Website design is becoming increasingly important. In order to stand out among the thousands of online shops, a website design should be clear, effective in selling or acquiring leads, and appropriate in terms of UX and UI… which, however, is not easy. An ecommerce store is aimed at making sales, not scaring customers away! We have already created dozens of websites for clients in various industries, so we want to tell you about the most common mistakes in e-shop website design.
Website design – for the customer or the buyer?
It is obvious that you are commissioned to create an online shop by its owner and not by future customers of this shop. However, you need to bear in mind that the shop should first and foremost meet the expectations of its users. Without a thorough understanding of the target group for which the shop is being created, it may be extremely difficult for you to design it in an appropriate manner.
When planning a website design, start by finding out what kind of people will be its customers and tailor the design to the requirements of that group. A children’s toy shop will look completely different to an electronics shop. Failure to tailor the design to the requirements of your customers can be detrimental to conversions from the site.
Web design principles – saving in content and form
When creating a web design project, it is useful to know the general principles of web design. Think about what is most important to show to customers. As a rule, in e-commerce, the most important thing is conversion, and it is under its optimisation that the website should be prepared. You can’t emphasise everything on the site. If everything is colourful and eye-catching, it will put the customer off from making a purchase. Use colour or micro-animation to highlight only the most important call to action (CTA) buttons, which will draw the customer’s attention to what you care about.
Do not overdo it with the length of the texts either. If you are designing a website for someone, ask them to provide you with the texts so that you can incorporate them properly into the structure of the website. Don’t put long and large blocks of text on the page – they don’t really explain anything, but only tire the users. In this case, less is definitely more.
Remember also that trends in web design are constantly changing. Therefore, it is worth keeping your company’s website, which is such an important showcase of your company, up to date.
The customer buys with their eyes, i.e. designing website graphics
Photos on the website must be of good quality. Not huge and not too small. They must show the product and its details accurately. If you are creating the shop yourself, remember to take or have taken clear product photos on a neutral background. If you are a designer, ask your client to take appropriate photos. However, it is up to you to design a convenient system for displaying the images in terms of UX and UI.
User Experience and User Interface are very important in this case. Images must display in the right way, be in the right resolution, not be reduced in size and in general not be “annoying” for users. Good images are the key to successful sales, as the online customer cannot touch or see the products.
One of the basic design principles: make it easy to search and filter products
Searching tool, filtering and sorting are some of the most important elements of an online shop’s UX and UI. Without the ability to quickly find the product they are looking for, the customer will quickly leave the e-store. Remember, a good search engine suggests products as they are typed in and takes into account different word order and even typos.
Filtering and sorting is also essential in designing a shop website. Many customers are looking for the cheapest or newest products. There is also no shortage of those who are looking for a specific category or brand. Make sure that your website design provides every facility in this regard.
Long contact forms are one of the most common mistakes in e-shop web design
Short and to the point – a contact form should have only as many fields as necessary. In case of newsletter sign-ups literally two fields are enough: for first name and e-mail address! If you are collecting sales leads, add only a phone number field and preferably no more.
Designing an online shop website also requires creating an address form. In such a case, try to add as many self-completing fields as possible (e.g. after entering the postal code, the city is completed) and try to mark possible mistakes or shortcomings with a colour and a sign.
Adhere to general web design principles
You certainly want your e-shop website design to stand out. However, remember that you shouldn’t change things that are considered standard for web design. For example, don’t put the login icon at the bottom of the page when everyone will be looking for it in the top right corner. If the online shop element is going to look a little worse for wear but improve functionality, then don’t hesitate to bet on usability. So many websites have already been created and so many layout options on pages have been reworked that it makes no sense to reinvent them. Use good practice and check out how your competitors are presenting their site elements.
Mobile website is a must have in web design
Thus, a responsive website is no longer enough. A responsive website is a website that automatically adjusts its size to different screens, however, it does not guarantee a pleasant browsing experience for the e-store or making purchases.
The website design should be made in two variants: for desktop devices and for mobile devices. Mobile websites are created according to different principles in terms of UX and UI than websites displayed on monitors. Such websites are appropriately “slimmed down” and simplified so that customers can navigate them more easily. Failure to adapt your online shop for mobile devices could deprive your shop of almost half of your customers!
Never do that! That is, unethical actions on websites
Everyone in e-commerce wants to make money, right? Of course, there is nothing wrong with that – that is what e-shops are for. However, profit should always be made in an honest and suspicion-free manner. What you have to avoid as a web designer is introducing elements that could expose your customers to costs – even if the client insists, you have to explain to them that such measures are not welcome and have an additional impact on PR. But what exactly do we mean?
Automatically add products to the basket – every product in the basket should be placed there by the customer. Once in the basket, you can encourage them to purchase additional or complementary products, but never try to do it for them!
Phishing for marketing and other purposes. The consent must be freely given under the GDPR (EU General Data Protection Regulation). Therefore, don’t use pre-ticked boxes or any other method of default consent.
Failure to provide accurate cost information. Products have their price. A customer entering a website wants to know it in order to make a purchase decision. Hiding costs and showing them only in the cart or in later stages of the order should not take place.
It is similar with the presentation of net and gross prices. Many companies show the net price of their products to make them appear cheaper. While for B2B e-commerce shops this has its particular use, customers may be unpleasantly disappointed or completely abandon the purchase after seeing the additional costs. A good solution in this situation is to use a visible net and gross price switcher next to products with the default price with VAT added enabled.
Why should you avoid such and similar procedures as we have outlined? Customers who feel cheated may never return to the online shop again, and at the same time write negative reviews online. Nowadays it only takes a moment to create a negative comment in Google reviews, Facebook or in the comments of a product, and it can effectively discourage other buyers.
Is this too much for you? We create amazing websites!
Designing e-shops websites is a serious job with many factors to consider. Both freelance designers and less experienced individuals can create functional online shops – up to a certain point. Once the shop starts to grow and prosper, then redesigning it starts to require specialist knowledge and time. So if you don’t know how to do a professional website design – use our expertise and time! The JAAQOB HOLDING® team consists of experienced UX and UI designers, graphic designers, marketers and sales people. We know how to design a website that will sell. Contact us and we will design your website step by step.
