Top 6 eCommerce UX Principles
Through my own research and looking across many other reviews, I assembled my top considerations in eCommerce UX design principles. These are foundational areas of conversion performance in online shopping.
Mobile First!
I wish it didn’t have to be stated so obviously, but many sites still suffer from a lack of mobile prioritization. Most websites receive predominantly mobile traffic, yet we still review designs and mockups for a desktop customer long before we consider mobile. If you have a designer or agency producing your wires and designs, the first thing you should be seeing is the mobile concepts. It’s easy to fall in love with a beautiful desktop approach and then fail to deliver a quality mobile experience.
For more, read my specific page on mobile optimization.
Strive for Simplicity
Simplicity is the hallmark of great design, not complexity. Your goal with an online shop is to make it easy to find products, learn and then buy. This may seem intuitive, but unfortunately, intuitive design isn’t always the first thought. There is often a desire, particularly with junior designers, to add flair and unnecessary components.
Use language that is universal
Make navigation light
Use icons that people understand
Enable Smart Search
It’s become common for customers to jump straight to search. In many cases, customers were brought to your site in search of something specific, some sort of need. Put yourself in your customers shoes, what terms do they use to search? They might not use the same language as you.
Story Time: We habitually called it a ‘sofa’ not a ‘couch’. Back when we checked, almost 40% of customers searched for a couch. Not considering this meant our SEO had gaps, but our online search needed a serious investment in synonyms. We called it a recliner, but many people called it a lazy boy.
Make your search obvious, apparent, and fill it with helpful automation.
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Invest in visuals
Premium photography and graphics can come at a premium price, but it’s difficult to convey value with sub-par visuals. Lifestyle photos are incredibly important to gain attention and draw in customers. We used to say that customers want to see themselves with your product, so showing it being worn, used or in motion is critical. On product pages, you need a variety of angles to demonstrate features and capabilities. People still make decisions largely based on emotions, so invest in feeling of your product.
Cart and Checkout
The cart and checkout are the final mile of the eCommerce purchase path. The pages have intensely high pagevalue, and you’ve invested a lot in your advertising and website to get people here. Your job at this stage is to be as clear and concise as possible.
Avoid introducing distractions
Add elements of trust
Only ask information that is necessary
Enable auto-fill
Provide several payment options
For more, read my specific pages on cart and checkout optimization.
Site Speed
There is a lot of data you can find about how every second of load damages your conversion rate. It’s hard to look past this point, as most traffic is going to be on mobile devices. As networks improve, people are less and less accepting of a slow loading website. It’s just too easy to move on to an alternative! The solutions to site speed problems aren’t always easy, but there are likely images to optimize, unnecessary code to remove and elements you can lazy load. Run a Google pagespeed insights report and see how you fair.
Key Takeaways
There are far more opportunities for growth, but as I always say, optimize around your areas of greatest leverage. These five areas account for the vast surface area of your customers eCommerce journey.
