While forming an internet-based store, it is tough to angle rapidly and comprehend how the site should look to result in positive growth in the income of the business owner. It determines whether people have faith in the brand and if they are willing to spend on the products or not.
But what precisely is “the correct eCommerce website design,” and what features must it have? In fact, there are no set rules that define what is and what not a great design is; it all is hinged on the discrete characteristics of each store and who its target audience is. Yet, there are numerous things that can be considered, and they work well for almost everyone.
In this article, we have talked about why it is important for the retail business to have a website, the top eCommerce website features that it must include on its Ecommerce Website, and some tips to follow while making the design. Read along to know more.
Importance of Having an E-commerce Website
One of the most significant facets of having your individual website is that you can sell straight to website visitors and other customers. Contrasting to marketplaces, where the customers you attract are not being aware of your business individually but about the marketplace. If you sell directly, on the other hand, you save the fees that some marketplaces deduct on every sale, have the information of the customer for future marketing campaigns, and also are able to create brand awareness.
Your products are listed in a broad way when you try selling them on a marketplace. There can be character limits imposed or word count limitations or some might even stop you from logo usage; there is very little room for customization or labeling. It is the name of the marketplace that is on display upfront to people who buy stuff from there and not your brand. Having your individual e-commerce website can help you in better understanding your customers.
This comprises demographics like their location and also from where they got to know about your brand. You can analyze their surfing and searching behavior on your website, like what are the products that most interested them and what way they took to reach you.
With your individual website, it’s relaxed to run a trial with any offer as well, since there are no severe rules or guidelines that you must follow to list your products. You also don’t have to care about the impression these variations have on your sales, as there is no amount or percentage of your profit that you must share with the marketplace. By having a website, you eventually regulate your storefront and have the capability to examine and validate what works for your business online and what does not. Just for the reason that you have your own website doesn’t mean clienteles will inevitably come flocking to you.
Once you have a store, you must put in some efforts to attract the customers there. The first step to getting clients is to drive traffic to your website, and that can be done if certain features are incorporated in your site, we have discussed them below in detail.
Top Features for Generating Sales on an Ecommerce Website
Features are USPs of any eCommerce website that at all times boost client experience. Therefore, if you are betrothed in eCommerce website development, below are some features that are a must-have.
- Content Management Capabilities:
Content management is the utmost noteworthy instrument of an eCommerce website that allows you to handle all the content accessible over your site. From the addition of new products to searching and sorting of content management features permits you to hundreds of things from which you can put the products on display. Below are some conducts content management abilities that can allow unified e-Commerce website management:
- Design new content pages and also manage them
- Product picture uploading and cropping the image
- Adding some new products and texts, along with product details, pricing, inventory, additional details, and much more.
- Suffuse and manage products and their images all at once.
- Reporting Features
Reporting is an important thing when it when your business reaches thousands or hundreds of sales every day. It is very domineering to be aware of your selling patterns on a daily basis. Reporting features allow the business to have a check of their inventory, the number of items sold, and also the products that are available and those that are not. Monitoring sales every day, products, and clientele sallow a business to gain valued understandings that boost product sales by updating the marketing campaigns that are already in action.
These could be things like more discounts on famous products can upsurge your sales to a great extent or help to increase the sales of some products that are not moving out easily due to high cost. Reporting is the utmost important feature of eCommerce websites that has a lot of benefits.
- Promotion and Discount Code Feature
Discounts and promotions are one of the main features for any eCommerce website to have. These enable users to experience the most interesting facet of shopping online. Accordingly, this feature is placed second on the list of must-have features on an eCommerce website.
The substructure of this feature is compound, and it is devoted to counting discounts on each and every product individually on the basis of the buyers’ behavior. Some people love the discount codes they receive; it’s like a special gift from the business to them; on the other hand, some people love the prices that are displayed after the discount only.
- Automated Email Marketing Feature
Do you think big eCommerce websites do not already have this feature employed? It is your delusion. Email marketing is a great feature in eCommerce websites that allows businesses to involve with clienteles and likely shoppers by customizing their experience while shopping. Making use of email marketing optimization in your eCommerce website, you can target a specific group of audiences by means of special discounts and offers.All in all, email optimization is important to also send people updates on any item they ordered. You must have noticed emails from Amazon, eBay, and many such big e-commerce websites whenever you place an order. These can be order confirmation emails, order cancellation emails, tracking details, and much more.
- Search Engine Optimization for Better Ranking
Search engine optimization allows your products to get higher ranks in searches done by customers. Thus, a feature of search engine optimization is important. Nevertheless, there are search engine plugins available for performing SEO on eCommerce websites; all in all, the platforms you are making use of for eCommerce website development also qualify some SEO competencies to the website.SEO is the most affordable and results, bringing practice in the long run.
- Provide Multiple Payment Options
The payment procedures in any eCommerce website must offer convenience, as it allows customers to choose the method in which they wish to pay. Thus, eCommerce websites must be having a number of payment options to choose from, such as Credit cards, Debit Card, PayPal, and also other methods. The final step in the buying process must be really smooth as not many people might be using the same method, and if they do not have that method available, they might consider not making a purchase at all.
- Add Some Informative Part to Your Website in the way of Blogs and Articles
Content is the only thing that has the power to push your website’s ranking up on Google. Thus, many new eCommerce websites have written content in the form of blogs and articles so that they can be ranked above their competitors. Blogs are great to target audiences and attract an audience that might be looking for relevant information.
- Wish List & Shopping Cart Options
A shopping cart is without a doubt one of the indispensable features of eCommerce websites, as it permits customers to have a look at, add, and remove items from the shopping cart. Customers add the products to the cart also for the reason to see what the total amount will be after adding the shipping and applying discount codes. It is evident from research that people do leave products in shopping carts and never complete the payment because of reasons such as high shipping, late delivery, and much more. That is when a wish list comes into action, and it acts just like the shopping cart; the only difference is that people can add products that they wish to buy sometime in the future and not at the very moment. A wish list shows all products that interest the customer and also the discounts that are applied to it. It is by far a loved feature for any ecommerce website to date.
- No Contact Delivery Option
Since the pandemic has hit, everyone around us has become alert and cautious of any unwanted contact with a surface of a person. Accordingly, a no-contact delivery option is being put to use by many brands, and customers do appreciate this a lot. Adding this feature on your eCommerce website, trust can be built-in people that so are following social distancing and pose no risk to them as well.
- Integration of Social Media Apps
Businesses know the worth of forming a connection with customers. And the best platform to do so is any social media handle say Instagram, Facebook, and many more. Actually, this feature not only helps the brand to build a connection with customers but also attracts many new customers. People nowadays can easily navigate to a brand’s website through social media. Thus, it is a great feature to boost sales and increase brand awareness. People spend most of their day on social media, and that is why there is a better chance of your brand getting noticed there, and then people coming to your website.
- Voice Search & Image Search Feature
One more feature that has shot up in popularity in recent years is the AI-enabled voice search and image search feature. After the voice assistance devices have increased in number, the same is entering eCommerce more rapidly than ever. Voice-enabled searches are used by almost everyone because of the simple reason that it is easier to speak than type each work. Similarly, searching for similar products by uploading an image in the search bar has also gained a lot of popularity, so you must add this feature to your website. As technology is making advancements, e-commerce websites also have to keep up with the pace and be in the competition if they want to remain in the game.
Some Tips to Keep in Mind
There are some other things to be kept in mind as well. Below are some tips to keep in mind while adding the above features to your e-commerce website:
- Keep the design of your website mobile-friendly
- Do not forget to add a FAQ page, and they must be in simple language
- Keep the design as simple as possible
- Make an effort and ask people for feedback on their earlier purchases
- The support must be available at almost all times, and you can also add 24/7 chat support by bots
- Make the navigation from one page to another as smooth as possible
- Keep the delivery charges minimal as that can cause cart abandonment
- You can add a product catalog on the home page to give an idea of the products you sell
- Do not make the blog you write on your website to be vague and keep it relevant to the products you sell.
- Always add high-quality pictures and videos for your products as they are very important to convince the buyer to make a purchase.
In Conclusion!
Same as in the case of real sales, the main job to be done while creating an eCommerce website is to keep customer satisfaction on priority, and not just the profits! In general, as we see brick-and-mortar stores being well kept and with beautiful interiors, the same has to be done with an online website, and it is possible at a very low cost comparatively.