After multiple Covid-19 lockdowns, with staff and business owners working from home, we have seen a rise in businesses taking to the internet to sell their products online. The E-Commerce industry was already booming but with the recent pandemic, extra pressure has been added as the competition is increasing.

Web design has always formed a pivotal role in establishing your digital presence, however sometimes basic web design just doesn’t cut it. For most businesses these days, your website is your storefront. Just like a physical store, you want to direct people to the cash register and make your menu as visible as possible.

You’ve done the hard work getting traffic to your website, but are you converting customers once they land on your page? Are you considering all the possible distractions or unanswered questions your customers might have? At our BrandVillage design agency we implement these 6 strategies to optimise our web design projects to help increase sales.

1. Call-to-action

We’re starting with the most obvious one first, however you’d be surprised with how many people forget this. Calls-to-action are incredibly important when it comes to E-Commerce websites or any other type of website. Without it, your customers won’t know what to do next, whether they need to call you, email you or make a payment.

Here are the things you need to consider for your call-to-action design:

• Clear and simple buttons.These links need to direct your customers to the appropriate page to complete their order or contact your business. They also need to be placed where customers can clearly find them and must be used as frequently as possible. This is sometimes where practicality takes precedent over stylish design.
• Stand out colours. Your call-to-action buttons should be in a different colour so that your customers are immediately drawn to them.

• Responsive Design for all Devices

Mobile devices make up more than 50% of customer device types, particularly within younger generations. As we know, a mobile screen is very different to a desktop or laptop computer screen. This means that it is crucial that your web design is responsive.

Responsive web design is simply just a design that will adjust to whatever screen it is being displayed on. This will ensure that you are not losing customers based on the device type they are using, and that the same important information will be displayed.

• Website Load Speed

Think about how many times you’ve left a page because it took too long to load. You might give it 1-2 attempts to reload before you give up and move onto the next page. There are a range of factors that impact website load speed, and your content is the main one.

Certain content such as high-quality videos, large sized images or use of animations can impact the speed of your website. To put it simply, data-intensive graphics may need to be reconsidered in your website design but not completely abandoned. Instead of using a large amount of these graphics, you must choose them wisely and use the correct placement. This can lead to a great looking and fast loading website, without risking the loss of any potential customers.

• Simple Contact Forms

Make your customer’s lives easier. If a customer is checking out their shopping cart or filling out your contact form, they have successfully navigated their way to the right place using the call-to-action buttons. Too often is this part ruined by confusing processes or an over collection of information.

Contact forms should collect basic information. Name, contact number, email address and message. Some businesses also like to include a section for ‘How did you hear about us?’. This should be a dropdown list that customers can easily select to avoid any extra work. The goal is to get the form submitted as quickly as possible.

• Abandoned Shopping Carts

Customers abandon their shopping carts for many reasons, and your graphic designer should try to mitigate this as much as possible. The most common reasons for shopping cart abandonment are:

• Extra charges or fees included at the end. All prices and fees should be included in the product description before the customer reaches the checkout.
• Lack of trust to make a payment. Multiple payment methods should be offered, such as PayPal, Debit or Afterpay to avoid uncertainty. Designers should also include symbols of credibility and trust on the checkout page so that customers are comforted that their payment details are safe.
• Research or comparison shopping. Allow for guest checkout and avoid unnecessary account creation. Add special deals that excite customers when they hit the checkout page. Another method is to design on-page pop ups and send customer’s reminder emails that their cart is waiting.

• Clear Services or Products Listed

Like the analogy we used at the beginning, your menu or sale items should be visible as soon as your customer walks into the store. This is no different for your website design.

As an example, within our industry, a web design company in Sydney should be showing their design portfolio almost immediately. These designs should be relevant to Sydneysiders and descriptions should be clearly stated for customers to understand what services they offer.

Alternatively, if the business wants to display their services on a different page, customers should easily find the ‘Services’ button amongst the other options in the navigational menu. This is where the right colours, fonts and size will be important for the designer to consider.

Prioritise the most important features first.

Now that you’ve read through the 6 different ways to optimise your web design, you may find that this will clash with your overall design vision. However, compromises must be made because it’s not the best-looking website that converts the most customers, it’s the website with the best sales funnel. The website that makes it easy for customers to get to the checkout, make their payment and receive their goods, will feel the rewards.

We recommend investing in a good quality web design agency or finding an exceptional freelancer. You wouldn’t let an unqualified architect design your store, so treat your website the same way.