In the competitive world of e-commerce, businesses fight for online recognition while customers struggle with too many options to shop from. So the goal is to grab an online shopper’s attention and keep them coming back to your business.
The best way to provide the best online shopping experience is to ensure customers find the information they need and complete a transaction effortlessly.
But, how do you do that?
By ensuring that your website structure, product details, and all other elements that help page visitors navigate your site and make a purchase are optimized with providing a good user experience in mind.
Forrester’s Research states that every $1 invested in user experience (UX) can give a $100 return. This goes to show that a few informed changes to your user experience can have a huge impact on improved conversion rates and more sales.
Here’s what it takes to deliver an exceptional user experience.
Understand your Users
The first step to creating a good user experience is to understand your users. This eliminates making assumptions and backing your conversion strategies on actual research.
When your user experience is guided this way, you eliminate the guessing game. The research lets you get actionable insights to inform your web design decisions to boost conversions.
Use heatmaps to see where page visitors click on your pages and behavior recordings to monitor interactions. Google Analytics and your eCommerce platform also helps the least popular pages and the reason people are abandoning cart.
Another way to improve user experience is by getting customer feedback. Automate feedback request emails to your customers once they make their first purchase and send more after set periods.
Optimize for mobile
You should consider optimizing your eCommerce site for mobile users because mobile search makes more than half of online search traffic. In addition, Google shifted its search algorithms to prioritize mobile versions of sites. This means that optimizing for mobile helps improve your search engine rankings.
Mobile optimization helps you improve user experience by engaging visitors with features that are specific for mobile users such as optimal speed, mapping, and click-to-call.
To optimize your site for mobile users:
- Utilize tools like Pagespeed Insights and Google’s Mobile Usability test
- Use structured data to improve how search engines interpret web
- Optimize for voice search information
- Avoid interstitial pop ups
- Simplify use for one- thumb users
Maximize load speed
Slow page speed ruins the shopping experience for your users. Google states that the probability of page visitors bouncing from a site increases by 32% if your page load speed goes from 1 second to 3.
To maximize your site’s loading speed, do the following:
- Use a content delivery network
- Remove render-blocking javascript
- Enable browser caching
- Reduce page redirects
- Upgrade your hosting to premium
Simplify your web navigation
If your customers can’t find it, they won’t buy it. Have a prominent search bar on your homepage. You should also leverage the responsive design to make sure that your site can be accessed from any device effortlessly.
Categorize your products effectively to improve the shopping experience. Use a hierarchy if you sell a wide range of products by creating sub-categories. This gives your site a clean layout and makes products easy to find. Furthermore, include a category for new arrivals to help customers keep up with the latest trends.
Optimize your product pages
Your product page is one of the most important pages on your eCommerce site. Online shoppers won’t be able to touch any items when they buy, so the best way to encourage a sale is by optimizing your product pages.
To do this, the first thing is to showcase your product imagery. Leverage large product photos as well as close detail shots. 360-degree views help customers get a glimpse of the product from any angle. Product videos help customers understand how your product works. Use the variant images feature to showcase the same product in different textures and colors.
Secondly, add trust badges to strengthen buying confidence. Include them on your product detail, shopping cart, and checkout pages. Ensure that your site has an SSL certificate to make sure that browsing and buying from your site is secure.AS an added advantage, Google uses HTTPS as a boost in ranking in search.
Equally important, allow your customers to read and write reviews. Research shows that 7 out of 10 shoppers check out reviews before making a buying decision, leading to a 74% increase in conversion.
Create an omnichannel shopping experience
Use customer data to personalize their shopping experiences across all channels. An omnichannel experience ensures cohesiveness of your messaging and helps you engage with existing and potential customers in every marketing channel.
You’ll be able to actively engage with your customers, generate user generated content, and increase your referral list. You’ll be able to run social contests and reward them for cross promotion.
Create trust through transparency
Customers need to be fully informed to make a final purchasing decision. You need to make it easy for them to do so by being transparent. Information about shipping, product details, company return and exchange policies should be included in your website.
This helps potential customers to feel more confident and make an informed buying decision. When you set up their expectations upfront, they know what you’re capable of doing and are comfortable with what you can’t. Establishing trust before they buy encourages repeat sales.
Another way to boost transparency is by providing reliable customer support. When a customer experiences an issue with your product, they will want the issue to get sorted right away. This is where live chat comes to the rescue. Live chat ensures you respond promptly and provide 24/7 assistance to your customers.
Retarget customers
Engage your customers to stay at the top of their minds for repeat purchases. Send email and social ads to interact with them constantly. When they visit your site again, make it easy for them to shop by showcasing the products they viewed during their last visit or added to their cart.
Another way to go about it is by rewarding top customers with exclusive products and special offers to get them back to your site. Ensure that your special promotional codes or offers can be redeemed easily to create a seamless process.
Take Your Store to the Next Level!
Providing a great user experience to your customers helps increase your order value as well as customer retention. Try to implement the above ideas and take stock to determine which strategies work best to improve UX for your ecommerce store.
