Elements Of E-Commerce Website Design You Must Not Go Without in 2022

More consumers than ever are choosing online shopping as an easy way to get what they want. Such a boom in the popularity of e-commerce has meant that business owners have enormous amounts of competition in the online shopping market.

Having a top-quality website design is critical in e-commerce. To successfully meet the needs of your customers and increase your sales, you need a website that goes above and beyond basic functionality.

Here are some of the best ways to ensure your e-commerce website will attract more customers than your competitors.

1. Create a User-Friendly Design

The easier to navigate you make your online shop, the better your chance of making a sale. Most users spend less than a minute on each page of a website, so when it comes to making a user-friendly design, you need to work against the clock. An e-commerce website with convoluted UX navigation is likely to have more abandoned shopping carts.

With an inviting homepage that encourages your audience to click through categories and products of interest easily, you are more likely to keep them engaged for long enough to secure a purchase.

Some specific ways to make a user-friendly website design include:

• Including an easy-to-find search bar
• Self-explanatory categories and subcategories
• Keep your brand logo in sight and ensure it will navigate back to the homepage
• Include CTA (call to action) buttons 
• Enable filtering

2. Make it Mobile-Friendly

From 2016 to 2021, the percentage of retail e-commerce sales worldwide increased from 52.4% to 72.9%. That means, nearly three-quarters of your potential customers are shopping online via mobile devices.

Your e-commerce website should be responsive, if not prioritising, to mobile phone usage. Make your website ready for mobiles by ensuring its design adapts to different screen sizes, resolutions, and layouts. 

Margins and padding should not disappear on phone screens, and the font should adjust automatically so that it is readable on smaller screens. Further, make sure your website loads quickly. The longer it takes to load, the less likely your consumers will stick around.

3. Include Cart and Checkout Buttons

Optimising your shopping cart feature will help you significantly increase your revenue. Carts are critical for helping customers preview their orders before proceeding to the checkout page. If the shopping cart is difficult to reach, that will affect your customers’ decisions about whether to purchase your products.

Some of the best ways to keep your customers engaged all the way through the purchase include:

• Making product details readily available
• Use SEO keywords to optimise product names
• Include several checkout buttons

4. Integrate Security Features

Keeping your website and customers’ personal information safe (and being able to prove it) is essential for ethical and successful e-commerce. Some ways to keep your website secure include:

• Installing an SSL certificate to encrypt your website data
• Setting up multi-factor authentication to verify logins
• Use safe plug-ins

5. Use Multiple Payment Options

Better flexibility in terms of payment options will enhance your customer experience. Some customers prefer using digital wallets and cryptocurrencies for data protection. Plus, you cannot predict whether a payment option will go down. Having other options available can reduce your abandoned carts and increase your sales.

Demonstrate to your customers clearly what your payment options are, and you can build better trust and reassure them before they complete purchases.

6. Go Into Detail About Your Shipping and Returns

Consumers’ trust in supply chains and shipping services has reduced dramatically since the global pandemic caused huge changes in their operations. Most shoppers want to know how much shipping will cost upfront before purchasing anything, and free shipping significantly affects buyer decisions.

Further, you can increase your number of repeat customers if you are transparent about your return policies. Some of the best practices to ensure great shipping and returns user experience are:

• Displaying when items are in stock
• Clarity around shipping costs, expected arrival times, and your returns process
• Displaying your shipping and returns policies

7. Use High-Quality Images

Catch the eyes of your customers by using appealing, professional visual aspects. It is probably not news that quality images will affect how your customers see your brand, but you can take it to the next level by:

• Linking your images directly to the product purchasing page
• Using AI to customise which products display for customers based on their demographic
• Displaying user-generated content such as testimonials
• Using virtual reality and video tours so users can “experience” your product before purchasing

8. Make it Easy to Contact You

Building relationships based on trust with your customers is the best way to keep them engaged with your brand, whether or not they have purchased with you before. Make it easy for your customers to ask questions, share concerns, and get feedback and clarification with you by including on your website:

• All your contact details
• A contact form
• An FAQ page
• Live chat

Get the Most Out of E-Commerce With Kiwi Website Design

Take your brand to the next level by building a well-designed e-commerce website with the help of Kiwi Website Design. Contact us today.