4 Ways to Boost Your eCommerce Site’s UX Offerings

While eCommerce is a rewarding pursuit, the sheer volume of brands and businesses across sectors means the competition is fierce. 

eCommerce may be a saturated sector, but the demand is great—and if you gain an all-important edge on the competition, you stand to enjoy some serious profits.

To put things into perspective, right now, there are around two billion active digital buyers across the world. Moreover, in 2040, around 95% of all purchases are expected to be eCommerce based.

Niche or sector aside, one of the most effective means of pushing yourself ahead of the pack is by focusing on your user experience (UX) offerings. 

In our hyper-connected digital age, consumers expect a swift, seamless, and intuitive user experience. By taking the right measures to enhance your eCommerce store’s UX offerings, you will scale your business, boosting your bottom line in the process.

Studies show that visit-to-lead conversions can become up to 400% higher on eCommerce stores and sites with a ‘superior user experience’.

To help you improve your eCommerce store’s UX offerings and scale your empire, here are four essential UX tips for your reading pleasure.

Focus on functionality over vanity

Naturally,  when it comes to website design, you’ll want to create something that is aesthetically pleasing and grabs the user’s attention. That said, while it is important to create a dazzling design, first and foremost, you must focus on functionality.

Functionality is the very foundation of UX: the more seamless and navigable your eCommerce store is, with the help of a professional UX design agency the more conversions you’re likely to earn.

This example from outdoor brand Berghaus is a testament to the power of user-friendly functionality. The site’s design is clean and minimal, with categorized dropdown lists that make browsing items both swift and simple.

As one of the world’s most successful outdoors retailers, Berghaus understands how to deliver an exceptional level of UX, and its functionality-first website design has played a pivotal role in the brand’s success.

Segment your audience

In the age of eCommerce, personalization is one of the most powerful tools available to any brand or business.

74% of customers feel frustrated when website content is not personalized. To provide a seamless level of UX, personalizing your eCommerce store content by placing relevant popups to a set of specific users is essential—and segmentation will help you do just that.

Concerning segmentation, there are two simple yet effective methods you can use to improve your UX offerings and boost your profits:

• Geo-targeting: Personalizing your content based on geographical location. For example, if a user visits a store that specializes in outdoor and tactical gear from a cold region in December, the homepage could display winter jackets and thermal gear. In contrast, if someone logs on from a warmer region, they would see lighter tactical gear options like vests and backpacks.

• Time-based segmentation: Depending on the time a user visits your website, you can alter your messaging for improved personalization.

Created using Duda, this contact page has two versions depending on which time a user visits the website. Here, during working hours, visitors are prompted to call for an appointment with a CTA button. In contrast, during evenings, the website offers a lead-generating contact form as part of its lead generating ideas to set up an appointment at a convenient time. 

It’s possible to use this technique in a number of ways—but the point is, by segmenting your audience and tailoring your messaging, you will improve your website’s UX offerings significantly.

Optimize for multiple devices

We’re living in mobile times. There are more mobile devices on the planet than human beings.

The core of UX, alongside function and personalization, is offering a seamless experience across all devices and touchpoints. In a time where consumers use their mobile devices for online shopping more than ever, making sure your eCommerce store is optimized for every device is paramount. 

If you fail to do so, you will see a significant rise in bounce rates coupled with a notable drop in sales.

Etsy’s mobile site is a prime example of UX optimization. The design is clean and scannable, while the search bar and category navigation displays make shopping frictionless and intuitive.

To ensure your eCommerce store’s mobile optimization, consider hiring a Vue.js developer who specializes in creating responsive and user-friendly web applications.

Optimize your online store for mobile devices and you will improve your UX offerings across the board, which will result in improved commercial success.

Make your checkout process seamless

Last but certainly not least, we come to the final phase of the shopping journey, the checkout process.

If you make efforts to enhance every other aspect of your eCommerce store’s UX offerings but fail to focus on your checkout process, you’re likely to fail at the final hurdle. 

Shopping cart mistakes kill your business. To avoid masses of cart abandonments, here are some quick tips you should follow:

• Reduce the number of steps it takes from product selection to payment.
• Make your checkout page clean, clutter-free and logical to navigate.
• Include a progress bar that shows the customer how many steps they have left to finish checking out.
• Cultivate credibility by displaying trust or testimonial badges as well as customer reviews and a visual display of your secure payment methods—like this example from Military Hippie:

Here the information is clean and easy to follow at a glance, and the verified payment methods instill a sense of consumer trust—a magic combination encourages healthy conversion rates for the online store.

“Design for spread and scale.” —Denise Gershbein, Creative Director at frog

By investing ample time in your UX offerings and following our essential tips, you will scale your business on a consistent basis, secure sustainable growth and commercial success.