UX, or user experience, is an element of web development and online marketing that encompasses everything design related, from the visual, to the customer journey and overall performance of a website. A good UX anticipates a user’s actions and needs, and tailors an enjoyable experience in advance. In some cases, good UX design provides users with features that they did not even know they wanted. In this article, we’re going to explain how you can improve the UX of your eCommerce store and increase your conversion and retention rates in the process.
Take advantage of personalized product recommendations
Online product recommendations are the equivalent of having a customer representative giving product suggestions in a brick and mortar store. There are several ways to go about implementing a product recommendation section. First, you have the popular “Users who bought this product also bought:” Other options include “Trending” or “Best Selling” sections, which not only help customers find products that they may be interested in, but the products also come with social proof. Finally, you have the option of implementing cross-selling and up-selling sections, where users are presented with complementary and higher quality products. From a UX perspective, implementing a product recommendations section eases the browsing experience for the user, and with the right algorithm, you can help them find the ideal selection of products.
A well organized website structure
The structure of your website should never be counter-intuitive. At the very least, it should be logical and well-organized. However, if you want to add value to your eCommerce store using your website structure, you can actually study your ideal customer, and build your website around the journey he or she would take when visiting your online store. You can even go a step further and create a customized experience for several user personas, and tailor the structure based on how they reached your website. For example, if someone reached you by searching for “women’s shoes size 9” you can highlight categories in your menus that have been shown to be of interest to users who perform that query.
Use customer feedback
By following best practices, you ensure that you launch a high quality website. However, if you want the website to be highly effective for your niche as well, you need to take customer feedback into account. In order to take full advantage of this feedback you need to build a solid feedback process, starting with the automation of feedback requests. You then want to ensure that you will actually receive feedback by offering some sort of incentive to your customers, such as a discount or free gift card. You can then use this feedback to address pain points and implement features that will greatly improve the UX of your store.
Add an option to save products on a wish list
Believe it or not, but saving a product to the shopping cart requires a degree of psychological commitment with which some users are not comfortable. It’s one of those small quirks of human behavior that can cost you sales. However, by adding a wish list option, you allow your users to continue browsing and “bookmarking” products without feeling the pressure of buying them. Not only does this improve the UX of your store, it also allows you to send email reminders and product recommendations to your users, raising your conversion rates in the process.
Provide an omnichannel store
Nowadays, you have several channels to reach your visitors, from websites, to mobile apps and social media platforms. An omnichannel approach dictates that you should keep the same messaging and brand image across all these channels, in order to make your brand more memorable and provide a better UX. Lack of consistency will confuse users and lower retention/conversion rates, which is why the purchasing experience and the messaging should be smooth and focus on the same points across devices and platforms.
Are you interested in building an eCommerce store for your business?
Investing in the UX of your eCommerce store can be a boon for your retention and conversion rates. When users find that your store is comfortable to use, and it has all the features that create an enjoyable experience, they are likely to develop brand loyalty and purchase from you repeatedly. On top of that, once the process of iterative improvement is started, you can gather data, analyze user behavior, and create feedback/improvement cycles that optimizes your store’s UX over time. If you would like to find out more about how you can implement this process for your business, contact us today.
