User testing sessions are a great way of getting to know your customer and, more importantly, gaining an insight into their browsing habits. Understanding what drives decisions during key aspects of the sales process is, quite literally, the holy grail of internet marketing.
In this post, we’ll take a brief look at some indispensible tips for getting the most out of your ecommerce strategy.
1. Delivery charges
Perhaps surprisingly, research has shown that this is one of the most important ‘make or break’ aspects of the sales process. A common mistake made by internet retailers is not informing customers of delivery costs during their journey, causing them to abort sale at the crucial checkout stage. Consider offering free delivery for orders over a certain amount to encourage last minute impulse purchases.
2. Navigation
Get your navigation wrong, and you may as well not bother. eCommerce is all about the user experience, in other words how easily the customer is able to get from A to B. Easy to navigate menus are a key element in this process, with clear labelling and sub-category headings. Large ‘fly-out’ navigation menus are a great way of enhancing the user experience in this way.
Don’t forget to add a clear link back to your homepage too, usually ‘Home’ or something similar. This facilitates simple browsing and a more user-friendly experience.
3. Breadcrumb trails
Put it down to a human desire for logic, breadcrumb trails help to engage the user by making it clear what part of the site they are in, facilitating a satisfying browsing experience and well, just making your website more accessible. Think of it as a simple map that intuitively guides your user.
4. Filtered results
Perhaps more applicable to those offering a larger product range, filtered results help to refine usability further. Look at pretty much any major retail website and you’ll find this feature used extensively (price range, product ranges etc.)
5. Clean up your act
You may have heard of the term ‘white space’ in relation to page design. Presenting your visitor with an uncluttered clean page is essential nowadays. The last few years in web design has seen a drive towards both the minimal and high impact – large images, concise navigation and a clever use of space. It’s worth remembering that whether they’re shopping real world or digitally, consumers still shop very much in the visual sense.
If your sales have dipped recently or even struggled to ever get off the ground since launching your site, then there has never been a better time to consider these fundamental rules of eCommerce.
