An e-commerce website is very much like a physical store, with the added convenience of being accessible 24/7. It’s a place where people come to find and buy things, going through various steps in the shopping journey in almost the same way in both cases—whether they are looking around, searching for something specific, or just browsing. Eventually, they select particular items to put in their cart, make their way to the checkout, and then pay and leave.
Each stage a user passes through is crucial to design for their convenience. This means you have to look at all the elements that will make their journey smoother and reduce friction until the last step.
E-commerce platforms also regularly introduce new features and functionalities to make user journeys more pleasant. It’s not that you must have all the newly launched features on your website, but there are certain features that every e-commerce store must have. We will not be talking about those fancy, unnecessary features but the ones that really make it super convenient for users to use the website and make it most preferable and reliable.
User Friendly Navigation
Use a logical flow
User-friendly navigation is key to helping customers easily find what they are looking for. To create a user-friendly navigation, your basis should be a logical structure. You can create a logical structure by figuring out how people are using your website. This can be identified using analytic tools like Google Analytics (GA4). Using its path exploration report, you can see how users navigate your site and on which pages they end up.
Tip: Remember to sort the traffic by different devices, this will help you design a suitable menu for each.
Give Easy Access to Key Pages
Add key pages to the top level (first layer of navigation) so that the user has prominent access to them. Here, too, analytics can help you identify your key pages. Key pages mainly are the ones that are likely to receive the most traffic. Then apart from this, there are some other important pages as well to highlight in your navigation. These are:
- Account login page
- Cart/Check out page
- Shipping/Returns/Product Deals Information page
Maintain consistent navigation
Make sure all your elements are consistent in placement and design so it’s easy for users to explore your website.
Here is how a consistent and inconsistent navigation would be like:
Audit Site to check for errors
Then, ensure your users don’t run into broken pages or errors.
Use multiple navigation types
Using multiple navigation types can help users easily find what they are searching for. This can be done by combining horizontal navigation with a drop-down menu, where the former may include important links that may not be required in the drop-down menu as an additional context.
Most websites typically use a combination of these navigation elements:
- The main navigation on the top
- Navigation in the footer
- Breadcrumb navigation for the product pages
2. Site Search
Site search is common on the top ecommerce websites. Users can bypass the navigation menu with this feature and quickly find products by directly matching the keywords, but there is more to it.
While adding site search to your ecommerce website, make sure you are allowing for errors and autocorrect. Optimize your site search to understand the phonetic misspellings and typing errors. This can help your customers find the most relevant results regardless of misspellings.
You can also leverage NLP (natural language processing) to better understand the context/synonyms and produce relevant results for the users.
Use a prominent search box to ensure your users can easily identify it and place it where they are habitually looking for it. You can also add a visual icon of a magnifying glass to help users locate it quickly.
In case you don’t have relevant products, instead of showing you don’t have that item, come up with related products.
Your search solution can reveal abundant data on customer behaviour and their search queries.
By analyzing this data, you can see if your customer vocabulary aligns with the terminology used on your product pages. This helps ensure your products are discoverable using the terms customers naturally use.
At last, leverage MLs to understand complex patterns and offer highly personalized results.
Product Filters
If your store has a large number of products, it’s best to feature filters to help customers easily find what they are searching for based on certain specifications as given in the following example:
Footer Navigation
While footers may not be the first place users look at, that does not mean you shouldn’t put that much effort into optimizing it. A user’s natural instinct is to go to the footer when they feel lost in navigation or when the scrolling becomes overwhelming. So, it really matters how you optimize your footer and use it to help customers find your top products.
List the top products’ links in the footer, this way you can easily show them to the search crawlers and customers effectively. Here is an example:
Product Videos
Studies have shown that product videos can significantly increase conversion rates (purchases or desired actions) on product pages. People are more likely to buy after watching a video that explains the product’s features and benefits. Videos can be a great way to showcase a product’s features and specifications in an engaging way, better than just listing them with text.
Product Comparisons
If your website has a large product collection, you should include a product comparison feature. This feature lets customers compare the main features, prices, etc., of different products.
Product Reviews
Showcase user-generated content as social proof. It’s a good practice to add product reviews and ratings, as they prompt users to trust your product.
Return Policy
A generous return policy boosts customers’ confidence in your products, making them more likely to purchase. Simple and straightforward return options can be a deciding factor for customers choosing your store.
Here is the best example:
Product FAQs
FAQs reassures buyers as they address to the most common queries of regarding product and quite insightful. This can instill feeling of trust and confidence in their purchasing decisions.
Create Simple Checkout
As an ecommerce retailer, it’s necessary to collect some customer information is necessary for processing orders and fulfilling customer needs. This may include name, shipping address, and email address. However, you can provider them with a smoother checkout experience by offering the option to save the information for future purchases through account creation or allow the customer for guest checkout options to avoid frustration. Regardless of which option customers choose, make sure to store their information complying with all the data privacy regulations
Users also expert multiple payment options to make purchases. When they don’t find their preferable payment method, they ditch the checkout process. Ensure to offer them a range of payment methods, including:
- Buy Now and Pay Later
- Debit/credit card
- Digital Wallets
- Shopping apps
To make the process even smoother for the user, leverage Google’s autocomplete feature. It can suggest search terms and potentially speed up the process for users who are familiar with it and enter relevant keywords. This can make the process 20% faster.
To make it a one-click checkout, eliminate the multiple-filling of details such as shipping address, credit card, etc. This helps reduce friction for returning customers who have already saved their information.
Display security badges, such as SSL certificates, Payment badges, money-back guarantees, and customer reviews, to win customers’ trust.
It’s really important to show customers the checkout flow, as they like to know how long it will take to complete the purchase and when they will receive their order.
In the end, don’t forget to cross-sell and upsell to increase the time customers spend in your store. With cross-selling features, show them items that complement the product they have purchased, and with up-selling, showcase your higher prices products that are similar to the one they have added to their cart.
Is your current platform limiting your store’s potential?
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