eCommerce website development is the process of creating an eCommerce website design for an online store that responds to user actions, assists customers in purchasing and returning goods, and accepts online payments. From completing the website’s product list to staying current with futuristic website design trends, from defining the design layout to arranging on-page and off-page SEO tactics, there’s a lot more into this process than just coming up with an eCommerce website design. When it comes to designing an eCommerce site, it’s not just about building a website to sell products; it’s also about providing a positive online shopping experience. The best practices are outlined in this detailed guide.
1. How Should You Design Your eCommerce Website?
With real-life examples, we’ll show you how to build your eCommerce website from the homepage through the checkout. It’s critical to keep the following in mind while you build your eCommerce platform:
Select the Most Appropriate eCommerce Solutions
The first step in the eCommerce website building process is to select the best eCommerce solutions for converting the website into a fully functional online store with all of the essential and desired features seamlessly integrated.
The following are the primary eCommerce solutions that should be carefully considered before beginning the eCommerce website design phase:
CMS eCommerce platform like WooCommerce or Magento that is appropriate for your eCommerce business in terms of product nature and needed integrated features
A website hosting package that is appropriate in terms of price, performance, and estimated amount of visitors to your online store
The most appropriate theme “template” for your eCommerce platform in terms of the aesthetics of the home page and the level of mobile friendliness
Provide your potential consumers with easy-to-use online payment choices
Custom features and extensions (for example, accounting extensions) are available to provide you complete control over your eCommerce platform.
All eCommerce websites are supposed to work flawlessly for users who are possible purchasers, which can be ensured by selecting the best eCommerce solutions appropriate for the nature, needs, and desired goals of the online store.
Conduct the Right Strategy And Research
Clear communication between the Website Development Company and the client is critical while developing an eCommerce website. It is critical for developers and designers to have a thorough understanding of both the firm and the product that the customer is producing. Discuss your target market and potential keyword phrases that customers might use to find your product or service. This reach will make it easier for you to reach out to your customers.
Find A Theme That Reflects Your eCommerce Vision
While developing an eCommerce store, your website is the most important representation. The best way to attract a large number of potential clients is by the “impression” you make, i.e. the appearance and style of your website.
A professionally designed website will attract a large number of customers while also increasing your credibility. Only if the website reflects an appealing style and nice design will the buyer make a purchase without hesitation; otherwise, they may believe that the goods supplied by the website will not meet their expectations.
Keeping Steady Progress Until Launch And Migration
Moving the site from a development server to a live server is the final stage. Return to each of the aforementioned areas for a last check to ensure that everything functions effectively, that the brand message is given, and that the navigation is fluid and leads someone to make a purchasing decision.
These procedures can be divided into three categories when creating an eCommerce site plan: research and strategy, planning, and information architecture. The eCommerce Requirements Specification, or ERS, is a highly precise overview of this plan published by eCommerce Partners. These are the most necessary parts you need to oversee from conception to completion.
2. eCommerce Website Design Trends to Help Your Brand Stand Out
Once you’ve found a good flow in your website development process, you can venture further into ways on how you can spice up your brand and successfully capture the eye of your target audience. Numerous brands are now getting more and more adventurous and imaginative with their tactics to further grow their online businesses, so below is a list of tested and proven eCommerce website design trends to help you stand out from your competition.
Playing with Avant-Garde Website Layout
Every day, a great number of new online enterprises emerge. Because of the simplicity with which information may be organised online, it is now easier to structure it. Shopify, for example, has a variety of easy-to-customise design templates. Furthermore, such top eCommerce website design trends have elevated the design of online stores to new heights.
Animated videos, interactive gifs, creative photos, a bilingual layout, an eye-catching art gallery, and infinite scroll via unorthodox and asymmetric layouts are just a few of the activities available.
Adopting Attractive Earth Tones
Dark modes and colour tones were popular in the past, but now neutral tones, mild modes, pastel hues, and earthy tones are prominent. Light mode, which signifies calming colours and relaxing tones, is one of the most popular eCommerce web design trends. As a result, more brands with eCommerce websites are more eager to embrace this trend, promoting tranquil scenes that highly appeal to a wide audience.
Testing Through Virtual and Augmented Reality
This isn’t quite new; some big brands have already started experimenting with it a few years ago, but with online shopping being the more frequent and practical way to shop since the outbreak began, Augmented Reality has opened the door to a more personal, hands-on buying experience. When ordering online, AR will alleviate the problem of visualising things that purchasers cannot see with their own eyes. Customers will be able to better grasp how the products featured on the site match their demands, thanks to augmented reality. Companies will be able to allow customers to test and research products while shopping in traditional stores in this fashion.
Incorporating Artificial Intelligence (AI)
AI is used by businesses to improve customer service and personalisation. This involves leveraging automated marketing platforms with tools for creating timely offers, as well as chatbots that answer client demands immediately. Optimisation of pricing and discounting, as well as projecting future demand, are two more areas where AI will be beneficial to retailers.
Driving Sales Through Social Media
Social media highly influences various aspects in our daily lives, such as the way we communicate and even how we buy items. Why not utilise popular applications to sell goods and services? Internet users spend roughly two hours every day on social media, which makes these platforms the best mediums to sell products and services. With the growing popularity of advertising on prominent sites like Facebook and Instagram, as well as Tiktok’s growing success as a social selling platform, you’ll find that choosing the right social media platforms and adding links leading directly to checkout pages will be one of the best decisions you’ll make for your online business.
3. Best Practices for Running A Successful eCommerce Website Design
The design and feel of a website is the most important factor in determining first impressions, among numerous other factors that help improve eCommerce website user experience. According to research, individuals decide whether or not they like a website in just 50 milliseconds. In this article, we’ll go through the most important eCommerce user interface design best practices:
Showcase Your Unique Value Proposition On Your Homepage
As previously said, online users will not stay on a page for long periods of time. Give them all the reasons they need to stay to increase your website conversion rate and engagement. To entice visitors to stay, you must present a compelling value proposition. A Unique Value Proposition is a clear statement that describes the benefits of your product or services, and how it fulfills a need. To get the idea across, value propositions don’t have to be fancy. SomniFix, for example, prominently displays their UVP on their homepage.
Consider what sets your company apart from the competition while developing your UVP. Then, based on the factors that will highlight the benefits of using your items, compose your text. Furthermore, a UVP does not need to be long, as this increases the likelihood of it going unread. Instead, aim to be as succinct as possible, underlining the importance in only a few words.
Follow the brand identity
The branding should be apparent throughout the website. There are plenty available branding strategies you can adopt in order to help your target market get a good grasp of your brand. Make it clear what type of products are being sold by choosing colours that reflect the brand, and setting the appropriate style. Ensure brand experience is consistent across all channels — whether online, in-store, or on a mobile device. This will help build a strong brand-customer relationship.
Make use of visual hierarchy: The most crucial information should be placed above the fold. In some cases, using less white space to bring objects closer together is preferable to placing critical information below the fold.
Keep the design simple: Font formats, such as font face, size, and colour, should be limited. To make the message as clear as possible, choose high-contrast text and backdrop colours.
Stick to symbols that are well-known: Use easily recognizable icons or symbols. Unfamiliar iconography can only confuse potential customers. Providing labels for icons is a great way to eliminate any potential misunderstanding.
At all costs, popup windows should be avoided: The use of popup windows is inconvenient. Even if they include significant information, shoppers are more likely to disregard them immediately; once the information has vanished, it is impossible for shoppers to obtain it again, even if they want to.
Make navigation, filtering, and searching easier
People shop online for a variety of reasons, the most important of which is convenience. The most important UX design trend nowadays is to create websites that make consumers’ life easier by guiding them to the most important step, which is completing a purchase or taking another targeted action (leaving contact details, registering, and so on). To do so, a designer must consider each and every detail.
Everything must be able to flow from one point to the next to allow the user to speed through the website and easily traverse the pages. Back to the menu, then to the product page, then to the cart, and finally to the home page. Designers create user journey maps and test numerous options to achieve this. As a result, only the best are chosen.
No matter how deep down the user navigates, the brand logo should always be visible and lead to the homepage.
The catalog assists users in navigating to the appropriate product category and locating what they require.
Filtering removes irrelevant items from a huge number of search results and guides customers to the product page from the homepage.
Users can utilise the search box to easily locate a specific item or category. It should be visible and easy to locate.
Keep it simple to appeal to a wider audience
An eCommerce website should be simple to navigate and understand. It is not necessary for a website to have a spectacular design to be interesting. The minimalism and cleanness that make a website look sophisticated and favor the products are what constitute a successful eCommerce website design. Nothing should be on purpose to divert the user’s attention away from the information. It’s especially vital to avoid overcrowding websites that sell a wide range of products with information. Light and airy eCommerce designs using tried-and-true patterns that have been tested on other websites are the most ideal.
The websites that sell have a lot of white space, no more than three colours per page, pure tones and hues, and plain and understandable typography. The consumer must be able to see the key images consistently across the website without the important information being concealed by the design.
Ensure mobile responsiveness
In reality, more than three-quarters of internet shoppers now shop at online retailers. If an eCommerce website is not optimized for mobile devices, all of the interface components and texts will appear too small when viewed on a smartphone. The website would be inconvenient for a human to utilise. The importance of having a mobile version of a website in 2022 is undeniable. Users won’t be able to properly access or engage with a website if it doesn’t have a responsive version, leading them to abandon a store in favor of another.
Include social proof
Even if a corporation is trustworthy, that does not guarantee that its customers are. Social proof is a powerful tool for gaining client trust. It could be:
Customer feedback
Awards
Journalistic mentions
Information about the company that is entertaining.
However, don’t do it all at once. Many businesses load their websites with social proof, which can come out as arrogant at times. Consider the most relevant and crucial evidence. Put yourself in the position of a customer and consider what they might be looking for on a newly discovered website.
Add photos of products to your website’s categories
Categories provide a structured overview of the products available in your store. But what if you could improve your categories’ effectiveness even more? Visual components over anything else since we, as humans, are visual creatures. Only one thing can be deduced from this.
A relevant image will help your busy visitors find what they’re looking for faster, resulting in a better user experience. This strategy is simple to execute and will quickly enhance visitor engagement with your categories and product pages. Simply ensure that your photographs are high-resolution and relevant to your category.
Get rid of the adverts on your homepage
Ads on your eCommerce website will provide you with additional revenue. You should avoid doing so no matter what. Advertisements not only add to the clutter, but they can also frustrate your visitors and send them to your competitors. Of course, there are some exceptions. If you want to include adverts in your website design, you must do so strategically. Including them organically can help you avoid any potential irritation while also increasing your sales.
Although advertisements are appealing, you can make use of other ways to increase your eCommerce website sales. Using lead magnets to collect email addresses will be far more effective than blasting your audience with advertisements.
Ensure that customer service is easily accessible
Not every transaction will go as planned, but that’s fine. Some customers may choose to have their purchase refunded, while others may have issues with the product they recently purchased. Whatever the case may be, you must make it simple for clients to contact you and receive the assistance they require.
Fortunately, you can use the design of your eCommerce website to provide solutions through customer service channels. You must provide a remedy with a single click, especially when it comes to unpleasant client experiences. You can also have your phone number prominently displayed, chatbots, and a live customer care button. Customers can choose a channel and contact you quickly this way.
Additionally, ensure that your customer service staff are knowledgeable enough to deliver solutions to your customers. A quick and competent team will help you recover any lost revenue by minimizing negative customer service evaluations.
Shopping Cart Design
The shopping cart is crucial since it is where customers review their chosen products, make their final decision, and check out. The shopping cart’s principal goal is to direct customers to the checkout. Here are some suggestions for creating a user-friendly shopping cart that will inspire customers to make additional purchases.
Make strong calls to action: The checkout button should be the primary call to action on the shopping cart page. To make the checkout button prominent, straightforward, and easy to use, use bright colours, plenty of clickable locations, and plain text.
Give appropriate feedback: As soon as a product is added to the shopping basket, make sure it is confirmed swiftly and clearly. Inadequate feedback, such as providing inconspicuous confirmation text, confuses customers. Animated graphics are an excellent concept because movement draws the human eye.
Make it simple to edit the cart: It should be simple to remove, save for later, or adjust features like size, colour, or amount.
Avoid being caught off guard by unexpected shipping expenses and taxes: One of the most common causes for shoppers abandoning their shopping carts is unexpected shipping expenses. Place shipping options and taxes with exact cost calculations and an estimated arrival date in advance.
4. Verz Design’s Roster of eCommerce Web Designs
Any online business will struggle to achieve conversions if the eCommerce website looks awful and is difficult to use, regardless of how good the product is. As a result, we’ve gathered three of Verz Design’s most impressive eCommerce website designs to serve as inspiration.
Bee Cheng Hiang
Take a peek at Bee Cheng Hiang’s site if you want to create a bustling eCommerce store. The website’s text is vibrant to ensure clarity. There’s also enough solid-colour white space, which looks spectacular without being overbearing. The website is also very user-friendly. If you’re unsure what event to attend, the search tool can suggest an exhibition based on a term you choose from a drop-down menu.
Portfolio Link: Bee Cheng Hiang
Yishion
Yishion’s website is one of the best examples of an excellent eCommerce business website, aiming to bring out the inner fashionista in everyone through a variety of apparels. The attractively designed homepage captures the attention of visitors and effectively demonstrates why their products are worthwhile.
The webpage provides answers to key questions concerning the product, such as its advantages and how to utilise it effectively. It also includes a few hero shots for demonstration purposes. All of these components operate in tandem to remove any roadblocks in the client experience. As a result, visitors should feel more at ease when making a purchase.
Portfolio Link: Yishion
Financial Times Diaries
Produced and distributed by the UK’s leading diary and stationery brand, Collins, Financial Time Diaries has a sleek eCommerce website that puts its items front and centre. The user interface is straightforward and uncluttered, with plenty of white space. A well-implemented typographic hierarchy improves the readability of a website, making it easy for customers to understand what the firm is all about. Because the images don’t have a background, they stand out against the bright colours. Aside from that, the product lineup pages’ full-width option allows shoppers to see goods clearly without having to zoom in.
Portfolio Link: Financial Times Diaries
Create A Smooth eCommerce Experience with Verz Design
Whatever the case may be, online customers want a smooth experience. It’s not just about having a website when it comes to creating an eCommerce website design; it’s about developing an online shopping experience that converts casual visitors into paying consumers.
First seen here.
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