The key to making sales on your ecommerce site is excellent usability. Website usability is complicated and multifaceted. There are a lot of factors that contribute to the ease or difficulty of usability. It can be difficult to look at your site objectively and from a customer's perspective. The following tips will help you improve the usability of your site and increase the flow of sales.
1. Easier Checkout
It's important to simplify the checkout process. You do not want customers to become frustrated with pages of information requirements. Customers may decide to purchase products elsewhere, rather than fill out long forms. If your site requires customers to log in or create memberships before purchasing an item, you are better off eliminating this from the checkout process to make it faster and more user friendly.
2. Contact Information
It's important that contact information is placed at the top of the website and is easy to view. If customers have questions or comments, they should know exactly what number to call or what address to email. It may also be helpful to add a toll free number to a site that doesn't already have one.
3. Faster Load Time
With thousands of websites selling similar products, you cannot expect customers to remain on a site with a slow load time. One of the best ways to improve an ecommerce site is to improve its speed. If customers have to wait for pages to load, they are likely to move on to a different site.
4. Product Accessibility
It's important to provide a number of viewing options for products. Customers who know exactly what they're looking for need to be able to search and find the product easily. In addition to searches, it's also a good idea to provide product categories that can be easily browsed by the customer. Clear and detailed product pictures, including thumbnails on search pages, can also improve the likelihood of a purchase.
5. Testing
It's important to know that your ecommerce site is running properly. You can hire a freelance website tester or a company that specializes in website usability. This will ensure that your site is running smoothly and that there are no unforeseen problems.
6. Related Products
Adding a section of related products, to search results or product views, can encourage spontaneous purchases and can provide an easier shopping experience for the customer.
7. Breadcrumbs
Breadcrumbs are an indication of the customer's location within your site. These are either placed at the top or side of the page. Breadcrumbs are important because they allow the customer to know exactly where they are in your site. It's best to provide breadcrumbs that are also links to other areas of the site. This will create a significantly easier shopping experience for your customers.
8. Call to Action
It's important to call your customer to action. Rather than place simple buttons on your site, create exciting calls to action that make your customer want to click into a new area or page. This will improve the likelihood of customers moving within the site via links and buttons.
9. Recommendations
An easy way to improve the shopping experience of your customers is to create a list of recommendations. These can either be general recommendations, such as best sellers or hot items, or it can be a personalized list of recommendations based on searches and interest. Recommendations will encourage spontaneous purchasing.
10. Easy Sign-up
Improve the sign-up process by simplifying it. The only information you really need to contact a member of your site is their email. The rest of their information can be gathered at the time of their first purchase.
