E-commerce websites are usually designed to sell products or services for revenue and profit generation. An e-Commerce website that does not bring profits and enhanced sales is not worth having at all, as the overall objective of the business is not met. If an e-Commerce site or an online store is not interactive and does not offer sufficient information, it would not catch the attention of buyers. Thus, it’s essential to take steps to ensure a user-friendly, interactive and communicable site or online store to achieve the target. In this article, some important steps are described to ensure appropriate e-Commerce site design for enhanced sales and profits.
Shopping cart visibility
Visibility of shopping cart is a vital step that must be considered above all. Customers or buyers keep adding to the shopping cart before finishing the final transaction and thus, the cart must be visible right through the entire course of transaction. Shopping cart is an extremely vital component of an e-Commerce site and it can’t be ignored and put anywhere in the site. Making them highly visible for all time is the first important step to get the enhanced sales.
Inventory updates
It’s a very common aspect that products are ‘out of stock’ and buyers have to content with other available options at the store. An e-Commerce site must have a regular inventory updates on display so that the buyers can have a clear idea about the availability of the products or services. Don’t ever lure buyers in for products or services that are ‘out of stock’ as it might cause your dear in the long run.
Superior shopping experience
E-commerce websites enabling superior shopping experience to buyers get more sales than those not caring this vital factor. The buyers at the shop must be treated, pampered and made to feel special through easy-to-use tools and features. If your website categorizes all the products and services as per the popularity, price, USPs etc, more visitors would come. If the buyers are given the choice of product selection as per the wish, it would definitely bring superior shopping experience.
Search Augmentation
Having a direct search option is beneficial as the majority prefers this specific mode of searching to find relevant products/services from the site. The buyers won’t follow a long and tedious search through category and links as they seek instant results. The e-Commerce website must have a jQuery-based search option wherein even the wrong use of keywords by the buyers must offer right results from the database. That would definitely enhance sales as the search would be hassle-free.
Logical Navigation Paths
E-commerce websites usually have a wide range of products and services and bound to have loads of categories and subcategories. With so much to accommodate, these websites often fail to put in simple, logical and hassle-free navigation paths for easy search. If the search remains somewhat illogical and unproductive, the buyers are sure to not return to the site from the moment of bad experience. Thus, having straightforward and clear-cut navigation paths is suggested.
Ease of buying
Like brick-and-mortar stores, an e-Commerce website must offer adequate look & feel experience for buyers to enable appropriate buying. If a product is offered, it must have adequate information and images at the same point to offer more information. A site can’t afford to put a product here and its information somewhere deep down the site. A complete preview must be given at the point of the product listing.
Call-to-action buttons
An e-Commerce website with point-to-point and specific call-to-action buttons always performs better than the rest. A prospective customer would definitely proceed to buy if the call-to-action buttons are responsive; if not directed appropriately, he/she might switch over to the next available option. It’s, thus, recommended to get clear-cut call-to-action buttons to keep the buyers interested.
Product page information BNPL
Product pages are vital and hence, must be given due consideration for increased sales. If the product page lacks relevant information, it might put-off the potential buyers and sales would dip. The product page must have information like, product name, product image, product description, price description and buyers’ reviews. Having clarity of information on the product page is an extremely vital factor to enhance the sales.
Interactive product sample
An e-Commerce website that deals with products or services with a varying degree of variations must ensure interactive sample for ease of transaction. If there is need of size, color, image or graphics, these must be offered alongside the products for ease of transaction. Mind you, the buyers would love to come close to the physical buying experience and hence, it’s suggested to have an interactive product sample option in the site.
Reliable checkout page
Having a single page checkout is suggested as it enables smooth transaction and convenience to buyers. The checkout process must be kept as simple as possible to ensure reliability for buyers. If the buyers get good checkout experience, they would definitely back for more transactions.