How to Put Your Best Digital Foot Forward with eCommerce Website Design

10 Best Practices for eCommerce web design & development

When it comes to having an online store, there’s a few best practices it should follow - researched options that are tested for the best conversions, user experience, and overall website success.

How does your website stack up? Check out these 10 best practices and give your current website a score.

1. Clear Calls to Action

Are CTA’s like “Add to Cart,” “Buy Now,” “Purchase,” or “Learn More” should be clear, obvious, and easy to find. Your user should know what they’re doing and how easy it is to do it. If they’re on a product page, there should be multiple calls to action to add the item to the cart and finish the transaction.

2. Easy to find Navigation

Some users might land on your site and know exactly what they’re looking for, while others may want to browse. Your navigation should be clear enough to support both and bring people to the place they need.

3. Analytics Tied In

Are you able to see how your website is doing? Do you know how many people visit your site everyday? How many people abandon carts? You should have analytics tied into your site and easily accessible so you can make adjustments accordingly.

4. Abandoned Cart Emails Sent

The average eCommerce store has 60% to 80% of carts abandoned. With that in mind, it’s important to try and win that revenue back. It can be as simple as sending an email to remind a user that something is in their cart. We recommend a sequence reminding users and even experimenting with offering discounts after the third email. Setting these up is a one time effort and can bring back a lot of lost revenue.

5. Multiple Payment Options

In this day and age, there are a ton of options for users to choose from in how to spend their money. From PayPal to ApplePay to the good old credit card, you should have a platform that supports as many options as you’re willing to take. You never want a user to get decide to make a purchase, fill out all their info, and stop their purchase because of payment options, right? With how simple it is to support multiple systems, you should consider the viable options for your business.

6. Clear FAQ & Return Policy

With every business there are questions and concerns that users may have, and most of the time they end up being similar questions that most people ask. Putting together an FAQ for your consumers can streamline the process for both your customers and your team. Posting your return policy is great during the busy holiday season to make returns smooth.

7. Showing off Reviews

We’ve said it time and time again, but reviews should be a part of your strategy. The power of social proof is unmatched for your users and people often love to be heard. Including testimonials on your website or reviews on your product pages can be the extra push that users need to make the purchase.

8. Site Search & Product Filtering

Allowing your users to explore your site based on their specific needs is beneficial for both returning customers and new ones. On the product categorization level, giving your user options to filter based on the type of product, sizing, coloring, etc. can streamline the buying process and get the user to make a purchase faster!

9. One Page Checkout

Showing your user their items, payment method, shipping and billing addresses and promos all on one page can create fewer clicks for the user as well as speed up the process.

10. Evident Brand Story

Buying factors are dependant upon the user, but more and more we are seeing consumers care about the story behind the brand. Whether it’s a great brand story, strong ethical values, or your involvement in the community, sharing any part of you that is relatable to users can really build a bond that convinces them to buy.

Following best practices and making small tweaks can really make a difference to start creating conversions and building up your website business.

Want to up your eCommerce website game?

Our team can help. Fill out the form below and we can give you a free site audit and recommendations for how we’d recommend that you can best optimize your eCommerce website.