Last updated - March 27, 2023
The digital commerce market is projected to grow by $17.53 trillion by 2030.
It is high time to invest in your eCommerce website and maximize your chance of success with your audience.
We’re here to help you create an eCommerce experience that will surely delight your customers. So keep reading to know what your customers want from your store and the essential features you should include in your site.
So, let’s get started.
What do your customers want from your eCommerce store?
Personalized recommendations
eCommerce personalization is about using unique customer data for displaying dynamic content on online stores. This personalization can be based on the user’s demographic segment, past browsing and purchasing history, and browsing devices.
Companies of every size can get information about website visitors with the rise of AI, machine learning, and big data. With such information, a lot of things can happen. This data can help companies:
- Promote the specific products to be viewed and purchased
- Provide personalized shopping experiences
- Identify user conversion optimization opportunities
- Recommend personalized products to customers. For example, Urbanara, home accessories online store, implemented personalized recommendations on the shopping cart page and achieved a 9.5% conversion rate.
Authentic & trustworthy honest customer reviews
The crowd-sourced reviews of an online store often say a lot about the brand or business. The question is how powerful customer reviews are in customer buying decisions. 91% of young people trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations. In addition, 93% of consumers say online reviews influence their purchase decisions. The higher the review count, the better!
Reviews help your customers trust your brand. In addition, it empowers users to decide whether a certain product is suitable for them.
Customers are also looking for support and overall customer experience.
So, here’re some top features to give your eCommerce website an edge.
Let’s get started!
Feature #1 A well-designed shopping cart
One of the foremost features is a well-designed shopping cart in which customers can do several things, such as add or remove items, read the summary of their purchases, enter promos, change quantities, choose payment options and shipping addresses, etc.
The “add to the cart” is one of the crucial touchpoints in a customer’s journey as it allows customers to add items to their cart to continue shopping. It enables customers to buy multiple items at one time.
The “add to cart” feature boosts sales. But unfortunately, a poorly designed shopping cart can deter potential customers before they complete the checkout process.
Feature #2 User-friendly design
A good user experience is one of the pivotal features in any eCommerce website that customers actually want. If customers struggle with what they are looking for, they will likely move on to other shopping sites. Here’re some of the best UX design practices:
- Provide effortless navigation
- Use social proofs
- Design a big and bold ‘add to cart’ button
- Provide a clear order summary
- Consider guest checkout
- Focus on building a responsive eCommerce website
- Build a simple and straightforward home page with high-quality images
- List category pages in the navigation bar
Feature #3 24/7 Customer Service
83% of consumers factor in customer service quality when deciding what to buy. Real-time support and answers while shopping from any eCommerce platform help improve customer retention, loyalty, conversion rates, brand awareness, and reputation.
For customer service, you can include a 24×7 customer service chatbot. You can even provide live chat, a self-service portal, and helpdesk tools like Zendesk or LivePerson to enhance customer experience.
Know that happy customers depend on customer support. So, integrate all the possible support channels and automate customer service in all.
Feature #4 Customer reviews
Do you know that approximately 9 out of 10 consumers go through the reviews before shopping from any eCommerce website? Because they help users learn how others use and enjoy the products and services.
Customer reviews provide social proof, validate expertise, and build brand trust. It also helps in driving sales.
Here’re some benefits which showcase why positive reviews about your company are important:
- Increase revenues: Approximately 95% of customers consult online reviews to find out more about the product they want to purchase. Positive customer reviews will help increase revenues by showing customers that others enjoy your products and services.
- Enhance search engine rankings: Search engines use off-site indicators to determine your business’s credibility, relevance, and reliability.
- Company’s reputation: Genuine and positive reviews prove that you own a well-established company and offer excellent services. This is the best way to build legitimacy and enhance your company’s reputation.
Since customers would not have the chance to check the products in person; therefore, they heavily rely on what buyers have said about them. In fact, the probability of purchase by consumers might increase with verified buyer reviews.
Feature #5 Multiple payment options (Credit card, PayPal, PO, Terms, etc.)
Multiple payment options improve conversion rates and brand credibility, decrease cart abandonment rates, and enhance user experience. The most common online payment options are debit/credit cards, PayPal, Amazon Pay, and Stripe. You can also add plugins, which can provide a buy now, pay later feature to encourage customers to press the “buy button”.
Feature #6 Customized call-to-action (CTA)
CTAs tell customers what to do and where to click and buy.
A clear call-to-action button keeps your customers engaged. It also helps take them through the sales funnel and increase conversion rates.
Here are a few tips for creating customized CTAs:
- The simple rule to create CTAs is to keep it short and to the point.
- Button color is another significant factor. You can consider changing the “Add to Cart” button from black to blue. It helps in reducing the cart abandonment rate by up to 50%.
- The “button placement” also plays an important role in converting your customers to buyers. For example, you can use two CTAs like “Add to bag” & “Add to Wishlist”.
A call-to-action button pushes your customers to the conversion funnel. So make sure CTAs make sense and are relevant and valuable.
In addition, do A/B testing of every CTA; it will help increase conversion rates.
Feature #7 Breadcrumb navigation
Breadcrumb navigation is generally located at the top of the webpage. It tells users about what page they have been on and allows them to go back to the exact point that they want.
Generally, there are three kinds of breadcrumbs navigation, which you can include:
1) History-based breadcrumbs
2) Hierarchy-based navigation
3) Attribute-based navigation
Including breadcrumb navigation in your eCommerce website will enhance your chances of appearing on Google’s first page. Furthermore, it shows users exactly where they are on the website. It also helps navigate them backward or forwards as per their preferences, reducing bounce rates.
Final thoughts
If you want to provide an amazing shopping experience to your customers, it is pivotal to listen to your customers’ feedback and monitor your competitors.
Next, focus on the features and requirements that we’ve mentioned above. It will help you create a website that your customers love visiting and have a seamless shopping experience.
