E-commerce businesses truly are challenging to manage. There’s the core business process like product sales, there’s also the management of the website, and then there’s marketing, too. A successful e-commerce business must show promise in all the business processes.
To make an e-commerce site shine above all others, user experience is one of the most important factors. Since there’s not much but the site that the customer will interact with, his or her experience with the site should be impeccable. Of course, the quality of the product offerings should weigh a lot more, bad user experience will prevent the customer from ever getting in contact with your product. Thus, user experience should also be given much attention.
It is, however, a mistake of a lot of e-commerce businesses to take user experience very lightly. There are lots of other things to think about and providing excellent user experience is not exactly their priority. They settle for providing a so-so experience for the customers. This is a mistake that you should not commit. If you truly want to shine in the industry, the overall experience of customers with you should be exceptional.
Are you ready to beat the competition and shine? Here are 18 overlooked user experience hacks that you should do to boost your ecommerce sales:
GENERAL WEBSITE ELEMENTS: PAGE LAYOUT AND USABILITY
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Professional Web Design
In designing your e-commerce site, ensure that it looks organized and professional. Some might argue that looking a bit messy can give a rather young image, but that is not a tactic that you should abide. Make your ecommerce site pleasing to look at, and design it in a way that can earn sales.
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Website loading speed
Customers would exit an ecommerce site that loads at turtle speed. It’s like falling in line and your users would hate you for it. Give them a smooth experience by providing them a site that loads quickly and allows them to transition to different pages in a fast manner too.
You will need to optimize your site to help make it load faster. Also, removing unnecessary heavy site objects can help.
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Updated website
Make sure that your page is updated. This includes product information such as product descriptions, shipping information, product availability, and contact information among others. Remove outdated information because this may cause confusion. If you have promotions, please remove them after they expire. Make sure as well that you ensure that all links are properly working.
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Social Media Integration
It’s necessary to make your content shareable. Utilize tools that can help you integrate your content to social media networks. This would also serve as free marketing so there’s no reason why you shouldn’t do social media integration.
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Visible call to action
A call-to-action directs your customers to what you want them to do next. However, remember to subtle but visible. Don’t sound too pushy, but do try to push them to your desired action.
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Colour Psychology in Buttons
Make sure that you are consistent with your buttons all throughout your ecommerce site. Also, you can use arrows and other visual elements to subliminally direct your customers to perform what you want them to do completing a transaction.
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Easy Product Search through Autocomplete Suggestions
Aid your customers in their product search by providing autocomplete suggestions. This is very helpful for those who know or remember only part of a product name. Your customers would also appreciate it that they don’t have to type the whole thing all the time.
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Implement search filters
Searching through a wide gallery of products can be quite troublesome especially as your ecommerce business grows. Eliminate the hassle by providing filters that your customers can use to go as specific into the categories as possible. Doing this will definitely help them find the product they’re looking for easier.
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Accessibility through all devices
Nowadays, your customers are not tied to only computers. Customers use various devices and you would need to design your site to work on all these devices. This will ensure that no matter what the case is, your customers can access your site with no problem.
CUSTOMER SALES AND EXPERIENCE
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The Green Lock: Secure Checkout
Make your customers know that they are transacting securely on your site. This will improve your credibility and trustworthiness as a business. There are lots of cybercrime cases all over the world and the possibility of these cases happening scares a lot of potential buyers. That little green lock can mean a huge lot for your customers.
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Thorough Product Descriptions
Don’t let your customers guess what your products look like, what they do, and how they’re used. Make sure that you have helpful product descriptions that will enable them to know what they’re really buying.
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Only Use High-Quality Photos
Ensure that your site only has quality images. This doesn’t only make it better for your customers to know how your products look like in person, but also give your business a better image for them too. A picture is not only worth a thousand words, possibly a thousand and more sales, too!
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Create product videos
Product videos can also help provide users with a better look at your products. Help them visualize your products, and how they’re used. Videos, if used well, can help boost your sales.
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Social Proof: Social Reviews
Feedback from other customers is appreciated by other customers. This gives other potential customers what is good and what is bad about your product. Reviews will help buyers trust your products more.
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Show related or recommended products
Help your customers choose products by showing related or recommended products. Your customers would appreciate suggestions, and this can help them reach a buying decision.
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Visible, Easy to See “Add to Cart” Button
Your “add to cart” button is also a sort of call to action. Make it visible and easy to see, so that your customers can easily click on it and complete their order.
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Sizing chart and guide
If you’re selling shoes and clothes, sizing charts and guides are handy. Show sizes in different sizing conventions. This will help your customers know the right size for them.
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Total Pricing and Free Shipping
Finally, make the total price visible. And please include all costs including shipping and other charges. Free shipping is good but if you really can’t offer it, show the total cost of the shipping so the customers know how much they’re really going to pay for. It pays to be honest.
