion

You should aim to continually improve the design of your website. For example, you may have to update both your content and technical details on a regular basis. There is also the chance that you will have to come up with two or more designs. You can decide which is better through A/B testing. This works by implementing user feedback in the selection process. To ensure that you have the best website possible, you should consult a web designer who will be able to understand your exact requirements.

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