Last updated - April 4, 2022
With every passing day, every facet of our life is getting digitized.
This holds true for retail as well. While previously, customers used to peruse business websites for the sole purpose of information, now many find it convenient to shop through it as well.
This has led to a rise in the demand for eCommerce. According to Statista, in 2019, 3.53 billion US dollars were generated by the retail eCommerce sector. The value is expected to rise to a whopping 4.2 billion US dollars in 2020!
As per Nasdaq, by 2040, almost 95 percent of shopping will be done online. And OptinMonster reports that over 93 percent of global internet users have purchased items online at least once. So, there is an apparent demand for eCommerce websites.
Still, this does not mean that merely owning a website will ensure conversion. You must work to deliver an effective website design.
Here are ways you can improve your website design to get better conversions on your online store.
Brand consistently
Do you have an offline store as well? If not, then chances are you at least use other digital marketing tactics, like search engine marketing, online ads, and social media marketing to promote your eCommerce store.
You must ensure that your website design is consistent with all your other marketing communications. According to Forbes, presenting a brand consistently across platforms boosts revenue by 23 percent.
Why?
Well, consistent branding guarantees that your target audience is able to recognize and recall your communications when they visit your website. It helps build onto a brand image and hence increases chances of conversion.
What does brand consistency call for?
For starters, you must use the same logo on your website as you do on other platforms. Make sure it is well-placed so that people can easily view and recognize it. Your logo is a visual representation of your company. Always get a professional logo design company to design it for you.
You must also use the same color theme in all your communications. For instance, McDonald’s uses red and yellow in every platform, while Nike uses red and white.
Use high-quality images
One of the most significant drawbacks of shopping via eCommerce stores is that customers aren’t able to physically view the product. Hence, making a decision about products can seem challenging.
When designing your website, take special care of product pages. Make sure to add high-quality images on the pages. Use the right angles to try and make the most out of the 2-D picture.
Use the power of content writing to draft product descriptions that further help you in communicating the features as well as the attributes and specifications of your products.
The chances are that you will face one hurdle when opting for high-quality images. It will lower down your website speed.
Now, a website that takes too long to load has a high bounce rate. In other words, with every extra second a website takes to load, it loses a significant chunk of its customers.
So, you must strike a balance between the quality of image and page speed. Don’t go for the highest resolution possible. Instead, opt for a resolution that is clear enough.
While you are at it, introduce the zoom feature on your website that allows customers to zoom into certain parts of the pictures without it pixelating. This is much more likely to help customers than a high-resolution picture.
Group similar items together
Why do people prefer eCommerce stores? Because of the convenience they provide.
Your website design must also be an extension of this advantage. Hence, apart from aesthetics, you must pay attention to the functionality of your website.
For starters, you must ensure that the navigation process is as straightforward as possible. Have only the essential tabs on the navigation menu. Make the purchase and checkout process simple.
Also, rather than displaying just a single page with all products, sort them all into different groups. For instance, let’s say you are a supermarket chain like Carrefour.
Now, you have entered the eCommerce sector. Rather than displaying all groceries, medicines, electronics, toiletries, etc. as a list on one page, sort them and categorize them. By grouping similar products together, you make the shopping experience easier for the customer, thereby boosting conversion rate.
Also, add product recommendations based on the popularity of a given product with other customers when people are viewing a given product page. This also increases the chances of people finding what they are looking for.
Optimize the checkout process
According to research conducted by Baymard, 28 percent of customers abandon their carts when sites ask them to create an account while 21 percent do so because the process is too complicated.
This points towards a glaring fact- unless your checkout process is optimized, you won’t get conversions.
When it comes to website design, you must ensure that your checkout process is simple and direct. Don’t overwhelm the customer with challenging and complicated website design. Don’t redirect them to multiple pages.
Instead, at most, the checkout process should consist of two pages. Always have a guest checkout option to cater to those customers who don’t wish to create an account for security or privacy reasons.
Make your “Add to Cart” and “Proceed to checkout” symbol stand out so that customers can easily spot it and complete their purchases.
Improve and Convert
Yes, the eCommerce sector is thriving. But, this doesn’t mean that converting visitors into customers is easy. Instead, as more and more eCommerce stores spring up, it is getting immensely challenging to boost your conversion rates.
At such a time, improving your website design by branding consistency, using quality product photos, grouping products together, and simplifying the checkout process can go a long way.
Take the right measures today and watch as your conversion rates skyrocket.
Do you think any other web design tactics can help? Let us know below.
