Have you ever gone to a website to make a purchase and leave because it is cumbersome, poorly designed, or even get half way through check out and leave because it feels like you are buying a house with all the questions and options?
We as consumers get irritated if items and services are not readily available and take little effort to purchase or receive. Most of the time if someone is buying something online it is because they are short on time, don’t live in proximity, or are looking for a better price. So how do we as vendors make a website that gives the customer the experience of the brick and mortar store while they site at home or in their office? Here are a few design elements that we recommend.
A Clean, Organized, and Focused Main Page
One thing that drives me nuts is an over cluttered and busy main page. It’s like walking into a store that has just been destroyed by Black Friday shoppers. A customers gets overwhelmed by stuff and has trouble focusing on what they came to the website for. Take target.com, they have focused their marketing for athletics. Nothing changes on the screen while you are there. The menu is easily viewed and accessible. Clean, focused, and easy to navigate.
Then we look at Wal-Mart. It has a continuous graphic moving from sale to sale and with barely enough time to read the print. If you want to get to the menu, you have to click All Departments and go on from there.
Double-check your copywriting!
Spell check! Spell Check! Spell Check! Nothing says “my company doesn’t care about quality” like typos. But take it a step further and have it proofread by multiple people. Make sure that words are used in grammatically correct manner. We have all seen those horrible typos that cost companies big $$$$.
Using natural language will help immensely as well. We all want to sound incredibly profound when we speak, but the average person who types something into Google isn’t going to be thinking the same thing. Take the time to understand what your demographic is, and have the site written accordingly. This will help you with Google as well.
Ensure the Website Flows Well and is Navigated Easily
Do you ever watch into a store and spend five minutes looking for something and then walk out because you can’t find it? I have. It is one of the most frustrating things ever! Time is very valuable, for you, and for your customers. So easy navigation and flow is a must with a consumer friendly website.
The customer should be able to come to your site and find what they are looking for with little to no difficulty. The menu should be found easily and also be large enough so if there are submenus the customer can read them easily. I find the perfect example with the Pottery Barn website. The main menu is displayed well, with well-described categories. The titles are not overbearing. They are the right size and easy to read on any device.
Speedy Checkout
This is probably one of the most important parts. When designing you ecommerce website ask yourself, “how long do I want to wait in line?”. At Target they have a “no more than two customers in a line” policy. If it gets crowed, they open another line. The same idea should be applied to a website. No one wants to go through a 4 to 8 step process to buy something. The best example of an easy and effective checkout I can give you is American Eagle.
You can checkout as a guest (which is a pop up so saves time on page loading) and it is al on one page to purchase. Plain, simple and very effective.!
The Power of Saying Thank you
Two words that are under used; thank you. Instead of saying “Your Order is Being Processed” try “Thank you for your order”. Make sure that your customer knows that you appreciated their business.
Every company wants to be on the cutting edge of web design and at the top of the game. In order to achieve this goal the basic items set forth here will give you the advantage of, at the very least, being a consumer friendly website. Partnered quality products and great customer service, your website will not fail!
About The Author
