E-Commerce Common Web Design Mistakes to Avoid in 2019

Making a complete, responsive website has become a necessity for small business today.

You do not have a choice because it can potentially lose you many customers. But among many small business owners, they still do not see why do they need a compelling website design and what are the implications if they do not practice having one.

Good web design is the fusion of function and form to make a lasting and memorable experience to your visitors. But there will always be websites that do not practice implementing user-friendly web design, thus, giving their small business negative results. As we are approaching 2019, here are some web design mistakes that you need to avoid.

No Order as A Guest Option

Guest checkouts are important for first-time customers. They should first start trust the store before making an account or become a member of the site. Most online customers are not comfortable sharing their personal information on the first checkout.

If you force your visitors to create an account, a high chance that they will abandon their shopping cart and not proceed to the checkout process. It will account to a significant decrease in conversion rates of your visitors to customers. Also, checking out as a guest will be seen by your visitors as a lesser commitment than making an account.

Confusing Product Descriptions

Product descriptions are the copies used to explain and describe your product to your visitors, in a persuading manner to let them buy your product. It is important for your site to produce clear and concise product descriptions to aid your customer’s decision in buying your products. It has the power to convert your visitors into customers. A recent study showed that 1 in 5 purchase failures are because of posting a confusing product description.

Product descriptions are your first step to persuade your visitors to buy your products, so it is very important to create a clear product description alongside the high-quality images of your product. It can also help you give lower refund rates and reinforce your customer’s trust in your brand.

Not Considering Mobile Users

At the end of 2018, mobile devices are projected to engage at most 80% of global internet users, according to a recent study. This goes to show that most of your visitors and customers will be coming from their mobile devices, so it is very important to include them in your priorities. Instead of focusing on people who are using their desktop computers, focus on the people who can easily access their phones by making responsive websites or mobile apps for them.

Along with this, you should also ensure the fast service of your site. As 53% of mobile users are abandoning a site that takes at least 3 seconds to load. A mobile-friendly web design relies on the quality of your page loading speed and responsiveness of your site. Prioritizing these two will convert success to your sites.

Complicated Checkout Design

Aside from not providing a guest option when purchasing, the check out process is also a crucial aspect of your website. It can potentially decrease your conversion rates if you have a complicated one. Customers who will go into an unexpected extra cost, extra task, even extra demand from them will immediately convert to bouncing out of the site. So, it is very important to create a very convenient checkout design for all of your customers.

One way to improve your checkout design is by showing the current information on your visitors’ shopping carts and include the complete breakdown of fees and costs they need to pay. Also, you may want to avoid long one-page checkout pages, instead make a multiple page checkout to lessen the stress of your customers. Lastly, speed is always the key. Improve your checkout page’s loading speed to avoid the abandonment of their carts.

Search Option is Not Available

Putting a search feature in your e-commerce website can improve conversion rates and contented customers with your service. Research by Baymard Institute showed that search feature by e-commerce website is more used in product finding than category navigation. Ignoring search features in adding to your site will give you decreased mobile conversion, reduced SEO, and less organic traffic.

You should practice this by putting a mobile search box where it can be easily accessed and used. By doing this, customers can engage with it and make their experience even better. Also, You can also incorporate the auto-complete feature in the search box to help them save time and to iterate their queries.

No Social Media Integration

Syncing your products and services in your social media can help tap more of your audiences and paying customers. By doing this, you can boost your social sales. In 2016, at least 90% of online followers are reaching out to a certain brand through various social media platforms.

Social media is like a very cheap way to advertise your products but can give you more than what you invested. You can showcase your products on your social media page and put a link in the description to proceed to your site. You can put social buttons in your product pages, or even after the buying process to let them share their experience with you.

Poor Website Navigation

It is critical for you to secure a web design that has great website navigation. It can directly affect your site traffic and search engine results page rankings. Bad navigation can make all of your high-quality content useless, and it can lead to high bounce rates from your site.

You can solve this to stay with the emerging trends and analytics from your site. Also, make your categories very specific to avoid vagueness when finding a specific product. You may want also want to include a recently added tab and recently viewed product tab. You would want to design a user-friendly navigation strategy in your site to convert to higher sales in your products.

As we are fast approaching to the of 2018, these common problems and mistakes by small e-commerce sites should be taken into consideration by business owners. Alongside your new year’s resolution, you should make it your resolution to avoid making these mistakes and keeping a keen eye to your website design.