Ecommerce has revolutionized the way people shop. It is estimated that by 2040, eCommerce will account for 95 percent of all purchases. To build a sustainable ecommerce business, you need to invest in a solid website. A website gives you the perfect opportunity to show off what your brand offers, foster a deeper engagement with the customers, and boost sales.
The bad news - there are approximately 24 million ecommerce websites on the internet at present. With new businesses mushrooming every day, it has become more important than ever to invest in the right website design.
having a search bar to locate products easily.
allowing customers to add shortlisted products to a wishlist to find them quickly during their next visit;
showcasing the bestselling products as ‘featured products’; and
combining the right colors and graphics to make the website more aesthetic.
Think of your website as a shop window -- it puts a face to your business and helps customers understand what they can expect from you as a brand.
That’s why the website should pay extra attention to branding. It should reflect your brand identity by considering key elements such as color, fonts, voice, and brand personality.
Even the best products can fail to wow your customers unless your website provides a flawless User Experience (UX). Take, for instance, the loading time of your website. It is one of the key components affecting the UX, and 52 percent of online shoppers believe that fast loading time directly impacts their loyalty towards a site. If your website takes incredibly long to load, you are going to lose out on business.
For a great UX, design a clean homepage that is easy to navigate. Use a minimal design, add contrasting colors for call-to-action buttons, use high-quality images, leave adequate whitespace, create a visual hierarchy of various elements, and add different product categories with sidebars.
Check how fast your website loads on a mobile device and how easy it is for users to navigate the mobile version. After all, 40 percent of shoppers prefer to use their mobile devices shopping. Optimizing your website for these devices will ensure you don’t lose out on such customers.
In this digitally-driven world, the choices of browsers are many. Your website needs to be compatible across a range of browsers and provide a consistent UX.
Keeping the code simple, using frameworks, and validating HTML and CSS are some of the ways in which a website development company can ensure cross-browser compatibility. It is also important to run cross-browser compatibility tests to identify the issues that need fixing.
A hosting platform directly impacts your website’s speed and its ability to handle more traffic. As an eCommerce website designing company, we recommend a cloud hosting plan on platforms such as Amazon Web Services (AWS) or Google Cloud for your website. Cloud-based plans increase your website’s security as the data gets stored in different servers across multiple locations governed by different server protocols.
Every user should feel confident about sharing sensitive personal information on your website. That’s why using SSL encryption is essential.SSL stands for Secure Sockets Layer which is a security protocol for ensuring authentication and privacy in online communications. In other words, SSL encrypts all sensitive data shared on your website and also attests to the authenticity of your website.
SSL ensures that any sensitive data shared by visitors on your site are sent over a secure network -- you can create a secure connection from a web server to the browser using https protocol.
Moreover, SSL affects your ranking on search engines. SSL encrypted sites attract more traffic which is why SEO experts recommend not skipping it.
The absence of a smooth checkout process can alienate your customers and impact sales. For successful conversions, review the checkout design. For a seamless checkout experience:
Reduce the number of steps to checkout;
Make registration optional;
Support different payment options;
Display prominent buttons on the page that talk about shipping and returns;
Have a clear CTA button to encourage the customer to pay and complete the purchase.
Post checkout, the customers should be able to access the order history and download the invoice. In case someone aborts the checkout midway without completing the purchase, don’t allow the items in the cart to expire. Use the information to send retargeted display ads or marketing emails.
Your dashboard will help you understand how your business is performing. Make sure to have a user-friendly admin dashboard that allows you to manage and track orders easily. Using custom eCommerce website development services, you can get access to customized sales reports, break up of sales based on the location, demographics of customers, status of the orders, product inventory, etc. This can streamline your workflow and simplify your life to a large extent.
The traditional web development process can only take you so far. You will spend a considerable amount of time developing a website, only to redesign it again as the technology progresses.
It’s best to focus on scalable website development that uses a modular design for building your website. Instead of putting together static collection pages, this model uses reusable modules. These modules can be matched together in various ways as your needs evolve and your business grows.
Using this technology makes your website ready for the future. You can keep expanding without needing to redesign everything from scratch you can utilize the initial work done and tailor the website for larger needs.
Get an eCommerce web Development Company on board that specializes in custom eCommerce web development. With the right eCommerce development agency by your side, you can create a memorable experience for your customers and watch the products fly off the shelves.
Learn more about how our eCommerce website development services can help grow your business!
