eCommerce Design Mistakes to Avoid

eCommerce design mistakes can be costly. They can drive away potential customers.

20 million new shoppers were added to eCommerce in 2020, driven by the pandemic. The number has doubled in 2021, and the overall user base is expected to be around 190 million by the end of the year. The figures speak for themselves.

eCommerce is a booming market, and it is only expected to grow by leaps and bounds. So, you would be correct to think of building an eCommerce platform and connecting with your target audience.

But building an eCommerce platform comes with its set of challenges. The most notable being costly design mistakes that can impact your bottom line.

Now, let’s get to the point.

Common eCommerce design mistakes to avoid at all costs

1. Vague understanding of your product and target audience

“If you build it, they will come” – is not the ideal advice for eCommerce business owners. Typically, the opposite happens.

The first step to building an eCommerce platform is understanding your product and target audience. You should not assume they want your product. If you do and are proven wrong, you will have spent money and time creating an eCommerce platform that no one is interested in.

So, what do you need to do?

Identify the need in the market and learn what your audience wants. Understand their pain points and frustrations. Then, design an eCommerce store that caters to the needs of your target audience. Invest time and resources in conducting user research and market research.

Go ahead with building an eCommerce platform once you’re confident of knowing who your audience is and what they want. Also, gain proper comprehension of the products you are offering to explain them to your potential customers.

2. Confusing and lengthy checkout process

28% of shoppers abandon their carts if the checkout process is complicated, long, and confusing.

So, ensure the checkout page is designed as seamlessly as possible. This is the target page where payments are processed, and increased cart abandonment can impact your bottom line.

As a rule of thumb, make sure the checkout page design is not unnecessarily complex and lengthy. Ensure to offer three steps for buying any product. The steps may include product selection, adding to cart, selecting the appropriate payment mode, and checkout.

An ideal checkout process is a single page design for customers to check their order and enter the shipping and billing details and a confirmation page before submitting the order. If you include anything more, it’ll be viewed as an obstacle, and consumers will leave the checkout process mid-way.

3. Use of low-quality product images and descriptions

High-quality images with intricate details are the driving force for any eCommerce platform. Unfortunately, many online platforms spend a lot of resources on getting a suitable layout but forget to include good quality pictures.

When it comes to images, it is a good practice to magnify the product’s essential features so that customers can easily view an enlarged canvas of the tiny details. In addition, as customers cannot judge the quality of a product by physically touching it, they expect the images to be as clear as possible.

The next mistake is not including appropriate product descriptions, along with the image. Both the pictures and the descriptions are considered an important part of eCommerce design.

The product description must be easy to understand and not leave an iota of doubt in the customers’ minds regarding what they’re purchasing. Therefore, you can divide the descriptions into long and short ones so that consumers can easily and quickly learn about the products.

4. Poor navigation and difficulty in finding the right product

The overall navigation of the eCommerce platform must not be confusing. Your platform must be designed in a way that makes it easier for consumers to find what they need quickly. You need to have proper product categories so that products can be found and filtered seamlessly without hassle.

Even if your eCommerce platform has all the information – details on shipping and return policy, great products, and contact information – it’s no good if consumers cannot find them easily. So, ensure you create proper landing pages and make it easier for your target audience to search for products.

5. Lack of personalization based on consumer behavior

Every customer has an individual set of preferences and tastes. For example, maybe they want a background to be white rather than blue or want the product catalog to be displayed in a grid of eight instead of four.

It is imperative to study consumer behavior and include a personalization feature inside your eCommerce platform. For instance, allow consumers to change the visual control or view products differently to enhance the platform’s user experience.

6. Complicated registration process and no guest checkout option

When building an eCommerce platform, you must pay attention to adequately designing the form. It must be inviting and simple to fill out so that consumers can provide their details without fuss.

The more customers offer their details, the more people you can promote your products via online marketing.

Through the registration form, you can get new users. Keep the form simple and only take their email ID, username, and password. It’ll be best to allow them to sign up using their Google, Facebook, or Instagram accounts. So, you’ll get their information from their social media or Google account without them having to fill out the registration form.

Also, it is a good idea to have a guest checkout option so that customers don’t abandon the cart because you want them to create an account. But if you will force customers to create an account, make it easier for them by ensuring one-click registration and letting them sign in using their Google or social media credentials.

7. Unresponsive design

79% of shoppers prefer shopping using their mobile devices. So, you cannot expect to woo customers by creating an unresponsive eCommerce platform. The design must be responsive, and consumers must have the freedom to view your platform on whichever device they wish. You are bound to lose potential customers if your design is unresponsive.

Furthermore, responsive design gives you an edge and ensures that customers complete their shopping whenever they find the time. They may start by looking at products on their desktops or laptops and move on to their smartphones or iPads. Whatever screen size, your platform must adjust accordingly and offer an incredible user experience.

8. Not displaying reviews or social proof

If you wish to ensure a solid user base, you must maintain engaging and clean social media pages. eCommerce platforms that don’t focus on social media engagement are bound to fail today because customers are constantly on the lookout for brands that they can easily reach out and connect with. By integrating your social media pages into the platform, you can build trust and boost traffic.

It is also a good practice to include reviews and testimonials. When people purchase items, they like to go through reviews and make the final decision.

9. Lack of clear and comprehensible CTAs

Every eCommerce platform is an opportunity to use CTAs to entice and retain customers. Without proper CTAs, visitors won’t understand what to do next after they’ve arrived at the platform.

CTAs can be used to get consumers to follow you on social media, make additional purchases, sign up for your newsletter, check out the blog section, watch out for sales or discounts, and so on.

You can keep consumers engaged with your brand by using the right CTA. While CTAs are quite simple on the surface, including them as part of the design can prove quite fruitful and effective in getting new customers and retaining the old ones.

CTAs help to point customers toward taking the most appropriate steps and drive them through the sales funnel. Visitors get to make the right decisions about whether to refer to a friend or make a purchase.

Ensure to keep the language simple for the CTAs to do away with confusion. And, you will notice conversions skyrocketing.

Wrapping up

The mistakes mentioned above have a central theme – not keeping the customer’s needs and frustrations first. Instead, you need to think about your target audience and try removing as many obstacles as you can, from navigating and searching for products to shipping and payment.

The design of the eCommerce platform must be uncluttered and straightforward. It must be appealing to the eye and have all the details that customers are typically looking for. Ensure the product images and descriptions clearly describe what your product is all about and entice customers to make a purchase.

By avoiding the above-mentioned design mistakes, you can offer a great eCommerce user experience to your target audience.