5 Tips on Building a User-Friendly E-Commerce Website

In the digital age, if your business is not online, it is as good as not existing. Consumers rely on the internet more than ever. So much so, that it is the first place they check for news, products, and so on. Therefore, if your company doesn’t have an online presence, you are missing out on a major chunk of business.

A website gives the world access to your business but is just the start. An e-commerce website gives your business access to the world. It essentially lets users buy services and products, driving up sales. But only if done right. When designing an e-commerce website, keeping your users in mind is a must. Otherwise, you will drive business away, due to poor user experience. We have insights on how you can build a user-friendly e-commerce website that will help your business succeed.

Pick a website builder you can work with

Website builders have made it a lot easier for anyone to design a website. All you have to do is pick a theme and work off that. The builder handles all the backend language needs as well. 

When selecting a builder, go with one that allows e-commerce integration. Platforms such as WordPress, Shopify, and Wix let you build a user-friendly e-commerce website. Determine which platform offers you the most and opt for it. When researching, look at the plans offered, how many products you can sell, and payment integrations allowed. 

If you prefer a custom website, then opting for web development companies in Dubai would be the way to go. Your website is built from scratch and to the exact specification you want. This is slightly more costly but gives you complete control of the design and functionalities. 

Select a good, reliable payment system

The payment system is the backbone of any e-commerce website. It ultimately separates it from any basic website, allowing for transactions. The payment system you choose needs to be easy to use and reliable. The purchasing process should be a breeze for users while also heavily protected. 

Don’t overcomplicate the checkout process. Make it simple, by either allowing users to sign up or checkout as guests. Include only the relevant fields needed for checkout on the form, don’t make it too long because then visitors will probably bounce and leave the website. 

When picking a payment gateway, look for one that offers multiple payment methods. Besides the obvious debit or credit cards, you want to look at PayPal, Payoneer, and other payment method integration. The more payment methods you offer, the better since you give more users a chance to make purchases on your website. 

Make it easy to navigate

The site architecture is important for a user’s journey on the website. You want users to be able to get the information they need and access products they want with ease. 

The site structure should be simple, overcomplicating it results in visitors leaving without making a purchase. Here are some tips on how you can do that:

• Have a navigation bar that leads to important pages. 
• If you offer a lot of services and products, categorize them. 
• Have separate pages for each category where the products are displayed. This way, visitors down have to scroll through one page with over 50 products scrambling to find what they need. 
• Always include a search option, so they can find products immediately. 

Responsiveness is key

More than half of the global internet traffic is from a mobile device. This makes mobile responsive design a must for any website. A responsive design adapts your website to the screen size from which it is viewed. This makes it easier for users to navigate and get to the products they want. A non-responsive website is difficult to navigate, as a desktop website is displayed on a phone screen, which makes it tough to click through to links.

Optimize it for speed

Site visitors don’t like to wait too long for websites to load. If your site doesn’t load within 3 seconds, you will likely lose out on a lot of traffic. The online marketplace is very competitive and visitors will click through to multiple sites at once looking for the same product. The site that loads up the fastest is likely to get their attention first. 

Test your website to ensure it loads up fast. Google Pagespeed Insights is a free platform that evaluates your site’s load time and provides tips on how you can improve it. 

Final thought

E-commerce sales continue to rise each year. It doesn’t matter what type of business you have, if you sell products and services, there is no better time than now for an e-commerce website. Our tips should help you design a high-quality, user-friendly site that drives business your way.