UI and UX design are the foundation of a good customer experience (CX) online.
With UI/UX, you can reduce friction in the customer journey, creating an easy flow from one touchpoint to the next to boost conversions and the user experience. On the other hand, UX and UI design problems can throw a wrench in that pathway to purchase, frustrating potential buyers and harming your brand reputation.
That’s why online stores can’t afford to underestimate the importance of UI/UX design. Every small improvement, from a clearer structure for web page text to a better color choice for a call-to-action (CTA) button, can impact your bottom line.
So what should your ecommerce business focus on regarding ecommerce UI/UX design?
Read on to learn why UI and UX are so critical to ecommerce success and the best practices that can help enhance your design and conversions.
Importance of UX/UI in Ecommerce
UX/UI is important because it defines the online customer experience.
When people shop online, you don’t have a friendly, knowledgeable customer support team to guide customers like you might have in-store. With ecommerce, the site visitor is on their own.
So how do they get from the point of landing on your site to clicking the purchase button?
With effective UI/UX design.
UI (User Interface) refers to the interactions a user has with your website. It includes things like how clear the buttons on your conversion pages are and whether toggle elements are intuitive.
UX (User Experience) refers to a user's feelings about your site. UX designers consider the site's overall experience and how well the layout, navigation, and visual elements work together to cue a user into what next steps to take.
The more well-thought-out your design for these interactions and the user experience overall, the more effective your ecommerce website will be at converting site visitors into loyal customers.
On the other hand, a poor UX or UI design can sink your business. One survey found that 60% of consumers will abandon their purchase due to a poor UX. Another found that 75% of consumers base a brand’s credibility on the website’s design.
So, your job is to ensure your UX and UI are designed to deliver the best possible customer experience.
Ecommerce Best Practices for UX/UI Design
Here are seven best practices every ecommerce website needs to follow:
Prioritize Navigation
Good navigation increases user engagement and reduces friction. It makes it easy for users to find the product, resource, form, or other website element they’re looking for.
Even more important, it can compel a user to move further along the customer journey, even if that wasn’t their original intention.
For instance, a “You May Also Like” section featuring complementary products can inspire users to navigate to the checkout page of a product they are likely to love but weren’t searching for.
When Guidance optimized the ecommerce site for Dovetail Furniture, we added a ‘You May Also Like’ section based on user behavior, combining a personalized UX with intuitive navigation.
Make Your Website Mobile-Friendly
Mobile-friendliness is a must for ecommerce websites because users need to be able to navigate and engage with the user interface on any device.
A mobile-friendly site is responsive, meaning it responds to the screen size. It’s uncluttered with a simple user interface that focuses on the essentials and doesn’t bury key information.
With an ecommerce site that offers hundreds of products and detailed customer information, delivering a great UX on any screen size can be challenging.
When our web development experts worked on the ecommerce site for Travis Mathew, they used a minimalist design with good color contrast and an easy-to-read layout to ensure interacting with the site was easy, even on a smartphone.
Optimize for Speed
Page load time has a big impact on the user experience and the potential for success of your ecommerce site.
Just look at these statistics:
On mobile sites, a 10-second load time compared to one second increases the bounce rate by 123%. Conversion rates drop, too, by over 4% for every second.
Slow load times can also impact consumers' feelings about a brand. 70% percent say they are less willing to buy from a brand.
To optimize your site for speed and support a better ecommerce UX, there are a few best practices you can follow:
- Minimize third-party services for website functions.
- Compress image files.
- Use browser HTTP cashing.
- Minify code where possible.
- Limit the number of HTTP requests.
Consider the Visual Hierarchy
Visual hierarchy refers to how visual elements are presented in a user interface.
The goal with UX/UX ecommerce design is to organize visuals in a way that draws a user’s attention to specific elements and encourages understanding and interaction.
For example, if you want customers to focus on a certain product, images of that product should appear at the top of the page. Larger size and bold colors or clear color contrast also elevate that product image to the top of the visual hierarchy.
In this example, you can see exactly what Benefit Cosmetics wants customers to look at: the holiday deals.
The visuals are organized in a way to draw a user’s attention so they’ll click the bright pink ‘Shop Now’ button after seeing the deals in bright dandelion yellow.
Simplify the Checkout Process
Streamlined checkout page design will help your customers navigate the purchase process with zero frustration.
Clear buttons, such as ‘Place order’ and ‘Confirm order,’ should direct the user to the next steps in the checkout flow.
The order cart should be visible and out of the way, with clear features to help the user if they want to modify their cart before checkout.
Another best practice for ecommerce checkout design that can boost the user experience is having a progress bar, like City Chic has on the returns page.
A progress feature lets the user know what steps have been completed and what’s left, essentially confirming that the user and the website are “on the same page” regarding the checkout process.
Enhance Product Search Functionality
You can optimize the search experience with a search box on every page. This feature should come with a built-in auto-suggestion and spell-check tool for better UX.
It’s a UI design best practice to use the universal search icon. There’s no need for bells or whistles — just the recognizable magnifying glass. You can also include text letting the user know they should type into the search field like Popcultcha does.
Continually Improve with A/B Testing and User Feedback
The best way to enhance the customer experience with UI/UX design is to make it a continuous process.
Use A/B testing to test out different features and design choices. A brighter CTA — does it lead to more conversions? A more traditional typography — do readers stay on your pages for longer?
Use a customer experience platform to gather data on user behavior to learn what site elements are effective and where your site might be creating friction.
Get granular with the details on your ecommerce site and look for ways to make improvements that increase your conversion rates and boost the power of your site.
Unlock Your Ecommerce Potential with Expert UI/UX Design
Improving the user experience and making the user interface more engaging, intuitive, and powerful requires a lot of work. The web development team at Guidance can help you every step of the way.
We offer full-service ecommerce web development and customer experience services for B2C and B2B brands.
Contact us to learn more.
