E-Commerce

The recent economy has seen a shift over the last few years to a substantial increase in online sales. More and more transactions are being conducted online than ever before.  Record number of sales have been seen the last few holiday seasons with a 62% increase expected by 2016. If you do not have an online store, you are missing out on an enormous market for your product.  E-Commerce break  down the barriers and opens the door to global sales. No longer are you bound by your local market. More possible clients equals more possible sales. Increased sales equals increased profits.

E-commerce websites rely highly on the quality of their design and the impact is often under estimated.  Usability and first impression for new visitors can make or break the sale. Your primary goal in designing an E-commerce website should be to provide the user with a pleasurable experience and make it easy for them to browse, search, and complete the checkout process.

Granted your website design must be aesthetically pleasing and provide a good first impression, however, the most important fact is to move the customer to checkout quickly and smoothly.  The faster they complete this process, the more likely they are to complete the sales transaction. Quality E-commerce web design is all about getting potential customers through that process.

Tips for a Good E-commerce Design:

1. Allow refinement of options – customers like to filter their selections to find what they are looking for quickly.
2. Along with refining, allow for choice reversal – customers sometimes make mistakes in refining their choices and need to back up and make a correction.
3. Search bar needs to be easily accessible – when customers do not see what they are looking for right away, they tend to use the search bar. Make sure it can be easily found and very visible part of your store design.
4. Out of stock items need to be marked clearly – incorrect stocking information on a E-commerce site will cost you sales in the long run because of unhappy clients.
5. If you have quality photography use it – buying online is a visible exercise and better pictures and images will increase sales.
6. Shopping cart needs to be visible – many customers like to see items added to their cart as they shop. This is the partner in crime with the search bar.
7. Site navigation must be easy – cumbersome navigation causes customers to leave out of frustration.
8. Do not add delivery charges at the end – make delivery options visible all along the way.
9. Personality – put your heart in your E-commerce website. Make your own and make it memorable and not blend in to the crowd.
10. Social media – social media is big for SEO. Also, allowing customers to share their purchases on social platforms will drive more sales. Help people keep up with the Joneses.
11. Quick product previews increase sales – customers like to see simple details about products before they dig deeper. The previews speed up the process for the customer increasing the chance of a closed sale.
12. Newsletter signup form should be visible – allow customers to sign up and receive future promotions and newsletters. Helps build a return visitor pipeline.
13. Testimonials – testimonials need to be visible. Customers like to see that other people like your product.
14. Remove checkout distractions – checkout pages need to be free of sidebars and promotional or up sales. You want customers to complete their sales. If too complicated, then they will leave without completing the transaction.
15. ‘Add to cart’ must be very visible – you want customers to move it to their cart to progress to complete their transaction. The clearer, bolder and more attractive the add to cart button is, the higher the chance it will be used.
16. SEO – customers need to find you in other ways besides pay per click ads. We provide a full line of SEO packages just for E-commerce websites.
17. Make contacting you easy