E-commerce UI/UX Design: What You Really Need To Know?

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Do you know what can break or make an e-commerce website? It’s user experience. 

Agree or not, the easier you make your e-commerce website to trust, shop and buy, more will be your ROI and returning shoppers. And when we talk about buying, it can be anything. Today e-commerce website range from subscriptions to digital libraries and even crowdfunding! 

There are millions of e-commerce websites on the internet, catering to the needs of diverse user bases around the world. The best way to do meet the needs of user-bases is through a better UI/UX design. Unfortunately today there is a “a trillion dollar UX problem in the making- and this is looking at e-commerce alone”. Poor UI/UX design is leading the e-commerce industry towards this huge loss and if own an e-commerce website then you are probably part of this loss as well. 

Which is why through this article we are going to discuss two things. Firstly, what are the common concepts the designer needs to be aware of when designing an e-commerce website and what are the key benefits of investing in UI/UX design for e-commerce websites? 

Common Factors To Consider For E-commerce UX Designing

Whether you are a web designer with years of experience in designing websites or an entrepreneur without any idea on web designing, there are some common UX designing principles you need to be aware of when you are building an e-commerce website. These factors or principles would help you to figure out what goes into e-commerce web design and what doesn’t.

The Target Audience And The Need To Understand Them

The online retail world is driven by users. Their needs and actions dictate how the e-commerce world is going to run. So before you go ahead with the UX designing of your e-commerce website, you need to understand the target audience and what they need from your platform.

1. Primary research

Primary research is the base of understanding your consumers. Through primary research, you will be able to get a first-hand understanding of the shoppers with the help of surveys and interviews. The direct contact with the consumer is going to give you a fresh perspective and understanding of the shoppers and what they need design-wise. 

When you are conducting the primary research you must find the answers to these questions-

  • What is the most important feature of the product according to the user? With this, you will be able to distinguish the features important to your audience. Once you do that the product development and design process will become more efficient.
  • How are the users interacting with the product? You will be able to understand the technological limitations the consumer suffers from and also what medium they are using the most to use your product.
  • Identify consumer perception by understanding their perception of the product. Through this, you can get a better understanding of the brand value of the product.
  • Where and how does the product fail to reach consumer expectations? With this answer, you will be able to understand the shortcomings of your product and make a move to fix it. 

After you have sufficient data from your primary research you can then move onto the next part that is the secondary research. 

2. Secondary research

Secondary research is often not paid enough importance because it is in a way subordinate process to the primary research. But this is a crucial part of the entire getting to know your target audience because through this you get a comprehensive look at the market and the demographic. While primary research can help you to gain insight into the individual shoppers, secondary research taps into the needs and wants of the shoppers as different groups based on different variables. 

There are a few things you must find out during the secondary research phase. These are-

  • Your competition: understanding your competition, what they are doing, how they are conducting their business and what is their position in the market will give you an advantage over them. 
  • What regions are you covering with your primary research? Are you going for a more national outlook or a global understanding? Whichever point of view you choose, what are the demographic groups within the region you are covering with your research?
  • What are the important cultural factors within that demographic? Consider the cultural factors such as religion, ethnicity, etc. this way you can give them a better and more personalized shopping experience.
  • Are there any other studies conducted to about the understanding the shoppers? For example, we can always state the Nielsen Norman Group’s research on different kinds of shoppers there are. 

Once you have gone through the essential research part, you can easily assess the problems faced by the shoppers.

The Technological Challenge

The global number for internet users has increased to 3.9 billion within 2018, and as of April 2019, 56.1% of the world population has internet access. With this huge number of users, there is bound to be technical challenges they are going to face while using e-commerce websites. These problems can range from low bandwidth speed to communication mediums, to the kinds of devices used by the people. 

So when you are designing your e-commerce website, you need to consider all the technical challenges faced by the users.

What Are The Benefits Of Investing In UX Design For E-commerce

A satisfied user-base is the key component to the success of any product. There is no doubt that when you are designing an e-commerce site that matches the user behavior, increases your ROI and drastically reduces the cost of fixing website issues. 

Websites that used the design first approach when creating their e-commerce website experienced a growth in sales and a decrease in bounce rate. With all these proof that UX designing is actually profitable for your e-commerce website, let’s look at a few of the most important benefits of investing in a better UX design for e-commerce website development.

1. Revenue And Conversion Boost

It is a proven fact that investing in UX actually betters your ROI. when you invest in UX design you will not only see better customer reviews, but low support cost, better customer retention, and increasing market share. When you design a better UX for the consumers, it becomes easier for them to use the website. And when you design an easy to use the website, the conversion rate will be off the charts.

2. Reduced In Development Waste

A good UX design is the best way to decrease the developmental costs. When the UX design of the website is not up to par, the project can fail and that will cost you money and time to fix those issues. Conducting proper user research and testing at the different stages of design and launching process results in better functionality, which means less rework and bug fixes.

3. Better Customer Satisfaction And Loyalty

As stated before, customer satisfaction is the key to any product’s success. And UX is the key to customer satisfaction. With a good UX design, you are not only going to attract users but you are also going to have a better chance of retaining them. A good web experience will create a loyal user-base for your e-commerce website, and this, in turn, will decrease marketing channel costs

Conclusion

So whether you are hiring a UI UX design agency or not, you need to know the importance of a better UI/UX design for your e-commerce portal. The modern e-commerce world is run by the users and at the end of the day, their satisfaction will make or break your e-commerce website.

Pratip Biswas
Pratip Biswas, is the Founder and CEO of Unified Infotech, a New York based tech-company which has been featured in Deloitte Fast 500| Fastest growing tech companies in 2018. His company is working with Enterprises, SMB’s and Start-ups to improve their efficiency through Digital Adoption and help them discover new possibilities through constant innovations.

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