If an e-commerce venture has to succeed, then it needs to have a well-developed strategy combining the best of functionality, layout, structure, and aesthetics. By making all these work together in tandem, you will be able to ensure good page rankings and prime your site for a high rate of conversion. Some useful tips on getting your web design strategy right:
Table of Contents
Decide On A Brand Identity:
Every online business should be able to be defined in less than ten seconds on what it does and sells, and your definition should be echoed by both your employees and customers. If there is a dissonance, then you need to introspect on what your brand stands for and then make the necessary adjustments to change how it is positioned and perceived. For example, tweaking the typography, styling, and color palette can work wonders in brand perception. If your brand is already well-established, just make sure that it’s heading the way it should be and you are happy with its performance.
Know Who Your Customers Are:
Even though every online business should know who their customers are you will be surprised to discover just how many companies host a website and hope customers will find their way in and buy. You need to identify all the possible audiences that are important for you as well as their demographics so that you can be sure that you are properly targeting them. Knowing your audiences will ensure that your design strategy is inclusive and that your site is user-friendly and conducive to transacting business by inspiring trust and confidence.
Focus On Making The Site Usable:
The key to making visitors remain on the site and end up purchasing is clean, clear, and intuitive navigation. Doing this doesn’t require advanced degrees or research but just a lot of thought. Essentially, what you need to do is to arrange all products into categories and sub-categories that the customer can make sense of. All products should be displayed in a clean grid and have easy to read labels. You can see examples of great website design that have focused on many eCommerce site.
Give Users A Path They Can Follow Easily:
One way of increasing clicks on links or CTA buttons is to ensure that the user knows exactly what the end result of the action is going to be and that the result is a step towards the planned destination. Clutter on the page is a big deterrent and clear navigation is highly appreciated by serious customers. Do not forget to add a search function to the site. Using icons and images is invariably better than text links as they can easily add a lot of clutter to the page. It is essential to make sure that if something indicates a certain result, it should lead to that result as otherwise; the entire site will lose its value in the eyes of the customers.
Adopt Technology That Is Right:
While it can be very attractive for web designers to use the latest technology, it is best to keep in mind that these will possibly not work on the devices with older technology. A middle-of-the-road policy is the best for increasing the conversion rate and site revenues. Make sure that your site functions on most of the platforms and content displays as is intended. A site that loads fast and has a clean interface is the customer’s best friend.
Consistency Is Critical:
The success of an e-commerce site can be attributed a lot to the overall consistency of site design. Make sure that most of the style elements and site aesthetics are carried over from the home page to all the other pages and the page header, footer, as well as product grid is uniform across different pages. The text should be easily readable, and the color palette followed rigorously. Even the photos should reinforce the brand identity. Go easy on the page contents and give enough space for the text and the images to breathe – a practical grid structure can be really useful in maintaining consistency.
Conclusion:
Behind every successful online business, you will find a website design that has evolved with a lot of planning, research, and customer insights. It pays to always focus on what customers want from the website and then go all out to make their browsing experience better.
About the Author:Evans Walsh is a freelance web designer with more than a decade of experience with some leading names in the industry, including www.lasvegaswebdesignco.com Evans Walsh writes extensively on web design principles and how online businesses should make customers the focus of their efforts.
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