Life is busy, a pile of responsibilities, social interactions, cultural events, work and errands. It shouldn’t be surprising that the emerging technological trends in focus for 2019 are all about making things just a little bit easier. Although it’s been consistently growing in popularity, online shopping is a huge market.
E-commerce is evolving quickly, and as a business with an e-commerce site, it’s crucial that you stay on top of things. If you’re looking for ways to design your site so it will reach its full potential, read on for our tips and tricks on the subject.
E-commerce web design: 6 ways to make your site successful
1- Well selected photos and videos
It should be obvious that shopping online creates distance between the item being purchased and the customer. Therefore, the use of visual elements helps bridge this gap, offering as much insight into the product and helping clients to make informed decisions about what they’re spending money on.
Of course, if you’re selling products, it is crucial for the customer to access as much visual information as possible. Consider some strategies that will help your site's visitors get the best idea of what your products feel like.
High-quality video is an excellent avenue to explore if you’re offering something that requires demonstration or instruction. Also, video can offer a context when photos just don’t cut it. Another consideration is using GIFs or 360-videos to show off all of the intricate features of a product. The use of embedded video in websites is growing in popularity, and thus, is becoming something that people look for.
2- Social media shopping
We’re all well aware of the lasting impacts that have been made possible with social media. Platforms like Instagram and Pinterest are highly visual and being used by e-commerce businesses to showcase products. Consumers already spend a large amount of time on their social media accounts, and this pairing with the influence that brands have in this landscape has created an ideal combination!
Purchasing items through Instagram is becoming widely popular. The platform has now implemented the possibility to click on an item worn by a person in an image, allowing you to purchase it there and then. In most cases, if the item can’t be purchased right away there will be a link that leads directly back to the e-commerce site.
The possibilities with social media are endless, including using real-life customer photos after they’ve purchased your products, Instagram-only giveaways that offer an incentive for potential customers to pay attention to your business and so on. Get creative, as this is a form of free advertising that shouldn’t go to waste.
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3- Voice-activated search response
In several of our articles, we’ve discussed voice searches as one of the SEO trends to watch. It’s true that vocal command interactions on mobile devices, tablets and even in smart homes are used by over 40% of the population. In response, Google has updated its algorithm to comply with the structures of voice search.
This means more natural search terms are favoured, as people who tend to use voice search will structure their queries as a fully formed question. Therefore, it’s important that web developers and designers respond to this through elements of both the front and backend of websites.
For example, if you were selling outerwear and someone were to ask “OK Google, what’s the best outerwear for my upcoming camping trip?” How can you make sure that people find their way to your website first? If you’re a newer business, this may be challenging, but it's important ways to find ways to incorporate colloquial language into your website so that you appear close to the top in search results.
Also, make sure to do a fair amount of keyword research, but do not rely on keywords alone to carry your content. Well-written content that responds to the needs of the users is a great place to start for the success of your e-commerce website!
4- Making your eCommerce website Mobile friendly!
This is another common thread in many of our articles and for good reason! In this day and age, having a mobile-friendly website is crucial, and of course, this is especially true for e-commerce websites. A modern e-commerce website should be designed with a smooth and carefree user experience in mind, and this means on a smartphone as well.
Even if you haven’t taken the step to offer an app alongside your website, it’s necessary for aspects like quick load time to be incorporated into your browser-based mobile offering. Just think, there is nothing more stressful than entering your credit card information into a website and having it take three minutes to load. If a customer is going to move from prospective to return, it’s necessary for your e-commerce website to be compatible with all platforms.
5- Utilizing templates
Working with a website template does not mean that your company has a lack of creative vision. In fact, quite the opposite. You may have noticed that many e-commerce sites have a similar aesthetic when it comes to mobile device browsing. This is because these designs are the most responsive and thus can guarantee a positive and stress-free user experience.
Back in 2014, Google took the initiative to launch a “Material Design” motif, which is a template created for designing an application for Android. This application can be tweaked to your individual needs, and since it has been tried and tested, the reliability of these templates cannot be denied. Since Material Design came to fruition, many other websites have followed the same principle to offer beautiful and reliable templates for your e-commerce site.
