After months of sweat and toil, you’re staring at it: a complete collection, exactly as you’d envisioned (give or take a few – well, a lot – of changes made once you realized that sketching would never end). But it’s one thing to have wares ready to sell, and another to ensure that your online store isn’t just attracting traffic, but enabling a seamless, intuitive customer experience that encourages sales and resonates with your brand.
To that end, we’ve spoken to Maker’s Row’s own UX designer, Melissa, for hacks to ensure that your e-commerce efforts are pulling their weight when it comes to maximizing sales and making your brand buzz.
Keep Things Simple:
- Visual simplicity allows users to find what they’re looking for. Rather than distracting customers with unnecessary bells and whistles, a clean design streamlines the browsing process for quicker conversion from window-shopping to actual shopping.
- Keep text to a minimum if possible. While we’re fans of punchy navigational instructions and product descriptions that tell you exactly what you’re buying, we’re also firm believers in balance. Redundant text runs the risk of boring your customers, so crisp, clear and concise should be your top priorities.
- Avoid unnecessary flashiness for faster page loads. Fewer interruptions in the shopping process mean fewer deviations from point A (browsing) to point B (purchasing).
Automate the Process
- Caching data will speed up the purchasing process by having previously entered or accessed information ready for grabs, making the experience altogether speedier and more responsive for browsers and shoppers.
- Allow users to save their credit cards. Rather than having shoppers fumbling through wallets for credit cards, saving this information keeps them on your site, rather than forcing them to go elsewhere – both virtually and physically.
Educate the Customer
- •Anticipate the questions that they may have about your products. Take note of questions that have been asked repeatedly in the past, and be sure to answer them up front, or even in an FAQ section.
Personalize the Experience
- Make personalized suggestions based on browsing history. Apart from demonstrating other relevant, interesting products for individual customers, personalized suggestions boost revenue by introducing complementary add-on purchases.
- Follow up on site visits with targeted emails. Using the information you have to your advantage, it’s hugely beneficial to appropriately target your emails to keep shoppers in the loop around sales and perks that apply to their specific needs and interests.
Ask for Feedback, and Use It!
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•Let users tell you what would improve their experience. After all, there’s no better test audience than your actual audience!
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