E-commerce is becoming an increasingly competitive market, and overlooking your web design is no longer an option. Within a couple of seconds, customers make an instant judgment on your brand, whether you seem credible, trustworthy and decided if they feel comfortable spending their money on your site.
There are no two ways about it, web design plays a significant role in sales and customer engagement. Merchants have one of two choices: choose a template and try to make it fit your requirements or design your own customer website. No matter what option you choose, it’s essential that online merchants have a website that makes them stands out and converts browsers into buyers.
Ultimately, the look and feel of your website can either make or break your business. It’s easy to fall into the trap of relying on a standard template, especially for those are too busy going after fresh leads by testing out multiple social media tactics. However, whilst templates serve a purpose for merchants who are just getting started, it won’t be long before you outgrow your current template and start encountering limitations.
You might have a good idea what additional features you need, or maybe you’re not quite sure where you’re losing your conversions. Whatever your reality, if you’re at a crossroads, perhaps it’s time to consider custom web design. So how do you know custom web design is your next step? What impression do you want your customers to have when they land on your website?
We take a look at 10 vital web design features that will increase conversions.
1. Content
Without content, your website is merely a domain. The content of your site is crucial to the success of your business. Content comes in many different shapes and sizes, however, the written content is the best way to get started. It’s essential to create a high-quality, unique product descriptions that describe exactly what your product is. Ensure you include keywords that your customers will search for. Not only is this good for SEO and Google ranking, it means you will be driving qualified leads to your online store. Therefore increasing the conversion rate.
2. Typography
Arguably, typography is an artform. The style you choose plays a huge part in conveying your branding, creativity, and personality. This not only includes font selection, but also simple formattings such as line spacing, headings, and page layout. Choosing a unique, easy to read font will help to draw customers to read the content on your site. When it comes to choosing the right font, simplicity is the key - keep it simple and striking. If your font is uninspiring, line spacing is out of whack and your headings are all over the place, you’ll be more likely to lose customers before they’ve even what you have on offer.
3. Images
Beautiful imagery is proven to capture your customer's attention, especially when they are of high-quality standard. This is because our brains process visual content faster than written content. Our eyes are instantly able to detect poor image quality, particularly basic image quality issues like blurry, pixelated and unaligned images. High-quality images help to develop a sense of sophistication and quality in your brand. Whether you decide to take professional shots or have your product photos professionally edited, it’s vital you find attractive photos that represent your products well. At the end of the day, product photos are a virtual online window, so you need to make the most of it, otherwise, you will lose potential customers.
4. Design
Just like typography, simple design is always the most effective. Less is definitely more, as long as you create striking designs. The whole point is to use impressionable graphics, something colourful that catches the viewer's attention. Flat, two-dimensional designs are particularly effective as they create clear, open-space on your website. Not only that, flat designs are less distracting than moving graphics for example. The ultimate goal of design is to capture your viewer’s attention and then their imagination to keep them engaged.
5. Video
When customers want to more know about a product, searching for explainer or tutorial videos is very common. Adding a quick video on your website to explain how to use a particular product and its benefits is always a conversion booster. Videos should be strategically placed to catch your customer’s attention and ideally entertain them. Avoid making long, boring low-quality videos as this will have the opposite effect. No video is actually better than a poor one. Keep it short and always include a call-to-action, as this will increase conversions.
6. UX
UX design is becoming an essential requirement for websites that are serious about optimising conversions. UX is the process of taking the customer’s journey into consideration when planning usability, accessibility and interactive elements on a website. UX design incorporates an easy-to-use interface with intuitive features, to avoid the customers dropping off midway through the conversion funnel. Excellent UX design encourages seamless site navigation, particularly for websites with multiple pages.
7. Homepage
Researchers found that 86% of people want to see products when they visit the homepage of an online store. Your homepage has one job - explain what you do or sell. Have you ever been on a website, you don’t have a clue what they do? Or wasted time on a website, only to realise that they don’t have what you’re looking for? Pretty frustrating! Your homepage needs to instantly explain what you’re offering, with easy-to-follow navigation. For example, if you are selling shoes, make sure your homepage banner has images of shoes, different categories, and any current special offers.
8. Mobile
In September 2017, GSMA put the number of mobile devices at 8.28 billion. This means that there are more mobile phones than humans across the globe. In fact, a Shopify study found that 50.3% of visits to their merchant’s stores came via mobile devices. Taking this into consideration, it’s a no-brainer that web design needs to be mobile friendly. Make sure mobile elements are optimised for small screens and ensure you have a simple navigation system. Give your customers a smooth buying process from the comfort of their mobile.
9. Social
Social media is a key marketing tactic for any E-commerce business and is often one of the best ways to drive traffic to your online store. While it might seem like obvious advice, make sure you include all your social media platforms on your homepage. Give your loyal customers the option to share links to your products, or promote your products to their social media contacts. Social media integrations also help to boost your SEO and site ranking. And with the increase of shopping across social media, you need to make sure you’re part of the trend.
10. Trust
Online shoppers require reassurance that your online site is legitimate, and often look out for trust marks and accreditations. Another thing that online shoppers look out for is site security, and without that they will be less inclined to hand out personal information. The best way to convey this information is by using accreditation and security badges. Display awards, licences, certificates, government authorisation/endorsement logos, along with with the appropriate security badges, such as Verisign, SSL Value, PayPal Verified, Comodo Secured, Verified By Visa.
Good website design should be striking, engaging, easy to navigate and simple. If your website is holding you back from achieving your full sales potential, it might be time to find out how you can optimise conversions. Underwaterpistol specialise in taking online stores to the next level. Feel free to contact us for a free consultation to find out where you’re losing sales, and how we can help you close the gaps.
