Five Web Design Tips for Successful Ecommerce Sites

If you take a look at some of the most successful big name e-commerce sites, you may notice they have a few things in common. Undoubtedly good prices, special offers and high quality merchandise are substantial parts of their success, but take a closer look at the websites themselves and you may notice some common threads in their design.

A successful ecommerce website needs to be planned out and carefully implemented. Here are five tips that will help you to design a site that will draw customers in and keep them coming back.

Tip 1 – Foster your brand identity on every page

Whether you’re an e-commerce start-up or a big name moving into the online world for the first time, brand identity is everything. Every element of your site’s aesthetics, from colour palette to font style and logos, should play a part in creating your online identity. And this style should remain constant throughout and, ideally, match with your offline branding too.

Tip 2 – Optimise for both mobile and desktop platforms

A growing number of people are purchasing online via their smartphone or tablet PC, while many continue to use larger laptop or desktop platforms. Using a web design technique known as ‘responsive design’ to intuitively tailor your site for each platform can help you to better cater for both groups.

Tip 3 – Streamline the user’s path towards the check-out

The user’s main aim is generally to purchase what they want with a minimum of fuss. By a happy coincidence that’s your aim too! So do yourself a favour and remove any unnecessary obstacles or redundant pages that may slow the process down.

Tip 4 – Include a search box and other time-saving features

The faster they can find, it the sooner they may buy it. Do everything within your power to help customers locate the product they’re after. Having a search box where they can type in key terms is essential, while other features such as intelligent product recommendation can also prove invaluable.

Tip 5 – Keep product reviews short and sweet

Time is short and so too should be your product reviews. Stick to the facts with maybe a little sales flair thrown in, but don’t go overboard on the details. And finally, always have a pretty picture to go with it which won’t take an age to load on computers with slower connections.