E-commerce Website Design: The 10 Golden Rules

Introduction

There would not be a better moment to start your online business now. The way that consumers behave is quickly shifting to internet outlets. By 2023, eCommerce sales will total $1.6 trillion. The data demonstrates the enormous prospects for digital brands. Businesses that make online project investments are likely to become market leaders. Some of the top companies are also the best web development agencies in the USA.

Will the creation of your online store succeed or fail with your new project? What characteristics define a successful eCommerce website? We suggest going over the following ten points of a well-thought-out e-commerce website design:

1. Be visually appealing

No one can give a guide to the perfect web design. Let your creative horses ride high while designing a website. The interface to the website should be visually appealing while, at the same time, it should be user-centered, perceptive, and powerful. The user interface should be attractive and made to offer a wonderful experience.

When purchasing something online, physically viewing, touching, or trying it out is hard. And at this point, a challenging psychological barrier emerges. Because of this, product page design should closely resemble actual usage. The product specifications, descriptions, and images should be as thorough as possible.

2. SEO

You must ensure that your website appears high in search engine results and is simple to find since there are millions of websites on the internet. Create written material based on keywords and long tails, which are multi-word search queries consumers use to quickly find the information they’re looking for on Google, Bing, and Yahoo.

SEO extends well beyond text. It entails using each bit of HTML in the site’s coding. A blog or news page is also necessary for good SEO to show that the website is updated frequently, and each image needs a descriptive caption describing what it is.

3. Simple and intuitive navigation

A powerful search bar and easy navigation through the website help users find what they are looking for. Many websites have dropdown menus that allow users to focus their searches by category or attribute, such as size and color. Make sure that any review area can be searched utilizing pertinent keywords and include customer reviews as a filter.

Ensure that the website’s navigation menus let users know exactly where they are in the site’s hierarchy. Allow unclicking of chosen options rather than requiring a page reload for each change. With time and advanced machine learning, your website will start giving accurate search results.

4. User reviews

User reviews are an essential part of the decision-making process for a customer. The user reviews on your website should be genuine and readable by humans. This would help to create the credibility of the platform. Remove bots and fake comments from the platform as fast as possible. This would garner trust from the visitors and make them revisit your site. At the same time, no product is perfect, and your website should reflect that too.

Do not remove the negative comments and maintain transparency of the product. Have a filter on the user review section too. Some visitors would be curious as to why some buyers rated it a certain way, and filters on the comments would help with that.

5. Mobile-friendly

Mobile commerce, or M-commerce, is the next level in e-commerce. There is a high chance that many prospective customers use mobile phones to browse your website. Hence, there is no justification for making the mobile experience any less simple or intuitive than on a desktop computer.

An adaptable template is essential for users to easily explore a website on any device, serving as a pathway to the payment page. You can go a step further and get a dedicated mobile app. This would encourage users to browse for longer, which in turn would increase your sales.

6. Minimal or no registration

When presented with a lengthy registration page, people frequently become frustrated. On the other hand, the ability to check out as a guest and register later promotes impulsive purchasing. Making a purchase shouldn’t need creating an account, and each piece of information you ask from the user should have a purpose.

Prominently showing a tickbox to decline newsletters or promotional material can prevent individuals from being fooled into subscribing to marketing materials. Give a comforting explanation of how data will be protected if payment information is saved.

7. Payment gateway

The two most frequent reasons for e-commerce checkout abandonment are hidden fees and worries about payment security, so be upfront about postal prices and taxes. Once clients are interested, make the buying process easier by using the Verified by Visa 2FA and “please wait” message while transactions are being processed.

Allow customers to make changes to their order, payment, or contact information up until the point of purchase. Automate brief (but useful) emails and/or texts to confirm order receipt, dispatch, and delivery. Be sure to display the order number and customer support contact information prominently. Keep varied payment options like e-wallets, EMI, credit/debit cards, gift cards, and less conventional payments like Bitcoin and Stripe. Also, ensure your payment gateway is secured and has the highest level of security.

8. Design for everyone

The World Health Organisation has identified that at least 2.2 billion people are visually impaired. That is a considerable percentage of the population. It would be best if you designed a website that would be respectful to everyone. Sometimes small changes make the most significant difference. Two straightforward steps to help make your site design as accessible and inclusive as possible are choosing large-scale sans-serif fonts and improving color contrast on your layout, such as matching black text with a white background.

9. Aim for global appeal

Finding and shipping to customers throughout the world is now easier than ever. Any small business owner can do business internationally with the power of translation and the internet. Localize your website for each market by translating all material and incorporating local currency prices. Make sure to investigate and incorporate the most widely used payment ways in the nation when you check out.

10. Test

Once you are confident with the website’s design, start testing it. Products, design, payment, content, customer service, test everything. You have to keep on testing once the website is live too. Customers are the kings; remember to listen to constructive criticism and eliminate the flaws in your website.

Conclusion

These ten rules only scratch the surface of web designing. Practice, learn, and re-learn should be your mantra. However, if you are still trying to figure out where to start, you can always take help from some of the top multi-vendor e-commerce website development companies. Be creative and let your intuition drive you to design the best website.

Author Bio

Ekta Patel is the Digital Marketing Executive at Selected Firms –  a B2B Marketplace for Finding World Class Agencies. She is a Skilled Digital Marketer with 7 Years of experience in eCommerce, SEO marketing, Google AdWords, and social media content building. She has created quality content for the company’s websites/apps, blogs, and case studies. In addition, she has profound experience working for IT organisations and is responsible for introducing the latest eCommerce trends to the team.

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