One of the sectors with the fastest current growth is eCommerce. It is quickly taking over how we conduct business. Every participant in this industry benefits specifically from it. They consequently have a sizable clientele who demand a polished user experience.
No matter how distinctive the products you sell on your website may be, your eCommerce business should adhere to best practices. Otherwise, your efforts might be for nothing. Even a small difference in conversion rates can result in significant annual revenue gains for many online retailers. As a result, eCommerce UX is important because it is directly related to profit.
According to a UX Statistics and Insights Report, 88% of online users may stop visiting a website after a bad experience. Additionally, 77% of businesses believe that a bad website user experience is a flaw for their customers, according to the Soda Report. (Credit )
What exactly is eCommerce User Experience (UX)?
The buyer’s journey, which starts when a user visits your page and ends when they purchase your product, is all included in the eCommerce user experience. An eCommerce store’s user experience (UX) can make or break a website.
A great user experience can persuade users to make purchases, boost customer confidence in your business, and create enduring bonds between brands and consumers. Confusion among website visitors, a high bounce rate, irritated customers, and low conversion rates can all result from a bad customer experience.
Ecommerce UX design and customer flow
Discovery of the new e-commerce platform
Here, design plays a big part in how the platform is positioned. The majority of users form an opinion of a platform in a matter of milliseconds, and during that brief period, the platform must awe users, convey information about their products, and entice users to browse the website. Users would likely immediately stop shopping if they don’t get a clear picture during the discovery stage.
Browse the platform
Their journey is facilitated by UX design, which incorporates effective filter UI design, on-site product search, and sorting. They can quickly continue shopping after finding what they’re looking for. The other group of buyers includes those who are not specifically looking to buy something but may do so if they come across something interesting. These users are crucial to the success of an e-commerce platform, and a strong design can boost their conversion rate. A discovery/explore mode is helpful to draw in these customers. The “What’s new” and “Most popular” sections draw customers of this type.
Call to action
At this point, the design should place a high priority on assisting users in making purchases. The call to action button is essential in this situation. While an unclear CTA will confuse users and cause cart abandonment, an attention-grabbing CTA that is accessible and clickable will increase the chances of conversion.
When a user is happy with a product, they proceed to add it to their shopping cart. At this point, transparency should be the main focus of the eCommerce UX design. The user should be able to clearly understand the cart’s details. All details, such as the number of items ordered, the price, any discounts, taxes, and shipping and delivery costs, should be made clear. Options to add items to the cart, edit the cart, and move items to the wishlist should be clear and accessible in the design.
Cart
Your platform should, ideally, support all widely used payment options. People may prefer one method over another due to differences in their preferences. Supporting a wide range of payment methods, such as credit/debit cards, online payment processors (such as Apple Pay, Google Pay, and PayPal), direct debit through online banking accounts, and cash on delivery will boost conversion rates.
Checkout
Although checking out is the final user action on an e-commerce platform, the purchasing process is still ongoing. Users must receive a confirmation of their purchase for the flow to be complete. Customers must receive a confirmation message after checking out that includes information about their order, the delivery method, the date of delivery, and the tracking information.
Best eCommerce UX Practices for 2022
Clear and concise homepage
Your homepage is the page that users will see first when they visit your website, and it typically receives the most traffic. It must look tidy, uncluttered, and have a distinct purpose. To make a strong first impression:
Best Practices
- Adopt a consistent colour scheme.
- Make use of high-quality images and a straightforward, minimal design.
Organise the Checkout Procedure
As the final step in the sales process, this page is essential for a digital commerce setup. Because the rate of abandonment on the checkout page is typically high, you cannot afford to make any mistakes in the layout of this page. The section should make it simple and quick for users to make payments and place orders.
Best Practices
- Include a small add-to-cart button or pop-up window with a link to the main cart page.
- On the checkout pages, try to add as few form fields as possible because complexity ruins the user experience.
Usable Navigation
A customer who visits your website is already aware of what they’re looking for. Customers will become frustrated, irritated, and perplexed if they can’t find what they’re looking for. Customers won’t have the time to spend hours looking for a single item, so they will simply leave your website without purchasing it. Keep the site’s navigation simple and straightforward to prevent customers from getting lost. Don’t cram everything together, segment your products into categories and subcategories, and organise the content.
Social Proof
User-generated content, such as social media feeds, client reviews, email subscribers, or your number of followers, can be used to demonstrate social proof. Any information you provide to customers that suggests help from others has the potential to increase their trust in your store and brand. As a result, it reduces potential worries or scepticism about your products and improves the user experience.
Mobile Friendly
Your website receives more than 50% of its traffic from mobile devices. Therefore, in today’s world, it is no longer an option but a necessity to optimise your site with a mobile-friendly eCommerce UX design. It’s essential to mobile device optimization and responsive website design.
Best Practices
Some considerations to bear in mind when designing a mobile-friendly eCommerce website include the following:
- Use a layout that adapts to the user’s screen automatically.
- On mobile devices, make sure your website loads quickly.
- Make sure the fonts are readable and that users can tap on components like the CTA button with ease.
High-quality images
The gap between real-world and virtual shopping experiences must constantly be closed, which is a major challenge for online retailers. In a physical store, you can see and touch the items. Consequently, it becomes simpler for you to understand what you ought to buy. Online shopping does have some limitations in this regard, though.
Best Practices
- The user is more engaged when brief product explanation videos are added.
- Images with multiple angles, a 360-degree effect, and close-ups can produce impressive results.
Create a Call to action
Your purchase call-to-action (CTA) on an eCommerce site will typically be an Add to cart or a Buy now button. Converting traffic into sales requires a crystal-clear call to action (CTA). The button needs to be noticeable on the page. Adding colour contrast and bold lettering is a fantastic way to achieve this. The CTA’s language should be succinct but clear: this is the button to click to complete the purchase. Buy now, Check out, and Add to cart are effective phrases. They’ve been tried, tested, and proven.
Best Practices
- Utilise actionable texts.
- Make them prominent.
- Do not fill a webpage with CTA buttons. Follow the ‘Less is more rule
Multiple payment options
Visitors can remove items from their cart if they can’t find their preferred method of payment. You don’t need to add every payment option, even though there are a ton of them available. Utilise the strategies that your target market finds most effective.
Best practices
But offering a variety of payment options has its benefits, including:
- Additional security Customer convenience
- greater sales abroad
- Payment customization
Highlight key products
That it can assist you in emphasising your primary products and services is among the most crucial features of effective design for eCommerce websites. Your best products can be highlighted by creating web page layouts that are effective. Users will be more likely to purchase your best and most attractive products if they are featured on the landing page and in particular product sections, which will increase sales and earn you better reviews.
Conclusion
Best UX principles and design practices are necessary for an impressive eCommerce website UX and higher conversion rates. While the elements in this article serve as a helpful guide, several other elements can help create a top-notch eCommerce UX website. Working with a reputable eCommerce web development company or a UX design agency, such as Third eye Innovations, can provide the necessary expertise to create a website that meets user expectations. Every company requires a unique strategy to connect with its target market, and eventually, its users must value the interaction with the website. Therefore, get to work right away to create a website that is customer- and design-focused.
