2019 is the modern age of digitization, and almost every industry has adopted the digital approach. The biggest digital transformation that the world has witnessed is in the form of e-commerce store setups. Every business is trying to cash on the popularity and convenience of online stores to sell their products and services, and the following stats provide all the reasons behind it:-
- By 2019, the number of digital buyers will be around 1.92 billion globally
- By 2019, e-commerce sales will account for 13.7% of the total retail sales
- 65% of buyers look online for price comparisons when present in a physical store
- 85% of buyers research online before making any purchase
So, going by these numbers, it is evident that people look forward to shopping online. This makes it imperative for your online store to be extremely user-friendly in order to maximize the chances of conversions, and the following tips will help you in achieving the same:-
Five Essential Tips for a User-Friendly E-commerce Store:
1. Make Loading Speed Fast
Online shopping is all about speed, as this is the very reason people prefer it over physical shopping. Your web page needs to load fast as customers have a plethora of options available online apart from your e-commerce store. As per a report by Kissmetrics.com, 40% of visitors abandon a website if its homepage fails to load within the first three seconds. So, make sure your e-commerce website is optimized for speed and that your developer doesn’t miss out on the imperative speed plugins and tools.
2. Switch to a Responsive Design
It is no longer an option for e-commerce stores to have a responsive design as it has become a necessity for them. Google has reported over 100 billion searches conducted via smartphones, and it is a known fact by now that people look forward to shopping online through their smartphones. This makes it evident for the e-commerce stores to switch to a responsive design to not only make it user-friendly but also come up the search rankings as this has become one of the important ranking factors now.
3. Seamless Navigation
The more simple you keep things on your e-commerce store, the more user-friendly your website becomes. Most of the owners commit the mistake of making their website navigation complex owing to a unique design, making the users confused and irritated when moving from one element to the other. Having a unique and appealing design is important, and it is equally important to keep the navigation as simple as possible since most of the users are not so tech-savvy.
4. Make Payment Options Flexible
Every customer is different, and so are their preferred modes of payment. Some are comfortable using their credit cards for online purchases, while others are not. There are customers who like to pay through Bitcoin and PayPal. So, making payment options flexible is crucial as you do not want to lose out on a customer for the simple reason that you do not have his preferred mode of payment option available on your e-commerce store.
5. Automate the Search Bar
An e-commerce store is all about different products and services, and people like to explore a lot. An important part of their exploration lies in their quest for searching for items in the search bar that come to their mind. Automating your search bar makes your e-commerce store very user-friendly as the users are presented with appropriate options as per their keyword, helping them search and find better.
What are the Customers’ Expectations apart from the User-Friendly Feature?
Customers have a lot of options to choose from when it comes to shopping online. Most of the customers have at least shopped from Amazon once in their lifetime and are familiar with its great features and services, explains a provider of eCommerce catalog processing services. This leads to some expectations which they have in mind while visiting any other online store. So, let’s get started and see what customers expect from your e-commerce store apart from the user-friendly feature:-
Top Customer Expectations
Free Shipping Opportunities: Customers are always looking for online stores that offer free shipping. As per Walker Sands’s retail study, it was found that 85% of the visitors have abandoned their shopping carts owing to the expensive shipping fees. This makes it evident for online store owners to devise strategies that enable them to offer free shipping without facing any losses.
Personalized Recommendations: Machine learning and artificial intelligence have changed the way customer data is collected and used. With these technologies, you can offer personalized suggestions to your customers, winning their hearts, along with maximizing conversion chances. This has been proved by the study by Magnetic and Retail TouchPoints, which states that 54% of customers want personalized shopping suggestions rather than everything coming their way.
Special Deals: This is unsaid! Customers always want deals and offers, and if you could offer them the best ones, they will never look for other options. PwC’s “Total Retail Survey” found out that 56% of customers definitely buy from an online store which proposes them a lower price as compared to the physical stores.
Authentic and Trustworthy Customer Reviews: Another study by PwC revealed that customers lookup for a brand’s review on social media platforms before making a buying decision. This makes it evident for you to have customer reviews, which are authentic and generate trust. You should encourage your customers to add comments regarding the purchase or product usage, and review manipulation is never recommended since the customers are pretty intelligent in assessing fake reviews. Instead, you should work on the quality of your products and services.
Conclusion
The above post clearly explains the importance and methods for having a user-friendly e-commerce store. It holds immense importance since the customers do not wish to stay on a website that provides them with an unpleasant experience. Rather, they want to stay and explore a website that makes them mesmerized with its appealing design and user-friendly interface. So, business owners should make sure they adhere to these e-commerce requirements, along with meeting the various customer expectations.
Author Bio:
Adriene Raynott is a Sr. Business Analyst at Cogneesol. She loves to write and research different business subjects like outsourcing, business technology, retail management, legal, and data entry services to share valuable information that leads to business growth.
