Last updated - May 6, 2022
For owners of online stores, WooCommerce is one of the most popular tools around. It’s the convenient way to plug ecommerce features into 62% of websites using WordPress – and it’s free to use. Capable of supporting various payment methods and checkout options, WooCommerce has remained one of the top picks for ecommerce store building since it first arrived in the market.
Of course, despite its excellent flexibility, WooCommerce can only accomplish so much on its own. As website owners strive to make their creations stand out online, many turn to website creation tools like Elementor to build more flexible, and engaging stores for their target audience. Already well-known for its WordPress website building platform, Elementor first introduced WooCommerce editing features in 2018.
Then, the technology was pretty cutting-edge, offering great tools for designing aesthetically appealing product and archive pages to help companies stand out from the crowd. Unfortunately, as trends in online shopping started to shift, Elementor’s WooCommerce functionality gradually started to feel a little outdated, prompting website owners to turn to other tools instead.
Now, as part of a comprehensive version 3.5 software update, Elementor is refreshing and reviving its WooCommerce feature set. The question is, will this new update deliver the functionality site owners need to impress today’s online shoppers?
The New WooCommerce Features in Elementor 3.5
Elementor 3.5 for WooCommerce delivers a variety of quality-of-life updates and feature enhancements to the existing Elementor landscape for website owners. The latest version revamps some of the most important features for anyone building an immersive online shopping experience, including the cart function, checkout page, and account features.
According to Elementor, the changes are intended to address changing expectations in the ecommerce market. Website designers and owners will have more freedom to create a consistent shopping and checkout experience on WooCommerce, leading to a better experience for the end user. Some of the biggest changes of the latest update include:
A revamped checkout widget:
Few things are more important to user experience than checkout design. According to the Baymard Institute, mid to large-sized ecommerce sites can increase conversion rates by 35.26% just by improving checkout design.
Until Elementor 3.5, the previous WooCommerce checkout page for Elementor users was inconsistent with other website pages, and often required additional third-party tools to make various adjustments. The new, revamped checkout widget supports more flexible design choices (such as the ability to choose one or two-column layouts), to increase conversions, and simplify the path to purchase for end users. Plus, designers and website owners get the benefit of a one-click configuration process.
A new cart widget
The “cart” part of an ecommerce website can have a huge influence on a customer’s overall shopping experience. Today’s clients want a clean, easy-to-understand cart where they can change product quantities and check information fast.
Previously, Elementor required users to rely on the default WooCommerce cart page, which was deemed inflexible and outdated by most designers. The Elementor 3.5 update allows for more flexible design choices, with typography, style, and content adjustments available. There’s also the option to adjust button and layout aspects on the cart page, to make the shopping experience more comfortable for customers on any device.
A new “My Account” widget
For ecommerce stores cultivating repeat, loyal customers, the “my account” page is often critical to customer lifetime value. Users of Elementor in the past often complained about the inconsistency of the “My Account” experience. Tabs couldn’t be viewed with associated sections in a single screen, making progress easier.
The new Elementor version enables a full “My Account” view, with side-by-side insights into each tab and the associated section. Again, customization options have been updated here, with the option for website owners to change the appearance of account tabs and sections easily.
Delivering Upgraded User Experience
According to Elementor, the latest 3.5 release and changes to the WooCommerce building experience are focused on improving the overall shopping experience for customers. However, website builders using WooCommerce to design their online stores could also benefit from this update.
Not only were the previous Elementor WooCommerce tools a little lacking in customization options, but users often felt configuring their WooCommerce pages was time-consuming and cumbersome. As part of the 3.5 update, Elementor has therefore made several changes to the user experience for WooCommerce editing, including the option to enable one-click configuration changes.
You can now configure default WooCommerce pages directly within Elementor, improving the overall web-creator workflow. The less time spent jumping between tools and software, the quicker it is to produce high-quality, consistent store experiences.
Website owners and designers can now fully customize various elements of the path to purchase on their ecommerce store, with very little effort. The latest updates even work with the majority of popular WooCommerce themes, like the “Hello” theme.
Other features announced by Elementor seem to address both customer and user experience simultaneously. For instance, the new “Scroll snap” function allows website owners to control how customers move through the website, ensuring they get the right exposure to the right information. This helps website owners to draw attention to specific areas of the site.
At the same time, the Scroll snap function means end-users might not have to work as hard to find the information they need. Website owners can ensure their users get a full picture of the website, not just bits and pieces.
A New Level of WooCommerce Store Building
The latest release of Elementor 3.5 addresses a lot of customer experience issues evident when building stores in WooCommerce. The revamped and new checkout, cart, and my account pages give website owners more control over the customer journey, along with extra bonuses like Scroll Snap. There’s even a handy new Progress Tracker widget available in this update, which allows users to provide customers with insights into how far along they are in a checkout process.
At the same time, user issues which might otherwise make Elementor less appealing to website builders have been handled too. The global widget infrastructure is now more intuitive, and the configuration process feels less clunky and confusing. Most website builders will now be able to create full stores within Elementor, without having to rely on additional tools and plugins for finishing touches.
The various new updates also gave Elementor an opportunity to dive behind the curtain of their technology and fix a few remaining bugs in the technology. This should mean a lot of website developers and owners with WooCommerce stores can accomplish more with their ecommerce strategy in future.
According to Elementor there will be more updates to come to the WooCommerce site-building experience in the future, potentially meaning better user and customer experiences are still yet to come.
Also check out the below video for more information.
If you are looking for information on creating a WordPress website using Elementor, check the video below:
