Why SEO-friendly Ecommerce Web Design is Important

SEO-friendly e-commerce web design is crucial for the success of online businesses. Being visible to potential customers is essential in an increasingly competitive digital landscape. Search engine optimization (SEO) ensures that your e-commerce website ranks well on search engine results pages, making it more discoverable to users actively searching for products or services. When your website is optimized for search engines, it attracts more organic traffic and provides a better user experience. With an intuitive design, high-quality content, and structured data, SEO-friendly e-commerce websites improve user engagement, trust, and conversion rates. SEO-friendly design bridges your e-commerce site and its potential customers, allowing you to effectively reach and serve your target audience.

SEO-Friendly Ecommerce Web Design Principles

Below, you’ll find a set of principles for designing an e-commerce website that is optimized for SEO.

User-Centric Design

While the primary goal of an e-commerce website is to make sales, it’s crucial to remember that a user-centric design is the first step toward SEO-friendliness. A user-friendly website encourages visitors to stay longer, browse more products and complete transactions. Google and other search engines consider these user signals when ranking your site. Focus on intuitive navigation, clear calls to action, and responsive design to enhance the user experience.

Mobile Optimization

With most internet users accessing websites via mobile devices, mobile optimization is no longer a choice but a necessity. Google’s mobile-first indexing means that your site’s mobile version matters most for ranking. Ensure your e-commerce website is responsive and offers an excellent mobile user experience.

High-Quality Content

Quality content is the cornerstone of SEO. For an e-commerce website, this means providing detailed product descriptions, informative blog posts, and engaging category pages. Well-written content helps potential customers make informed decisions and improves your site’s chances of ranking for relevant keywords.

Keyword Research

Keyword research is at the heart of SEO-friendly e-commerce web design. Identifying and targeting the keywords that potential customers use when searching for products you offer is crucial. Use tools like Google Keyword Planner or third-party keyword research tools to identify high-value, relevant keywords for your products.

On-Page Optimization

On-page SEO elements, such as title tags, meta descriptions, and header tags, are critical in making your e-commerce website SEO-friendly. Each product page and category should have a unique, keyword-optimized title and meta description. Use header tags to structure your content, making it easier for search engines to understand and index.

Site Speed

Site speed is a ranking factor and a crucial user experience component. Slow-loading pages can lead to high bounce rates, negatively impacting your SEO efforts. Optimize images, minimize code, and leverage browser caching to ensure your e-commerce website loads quickly.

URL Structure

Creating SEO-friendly URLs is vital. Use descriptive, keyword-rich URLs that provide search engines and users with information about the page’s content. Avoid generic URL structures with numbers and symbols, as these can be confusing.

Internal Linking

Internal linking not only helps users navigate your website but also assists search engines in understanding the hierarchy of your content. Link-related products, categories, and blog posts to help distribute link equity and establish content relationships.

SSL Certification

Security is a critical ranking factor, and an SSL certificate is a must for e-commerce websites. It not only secures user data but also contributes positively to SEO.

Schema Markup

Schematic markup can enhance your e-commerce site’s visibility in search results. This structured data provides search engines with additional product information, such as price, availability, and reviews, making your listings more attractive and informative.

User Reviews

User-generated content, such as reviews and ratings, builds trust with potential customers and helps with SEO. Encourage customers to leave reviews, and ensure these reviews are displayed prominently on product pages.

Secure Checkout

A seamless and secure checkout process is vital for e-commerce websites. High cart abandonment rates can negatively affect SEO. Make sure the checkout process is user-friendly, fast, and secure to minimize abandoned carts.

Conclusion

In the competitive world of e-commerce, your website’s design and SEO go hand in hand. An SEO-friendly e-commerce web design improves your search engine rankings and enhances the user experience, leading to higher conversion rates and, ultimately, increased revenue. By following these principles, you can create an e-commerce website that attracts, engages, and converts customers while performing well in search engine results.

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How to Build an Ecommerce Website

Here is a step-by-step guide on how to build an e-commerce website.

Step 1: Choose Your Platform

To build an e-commerce website, you must first choose the right platform. A variety of ecommerce platforms are available, each with its own features and pricing models. Shopify, WooCommerce, and Magento are some of the most popular options.

Shopify is a hosted ecommerce platform that offers an all-in-one solution for building and managing an online store. It is known for its ease of use and simplicity, making it a popular choice for small businesses and entrepreneurs.

WordPress plugin WooCommerce enables you to run an e-commerce website. It is a flexible and customizable platform that allows you to create a unique online shopping experience Magento is an open-source ecommerce platform that offers high flexibility and scalability. For large companies and enterprises, it is a popular choice.

Step 2: Choose Your Domain Name and Hosting

Once you have chosen your platform, you must select a domain name and a hosting provider. Your domain name is the address that people will use to access your website, and your hosting provider is where your website will be stored and served to visitors.

When choosing a domain name, it is important to choose something that is easy to remember and reflects your brand. Choose a top-level domain (TLD) such as .com, .net, or .org.

When it comes to hosting, a variety of options are available, including shared hosting, virtual private servers (VPS), and dedicated servers. Shared hosting is the most affordable option but may not be suitable for large ecommerce websites with high traffic.

Step 3: Choose Your Design and Layout

The design and layout of your e-commerce website are crucial for creating a positive user experience and driving sales. You should choose a design that reflects your brand and is easy to navigate.

Most e-commerce platforms offer a variety of templates and themes that you can use as a starting point. Depending on your brand’s style and colors, you can customize the design.

It is important to ensure your website is optimized for mobile devices, as more and more people are shopping on their smartphones and tablets.

Step 4: Add Your Products

Once you have set up your website, it’s time to add your products. You must create product pages for each item you want to sell, including photos, descriptions, and prices.

Ensure to include high-quality product photos showing the item from multiple angles. Your product descriptions should be detailed and informative, highlighting each item’s key features and benefits.

Step 5: Set Up Payment Processing

One of the most important aspects of an ecommerce website is the ability to accept customer payments. You must set up a payment processor that securely lets customers purchase items from your website.

Most ecommerce platforms offer integrations with popular payment processors such as PayPal and Stripe. Consider offering alternative payment methods such as Apple Pay or Google Pay.

Step 6: Set Up Shipping and Tax Rates

Once you have set your shipping and tax rates, testing them to ensure they are working correctly is important. This involves placing test orders and verifying that the shipping and tax rates are accurately calculated.

Make sure to test your shipping rates for different products and destinations to ensure accuracy. You should also test your tax rates for other states and counties to ensure they are correctly calculated.

Conclusion

In conclusion, creating an e-commerce website requires careful planning and a step-by-step approach. From selecting the right platform to setting up payment processing and marketing, each task should be carefully considered to ensure your website is successful. By following the steps outlined above, you can ensure that your customers have a smooth and seamless checkout process, leading to higher sales and customer satisfaction. Moreover, it’s important to keep up with trends and regularly update your content to stay ahead of the competition. With a bit of hard work and dedication, your e-commerce website can become successful in no time.

At Creativ Digital, we understand the ins and outs of building successful ecommerce websites.

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There are a number of reasons that can cause your online store to malfunction and decrease sales. The reasons can range from slow-loading landing pages and broken links to unresponsive design and poor checkout processes.

The key to improving your eCommerce platform is a website with great performance and excellent customer experience. Combined with superior products and quality service, it can make a huge difference in your sales. Remember that the design should be simple, easy to navigate, and visually appealing according to the latest trends. As the new year begins, it’s time to update your website and incorporate these new trends into your website strategy.

Chatbots

Chatbots are becoming extremely advanced and remain at the forefront of 2023 eCommerce design trends and beyond. A chatbot is a computer program created to simulate human conversation. In eCommerce, chatbots are an effective tool for lead generation for online retailers. Anyone on your website can use this tool to find answers to their inquiries quickly. Chatbots can significantly reduce the workload of your live support team. They will continue to learn and adapt to different situations. You will be able to offer prompt and relevant support at any time of the day. 

Content-centric design

A customer-centric strategy always has one overarching goal: exceptional customer experience. Customers need to feel valued when using your website. The website should include useful information about your product, such as product description, production, usage, and expiration date. It should also have consumer reviews and instructions for use. Content is the foundation of a website. A website without content is ineffective. 

Mobile-first approach 

Nearly half of consumers worldwide use their phones to shop for goods and services at least once a day, so it’s important to ensure your website is optimised for mobile devices. Mobile-first design considers the small screen size and other limitations of smartphones and other mobile devices by first focusing on designing for mobile users and then adapting the design for larger screens. This approach results in better performance, faster loading times, and improved overall user experience. 

Video marketing

The average online user watches videos for up to 100 minutes every day. This data encouraged eCommerce stores to invest in video marketing to showcase their products and attract an audience who prefer visual information. Consider creating and posting videos on social media s well as on some parts of your website, such as your homepage, about page, or product pages. Unboxing videos, explainers, tutorials, and user-generated content are examples of videos that can engage customers and influence their purchasing decisions.

Augmented reality

When talking about augmented reality in eCommerce, it essentially means using computer graphics to make shopping easier for your customers. Augmented reality in eCommerce site design attempts to give customers an immersive experience, allowing users to interact with items in real time while remaining in their current location. Instead of looking at pictures, customers can experience products in their own homes before buying. Thanks to advances in technology, websites can now creatively engage with consumers. Additionally, AR provides a two-dimensional approach to information transfer rather than the traditional one-dimensional approach. Therefore, it increases engagement levels and reduces returns.

Influencer marketing 

Your online store doesn’t operate in a vacuum. So you can’t always rely on customers going directly to your website or mobile app to make a purchase. You need to be present on other channels, like social media, to sell your brand. The way eCommerce brands advertise on social media has changed. Sponsored content will look different in 2023 than in previous years. Influencer marketing has completely changed the game.

Businesses are now collaborating with people who have a large social media following. TikTok has started the careers of several influencers with thousands or even millions of followers. You can find influencers who are active in your target niche and then promote your products or services through their channels and profiles.

Unique page filters 

Filters play an important role in the product listing page. An innovative eCommerce design trend, unique page filters take the traditional page filtering system and give it a creative spin. This trend offers customers a unique user experience that is different from the usual page filtering system. Unlike the standard drop-down menu, non-traditional page filters contain toggle switches, sliders, and other unconventional interface components. This trend also allows visual features such as illustrations, icons, and colour codes to help users quickly identify the products they want. 

Conclusion

Ecommerce will undoubtedly influence the way businesses sell their products and services in the future. With the advancements in technology and new web design trends, Australian companies must keep up to speed with the changes in the industry. Businesses benefit from better user experience, higher sales and stronger customer base in the future. 

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The engagement you develop with shoppers and prospects throughout the holidays not only has the potential to increase your holiday sales, but may also drive customer relationships in the months to come.

If you’re off to a late start, the following holiday social media tips will help attract shoppers and find the perfect holiday gift on your website.

Take Advantage of Social Media Tools

During the holiday season, it can be difficult to find time to stay active on social media. You and your team may be spending all your time on more critical holiday tasks like overseeing order fulfillment or solving customer service issues. The idea of social media marketing may be daunting because of the increased expectations over the holidays on top of an already demanding workload. However, time-saving social media planning tools can make daily updates easier during the busy e-commerce season.

Social media tools like Buffer, Hootsuite and Sendible allow you to to schedule and publish posts that can be shared across multiple social sites. This means you can now plan your holiday content before the all-important holiday rush arrives. If you don’t have time to learn a new tool, prepare your holiday messages in advance using Microsoft Word and copy them to your social profiles in the coming weeks.

Give Your Social Profile a Festive Look

Making your social media profiles more festive is a great way to personalise your business while also showing your followers that you’re ready to celebrate the holiday season with them. Create your own unique winter or holiday-themed cover photos and profile images for each profile to get your customers (and yourself) in the holiday spirit. (Don’t forget to change it back once the holiday season is over!)

Also, consider the content you plan to publish on each platform during this time. Make sure to post fun and festive images to celebrate the season. Take new photos of your product in the context of the season, whether surrounded by holiday colors or placed in holiday-themed backdrops. By taking product photos during the holiday season, you can reposition your products as ideal gifts that are perfect for the season.

Share Special Holiday Greetings

The holiday season is the perfect time to send a special message to shoppers. While you can use email and mailing lists to send cards, social media is another channel you can use to let your customers know how much you value them.  It shows that you pay attention to the little things and put an effort to maintain the highest standards of service, even during the holidays.

Some holiday social media ideas are posting a Tiktok or Instagram video for a personalized greeting. You can also organize a Google Meet or Twitter Space with your most loyal customers so you can surprise them with a holiday greeting or a special holiday offer. 

Promote Holiday Deals, Sales, and Discounts

Any business owner today is aware of how competitive the eCommerce market is, especially during the holiday shopping season. Take advantage of social media for flash sales, discounts,  festive giveaways, free gift wrapping, and more. You can also create discounts, special offers, and promo codes only for people who find them on your social media platforms. To increase traffic to your website and increase sales, let all of your followers know about the great deals that are only available for a limited time. It might be helpful to track the success of your social media efforts by generating unique promo codes for your social media pages. 

Invest in Ads to Expand Your Reach

If you want a surefire way to reach a new audience, investing in social media advertising can be a smart move. Every social media platform has its own advertising features to connect with users who haven’t yet followed you. When clients are more likely to make a purchase from you, you may improve the visibility of all the holiday promos and content you post on social media. And since social media platforms often have good targeting capabilities, your ads can show up in front of the people who are most likely to respond.

It’s the busiest time of the year though for both shoppers and merchants – which is why social media ad platforms capitalise on the high demand for ad space. So be sure to do plenty of research before deciding on the best ads platform for your holiday promotions. 

Final Thoughts 

With the holidays fast approaching, it’s important to start planning your social media campaign early. Be sure to engage your audience with these ideas and you’ll get more sales.

Now is the perfect opportunity to integrate social sharing into your ecommerce site, if you haven’t already! The goal is for shoppers to instantly share product details and images with their friends on social media – with just one click from your online store. Creativ Digital can integrate your ecommerce site with social media apps so you can build a dynamic multi-channel marketing strategy.

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When you want to set up your own website, Shopify is here to ease your website development project. This e-commerce platform allows business owners to create a personalised website that will match their company’s branding, voice, and position in the market. As of 2022, there are 121,802 Australian online stores using Shopify to conduct business. 

If you are considering being one of them, here are five web design tips to get more sales on Shopify: 

Choose the right theme

Choose the suitable theme for your brand when you want to make an impression. This is considered your Shopify store’s backbone, as it will be the first thing to be noticed when a user visits your page. Selecting a web design aligned with your brand will keep visitors engaged, increase traffic, and explore more on your store. 

Shopify offers free and paid themes, ranging from $100 to $180. Most of the elements–typography, colour palette, text sizes–packaged with these are customisable.

Include visual elements

What’s a website without visuals? Since it is an online store, customers cannot personally inspect the items they browse. An intelligent web design move is to include photos and videos to showcase your products online. Users can find these visuals helpful in checking what you offer. 

When including photos and videos, ensure only to upload high-quality ones. Display your items in the most fun and creative way, and show all angles for that “in-person” feel for your potential customers. 

Link your other platforms 

Another smart way to further increase your digital presence is to include your social media accounts in your Shopify web design. With this move, it leaves an impression that you want to connect more with your market. Simply do this by adding clickable logos into your layout that will redirect them to your Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or TikTok pages. 

Improve load times

A user stays on a website for an average of 15 seconds. Make it count, and do not waste the chance by slow-loading times. In that 15 seconds, you should ensure that your website can showcase what your company offers. 

Improve your brand’s Shopify website by revamping the design or layout: compress image file sizes, avoid third-party themes, or manage widgets linked to your catalog. 

End with a striking CTA

A customer can be interested in a product or exploring your website, and you want to persuade him, even more, to stay longer and eventually place an order. This is where call-to-action plays its part; a simple yet striking finisher will send a sense of urgency or emotion to your visitors, making them click that “Checkout” button. Some may argue this does not do much, but it builds an impact on your website. 

CTAs differ depending on your product or service offerings. But generally, in online stores, CTAs include “Checkout Now”, “Follow for more”, or “Subscribe now!” at the end of a product description or blog post. These simple phrases usually convert visitors to customers due to their persuading tones and voice. 

Conclusion

To summarise, Shopify store owners must pay close attention to the layout of their websites, especially those who are just starting out. Building a store and hoping for the best is not enough. Having a website is only the first step toward success.

There are various strategies for different Shopify stores, depending on your business needs and market demand. It is important to make an informed decision as there are several e-commerce website development platforms and website developers to chooose from. At Creativ Digital, we make sure that our clients choose an effective open-source technology created specifically for e-commerce rather than just any old online shop. We understand how to use all of the Shopify store design best practises, and we can assist you with them.

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What is Amazon eCommerce?

Amazon eCommerce is a complete eCommerce solution. It includes everything businesses need to start selling online.  It includes a customizable website, shopping cart, order management system, and more. Currently, it is one of the most widely used eCommerce platforms in the market. 

To ensure growth in your sales, you need to boost the platform. There are a few actions you can take in order to increase your chances of success. But before we move on to those, let’s consider why conversion rate is important for Amazon sellers.

Understanding the Conversion Rate

Conversion rate is the percentage of visitors to your website who take action and buy something from you. A low conversion rate means losing out on potential customers. It can be a significant issue for eCommerce businesses.

Many factors can affect your conversion rates. This includes the quality of your product photos, the clarity of your product descriptions, the price of your products, and more.

Conversion rate is significant because it directly impacts your bottom line. The higher your conversion rate, the more sales you’ll make and the more money you’ll earn.

Now that we know why conversion rate is so important let’s look at some ways you can boost your Amazon conversion rate.

Tips to Boost the Conversion Rate

Here are three tips to help you boost your Amazon conversion rate:

1. High-Quality Product Listings

First, focus on creating high-quality product listings. Your product listings are one of the most important elements of your eCommerce business. They play a major role in determining whether someone buys from you.

Make sure your product listings are well-written, keyword-rich, and informative. Include high-quality photos and videos, and make sure your pricing is competitive.

2. Fast and Free Shipping

Second, offer fast and free shipping. Shipping is one of the most important factors in determining whether or not someone buys from you. Customers want to know that they can get their products quickly and don’t want to pay a lot for shipping.

If you offer fast and free shipping, you’ll be more likely to convert visitors into customers. Amazon Prime is an excellent example. By offering free two-day shipping, Amazon has increased its conversion rate significantly.

3. Excellent Customer Service

Third, provide excellent customer service. Customer service is critical for any business, but it’s especially important for eCommerce businesses. If you provide excellent customer service, you’ll likely keep customers happy and increase your chances of repeat business.

There are several ways to deliver great customer service. Some of them include offering live chat support, responding quickly to customer inquiries, and offering a hassle-free return policy.

How can I calculate my Amazon conversion rate?

To calculate your Amazon conversion rate, divide the number of sales you’ve made by the number of visitors to your page. For example, if you have 100 visitors to your page and made 20 sales, your conversion rate would be 20%. 

What is a Reasonable Amazon Conversion Rate

Since every business is unique, there is no conclusive answer. However, a good starting point is around a 15-20% conversion rate for Amazon. You’re doing well if you can get your conversion rate above 20%.

Final Thoughts

The conversion rate is significant because it directly impacts your bottom line. The higher your conversion rate, the more sales you’ll make and the more money you’ll earn. 

If you want to take your Amazon business to the next level, follow the tips listed above to help boost your conversion rate and earn more sales. By focusing on high-quality product listings, offering fast and free shipping, and providing excellent customer service, you can increase your sales and earn more money. So what are you waiting for? Get started with these tips today and see the results for yourself!

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From the numbers above, it can be confirmed that online shopping is the new trend that will not disappear quickly. But with almost every business shifting to this new setup, it can be challenging to boost your sales and brand visibility.

Effective Ways to Boost Your Ecommerce Sales

Here are 9 ways to overcome this and maximize the rising industry of ecommerce:

Build Brand Awareness

The first thing that you should work on as an online business owner is getting people to know about your brand. Start building your business’ identity and utilize it as a way to communicate with the market. There are plenty of other online brands on the Internet, so it is necessary to mark your place and make them remember you and your products or services offered. 

The simplest ways can already make a huge difference. Some methods include curating unique hashtags to use across your social media platforms, regular posting schedule of content, or even being up to date with the latest trends of pop culture will definitely do the trick. 

Competitor Analysis

With the prevalence of ecommerce websites, there are a lot of other brands that offer the same products or services that you provide. Analyzing these present and potential competitors will lay out a comprehensive report regarding your similarities and differences and will pinpoint the areas that need improvement in the brand. 

Relatively, when studying your company’s competitors, numerous questions should be asked (e.g. “What makes them different/similar?”, “What is their ultimate edge?”, or “What is the variable that made them famous in the market?”) and researched. 

Personalized Brand Campaigns

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 lockdown, people have been isolated from real human interaction. This greatly affects their purchasing habits as consumers are now longing for emotional connection between them and brands. The business world saw this as an opportunity for companies to create brand campaigns that resonate with its market, eventually making significant growth in sales. 

Maximize Your Online Presence

When venturing into the ecommerce industry, customer convenience must be one of your utmost priorities. Websites should be user-friendly, easily navigated, and most importantly, conveniently reached by your regular and potential clients. Purchasing from you must be easy. 

Use this principle to expand your offered shopping platforms. Not only will this increase your online presence, but also makes it easier for your company to reach consumers. This will be your edge against physical shopping; your merchandise is readily available on various marketplaces (e.g. Woolworths, Amazon, Gumtree, etc.) and it is up to the customers where they will place an order. 

Provide Perks for the Loyal Ones

Keep them in your circle by updating them through newsletters and emails, giving them discounts and bundles, and offering free shipping deals occasionally. 

Now that you have built your community, the challenge now lies with retention. For your loyal customers to stay loyal to your brand, you must also reciprocate the loyalty. One way of doing so is providing insider perks that will definitely push them to always consider your brand as their number one. 

Upsell Your Other Items

Making another sale while already making a sale is like hitting two birds with one stone. One way to boost your sales on your website is upselling your other items when a customer is about to checkout. Discounted products or add-on bundles are usually listed in this area because it usually entices customers to add more and purchase impulsively. 

Flaunt Your Site’s Reviews

Gain trust from non-customers and entice them to click that ‘checkout’ button by showing them your legitimacy through reviews and testimonies. Showing these off on your website will certainly help your brand expand its market and provide confidence–to both the business and potential customers–that it does indeed deliver high quality items, extensive customer care, and overall good shopping experience.

Conclusion

Aside from the abovementioned tips, there are still plenty of ways to boost your ecommerce sales. The global trend of technology and Internet is rapidly changing, so you must be on the lookout for the latest trends to jump in. Combine this with consistency and patience and you will experience a boom in your ecommerce business as well.

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But what exactly does customer experience (or CX for short) mean?

Customer experience refers to each interaction a customer has with a brand across all sales channels — whether it is online or offline, desktop or mobile. It’s a broad definition, but the factors that make up outstanding CX are also vast – from the look and feel of the website to 24/7 customer assistance and responding to negative social media reviews. 

CX will always be important—but when it comes to making your business as successful as possible and distinguishing yourself from the competition, the eCommerce customer experience might make or break your results. If your clients have a negative encounter with your eCommerce firm, this will most certainly leave a lasting impression. In such an extremely competitive market, they won’t have to look far to find a better CX elsewhere.

As SuperOffice puts it, “Customers no longer base their loyalty on price or product. Instead, they stay loyal to companies due to the experience they receive. If you cannot keep up with their increasing demands, your customers will leave you.”

What is an eCommerce customer experience

eCommerce customer experience includes everything from buying a new microwave on your phone’s Amazon app, to selecting and paying for a music subscription service on your tablet, to purchasing a concert ticket on your laptop.

eCommerce shopping experiences might vary greatly. But they must all be easy and hassle-free for your customers.

All the steps on your customer’s journey sum up to a positive or negative customer negative experience. It begins when a potential consumer comes into contact with your brand for the first time, whether through a recommendation from a friend, viewing an advertisement, conducting a web search, or any other means. The first impression is crucial. The next key event is a visit to your eCommerce website, where everything can influence perception: text, graphics, product search, buying process, and web page performance. If the visit is satisfactory and the product matches expectations, the next stage of the customer experience begins with payment and transaction completion as well as any support or follow-up.

Also critical to your future success is to provide icing on the cake – fast and accurate shipping, as well as exceptional post-sales service.

If a customer has a hard time even after deciding to buy a product, they may be more willing to drop their cart and buy something from your competitor. Unlike the traditional brick-and-mortar store where there’s a personal touch, improving customer retention online is futile. When you lose potential and present consumers, you have to invest more money to acquire new ones, and you lose a competitive advantage. You see, there are countless reasons why you should be concerned about customer loyalty. 

How to Boost Online Customer Experience

Now that we’ve tackled why eCommerce businesses should strive to make the shopping experience as simple, personal, and relevant as possible, here are some tips and tricks to help you improve your customer experience for online shoppers: 

1. Make it Personal

People love to receive offers and content that really aligns with their interests. It’s then clear that personalisation is an important ingredient in the formula for eCommerce success.

A lack of personalisation can be costly for retailers. According to Accenture, 41 percent of consumers switched companies in 2016 because of distrust and insufficient personalisation, costing these companies more than $750 billion.

Personalisation, on the other hand, can help businesses enhance profitability by up to 15%, according to Gartner. Furthermore, research suggests that strong personalisation increases consumer spending by 48%.

Here are some customised touchpoints which you can try: 

• Provide individual discounts on customer-related products or services
• Communicate with customers in their local lingo
• Get to know their location and provide delivery information to that area
• Offer suggestions and recommendations (provide a list of recommendations based on related products or recently viewed or bought items)
• Personalise emails (i.e. birthday greeting or an invitation to an online VIP event)
• Personalise other aspects of your websites such as the homepage and checkout page 

2. Capture Customer Feedback

Understanding customer feedback and sentiment is critical for optimising your customer experience, especially for eCommerce. Listening to what your customers think and feel about their eCommerce experience is the best approach to making changes that are important to them. After all, they are the experts on what they need and want.

Every company’s ecommerce experience is distinct. As a result, attempting to guess what customers want when they make an online purchase from your company can be too complicated. You can go after things that may seem important to you but don’t really matter to customers. Instead, asking them directly on what matters and what needs to be fixed will effectively and efficiently improve your experience.

The Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT) survey is an excellent technique to collect this information. Surveys and reviews might help you address your customer’s pain points if you’d like to incorporate some quick iterations that will go a long way. You can ask customers questions such as, “How happy are you with our site’s checkout experience?” ” Alternatively, you may inquire about their degree of satisfaction with browsing, adding products to their shopping cart, and payment. CSAT surveys might include any specific aspect of the eCommerce experience or the entire experience.

3. Leverage your Social Media 

Many people now have the opportunity to connect with people all over the world and share their thoughts, thanks to the popularity of various social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube. Regardless of your target market, today’s generation is used to communications and promotions on social media platforms. Utilise these free channels by planning and implementing methods that will interest your target audience. This may play a crucial role in your company’s success and offer a cheap way to advertise.

Through the use of various social media platforms, you may reach the greatest possible number of your target potential customers and persuade them to buy your items even if they are not actively shopping for them. Social media platforms are real-time avenues for communication that will let you handle customer issues or enquiries faster than submitting a ticket or calling customer service. Try to be as active as you can to respond to your customers’ questions promptly on social media to improve your eCommerce customer experience. Create content that has the potential to become viral and receive retweets and clicks. 

A better eCommerce customer experience may be achieved with the right implementation, which will eventually boost sales and customer loyalty.

4. Optimise for Mobile 

We now live in a mobile-first world. Mobile apps offer convenience. They offer everything a customer could possibly need right in the palm of their hand. According to Google, more than 40% of online purchases are now completed on a mobile device.

The best mobile experience should be designed through custom development with a specific user in mind—the customer. It should be easier for customers to shop, so they can have everything they need in a single app.

Every eCommerce business should strive to create optimised mobile experiences for its customers. As more customers are turning to mobile devices for shopping, eCommerce businesses need to ensure that their product listings and images are optimised for mobile or have a mobile app that they sell through their own websites or third-party marketplaces.

5. Enhance your Website

One of the most integral aspects of customer experience for an online business is the experience they have with your website and platform. Your website must be seamless, fluid, and consistent with your brand throughout. If your site takes too long to load, you will give away free points to your competitors. The way your brand is perceived by a customer depends greatly on speed. Customers prefer not to wait for websites to load, so they hit the back button instead and go somewhere else. 47% of online customers want your business to load in two seconds or less, while 64% of mobile users view your site on a smartphone. 

A creative and appealing storefront can be just as important to making a good impression. Factors such as design, color, fonts, navigation, and buttons influence the user’s subconscious. Using attractive graphics, beautiful imagery and relevant searches are some of the tactics to improve customer experience and conversion rates. Branded keywords for product descriptions will help establish your value proposition with your customers and show them exactly what you do.

Conclusion

Starting your own online business is now easier than ever. However, simply opening your own store isn’t enough. As an eCommerce business, you can try many different strategies to build your brand and drive sales, but if you don’t give your customers something other than a product, you’ll lose a sizable portion of the market. You’ll end up investing more money in areas like promotion, sales, special offers, and marketing, which could prove to be very costly for both you and your business. 

To ensure that consumers remember you and return to your store, you must work hard to make the online customer experience the best it can be. That is why it is well worth your time and effort to devote your time and resources to creating the ideal customer experience, which will ultimately lead to increased sales and satisfied consumers.

Considering the tips we have offered, you can enhance customer experience by working with a professional eCommerce website development company and digital marketing agency. Creativ Digital will ensure that your website has the ability to maintain a consistent brand image and provide a seamless experience for your customers.

The post Ways To Improve eCommerce Customer Experience appeared first on Creativ Digital.

Obviously, a lot of money is spent online. More and more consumers are choosing e-commerce shopping online instead of conventional brick-and-mortar shopping. And as a new e-commerce business owner, you might be wondering how you can reach those customers.

E-commerce website design is a great place to start. What you want is a website that is attractive, simple and easy to use for customers. This, in turn, makes purchasing easy for them. 

Effective e-commerce Website Design

There are recognised best practices for most websites that can assist you in having a useful and functional site. However, e-commerce websites are distinct. They must manage merchandise, process payments, and provide an easy-to-use shopping interface. And businesses must work harder to overcome the inherent uncertainties of the internet in order to entice customers to part with their hard-earned money. Nonetheless, e-commerce websites must follow a unique set of standards than regular websites. And the first step toward that goal is a clutter-free design.

1. Simplicity is key 

Simplicity is ideal when it comes to e-commerce website design. While it is tempting to add more features or interactive graphics to a website, doing so can overwhelm your visitors and drive them away. Nobody wants to go through a million popups, browse through 5 pages of content, or find a navigation menu that does not exist. Such design flaws result in lost customers, which leads to lost sales.

If you want to improve the conversion rate of your e-commerce website, consider streamlining it. Consider your design as if you were the end user. Would you become frustrated when navigating? Would you find it difficult to navigate your website? Can you find everything you need in just one or two clicks? Are menus and buttons labeled clearly and legibly? All of these things should be considered when designing your online store.

Minimalist websites frequently outperform visually complicated ones. The easier it is for someone to shop with you, the more likely it is that they will complete the transaction process and give you a sale.

Other simple design elements include:

• Easily digestible content
• Simple and easy-to-read fonts
• Consistent color palette
• Easily identifiable navigation elements
• Easy to navigate product categories

2. Provide Clear Navigation

If you walk into a crowded store where the shelves are overflowing with merchandise and there is no apparent order, you would probably leave. That is not an enjoyable shopping experience. An e-commerce site with poor navigation equates to a cluttered, disorganised store.

Keeping in mind the minimalist design, navigation is frequently an area where users feel confused and choose to exit a site. With bad navigation, finding what a customer needs can become a daunting endeavour, especially when a site offers a broad selection of things (e.g. Myer or Woolworths). 

You may considerably improve the user experience you provide by keeping your menu clean and orderly. Create an orderly, tiered structure with only a few primary categories at the top (home page) to make it easy for your customers to discover your products. Likewise, make sure that your product pages are also clearly organised as you don’t want your users to get lost when they have almost found your desired product. Consumers like the opportunity to find exactly what they’re searching for without having to wade through irrelevant information. Including a search box on your site enables visitors to begin a targeted search for the item or service they’re looking for right away. There’s no need to sift through multiple layers of menus; simply input your search criteria and go. 

3. Use Quality Photos and Videos 

Modern e-commerce website design typically demands high-quality photographs and videos. The more accurate you represent your products, the more users will prefer shopping to your online store. This includes large, high-resolution images, 360-degree views, videos, and 3D models.

Sometimes, a customer wants to see a product in action before deciding whether or not to buy it. Images boost conversion rates by up to 40%, so it’s vital to put them front and center.  They pique the client’s interest and make them want to learn more. Some consumers believe that low-quality images indicate that a store does not care about making an effort to sell, therefore they are more inclined to find another that does.  Customers want to know exactly what they’re buying and see it from as many perspectives as possible before making a purchase. Clean, professional product images develop trust. That is why your online store should focus primarily on your photos and images.  

4. Use Social Proof

It’s no secret that many smart shoppers look for customer reviews before making any kind of purchase. According to Dimensional Research, 90 percent of consumers value internet reviews more than sales professionals’  feedback. Meanwhile, Spiegel Research Center research published a 2017 report saying that 95 percent of customers examine online reviews before making a purchase. 

Include a rating system in your e-commerce website design so that customers may rate your products (and then get as many 5-star reviews as you can). Obviously, aim to get as many positive ones as possible. Request that customers review your products and tell you what they like about them before posting them on your blog. Provide assurance to your visitors that you are a trustworthy and credible business. Your conversions will increase as a result. 

5. Keep Checkout Easy

Make it easy for your customers to complete the checkout process. You put a lot of time and effort into investing in a website that takes customers to their destination. Make sure they get through it. Shopping cart abandonment is one of the biggest complaints of online businesses. With an average dropout rate of 69.57%, it is well worth trying to reduce this number, 

Customers will be more motivated to complete the task if you provide a progress bar or explain the remaining tasks. The entire process should be laid out, from the delivery details to the available shipping options to the credit card number. Show them a preview of the products in the cart with a description so they can review what they’re buying. Make them fill out as few data fields as possible with only the information that is required. When they completed their order, send your customers to a confirmation page to ensure that their transaction went smoothly.

In short, make the checkout process as simple as possible if you want customers to buy from you.

Conclusion

A well-executed e-commerce website design can elevate your online store to the next level. It provides the ideal platform for you to develop a brand, engage with target clients, and sell products or services that bring value to their lives. Good e-commerce web design is crucial when you want to convert website visitors into customers – but only if you have a website design that caters to the preferences of all types of customers. 

Online businesses like yours should avoid losing a lot of customers due to poor website design. Consider hiring a professional e-commerce website design company such as Creativ Digital. We’ve designed and improved over a thousand websites in Sydney and across Australia. We’d love to add yours to the list!

The post Effective Ecommerce Website Design Practices to Help You Sell More appeared first on Creativ Digital.

Nowadays, a company’s online presence is extremely important. Operating an e-commerce store is less expensive than opening a physical store. E-commerce has a low cost of entry. You won’t have to pay rent or utilities, and you’ll probably need fewer employees and have lower operating costs. Though e-commerce websites necessitate regular expenditures for technical support such as hosting, website updates, and maintenance, these costs are significantly cheaper than those of traditional online stores.

Best eCommerce Platforms for Building Online Stores

1. Shopify

Shopify is one of the most well-known and widely used e-commerce platforms for businesses of all sizes. It also focuses on social commerce and mobile shopping.

The user interface for this website builder is incredibly user-friendly. To create your store, you don’t need any IT or coding knowledge. Many companies like Shopify because it allows them to create a beautiful, customisable store without having to learn how to code or design.

When it comes to design, there are hundreds of themes to choose from. Shopify has pre-made templates, so consumers don’t have to start from scratch when it comes to personalization. Shopify offers a wide range of themes to suit a wide range of businesses. You can select the theme that best suits the aesthetic of your company.

If you have any issues in building your site, Shopify offers phone, live chat, and email assistance 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. This ensures that consumers receive immediate assistance from the staff.

2. Bigcommerce

BigCommerce is a great e-commerce website builder for medium to large businesses, such as wholesalers or B2B companies. It works for businesses of all sizes and industries, and it’s also a good option to provide a brick-and-mortar store with an online presence.

BigCommerce provides a comprehensive range of e-commerce solutions to assist you in the development of your website. You can also include social media on your website and sell your products through those platforms.

BigCommerce makes it simple to expand your business and sell your products through different channels. You can create stores on other websites using your BigCommerce site. It’s an excellent method to broaden your company’s reach while maintaining consistent brand identity across platforms.

BigCommerce provides social media integration as well as search engine optimization (SEO) capabilities like rich snippets, custom URLs, and a content delivery network (CDN) to help your site load faster. These features assist in increasing site traffic and improving search engine results.

3. Squarespace

Squarespace is a fantastic all-in-one platform for setting up a profitable online store. This website builder provides a variety of store themes for businesses to choose from when creating a website.

You’ll have access to Squarespace’s inventory management system when you build your site on their platform. This may be integrated into your website to keep track of your inventory and alert you when certain products are running short. Their prices are reasonable, starting at $18 per month for annual payments with minimal services. 

Squarespace gives you complete control over your website. You can manage your email lists, as well as set up coupon offers and shipping preferences. This allows you to easily maintain complete control over your website.

You’ll get access to a large number of mobile-friendly and customizable themes that you can further customize with CSS and Javascript. Although you can submit as many physical products as you like, the subscription selling feature is only available with the Advanced Commerce plan.

4. Magento

Magento is an e-commerce-focused content management system (CMS) for building medium and large-scale web stores. If you’re searching for a platform that gives you the most flexibility, this is a good option. But if you don’t have any Magento experience, you’ll need to hire someone who does.

Magento is mobile-friendly and an open-source platform at the same time, so you’ll have to develop your own store. This means you have the freedom to create rich content for products and other services. Additional e-commerce extensions are also available through Magento Marketplace. Magento has over 9000 plugins/extensions, including free social commerce extensions, allowing you to sell directly on social media platforms.

PCI Compliant Payment Solutions are integrated into the platform. Setting up payment gateways or obtaining an extension from the marketplace is your responsibility. Checkout, payment, and shipping modules are all integrated within the platform.

It also has a large resource collection for store administration. This is the greatest platform for e-commerce sites and enterprise-level merchants with high product volumes.

5. WooCommerce

WooCommerce is an open-source eCommerce platform that is accessible as a plugin for WordPress. WooCommerce is a plugin that adds eCommerce functionality to any WordPress site. With the WooCommerce plugin, you can easily develop an e-commerce-ready website.

You can add e-commerce functionality to your website by using WooCommerce. You make it simple for customers to browse and buy your stuff. It’s a simple plugin that you may use to rapidly create a website.

WooCommerce is an eCommerce platform that includes everything from inventory management to payment processing. When you invest in WooCommerce for WordPress, you gain access to a large developer community that will assist you in creating the ideal website for your company. You can also add hundreds of extensions, such as store administration, shipping, and marketing tools, to extend its capability.

6. Wix

Wix’s major goal is to make creating a website or an online business as simple as possible for its consumers. In fact, its platform is used by over 700,000 companies all around the world. Wix also offers hosting for your online store, with prices starting at $23/month for an annual subscription.

Wix Ecommerce is a great alternative if you have minimal product choices. Small businesses with less than 50 unique products can use this platform to build attractive websites. 

Creating a good website is simple and straightforward. Wix Ecommerce, like other website builders, offers a variety of attractive website themes. 

A drag-and-drop theme is used to build up Wix eCommerce. You have the freedom to add and delete features as you see suitable for your company. This makes creating your own unique storefront a breeze. Abandoned cart recovery, a configurable checkout page, rapid purchase buttons, add to cart from a gallery, wishlists, loyalty programs, discount codes, and user accounts are among the primary features of Wix’s eCommerce platform. You’ll also receive $300 in online ad credit and other helpful online marketing tools. Wix also supports Facebook, Instagram, and eBay for multi-channel sales.

Conclusion 

With so many e-commerce platform alternatives available, choosing the correct one for your business is a critical decision. And while each solution has its own set of advantages and disadvantages, the ideal e-commerce platform for your business will be the one that best fits your needs and budget. As a result, when you begin your search for the best e-commerce platforms, you’ll need to know what you’re looking for in terms of a variety of criteria, including price, platform type, payment processing alternatives, and specialized features and capabilities.

Creativ Digital will assist you in creating a stunning e-commerce site for your business. We are a leading custom eCommerce web development firm in Sydney, dedicated to creating scalable and tailored eCommerce solutions. Our skilled web developers can help you with conversion-driven development techniques whether you’re starting your first online store or upgrading an existing one to shift revenue declines.

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