Online Store Design Tips to Help Convert Visitors Into Customers

Once upon a time, shoppers flocked to ecommerce sites to buy products at lower prices than what they could find in their local store. But times have changed, and modern shoppers aren’t looking for products. They’re looking for experiences.

A startling 64% of consumers believe that customer experience is more important than price when choosing between brands. And, for the online shopper, that experience starts the moment they click through to your website. So if you want to convert your incoming traffic into sales, every element of your online store’s design needs to focus on that goal.

If you’ve already looked for ways to boost your conversion rate, you may have come across the catchphrase “conversion-centred design”. That’s what we’re talking about today, but we’re going to steer clear of the jargon in favour of simple design tips that you can apply across your entire ecommerce website.

Design For Your Customers’ Eyes

Your customers’ first impression of your website is based on its visual design, so ask yourself, What message do I want to send? An attractive design will boost your credibility and encourage visitors to spend more time browsing your online store. Try this simple approach:

• Combine your copy with high-resolution images to get your message across as efficiently as possible.
• Stick to a few contrasting colours, using them to draw attention to the most important parts of each page, such as call-to-action buttons.
• Allow plenty of whitespace so your customers don’t suffer information overload.
• Use just one or two easy-to-read fonts consistently throughout your site.
• Don’t confuse or overwhelm your customers with too many options or links on any page—4 or 5 should be enough.

These principles are especially important for your homepage, which gives visitors a single-glance insight into your brand and the value it can offer them.

Use Responsive Design For Mobile Shoppers

Mobile devices are getting bigger every day, but compared to your average computer, those screens are still small. With 70% of online transactions occurring on mobile devices, it’s worth giving some careful consideration to how you tell your tale on those small screens.

Responsive design will ensure your site looks good on mobile, but you’ll also need to test that your chosen theme presents the most important information first, or your visitors might never get around to seeing it. Minimise the steps it takes to convert a visitor to a customer, and don’t give them any reason to leave your page once they’ve arrived—show them a clear path to the shopping cart and payment gateway. Neto sites are mobile responsive and fully customisable, so you can guide your customers through their purchasing journey.

Design Landing Pages For Campaigns

When a keen customer clicks on your social media or email ad, they’re expecting to see more information about the particular product or service that ad featured. That’s where landing pages come in. Instead of dumping visitors on your homepage where they have to find what they’re looking for all over again, present them with a page that has one goal in mind: conversion.

Your landing pages should

• use the same headline and images that you’ve used in your ads
• have a super-simple layout that leads visitors down the page
• present a single call to action, repeated no more than five times down the page.

Landing pages are also a simple but effective way of directing search traffic to your website, so they’re an ideal addition to your ecommerce store when you’re looking to generate new leads or build an email marketing database.

Design Delicious Product Pages

By the time a prospective customer is viewing your product pages, they’ve got a good idea of what they’re looking for, so show them what you’ve got. More than anywhere else on your ecommerce website, images rule the product pages. Your photos need to demonstrate not only the features of your products, but also the benefits, by featuring them being used in a variety of circumstances.

But don’t neglect your text, either. Use it wisely, to give customers the most important details and answer their questions about sizing, shipping, warranties and returns with links to your relevant FAQ and policy pages. Feature customer reviews to leave no doubt in their minds that they’re making the right choice in buying from your online store.

Keep Getting Better

Design is a dynamic field, and each new trend is an opportunity to draw even more customers. Once you’ve implemented our ecommerce website design tips, make small changes and measure the impact it has on traffic and sales, to gain a solid understanding of how shoppers are using your site. Then you’ll be able to optimise your design to give your customers more of what they love and fix any bits that have been holding them back from buying, creating a clear path for conversion.

Neto is a leading ecommerce platform designed to help you sell products across multiple channels. It’s got everything you need to build your conversion-centred ecommerce website, from fully responsive themes and access to your site code, through to add-on integrations for analytics and A/B testing. Need some ideas for what to say? Check out our tips for crafting original website copy.