5 Examples How to Improve the Usability of an E-Commerce Store
Beautiful design of the online store does not guarantee its high conversion rates. Your visitors may like beautiful pictures. But they came to buy something.
And if the process of selecting, comparing and ordering products will be inconvenient, none of designer tricks will hold them.
Moreover, visitors make up their opinion instantly. According to Microsoft research, on average, it takes 10.5 seconds.
During this time, you must convey a value proposition and demonstrate that the site is easy and convenient to use.
How can you do this? We present five examples of how to improve the usability of the online store.
Easy and Clear Navigation
Do not confuse your visitors and do not make them think where to click to get the information they need. This is especially true for mobile versions.
Almost half of mobile gadget users – 44 percent say it’s harder to shop with your phone or tablet because of “jamming” navigation.
How can I check my system? Do an online voting – ask users to select the most important product categories for them. Or a direct poll in the spirit of “If you had to find product X, where would you click?”. The answers may surprise you a lot.
A navigation system is not the right element to invent a bicycle for (just get extensions you need at https://www.mageworx.com/). People are already used to the classic tree structure.
The User’s Path
We all know how the Internet works: I went to Wikipedia to see information about digital signal processing, and I woke up in half an hour, in an article about the habits of duckbills. In the online store, among the thousands of items and dozens of categories, it is also easy to get lost.
F Rule
People browse the sites from left to right, then go down a bit lower, and again – from left to right, as in reading.
This model of behavior (F-Pattern) was described by NNGroup experts back in 2006 and is relevant for all cultures where people read from left to right.
That’s why online retailers most often place images on the left and product descriptions on the right. The image attracts attention, and then the visitor automatically translates the look at the text part.
If possible, test the site with the help of eye-tracking tools. Also do not forget about the click map and scrolling map.
Mobile-Friendly
48 percent of mobile users experience frustration and annoyance if the site is poorly optimized to work with mobile gadgets. And 36 percent instantly leave.
Key parameters:
- Big buttons
- Less text
- Auto-tune pictures to fit your screen size
- Vertical scrolling only
- Simplified navigation that does not cover the entire screen
- A search line in a prominent position
Since April 2015, Google has been raising mobile-friendly sites in results and greatly reducing non-optimized sites.
Quick Search
A lot of people don’t like to wander around shopping – what’s real, what’s online. Let them quickly find what they need. The classic search string will do the job. A lot of users who are looking for a particular product use it, not the category navigation menu.
Pay Attention to:
Location. The best option is at the top right of the page.
Automatic prompts. Not only do they make your search easier, they also allow you to show your assortment.
Some Effort
Usability has a direct impact on online store sales. Yes, studying user behavior, A/B tests and require some effort.
As a result, it is much cheaper than losing customers every day because of unsuccessful navigation or other deficiencies usability.
High sales to you!
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