By Sulaiman Hafeez
It is now common knowledge that a Brand's website is an extremely powerful tool that can make or break a transaction. So, it should not come as a surprise that every company is now in competition with each other to see who can deliver the best user experience to their customers.
A good E-commerce website is one that simplifies the entire shopping process for the customer. It lists down accurate information about the Company as well as the products at thoughtful places. Loading speed is another important factor to retain customers. Did you know that more than 50% of people opt to click off your website if the page doesn't load in less than 3 seconds? And this is just the tip of the iceberg. You still have the vast, bottomless ocean to explore when it comes to creating the perfect portal for your brand and its customers.
Successful E-commerce platforms such as Shopify can also host your online store by organizing the layout of the appearance of your store through a wide range of themes. These themes may also be modified as per your preference and to best reflect your brand aesthetics.
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It's imperative to have all your elements complement each other to make a fully-developed website. Your website must convey information, be simple to access, show a detailed list of your products, and offer customers a secure way to pay. Also include reviews to build an element of trust in the customers. A good website is one that makes shopping so much more pleasurable.
Another important thing to remember is that every E-commerce site must support different extensions to ensure smooth functioning. Different extensions can provide different features to your website. Discount coupons like the ones offered by GrabOn are hugely popular in today's market. This is why your website must support extensions that help integrate coupons and make them work with your product. These are just some of the things you need to be mindful of.
Are you trying to get your new website in place? Then you've landed here at the right time. We are listing some of the most important components of a truly enviable E-commerce website. Stop scratching your head, grab a pen and pad, and get ready to take notes!
Keep your website simple and effective. Unsplash
The quote "There's beauty in simplicity." holds merit even when it comes to hosting your website. It's detrimental to the Brand's motives to needlessly complicate things.
A website should ideally be divided neatly into different categories like 'About Us, 'Contact Us', 'Products' page, and more. Your efforts will bear sweeter fruits if you further break down the Product page into different, relevant categories. This makes it easier for potential customers to find what they're looking for instead of wandering around cluelessly.
Make sure that your website does not include spam or any sort of the virus. Unsplash
A new time user will always be skeptical when dealing with an unknown website, and can you blame them? The advent of technology and the development of millions of websites have also exponentially increased the number of scams, which is why it's so important to reassure your visitors.
You can work with well-known and reputed payment portals which are familiar to the customer and do not arouse suspicion. If you fail to convince your customers of your legitimacy, they will not place orders and this greatly impacts a Company's revenue. Win over their trust first before enticing them with your products.
Replying to frequent Q/A will help you build more customer trust. Unsplash
In continuation with the need to imbibe trust in your customer, a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) section is another great way to make your authenticity known. Every customer has different concerns that need to be addressed. You can determine the points on which your customers are most confused/curious about and seek to resolve their queries.
Make these answers visible to your website's visitors so that they can have their similar inhibitions addressed. Additionally, your website should enable users to drop their honest thoughts on your Brand and its products. These genuine reviews, if positive, can immensely help boost the popularity of your Brand.
Make sure the website is all device-friendly. Unsplash
In the present day and age, people prefer to surf E-commerce websites and make purchases over their phones rather than PCs. Phones are portable and always accessible to its owner. This makes it more likely that a customer may prefer to shop when outside, perhaps during a commute, or at a dinner table while waiting for their food. You don't want to shun a majority of your visitors by refusing to adapt to the recent changes.
Make sure your website is easily viewable on smaller screens and that the text/image doesn't appear distorted or out of place. It's important to guarantee a memorable experience to your customers so that they are more inclined to revisit your page. Treat them to an experience they won't forget!
Include a suggested product list for your audience. Unsplash
Always include a scrollable suggested/recommended product list towards the bottom of every product page. It will draw attention to your more unnoticed products and may help reverse its fortunes.
This section gives the spotlight to all of your products and its main purpose is to tempt customers by encouraging them to shop more. Accompany these suggestions with a 1-2 line description, as well as the product rating to elicit the best response from your viewers.
Use images with unique filters. Unsplash
Brand consistency is a very important factor that helps the casual audience to separate your Brand from the rest. The concept of Brand consistency can also be extended to the images used and color patterns adopted by the website.
Use images with a unique filter that will instantly help the viewer connect that picture with your Brand. This boosts up your reputation as a Brand, and also gives a really classy appearance to your website.
Plan your content wisely. Unsplash
Just like images, the content on your E-commerce website also plays an integral role and must adhere to the Brand tone. Ideally, light-hearted content works better than technical ones. Flaunting a flashy vocabulary may be tempting, but it won't help from a business perspective.
It has been determined that the audience likes content that speaks to them almost like an interaction. Conversational content works better than long, never-ending sentences that stretch on forever.
So skip the jargon and get straight to the point!
Keep the aforementioned points in mind when designing a new E-commerce website to make sure you have all the elements required for its success. Making a website is a daunting challenge, but it is also incredibly rewarding when done right.
Place yourself in the shoes of the general audience and determine which elements would appeal most to you before incorporating them into your site. Do you have any more suggestions? Let us know in the comment section below!