Features to Improve the Performance of Your Ecommerce Site

Ecommerce sites are an incredibly popular way to start up or run a business. They require minimal property and storage, no shop front or premises to sell from and they can be accessed by clients from anywhere in the world, not just a local area.

However the market for ecommerce sites is ever-growing and expanding; the US ecommerce market grew substantially from $27.61 billion in 2000 to over $861 billion in 2020. With this in mind, standing out from the crowd is becoming increasingly difficult and increasingly important. Now, more than ever, it is important to offer your customers a seamless user experience and all the information and tools they need to make a purchase quickly and easily.

In this article we will explore the features and characteristics of a successful ecommerce site to help you get the most out of your online shop, increase traffic, conversion rate and overall sales.

Navigation and searchability

Flexible search

Flexible search is often a feature that gets overlooked in websites and is severely underrated by the customer. However, without it, your user experience can be drastically reduced, particularly if you have lots of products.

Flexible search makes the search function of your website much easier to use; it will bring up products similar to the searched-for product, display the searched-for product first, predict products when spelt incorrectly by the user and bring up products according to how important they are for your business.

Potential customers being able to find what they are looking for quickly and effectively is essential for increasing the sales of your website, as many users may look elsewhere if the experience is frustrating.

Navigation structure

You may know your website like the back of your hand, but your customers do not. In many cases, a customer's visit to your website may be their first and you do not want them to feel lost or overwhelmed.

A good, easy-to-understand navigation bar is essential to direct customers towards the pages they wish to see, and towards the pages that will generate sales. Categorising products into an easy-to-understand catalogue, and using this to form your navigation bar, allows customers to easily browse for what they are looking for. A recent study highlighted that 59% of web users make use of the navigation system of a site.

Product pages

Variable products

Variable products are essential for businesses that sell variations of the same products, as they allow you to group products together into one page and let customers choose variants from a single parent product. If you are selling t-shirts, you do not want an individual page for each colour and each size. Grouping each size and colour onto a single page advances user experience and makes your site easier to manage.

Detailed product pages

Product pages are your main selling hubs. They should offer everything your customer needs to know to act and purchase your items. Product pages are essentially your sales pitch to any potential customers, and as such, you want them to be as descriptive and persuasive as possible.

The 300-word rule suggests that every webpage should contain at least three hundred words for SEO and descriptive purposes. Without descriptions, your products are unlikely to rank in Google search and they also offer no information for your customers.

Images and image quality

High quality images are also essential for your ecommerce site's SEO and sales. Having images of your products on the site for customers to view what they are buying is a great way to increase the conversion rate of your site. Providing photos from multiple angles and offering high quality imagery that displays your products effectively and professionally is beneficial for ecommerce development.

Payment and accounts

Payment method options

Offering advanced payment methods is a fantastic way to increase sales for your website. The more payment methods your site supports the more potential customers you can provide for. Most payment providers, such as Stripe or PayPal, are compatible with the majority of major debit and credit card providers. It may also be worth considering a pay-over-time option, such as Klarna, to make purchasing your goods as accessible as possible to your customers.

Customer accounts

Allowing customers to create an account on your website lets them store their information for repeat purchases and lets you add functionality to benefit your account holders, such as point systems for purchases or subscription management.

Discount system and special offers

Having an effective discount system or special offer allows you to expand upon your marketing messaging and offer even further incentives for customer purchases. It also allows you to take part in global, local or national events, such as Black Friday, to increase sales. 93% of shoppers use a coupon or discount code every year.

Tarka Web Design and enhancing ecommerce

Adding ecommerce features and functionality to your site is an important step in developing the presence of your business online. Connect with the team to learn how we can help advance your ecommerce site's performance and discuss your vision for online business growth.