E-COMMERCE WEBSITE BUILDER

So you're ready to hire an ecommerce website development partner?  That's great! But, have you considered what you new site will need both now and in the future in order to remain competitive, optimize the online shopping experience and maximize conversion.  Net-net, an e-commerce website has to go way beyond just selling product or services at the online point of sale. Competition is fierce and in order to succeed, you will need master the essentials for digital commerce.  How can you best accomplish this? An experienced solution partner like Guidance with over 25 years of experience in design, system integration, development will ensure your success.  

 

The Essentials of E-commerce Website Development

 

Mobile Optimization is Critical

At least half of all purchases made online are done with a mobile device. Ensuring your website can be accessed with a phone or tablet, in addition to a PC, is essential.  You should ensure that your ecommerce website builder allows your site to do the following:

  • Frictionless checkout 
  • Intuitive navigation
  • Easy to find CTA buttons
  • Images designed for mobile use

 

 Intuitive Checkout

 

One of the easiest ways to get a person to leave your site is to offer a confusing checkout process. You could lose up to 70% of your users if you have a poorly designed checkout. Your e-commerce solution partner will go to great lengths to ensure your website maximizes efficiencies and strikes a good balance between site usability, visual design, functionality, performance and transparency.  You will need to consider the following:

 

  • Have a clear checkout button
  • Avoid presenting unexpected costs at the end of the checkout
  • Optimize your site for load times
  • Clearly identify shipping costs
  • Allow users to easily edit their carts
  • Maintain security protocols and  display security logos as needed
  • Offer immediate customer support
  • Keep things simple


Offer a Guest Checkout

 

Do not force customers to register to your site. Give them a Guest Checkout option. Most users want to be able to purchase their items as quickly as possible and move on to something else. Be sure to:

  • Make it obvious that Guest Checkout is available
  • Incentivize customer to convert Guest Checkout to a registered account

 

E-commerce Site Usability and Visual Design

 

Your e-commerce solution partner will emphasize the critical importance of UI/UX.  Your designer will work side by side with the UI/UX expert to understand how your products should be categorized. You’ll also want to keep these best practices in mind::

 

  • Intuitive navigation
  • Use common standards
  • Know your attributes and categories
  • Conduct User Acceptance Testing before any launch
  • Keep things simple

 

Keep things simple! It cannot be said enough. No matter how complex your products might be, people demand simplicity, especially when it comes to the world wide web. Any complexity will cause your customers to find alternatives.  The more you can make your e-commerce website easy, straightforward, and intuitive, the better.   

 

To learn more talk, contact Guidance at 310.754.4000 or visit www.guidance.com.  .