E-commerce is a very lucrative, but also a highly competitive field. If you play your cards right, it is possible to earn a lot of profit from an e-commerce website. You can reach a larger audience, build a good reputation online, and scale your business without spending too much money.
But you can only reap these rewards if you have a great e-commerce website. A poorly designed website will be a waste of money. It won’t draw the traffic you need to make a profit.
This article mentions 6 website design tips that can take our e-commerce website to the next level. These tips include:
Choose the Right E-Commerce Platform
The first step is to choose the right e-commerce platform for your website. Most modern websites are based on frameworks or Content Management Systems. You need to find a suitable one for your business to ensure your customers have a smooth experience. Here’s a brief look at your options:
1. Shopify
This is one of the most popular e-commerce platforms available today. It is very easy to use and the packages are reasonably priced. The platform provides hundreds of great e-commerce website themes at reasonable rates.
It also offers a large library of plug-ins so you can customize your website according to your requirements. Shopify has some of the best customer services in the industry.
2. Big Cartel
If you’re on a tight budget, Big Cartel is a good option for you. Its cheapest plan is free and the most expensive plan costs the same amount of money as Shopify’s cheapest plan.
Big Cartel websites are easy to set up and use, but they’re designed for creators with a limited number of products. That means this platform isn’t suitable for enterprise-level websites. This platform doesn’t have a large collection of themes or plug-ins.
3. Magento
Magento is considered one of the best e-commerce platforms available today, especially for enterprise-level websites. It is open-source and incredibly versatile.
There’s no shortage of themes and plug-ins available for Magento. This platform is very customizable because it is open-source and its code is accessible to developers from all over the world.
However, Magento is not beginner-friendly or easy-to-use. You will need an experienced developer on hand for it. That’s why it is one of the most expensive platforms available, despite being open source.
There are a large number of options available in the market today. It is important to consider your budget, priorities, and level of technical knowledge before making this choice.
4. Make Sure the Branding in On-Point
There are millions of e-commerce websites generating revenue of over $2.3 trillion in global retail sales. With so many options available, you need to put in an extra effort to stand out.
That’s why your branding should be on-point. Make sure you have a distinct, memorable, and easily recognizable logo. It is always important to maintain a strong and consistent brand presence on all of your website pages.
Consistency is important to make sure everything from your website theme to your product packaging has a similar design. A strong brand presence will create a professional image and draw more customers.
5. Optimize the Website for Mobile
Mobile is a very important platform. Around 1.8 billion people shop online through their mobile phone and several research products online while they’re in-store.
You need to make sure your e-commerce website is optimized for mobile. The site should load within 2 to 3 seconds and be easy to navigate. Make sure it is easy to find products and click links. All product images should also load easily on the mobile platform.
Also Read, How to Boost E-Commerce Business via Content Marketing
6. Intuitive Search and Filtering Options
Some people come to an e-commerce website to buy a specific product. Others want to browse through different product options and buy several things at once. Your website should have great search end filtering options so users can find the products they need easily.
For example, a clothing retailer will want to offer filtering options by color, size, style, cloth material, patterns, etc.
The idea is to make the user experience as smooth as possible. Customers are more likely to return to your website if their journey from visiting your website, finding their desired product, and making a purchase is quick.
Simple and Minimal Design
Minimal design is the current favorite and it shows no sign of going away anytime soon. There are several advantages of minimal design and they include:
- Clean interface without any clutter to distract prospective customers.
- Looks great on small mobile phone screens.
- Ample white space for easy browsing on mobile phones.
- Smaller file size, which means faster load times.
- Keeps the focus on the product.
The minimal design also looks very professional, which is exactly what you want from an e-commerce website.
Remember Color Influences Buyer Behavior
Retailers have used color to influence buyer behavior for decades now. It’s not surprising that using color has become popular in websites as well. Different colors encourage different kinds of emotion. Here are a few examples that illustrate this perfectly:
- Warm colors like red, yellow, and orange encourage impulsiveness in customers. Customers make snap decisions during the buying process because the colors create a sense of urgency.
- Cool colors like blue, navy, and light pink appeal to careful buyers who like to think before buying. These colors encourage shoppers to remain calm and consider the decision deeply before buying.
- Colors like blue, white, and green encourage trust.
- Colors like brown, yellow, and red indicate affordability.
This shows just how important the color of your website can be. Don’t just go for your favorite shades or settle for colors that are appealing to the eye. It is a good idea to study the influence of colors on buyer behavior in depth before incorporating them into your website.
Creating an e-commerce platform can be an intimidating process, but the investment is worth it. Once you have a great e-commerce platform, you can build a successful online business on top of it.
