Introduction
With tons of competition these days, e-commerce websites need to do a lot more than having great products and services. You need to encourage people to choose you above everyone else by treating them right.
There are numerous ways to do this, but it’s best to start with something people don’t usually think of when it comes to customer service—website design. Below are seven simple ways to optimize your web design for customer experience.
1. Be User-Friendly
The first step to ensuring a great customer experience is having a fully-functional e-commerce website. This is where they’ll be doing most of their shopping, after all!
Like physical stores, you need to have proper organization by making sure everything is easy to find even for people who aren’t so tech-savvy. Add in search bars and filters to let them find whatever they need in an instant. Categorize items so people can find similar or related items, and have lots of pictures and detailed descriptions so they know what to expect from your product.
Additionally, have an e-commerce web design that’s fairly simple. Not only does this help your page loading speed, but it also keeps the customer’s eyes from tiring up quickly. Nobody wants to read large paragraphs filled with itty-bitty fluff text.
2. Optimize for Mobile Devices
While baby boomers love to joke about the younger kids being glued to their mobile devices, you can’t deny their convenience—you can listen to music, communicate with loved ones, watch videos, do research, and online shop all at the palm of your hand! It’s not surprising that over half of today’s web searches come from mobile devices.
Have you ever visited a website on your phone and had to deal with things like zooming in, scrolling excessively, and clicking tiny links? Don’t have that for your e-commerce website. You should have a responsive, mobile-friendly version of your site by compressing images, adjusting the web design, and removing unnecessary widgets.
You can look up your website’s mobile-friendliness with Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test.
3. Highlight Customer Feedback
Nowadays, people like to do prior research before buying products. They weigh the pros and cons of a product, compare them to other competitors, and of course, read customer reviews as they provide accurate and detailed depictions of the product from a third party.
As much as possible, try to have customer feedback for all your products. You can do this by asking for reviews after every purchase, having an easy-to-use review system on the product page, and even offering incentives like coupon codes in exchange.
4. Utilize Customer Psychology
Did you know that colors affect how people look at your brand? This is called color psychology and is used by every bigtime company in the world!
For example, red is a bold, flashy color that grabs the attention and induces hunger, which is why many fast-food chains like McDonald’s, Pizza Hut, and Wendy’s have primarily red logos. In the same way, you can encourage your customers to spend by having red ‘BUY NOW’ buttons or using red text to advertise discounted sales.
Here are ways to use other colors in the rainbow:
- Orange – Freshness, Confidence
- Yellow – Happiness, Joy
- Green – Nature, Frugality
- Blue – Trust, Professionalism
- White – Simplicity, Cleanliness
- Black – Luxurious, Formal
- Purple – Mystique, Royalty
5. Get On Social Media
Social media is a powerful tool in your marketing strategy. With billions of users using Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube every day, it’s a great way of boosting your visibility and garnering exposure. In fact, many of these platforms have business centers like TikTok Business Center and Business Solutions on LinkedIn just for business owners!
On social media, you can advertise your products, post updates, and readily interact with your customers. Just make sure to link your e-commerce website too so users can click on it if they want to purchase something.
6. Speed Up the Process
According to the Harvard Business Review, businesses that ease the buying process are 62% more likely to get more sales and have repeat customers.
It’s the little things that count, you know! If you do stuff like saving customer information so they can’t have to fill everything out again, being inclusive (e.g., swatching makeup products on different skin colors), having bookmarks or wishlists, and others, that’s already mighty convenient for your customers.
7. Inform About Stock Availability
Having stock availability displayed is super convenient for multiple reasons. First, it prevents issues like refunds and replacements from occurring. Second, it lets people know what’s popular. Third, it lets people anticipate and keep them coming back to your website to check when something will be back in stock. Fourth, it encourages people to buy—when they see only one left, for example, they’ll be pushed to buy the last one! Fifth, and most importantly, you can inform your customers about stock availability, thereby getting their contact information.
Just remember a few things. One, try not to have too many out-of-stock items on display. This makes it seem like you don’t have much to offer. At the very least, have the out-of-stock items at the end of your catalog. Two, try not to have items out-of-stock for too long—your customers aren’t going to wait forever. And three, don’t lie about having something you don’t have!
Conclusion
Think of your e-commerce website as your home. You need to clean up and organize whenever you bring guests over! That way, you can make a great impression and encourage them to come over frequently.