Thinking of Redesigning Your eCommerce Site? Here Are a Few Things You Should Consider
Tuesday, January 12, 2016Kelly Nelson
Important Things to Consider When Redesigning Your eCommerce Site
For those of you who are looking for a redesign on their eCommerce store, there are a few things you should consider. A company’s website is often the first point of contact for some customers, the first interaction they will ever have with a brand. It’s important you get the first impression right. As an eCommerce store owner, you only have a few crucial seconds to convert a casual user into a valuable customer. That first impression could either increase your sales or your bounce rate, which would you prefer?
Web design is constantly evolving and improving. With this always happening, it can be challenging to invest in changes that may be outdated a year from now. Having said that, it can be important to identify the trends that aren’t going anywhere as a starting point. From there, the changes depend on your company’s brand.
Be responsive
Responsive design is not a fad, it’s a massive trend! This means it’s not going anywhere. The 2015 infographic from
SmartInsights.com (below) says it all.
Focus on Conversions!
Walk a mile in your customer’s shoes and try and understand their behaviour. This will help you create a customized user flow on your site. Give them what they want and you’ll see a difference in your conversion rate. Here are a few ways you can do this:
- Invest in high quality imagery that appeals to your customers. If you can afford it, hire a photographer so you have your own set of unique images. You can create brand specific images this way.
- Create a clear, concise navigation and sitemap. This should take you a while to create or clean up. The flow of your website will mean everything to your conversion rate, so make sure you do it right.
- Have a featured section on your homepage. Like we mentioned above, you only have a couple of seconds to convert, so grab them as soon as they hit your site. Create an eye catching feature that pulls them in and intrigues them enough to keep digging.
- Focus on creating an overall design that is not only appealing but walks circles around your competitors. Spend time and money re-inventing the wheel and creating a presence that your users and potential customers won’t forget.
Remember What Your Customers Want.
An important thing to remember, is that your users/customers aren’t lazy, but don’t make them work too hard to get to where they want to be. Make your product pages easy to find, and your shopping cart easy to fill. This all goes back to having a good work flow for your user; easy clicks, and more scrolling instead of more pages.
In addition to this, watch your requests for registration. We all want users to sign up for our email newsletter and have them create an account, but that’s not always what the user is looking to do. Sometimes they really are just browsing. They will find the registration when they want to. It’s up to your new creative design to convert them. Don’t force the issue.
Bringing it All Together
2016 has arrived and it’s as good a time as any to finally work on that re-design you’ve been thinking about! Website design doesn’t have to be rocket science, but should be calculated and strategic with a strong customer focus. If your eCommerce store is in desperate need of a new look, do your research, work through your objectives and you’ll get there for a prosperous 2017!