A successful E-Commerce design is vital for your website to operate to its optimum potential. There are many pitfalls and easy mistakes to make, so here are a few to watch out for and how to avoid them.

1. Not Enough Product Information

In a high street shop, a customer can pick up and feel the product they’re planning on purchasing and ask a member of staff specific questions. Online, all the potential customer has to go on is your product page. Include as much detail as is possible – assume the reader knows nothing about the product. If something is left uncovered, they’re more likely to try shopping elsewhere.

2. Confusing Checkout Process & Shopping Basket

It should go without saying that the simpler you make it for your customer to purchase, the more likely they are to. The optimum checkout process involves a single, compact page for consumers to check that all billing and shipping information is correct and then a confirmation page before their order is submitted. Anything more than that obstructs a smooth transaction. In addition to this, a functional shopping basket that allows the user the freedom to add or remove products with ease is also highly influential on purchase.

3. Needing an Account to Purchase

Having a customer create an account on your website so that they can receive updates, take advantage of offers and subsequently become returning patrons is a healthy exercise in E-Commerce. The danger comes with making it necessary to create an account for purchase; whilst customer accounts are helpful, you have to compensate for customers that don’t want to sign up and that just want an easy purchase. The more pages the consumer encounters, the less likely they are to endure them.

4. Customer Service & Contact Limitations

If the customer service and contact information is absent or not easily accessible from your site, customers may find it hard to place confidence in your company. They need to know that you can answer their questions and feel safe and secure when they checkout. A Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) page can address the majority of queries, and clear contact information that isn’t hidden can cover everything else.

5. Minimal Product Images & Attention

Relating back to the aforementioned point on product information, shopping online doesn’t endow the customer the chance to hold and feel the product. It is therefore inherent that as much information is included on the product page as possible, and this means there needs to be a huge focus on the product. The images should be large and plentiful – customer confidence increases with the number of angles you show your product from.

6. Lack of Diverse Payment Options

Because Visa and MasterCard aren’t used by everybody, and because some people like to use PayPal and others don’t, your payment options should vary accordingly. If you want to convert as many customers as possible, make sure you have a wide range of ways they can choose to pay you!

7. No Related Products Section

To further optimise the design of your site to increase sales, a Related Products section on the product page can help customers consider additional purchases. It is also a vessel through which potential buyers can find similar products if they hadn’t already settled on the right one, preventing them from closing down your website to go and search elsewhere.

8. Poor Navigation

This is one of the most important aspects of the E-Commerce design of your site. If customers can’t find their way around your site, they aren’t going to stick around. Navigation architecture should be straightforward and easy to follow. Products should be categorised and subcategorised, and the shopping basket should be able to be accessed at all times. If you want your online shop to flourish, make sure your customers can easily find the product they want to buy.

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