During EOFY, sales typically spike as shoppers take advantage of the specials that occur during the period. Retail staff and customers alike will attest that this can be a frantic time of year for brick-and-mortar stores, but this doesn’t mean your ecommerce website should follow the same suit. In fact, your website excels in scaling to manage high sales volume – a good customer shopping experience online can even make sales events an enjoyable and less frustrating experience for shoppers.
We’ve put together some tips and tricks to improve your ecommerce user experience.
1. DO Use clear, straightforward navigation
One of the biggest perks about selling online is the ability you have to organise your catalogue of products. Where physical shops need to have everything laid out in the open, your ecommerce website should have clear, sensible categories to help customers find what they’re looking for. The KISS principle applies here – Keep It Simple, Stupid!
Which brings us to our second tip…
2. DON’T force users to sign-up for placing an order
The verdict is in – users will abandon the shopping cart when they’re forced to sign-up in the middle of checkout. This can be particularly costly to ecommerce stores whose customers are only trying to buy a one-off item. Conversely, studies have shown a 45% increase in customer purchases when forced registration was removed from the checkout page!
3. DO eliminate distractions during checkout
In digital marketing, the idea of a “sales funnel” is central to designing checkout processes. When a customer is sent to your checkout, make sure to limit the number of links to other pages; it can cause them to stray away and abandon their purchase. Removing items like sidebar navigation and advertising provides a clear path from presentation to the close.
