The 6 Cornerstones of Great eCommerce Design

What separates a successful eCommerce site from one that struggles to make sales?

It’s all about eCommerce design that looks great and provides a fantastic user experience on every device – and a site that’s built with sales and conversions in mind. 

1. Intuitive search and navigation

It’s so important to make sure your customers can easily find what they’re looking for. There’s nothing more frustrating than a search function that constantly throws up irrelevant items – or fails to find products that match the search term.

Of course, not all customers use search to locate items in your store. Many will click through menus to navigate to the various categories, so it’s important they are logical and clearly organised. 

In addition, good eCommerce design will make it easy for customers to locate things like account areas and shipping information.

2. Well-designed category and sub-category pages

Category pages are an important part of the user experience. They can have a big impact on sales, conversions and even SEO, so it’s important to get them right.

Firstly, it’s important to make it clear where the customer has landed. Remember: many people will directly land on a category page without having gone through the homepage.

Next, it should have a logical layout that makes it easy for customers to see the items in the category or sub-category.

Filtering options are also extremely important, allowing customers to quickly find the items they’re interested in – and remove the ones they aren’t. Really knowing your customers and how they shop will allow you to create the most relevant filter options.

3. Optimised product pages

What does a great product page look and feel like?

Firstly, it should have a well-written title and description that’s focused on benefits to the customer and provides them with all the information they need to know to make a buying decision.

Next, it’s so important to have a good range of professionally taken photographs that really showcase the product in the best light. Videos and interactive elements can also be used to bring to life products that are otherwise difficult to appreciate with static photos alone.

In addition, features like buyer reviews can help to overcome buyers’ fears and objections about your products. Be sure to also show relevant product recommendations to mop up sales from buyers who have decided the product isn’t quite right for them – and those that want to buy even more.

Finally, make it easy for them to buy with a prominent ‘Add to Cart’ button. This is so important for conversions!

4. Streamlined checkout process

So, the buyer has found what they’re looking for – and they’ve added some items to their basket.

You might think the job is nearly done, but unfortunately it isn’t. On average, almost three out of every four buyers will abandon their cart without ever completing their purchase!

So, how do you reduce cart abandonment and maximise those sales?

One of the most important things is having a streamlined and intuitive checkout process. Essentially, you want to make it as easy as possible for the buyer to complete their purchase. 

This means offering guest checkout and not forcing the buyer to register. What’s more, the checkout process itself should be fast and easy to understand, with logical fields and as few pages as possible. You’ll also want to offer a wide range of convenient payment options.

5. Speed and mobile responsiveness

Consumers expect your site to load quickly on every device. According to research, a mere 1 second delay in loading speed can reduce conversions by as much as 7%.

Of course, an eCommerce site should also be built with scalability in mind. It needs to be able to cope with the demands of the business, both now and in the future.

What’s more, it’s imperative that every page is responsive and adapts to different screen sizes. This is vital for both the user experience and your ranking in Google – and it’s really a non-negotiable point in 2021.

Although most websites are now considered ‘mobile responsive,’ it’s also important to note that this is very much to differing degrees. At Aware Digital, we take a mobile-first approach and spend a great deal of time ensuring every single design element, image and piece of content looks at its best on every device.

6. Strong visual indentity

Branding is an incredibly important part of a successful eCommerce business – and so is consistent marketing.

What does this mean in practice?

It’s important to spend time developing a strong visual identity that really resonates with your audience and creates the right image – including colours, imagery and your logo. These elements should be used consistently across your website, social media and other platforms to reinforce your brand and messaging.

As a sidenote, branding runs far deeper than just a visual identity. Your products, your customer’s experience of your website and your customer service all have a big part to play in terms of how people view your business – and ultimately your long-term success.

eCommerce design success with Aware

We’re proud to craft sites with incredible eCommerce design, built to drive sales forward and allow our clients to meet their ambitious goals. 

Is there something we can help with? Get in touch for a no-obligation consultation.