FreeArticlesArchive

The magic mantra for all E-commerce sites should be: turn your visitors into customers.

According to statistics arrived at from a survey, users visiting e-commerce sites look for a clean and usable site rather than one with fancy tabs or images. To design a successful e-commerce sites that actually fetches you business, you have to bear a few things in mind.

The first among them is the look of the web page. It might sound very disheartening to all the web designers out there, but the truth is that the users like it ‘simple and stupid’. While doing the web design, remember that you have to build up confidence in your customers so that they trust you. Don’t resort to gimmicks. Avoid animated banners, extensive sound clips etc. if they are dispensable. Impress your professionalism, credibility and dependability.

Another important aspect of an e-commerce site is effective navigation. Web design of a successful online business site implies that it is easy and targeted. The idea of e shopping is build around the concept of ‘lack of time to go shopping’. To help the customer, effectively group and divide your products under heads specified in the navigation bar. Always remember: the more the number of clicks, the less satisfied the customer.

Organize your product list. While constructing the web page, make sure that the online catalog is dynamic in its organization. You could do it by grouping the contents under general heads, price ranges, brand names etc. You could include a product search engine to help the user’s shopping experience. Nowadays web designers include polite recommendations about the client’s choice, which may encourage further purchase. For example you could provide a list of books related to the one purchased, if you run an online bookstore. Providing comparative statistics about products helps the customer think twice before finalizing his choice.

Don’t breathe down your visitor’s neck, pestering him/her to make a purchase. The only thing they’ll do in such a case is, show you a clean pair of heels. Entice them into buying it by the proper means. Give an image of the product, and if possible, a zoom option and 3D image. Give them a short description about it. Give them a flexibility of choice - say in the colors that a garment or t-shirt is available in. take them into confidence by providing customer testimonials or satisfied customer poll statistics.

In the end don’t make the buying or checkout process uselessly tedious. Users nowadays are very smart. They avoid sites that beat about the bush instead of getting down to real business. Divide the process into simple steps. Be sure you design a Buy Now/ Add to Wishlist/ Check Out button on each page until the order is confirmed and payment made. You may include an optional registration form, targeted at saving your regular customers the effort to put down their details every time they purchase something. Don’t make it compulsory, for buyers may not prefer to disclose too much info about themselves.

Success of your business and ultimately the web page design depends a lot on your attitude and ability to woo your customers. The website design should aim at making the shopping experience as pleasurable and hassle free as possible.

Article written by: webmaster of a leading web design, development, SEO firm and also interested in outsourcing partnership company in India.