Many e-commerce businesses currently face a great many difficulties in creating an online store that is distinctive, user-friendly, and attractive.
It is essential that you do not succumb to the typical errors businesses make when it comes to creating an e-commerce website.
Thankfully, there are many strategies you can use to maximize your electronic commerce site, which would be beneficial in simplifying your consumer satisfaction service. It is also worth mentioning that this could help improve your income and sales.
Why Visitors Might Hate Your Website Design
Most companies have an online presence, yet not every one of these sites is receiving visitors. To make an impression online, you must have a website that is professionally built to interest and captivate your intended demographic. Unfortunately, a large number of business websites make major errors with their web design which leads to an unacceptable experience for the user.
Any organization possessing a webpage or an e-commerce store must give their guests the finest user experience possible while they are on the website. That is usually the factor that decides if a visitor will stay or visit another website.
Web viewers only take a short amount of time to evaluate a website. Most people determine if they like your website in a mere 50 milliseconds, or 0.05 seconds, to be exact.
If you don’t make an impact swiftly, they will go away and never come back. As an expanding company, it is necessary to guarantee that you do not make missteps with essential web design elements that can spoil your online presence.
Internet shoppers possess the focus of a goldfish, and mobile users have observed an awe-inspiring 88% lower in their concentration yearly. Sadly, that is not advantageous to companies hoping to turn internet users into purchasers.
If a person visits a web page and then chooses to stay, nearly forty percent of people will not interact with the site if the design is not appealing and the material is deficient.
It puts a major strain on companies when creating their web page. They must establish an equilibrium between all the important aspects of satisfactory website design. For instance, if your business is having difficulty drawing people to your website. And the ones who are visiting are not converting. If that is the case, you should consider changing your website design as it may be hindering your chances of success.
In this article, I’ll go over some critical errors in web design that tend to appear often in order to help you stay away from them and provide your users with a superior experience.
Not Being Mobile-Friendly
Having a website that is not optimized for mobile devices is one of the biggest errors in web design. It could be detrimental to your business and it is essential to stay away from it all the time. The initial look of your website design is dependent upon how it is viewed on a mobile device. Consequently, to interact successfully and convert contemporary customers, mobile-first web design is imperative.
Nowadays, people tend to use their cell phones to surf the internet rather than laptops or desktop computers. It is clear that most people now consume the internet via smartphones, tablets, PS4s, and other portable devices, rather than on traditional desktops and laptops. If your website’s mobile experience is poor, your visitors will not hesitate to go to a better one that provides them with a positive experience.
This means that if your website isn’t mobile-friendly, visitors are unlikely to frequent the site again, no matter how much they enjoy your business. As a result, they will not utilize your website or purchase any of your products, and will not advise others to go with your business.
If the layout, pictures, and writing on your website do not adjust to fit varying sizes of mobile devices. The navigation menu selections are too tiny, don’t show up in the expected locations, or don’t work well with touch input. Act now and fix these problems ASAP. Create a memorable impact through a successful mobile-compatible design so that your competition does not have an upper hand over you.
Slow Page Load Speed
People using the internet now want results faster than ever and don’t like to be kept waiting. Thus, the higher the page loading time, the greater the chance of a visitor leaving the website.
Google would now like to prioritize websites in its rankings that have quick loading speeds, in addition to being both responsive and mobile-friendly. If you wish to place higher on Google’s search engine results page, you absolutely must have a quick website that loads in under three seconds.
Verify if any of your in-house problems – like coding, visual material, or images – are slowing down your page loading speed, and repair them accordingly. If there’s an issue with the hosting server, contact somebody with expertise or carry out updates straight away.
Automatically Playing Audio or Video
Your visitors aren’t attending a function; they are trying to find info. If you start playing sound and video files automatically, you will irritate people before they have had the opportunity to browse your website. This can be really annoying and in certain settings can even be embarrassing. Additionally, downloading media content requires both time and bandwidth usage, thereby lengthening the amount of time to load the page. If you are required to have auto-play videos, keep them brief and leave the volume off.
Poor Slider Implementation
Sliders are a common cause of web design mistakes. Incorporate a slider into your website only if it enhances the user experience. If you include a slider, implement it correctly. Repeatedly refreshing the webpage instead of keeping the image up-to-date hinders the speed of the page and may befuddle visitors.
The picture should be kept to a minimal size and every slide should express a complete thought. Do not anticipate that readers will go through all the slides or wait for them to be done loading. You should include the same details on the page in written form.
A website without SSL Certificate
A browser will alert website visitors if a site they are trying to access is not hosted on a secure platform, with a message saying something along the lines of “The site you are trying to reach is not secure”. If your webpage still has web addresses beginning with HTTP instead of HTTPS, then examine your SSL certification.
SSL wasn’t a big issue a few years ago. It is now absolutely necessary to have an SSL Certificate. If your website is not secure, Google and other search engines will minimize your presence in the search results rankings. Having an untrusted website is a warning sign for both guests and search engines. Be sure to address all your website safety concerns to keep from overlooking SEO position aspects.
Poor Navigation
Many people abandon your website due to a confusing navigational structure.
It is absolutely vital to have excellent navigation in order to create a pleasant experience for the user.
If users are not able to pinpoint exactly what they want, there is a good likelihood that they will abandon the site and go to one of your rivals. This is the result of you not providing assistance in locating the desired page.
The importance of a search bar on your website and the organization of products into different classifications is essential. This includes things listed on specific items’ pages and other efficient methods to guide customers through your website.
So, apply the best navigation practices and consider the following things as well:
- Ensure that users have easy access to the most important categories at the top of the menu.
- Enable customers to organize products according to cost, evaluation ratings, etc.
- All elements that can be clicked on your website should be large enough to be tapped with a finger on mobile phones and other portable devices.
Complicated Checkout Process
One of the worst missteps an e-commerce website can take is to have an involved and intricate checkout procedure. The key is simplifying the process of allowing customers to submit their credit card information and finalize the purchase.
The longer the process for purchasing a product, the more likely it is that shoppers will give up and not complete the transaction.
Optimally, your checkout page should only encompass one page, where customers can view what items they have chosen for their cart, as well as provide their name, shipping address, and information for payment. The subsequent pages should be dedicated to confirming the customer’s information and pressing the “Buy” button.
Any other items placed between them will be seen as an impediment to their order being completed. So, follow this ideal model as much as possible.
If you must include additional pages, make sure the forms are simple to complete. Include particular sections in two-column formats to make the pages appear less lengthy.
Not Giving a Clear Value Proposition
What factors will decide if customers stay loyal to your website or never return? Your value proposal is one of them.
Your value offering will display how appealing the reliability of your product is to potential customers. Your products and brand will be highlighted in a way that will make them stand out from the other competitors.
Your value proposition will explain to customers why it is worthwhile for them to purchase your products or why they should make the purchase in the first place.
Here are some essential characteristics of a reasonable and persuasive value proposition:
- Creating content that is attractive and captivating that highlights the benefits of your products and communicates your brand identity.
- Pictures that will illustrate and explain the use of your product in an impressive way.
- Other benefits such as superb discounts, complimentary shipping, etc.
Slow Loading Page
It takes less than three seconds for a page to be loaded on average. Be careful not to extend beyond the optimal level or else your website may suffer from a high bounce rate.
There are numerous things that could influence the quickness of a website, such as a web connection velocity, host server, the website’s contents, media, etc.
The most significant factor out of all of them is web design. It’s possible that revising the page may be necessary to improve page performance. It is essential that your website is as fast as it can be so that it can affect your search engine ranking.
Fortunately, sub-standard load times can be fixed. Ultimately, the process boils down to altering the size and compressing the product photographs. Printed photographs that are of high quality have a great appearance, yet a few of them are larger than they have to be, especially when they are put to use on the website.
Poor Quality Product Photography
It is often said that a single image can communicate a great deal more than a large amount of text. If the image you’re using is blurred and of poor quality, this could lead to a drop in conversions and profits.
Excellent product photography does more than just show customers what the product looks like.
Ideally, it should be compelling enough to encourage the customers to imagine what their experience would be like if they owned the product. In the same way, it can also give them a sense of the context and permit them to appreciate the product in terms of its looks.
With most people having access to high-quality digital cameras on their phones, there is no real excuse for not displaying your products with top-quality images.
It would be beneficial to make your product photography more imaginative. Don’t limit yourself to taking pictures of your goods with plain white backgrounds.
You can make your prospects take notice by using an unusual backdrop or putting the image in a captivating, unexpected context.
Confusing Product Description
Product details are essential for any online store. By educating your customer on the details of the product, you are giving them the reasons why they should purchase or utilize it.
Have a look at our instructions on Developing Product Descriptions that Generate Sales.
Burying the CTA Button
Once someone visits your product page, the primary feature that ought to be right in front of them is the option of “Adding to Cart”.
CTA buttons should be the most conspicuous part of your page.
Consider that certain websites will offer detailed attributes and product descriptions to give customers all the important facts before selecting to buy something.
This could give customers more knowledge before buying, but it may also cause difficulty in deciding what to do in that situation.
Does this webpage provide information only, or can products be bought on it?
It is essential to have a thorough and extended item description, but it is not necessary to display it entirely all the time. Cut down the length of the text and make the call to action button stand out more.
