Ecommerce trends keep on changing in a breeze. Some trends may only be fads, while others may act as a seismic shift across the industry. Mobile or online shopping falls into the latter category.
Today, consumers have become pickier and more discerning than ever. As per Adobe, almost 38% of online shoppers will leave a website if they find the design to be unattractive. And that’s the reason why businesses are working hard to come up with a website that is clean and easy to navigate to make the purchasing process as intuitive as possible.
What is Ecommerce User Experience?
In layman’s terms, the core idea of typical user experience (UX) design is to get inside the head of your end-user and learn what will give them a simple, logical, and enjoyable shopping experience.
Ecommerce user experience, however, is all about the perception a user has after interacting with your website — whether it be positive or negative.
Have you wondered why around 46 out of every 50 of your visitors end up abandoning their cart? It’s easy — they aren’t impressed at all.
Imagine yourself walking into a brick and mortar store. You are searching for something hard to find. When you seek assistance, you find a customer service associate is busy texting on their phone or playing a game.
How would you feel? Annoyed? Disheartened? You’d most likely just walk out! These feelings also apply to online businesses. The rise in cart abandonment leads to a staggering amount of revenue loss.
How to Stay Ahead of User Expectations
Don’t let your competitors outmaneuver you by ignoring this valuable step for your business. Your competitors are just a Google search away, and switching brands for the next best thing is no big deal for your customers.
Moreover, in the present scenario, customers act as brand advocates who promote their products and services widely. So you have to complete some user research to identify their needs, meet or even exceed their expectations, and deliver the ideal experiences.
Down below you’ll find a few pointers to help you better connect with your customers in this age of endless possibilities.
Users (And Google) demand speed
Consumers want to find what they’re looking for, and it has to be fast or they will switch. Page load speed time is something that even Google considers when they calculate your site’s ranking. As per several researchers, 9.6% of visitors will bounce off your page if the load speed is more than two seconds.
Each customer has their unique worth; this might create significant losses in terms of revenue.
- Make sure your web pages load quickly along with all images.
- Avoid a high bounce rate; it’s awful for SEO.
Provide the right info appealingly
We, as humans, are always looking for answers. Make sure you answer all general questions about your business, your products, and your return policy on your website. Remember, surprise and delight has to be the desired outcome.
Ask for feedback proactively
Customer feedback surveys are a must-do activity. Businesses should ask customers for their opinions before there’s an issue. You can add feedback forms to your website. This additionally shows that you care about what your end-users think or feel.
Another example: Many websites offer live chat on their sites to greet web visitors as they browse the site. While browsing, any visitor can ask a question and end up chatting with an agent. That’s how you can personalize it!
All in all, whether it’s about winning new customers or driving loyalty, getting good returns in business, positioning of the brand, and customer experience are at the heart of everything.
And you know what the best part of doing all this is? It offers outcomes that are uniquely rewarding for many years to come.
3 Best Ecommerce User Experience Tips
Use eye-catching elements to draw attention
Nobody these days is interested in exploring those hamburgers (or slide-in) menus — so get rid of them ASAP, especially for mobile UX. Using these types of menus hides key elements and makes tasks more difficult for the end-user.
Focus on adding eye-catching elements to your website. Product imagery or other content media (e.g. videos, social content, or user-generated content (UGC) can achieve this goal in many different creative ways. Study your customer base and understand what they are drawn to and capitalize on that.
Think of ways to get people back to your website. You have worked hard to create a strong company website, but what’s next?
- How do you attract more visitors?
- How do you convert site visitors into customers?
- Once they get on your ecommerce website, how do you keep them coming back?
Here are a couple of pointers emphasizing how to increase customer retention and turn every customer into a brand advocate for the long term.
- Personalize your website — include customized landing pages, featured sections, voice search, or an email subscribe pop-up.
- Highlight what’s new and popular with rich product details.
- Don’t forget to reward your brand advocates.
- With the help of social media, give public recognition.
- Engage users at regular intervals.
Take a note from minimalism
Minimalism and maximalism are both design trends that are two poles apart — something like yin and yang. No matter how different they are; they are included in every known field of work starting from literature, art, and scientific research.
Digital media is no exception. Minimalist design is all about having a spotlight always on the product or a snippet of text that the business wants viewers to look at. More importantly, the homepage is more about the feel, high-quality experience or tone of the brand rather than exposition or information display.
Conclusion
No matter which industry you work for, you need to serve your customers with an easy-to-use, clean and attractive website.
After reading this post, you know-how creating a good ecommerce UX transcends the boundaries of your website. All you have to do is strive hard by creating a comprehensive, strategic approach towards making the experience for your end-users easier. Of course, every product and audience is different, so you must do research and track changes to find what works for you.
Also, keep a watchful eye for new trends and opportunities as most of these will be effortless to implement.
“Learning is a continuous process; it’s all about learning what works without jeopardizing your current revenue.”
