Online stores reach more people and nurture leads better. Your customers don’t have to visit your physical store to check your products. In fact, with an online store, they can buy your products anytime, anywhere. How can you plan your best eCommerce website so that it can convert quickly and successfully?

The good news is, we are giving you the elements that make up the best eCommerce website design. You simply cannot blindly plan and create a website without considering your buyers. An effective eCommerce website needs to be visually appealing on top of having excellent navigation. This should also be SEO-optimized to increase conversions. Are you ready to know what the basic elements of an eCommerce website are?

Best eCommerce Website Design Elements

eCommerce businesses are expected to grow exponentially next year as more consumers opting for online purchases. Instead of just maintaining your brick-and-mortar business, it’s time to up your game and take it online.

What Makes a Good eCommerce Website?

All legitimate and trustworthy websites share common features, which can be summed up into five categories: how easy it is to the eyes, how reliable it is, how navigable it is, and how responsive it is.

Visual Appealing

How your website looks helps your website sell your products. Your customers rely on the images you show on your site. Since they can ‘try the products, your customers need vivid images to “feel” your products.

Think of the Website Color Combination

Colors affect emotions. In commerce, emotions trigger customers to buy. Simple color combinations highlight your products. Color uniformity is the key. Also, when choosing your color combination, limit your colors to one primary and one secondary color.

To know which colors compliment another, you can check these color combination checkers:

Think of the Typography

Try not to stay safe with the boring Times New Roman. Experiment with different fonts to see which ones appeal to all ages. Be creative about it. After all, it’s the font that sends the message through. Make your header font unique, while the body font can be a serif face. You need to take note that the faces you use should make words readable.

Your Logo

Your logo is what distinguishes your company from others at first glance at your website. This should be distinguishable and very visible to your audience. Make sure that it’s just the right size compared to other elements on your website. Too large, and you create that extra space above it. Too small, and it becomes indiscernible. Most eCommerce websites design templates have their logos on the top left of the page, the area where your eyes would most likely gravitate. A horizontal layout saves you space too. Also, ensure that your logo is clickable to your homepage.

Some More Areas You Should Add Your Logo:

  • Header
  • Footer
  • Subdomain
  • Contact Page
  • Confirmation Page
  • Splash Page

Images

You should present your products from several angles and not just a single image. Your customers would want to view your products as if they are inspecting them at the shop.

  • Make sure that the images are in high resolution and good lighting is used.
  • These images should load fast.
  • Add Instagram photos and photos sent by customers to product pages to increase checkout.
  • Make sure your customers can take a closer look at the products being sold.
  • Highlight the features of the product by adding an image gallery.
  • Ideally, the images should have a white background.
  • Add images of people.

The Zoom Option

Who would want to buy something without checking it out in detail? An added option to improve product quality is adding a zoom option to the images of products you sell. It’s giving your customers the opportunity for an informed decision. Ensure that the pictures are in high resolution; otherwise, they’re zooming in on blurry images.

Call to Action

Your call-to-action buttons and links should be strategically placed within the page. There should be one on the featured banner on the website’s top-fold as this is the most desirable real estate on your website.

On the use of sliders

One of the most effective ways to use call-to-action for many eCommerce website templates is to add sliders. However, there’s a catch to this. Ideally, sliders are more effective for already-established websites and those that have numerous images to use.

If there are fewer than three images, opt for a banner on the same spot. If your site is still trying to garner customers, use a static image that on-site visitors can easily recognize and associate.

How to Create the Perfect CTA

  • Make it short.
  • Go straight to the point.
  • Use words such as “now” and “free”.
  • Make sure that you use more than three images.
  • These images should be in high-resolution.
  • These pictures are relevant to the products and promotion.

Trustworthiness

It perfectly makes sense that new customers have to trust you first before they can even purchase from your eCommerce website. It’s best if you showed them your commitment to making them happy. After all, they still have no idea about your brand or the quality of your products.

Contact Information

In many cases, contact information can be seen on the homepage with a link to the Contact Us page. Should you add this information on the homepage, add a business phone number, mailing address, and an email.

Contact Us Page

Considered one of the best eCommerce site practices, adding the Contact Us feature improves customer trust as this nurtures your leads and improves long-term relationships. Your customers can interact with you through the Contact Us form if something goes wrong. There should be a link on the homepage to make it easier for your customers to communicate with you.

Chat Option

Being available 24/7 is a brownie point to increase engagement, credibility, and trust among your customers. If a feedback form isn’t available, you can employ a chatbot, so you are readily available for your customers. You can try these:

Shopping Cart

One of the features of the best eCommerce website is the Shopping Cart option. This allows your customer to check the products they are about to buy. In many instances, it would show the number of items per product, the pricing for each product, the total amount to be paid, and the mode of payment.

Much should be emphasized with the checkout process, as this is the most significant conversion killer for your website. If the checkout process is not well-planned, your customers would abandon their carts and leave the site.

Tips That Make the Checkout Process Better

  • Make sure that the Checkout button is very distinguishable
  • There should be no hidden charges
  • Make sure that the loading is fast and smooth
  • Easy editing of cart contents
  • of products
  • There should be product images
  • Make sure the security logos are there
  • Add contact support
  • Include pre-populate forms
  • Offer multi-payment choices including COD, PayPal, and the likes

Shipping Details

Include in your top header the shipping details. Some websites include several shipping types, such as same-day delivery, order pickup, and the likes. To attract more people, you can highlight the free delivery option in the header as well.

Advanced Payment Options

There are many modes of payment available online. There is a one-click method that shoppers can use, provided that they have registered with the website. You should understand your ideal buyer and his buying nature. Then, decide which payment options would work best for them.

Currency Change

If your company wants to cater to international clients, or perhaps you already have these buyers, you should include a currency change feature to your eCommerce website. Remember, not everyone uses the dollar as his primary currency. You can keep track of how your products are well-received by your global market. Also, you increase your credibility with your international market because you’re allowing them to purchase your products in their currency of choice.

Price Filters

As part of creating a better user experience, you should add price filters so your customers can sort out similar products based on their price points. You can also add cost shipping as part of the filter. There must be no hidden charges. This is to promote trust.

Testimonials

Testimonials are essential to improve and increase your website’s credibility. Through testimonials, you’d learn which areas can be improved and which areas perform well.

Review

In marketing, word of mouth is the most effective. Adding a review to each of your products is similar to getting a recommendation through word of mouth. Take those negative reviews as constructive criticisms. Also, negative reviews on the product pages indicate that those aren’t censored and authentic. These reviews can also be used to generate content and drive your ranking for SEO.

You can chat or email them to request a review. In return, you can reward them with discounts and freebies. If you’re not ready to add the reviews, you can opt for a rating option.

Terms and Condition

You add Terms and Conditions to your website to inform your buyers what to expect from your business. There, you can discuss your return and exchange policies.

Return Policy

One of the standards of eCommerce is to provide a return policy. The protocol is making sure that your customer should never have a return. You can either add this to your Terms and Condition or create a link to a page that discusses your return policies separately. However, make sure that these are clear and well-written without jargon to build and nurture trust. Should they return an item, be clear if it is for cash, credit points, or exchange with another.

Subscription

Subscription can be added if you noticed that your online visitors don’t convert that much. By having subscriptions, you entice visitors to buy from your site through regular email marketing.

You can integrate these services on your website:

FAQs

Some people are not comfortable talking to sales representatives. But almost all people would like some queries to be answered. That’s why you must add an FAQ section on your website. Also, FAQs build trust and credibility. Update this regularly. You should include important information about your company, products and services and the likes.

Tips in Writing FAQs

  • Create questions that your customers would likely ask.
  • Keep the answers brief and concise.
  • Don’t add links to the FAQ page. Answer the question straight to the point.
  • Start your replies with a Yes or No.
  • Don’t use technical words.

Certifications

Certifications assure your clients that you and your company have undergone rigorous training to ensure quality. Some certificates can tell your customers that your site is secure. The best eCommerce website builder for small businesses, for example, can offer you badges you can show on your site.

Another essential certificate your site must have is the SSL certificate. This means the site is secure and the information clients share with you is encrypted, hence, safer. Some other eCommerce sites have the BBB rating logo to show the vote of confidence from the International Association of Better Business Bureaus.

Security

Online activities are targets for hacking. It’s paramount that you keep your customer’s information safe from cybercriminals. Make sure that you use a secure and reliable eCommerce platform.

Here Are the Things You Need to Add:

  • SSL Certificate

This ensures that the website and user have an exclusive and secure connection. One way to check for the SSL certificate is to look for the lock before the HTTP in the address bar.

  • Firewall

This stops malicious access to the website and, at the same time, allow authorized pass to enter the site.

  • Private Policy Link

Private Policy tells you about how the company handles sensitive information given to the website from its customers. Part of the Policy guarantees that the website won’t use the information to be sold or shared with third parties.

  • Two-Factor Authentication

This gives your website an extra layer of security by providing a password and a system-generated code that is sent either by email or text.

Website Responsiveness

Half of the online transactions are done through mobile phones. With that said, you need your website to be workable for mobile transactions. The solution is creating a responsive website or a website that adjusts to user devices and screen sizes.

Navigability

Customers don’t linger for a reason- and they want to find what they are looking for instantly. Excellent navigation also improves SEO rating as it’s directly related to user experience. Limit your menu headers when you’re still trying out which design works and what doesn’t.

Homepage

Your homepage is the first thing that your customers see when they click your link. Your homepage should have elements that could grab your visitors’ attention. That being said, you should make items more findable but make the organization simple. The minimalist design works best if your site offers fewer products.

But if your company sells diversified products, provide additional information. This means your homepage should have more elements. If you’re featuring products, don’t include all your products. Focus on just one. Too many an offer and your user experience ratings diminish.

  • Deals and Freebies

What better way to attract both new and loyal customers than by giving out freebies and discounts? Who doesn’t want deals for free, anyway?

  • Blog

One of the best eCommerce features is the Blog section. It keeps your customers informed about what’s going on with your company, for example, new promotions and sales. Ideally, the Blog section is placed strategically on the Home page. Blogs have become an indispensable part of eCommerce websites because the former helps in the search engine rankings.

  • Categories

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