Mitash SEO, e-Commerce, Shopping Cart, Web Design & Development Blog

In the first article of this 3-part series on ‘Ecommerce Site Design and Usability Guidelines to Gain Sales’ we discussed how navigation plays an important role in ensuring that customers purchase products from your website. In this article, we continue to highlight additional usability areas like user-friendly links that should be incorporated in order to prevent poor merchandising and convert your website visitors into customers.

Deliver precise product information

Just suppose a website visitor has managed to narrow down your product list and discovered the product that he wants to purchase. Now, he needs to further feel comfortable that your product is the appropriate one for him based on the information you’ve provided. As an online e-tailer, you have a great advantage of displaying comprehensive product information unlike a printed brochure, which has limitations. However, the information should be conveyed in a factual, informative and interesting manner. You should refrain from merely highlighting product specs and instead focus on delving on the resultant benefits to the customer. This way, you will spur on the customer’s interest to purchase your product.

In addition, you need to place a thumbnail photograph of the product which the customer can enlarge and view from various angles.

Display product prices

The fact that your website visitor can view the price of a product, while trying to make an online purchase is often a deciding factor in converting him into a buyer. In viewing the price, he has the option to compare dealers or make a decision to purchase directly from the manufacturer. This ability has effectually been found to increase conversion rates by as much as three percent. Alternately, if the price is not displayed the customer has to go through the laborious process of clicking through to every dealer to review their price, which violates the ‘reduce the number of clicks’ thumb rule.

Ensure your credibility

While a new customer visits your website with the intention of purchasing your product; he is simultaneously filled with trepidation on several parameters, as to whether he can trust you; from delivering him value for his money, to protecting his identity despite the data you hold. He has concerns as to whether he will receive the product he purchased from you and if you are going to sell his confidential information to blacklisted sites.

You need to overcome this critical credibility hurdle by incorporating a declaration statement to the customer stating, ‘We will never give out your e-mail address for any reason.’ You further need to enhance your credibility by listing your physical address on the website as well as including a photograph of yourself and key company associates and possibly shots of your office building too.

Display out-of-stock Dealers

It is interesting to note that more than half of all customers commence their online shopping with product searches on a retailer website. This is evidence of the fact that consumers do have preferences when it comes to where to shop. Therefore it is important to include relevant dealers in your listing even if their products are out of stock. This is simply because if you do not include some dealers you could deter prospective shoppers from purchasing at your site. You can still show the dealer who stocks the product, mentioning that it is currently out of stock, giving the consumer the option to wait if he so desires.

Avoid delays during product purchase

Now, that your customer is well on his way to purchase a product from your site, you need to make the process easy for him. More often than not, several online sites end up haggling customers with questionnaires just as they are poised to give them their sale. This practice of trying to collect customer data at such a moment is less important than clinching the customer sale. You run the risk of detracting your customer and losing his trust and resultant sale. Reserve customer data collection for a later stage, after the order is placed and the sale is yours.

Finally, the potential of usability should go beyond navigation and extend to website design and placement. It is as critical as navigation in advancing usability and ensuring you bag that online sale. In my 3^rd and final article on ecommerce design and usability guidelines I look forward to sharing with you insights on the finer design aspect of ecommerce websites.

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