There are many features of an eCommerce website that can help your business excel and increase sales aswell as user experience – in this blog post we’ll go over 5 must have features of an eCommerce website, but firstly…..
What is an eCommerce website?
Put simply an eCommerce website is a platform that contains a shop and shopping cart feature where visitors to your site can purchase products/services online.
There are many great eCommerce websites out there and some not so great that makes the user experience poor and complicated.
Here’s 5 must have features of an eCommerce website:-
1. SSL Certificate
An SSL certficate acts an as an assurance to your customers that any transactions or purchases they choose to make on your website are safe and secure.
It works by encrypting date ( a persons credit/debit card details) to ensure that hackers and opportunists can’t get into the site and take the details.
2.Clear Navigation
If you want visitors to buy from your site and we’re assuming you do you’ll need to make sure that you make it easy and straight forward for them to do so!
Menu bars and categories should be displayed in a place that is easy for customers to see and all products should fall into a category – miss this out and you could end up loosing out on a sale if your customer is unable to find the product they are looking for.
Bare in mind that many people now use smart phones and tablets to shop online so the website should be fully responsive especially on an eCommerce website.
A search bar is a great idea as it means customers can input what they are looking for and easily find it without having to go through your shop pages.
3. Call To Action
One of the must have features of an ecommerce website is a call to action, this should be displayed in a prominent position and encourage your customers to enquire further about your products or services.
Whether the call to action is there to inform them about the product, encourage them to purchase or pursuade them to sign up to a newsletter or mailing list this is most definately something that you can’t afford not to have.
4. Offers And Sales
It’s a well known fact that online shoppers love to save money whether it be in the form of a special offer or a seasonal sale! Take advantage of this by offering a new buyer discount when signing up to your newsletter or offering free shopping if they spend over a certain amount.
With the busiest shopping period just around the corner, Christmas is the ideal opportunity to promote your products and entise shoppers with (in their eyes) the saving on the century!
5. Shopping Cart
We’ve all been there, you’re stood in a queue patiently waiting to purchase your basket full of goods only to find that the tills have gone down or the chip & pin machine isn’t working properly – so frustrating! This normally results in one of 2 options – you decide to hang on until the problem has sorted itself out which sometimes means a long wait or you put the basket down and move onto the next shop.
Online shopping and eCommerce website are exactly the same principle. For this reason one of the main features of an eCommerce website and something you spend time ensuring its right is an easy to use shopping cart.
Use companies that people are familiar with and trust should as PayPal or WorldPay – going with something not as familiar could mean that the customer is hesitant to complete the sale.
Final Thought
A well designed eCommerce website can be highly profitable for your business. A website that not only looks attractive but its functional to your users needs is a must. If you’d like to speak to one of our team about an eCommerce website design contact us using the form here
