In today’s fast-changing online market, having a good ecommerce website is really important for businesses to do well. With more people shopping online, businesses need to make sure their websites look nice and are easy to use. A good online shopping website does more than just show products.
It makes sure that buying things online is easy, safe, and fun for all kinds of shoppers. Important things like easy navigation, details about products, strong protection from hackers, and making each customer feel special are very important for getting and keeping customers.
By putting these important features together, businesses can make a strong and attractive online presence that helps them sell more and grow for a long time in the busy world of online selling. In this post, we will look at 15 essential features of ecommerce websites you would need.
Hiring experienced eCommerce website designers is crucial for the success of an online store, as they ensure a seamless user experience, effective site functionality, and optimized conversion rates.
15 Essential Features of Ecommerce Websites
Responsiveness
A website is called responsive if it looks good on big screens like computers and tablets, and also on small screens like phones. Now, you might be asking why we chose to put it here first.
The reason is that being quick to respond is important for Google and other search engines when they decide how to rank a website. Additionally, research shows that 61% of people visit websites using their mobile devices.
You can be sure that most people who visit your website do it from their mobile phones.
If your website doesn’t work well on different devices, you might lose customers forever – and their business too.
Good news for you, making a website that works well on mobile phones isn’t too hard. You need to spend money on good website themes. You can find many of these themes on WooCommerce, Magento, or any other e-commerce platform you use.
If you can afford it, it’s best to hire a company that specializes in building online stores. It will cost some money, but you can customize as much as you want.
Attractive Design
Is your website well-designed? Are your web pages not very nice to look at? No matter how great your online store is, it won’t sell well if it’s not designed properly. You don’t need to do anything difficult to make your website look good and have a great user experience.
Usually, it’s best to keep things simple. Try to use only two different fonts and colors, and leave plenty of empty space. If you need to use more, be careful. To make your website look great and get noticed, just use a good website theme.
Quick Loading
Website speed is very important for ecommerce and you cannot ignore it. Do you know why? People are not patient. Research shows that if your website takes longer than 2 seconds to load, people will start to leave.
If it takes longer to load, fewer people will buy your product. In simpler terms, if your online store takes a long time to load, it won’t make as much money. And you know, if there are fewer people buying, it means there are fewer sales.
In addition, Google does not like websites that are slow to load. If your website does this, it will show up lower in search results.
How can you make your website load faster? First, you need to make your images better.
Heavy images are often the main reason why a website takes a long time to load. This is because they put a lot of pressure on web servers and take longer to show up.
You probably have a lot of pictures on your website and fixing them one by one will take a really long time. No need to. You need to find a good app or plugin for your website that can make images smaller automatically.
Secondly, you should use less plugins or apps. Use only what you need. You should also consider putting your website on a CDN (Content Delivery Network). Enabling browser caching also will make things faster.
Simple Navigation
If you want to grow your online store, you need to make sure your website is easy for people to use. This means visitors should be able to easily navigate your website and make posts without having to struggle with it.
Not doing this could make people leave your website forever. One way to make your website easy to move around is to have a clear menu with lots of information.
Even better, use a big menu that has links to all the different categories and products on your website. Make sure to include a complete menu on the bottom of your website. It will be beneficial.
Site Search
Not everyone wants to spend time searching through pages to find a product. Many people would rather leave than deal with that stress. What you should do is add a strong search tool to your website.
It needs to be strong enough to give helpful suggestions, like Google and Amazon. You must have a site search on all your pages, not just on your homepage. Actually, it needs to be visible on every part of your site.
In other words, people should be able to find it easily no matter where they are on your website. Also, make it easy. You don’t need a fancy search bar. Add pictures, like a big magnifying glass, so people know it’s a place to search.
Also Read: 14 Ultimate eCommerce Frameworks: 2024 Edition
Filtering and Sorting
Filtering and sorting are very important for any online store to work well. Adding them to your website makes it simple for potential customers to find certain products that match their budget and preferences.
Just like the search bar, the options to sort and filter should be easy to find and work really well. They should be able to organize and separate products fast. First, you should allow potential customers to search for products based on:
- Cost
- Size
- Color
- New/Used
- Ratings and Reviews
You can always add more categories to these options.
More Payment Options
Only offering a few ways for customers to pay could cause big problems. You will definitely lose a lot of sales. This is especially true if you sell things to people in other countries. Why is it important to give customers different ways to pay when shopping online?
Some countries don’t have all the payment options. If you only accept PayPal, you may miss out on a lot of customers. Also, some shoppers prefer to use their usual way of paying instead of trying a new one.
They would rather leave your site and go somewhere else than use a payment option they don’t know. Therefore, it is a good idea to let customers choose how they want to pay.
Guest Checkout
Did you know that you can buy things from online stores without making an account? Many websites now allow you to check out as a guest. Allowing guest checkout on your online store makes it easier for customers to shop because they don’t have to make an account to purchase items.
Another big advantage of allowing guest checkout is that it helps you attract shoppers who make spontaneous purchases. Also, it can greatly decrease the number of people leaving your website without making a purchase.
This is because making shoppers sign in at checkout can annoy them, and they might leave things in their carts. They might think of buying it another time but may not return to buy those products.
Return Product Information
Another important feature for an ecommerce website is details about returning products.
Why is this important? Not all sales will be successful. Customers might want to return something they bought for many reasons.
They might have bought the wrong size of the product. They might have bought a broken product or received the wrong one. Maybe they don’t want the product anymore. No matter why, they must understand your policy for returns.
Can they return products without any charges? How long do they have to wait to return? Can they exchange the product? These are some questions you must answer in your product return information.
FAQ Page
It’s good to have information on how to return products on your website. But it’s not helpful if customers can’t find them. This makes us wonder: where should you put your product return policy? A good place could be on an FAQ page.
Every online store should have a FAQ page. They are not just for showing returns, but also for answering customer questions. For instance, they may want to know if you give discounts for buying a lot at once.
They may also want to know how long it takes for their orders to be delivered and if there are any special deals they can take advantage of. If they can’t find the answers, most people will go away.
The people who are patient might send you a lot of questions in your emails, and that’s not good. Make sure you have a helpful list of questions and answers on your website.
Also Read: 12 Best eCommerce Platforms for Startups in India
Customer Support
Providing different ways for customers to get help, like live chat, email, and phone, means they can choose how they want to contact us. Live chat helps you get help right away, solves problems quickly, and makes shopping better.
Some people don’t like to read FAQ pages because they can be long and boring. They would rather talk to someone than read. Therefore, it is important to have chat support on your website. It will make it easier for your customers to buy from you, and it will also make your business more trustworthy.
Having easy to find and understand contact information makes customers feel confident and reassured that they can get help when they need it. Giving helpful and caring help to customers not only solves problems but also makes them feel good. This makes them more likely to come back and builds strong relationships over time.
By focusing on helping customers, online businesses can make customers happier, prevent them from leaving their shopping carts, and keep them coming back. This will help the businesses to be successful and grow over time.
Personalization
Personalizing user experience is really important for making online shopping better. When customers make accounts, they can save their information for faster checkouts and keep track of their orders and purchases. This makes shopping easier for them.
Personalization uses customer information and browsing history to suggest products and send personalized messages. This can really increase how much people interact with the business and how many of them actually buy things.
When customers see offers that fit their interests and needs, they are more likely to respond to them. Moreover, things like wish lists and personalized discounts make the user experience better.
They also help keep customers coming back because they feel taken care of. Overall, adding user accounts and personalization to your online store makes shopping easier, more personalized, and more interesting for customers.
Shipping Information
Clearly showing the different ways items can be shipped, how much it costs, and when it will arrive, helps customers know what to expect and makes them less likely to leave their shopping cart without buying anything.
You should have different shipping options like regular and fast so that you can meet all your customers’ needs. Giving customers up-to-date tracking information helps them keep an eye on their orders, which makes them feel more confident.
It’s important to be clear about when items will be shipped and if there might be any delays so that customers are happy. Moreover, giving free shipping for orders over a certain amount can encourage people to buy more.
Clear shipping information is very important for gaining trust and improving the customer experience in an ecommerce store. By being honest and clear about all shipping details, you can make customers happier, reduce the need for help, and make them want to buy from you again.
Robust Security
Strong security features are very important for any online store to keep customer information safe and gain trust. Using SSL encryption makes sure that the information sent between the user’s web browser and the server is safe.
This protects sensitive details like credit card numbers and personal information. Two factor authentication (2FA) makes it harder for someone to access your account. You have to prove who you are using a second device or method.
Regular security checks and updates help find and fix possible weaknesses, keeping the website safe from online attacks. Following data protection regulations like GDPR not only keeps you on the right side of the law but also shows your customers that you care about their privacy.
Also, safety payment portals and fraud detection systems help stop illegal transactions and money losses. By making security a top priority, you can make a safe place for people to shop. This will make customers trust and come back to your store.
User Engagement
Social proof and getting users involved are very important for creating trust and making more sales on an online store. Showing what other customers think about a product helps people decide if they want to buy it.
It uses the power of word-of-mouth recommendations to help people make buying choices. Pictures and videos that customers share make shopping feel more real and like something you can connect with.
Adding social media buttons lets people easily share products and helps you reach more customers through word of mouth. Getting customers involved with features like live chat, polls, and Q&A sections helps them feel connected and heard.
Reward programs that give perks for buying things again and sharing on social media make people want to keep shopping with the same company. By doing this, you can make your business seem more trustworthy, build a group of loyal customers, and increase the amount of sales.
Final Thoughts
Adding important features to your online store is really important for making customers happy and growing your business. Features like fast loading, guest checkout, advanced search and filtering, safe ways to pay, and strong security make online shopping reliable and easy.
Customization and clear shipping details make customers more interested and loyal. Also, using customer feedback and providing good customer service are very important for gaining trust and creating lasting relationships with customers.
By always improving and updating these features, companies can stay competitive in the changing online shopping world, get new customers, and keep the ones they already have. A good ecommerce store not only satisfies customers but also goes beyond their expectations, resulting in more sales and continued success.
FAQs
Why are pictures and details about the product important?
Good pictures and descriptions help you decide if you want to buy the product or not. When customers can find good information, they feel more sure about the product and are more likely to buy it. Furthermore, it reduces the likelihood of customers returning items or making complaints because they have a better understanding of what they are purchasing.
Why is it good for an online store to have different ways of payment?
It’s important to offer different ways to pay so that all customers can choose how they want to pay. Some customers like to pay with credit/debit cards, some use PayPal, Apple Pay, Google Pay, and others like Buy Now, Pay Later services. This flexibility helps to make more sales and makes customers happy because they can use their favorite payment methods.
Why is it important to make sure your online store looks good on mobiles?
It’s really important for online stores to make sure their websites work well on mobile phones because a lot of people use their phones to shop online. Making sure the mobile version of a website is easy to use and works well makes it easier for people to access and use it, which can make them more likely to buy things. Additionally, Google and other search engines like websites that work well on mobile phones.
Why do e-commerce sites need social proof?
Customer reviews, ratings, and testimonials give people helpful information about how good products are before they buy them. Peer feedback is really important because it comes from real people who have used the product or service, and it can have a bigger impact than regular advertising. Good reviews and high ratings can make people more likely to buy something.
Why are advanced search and filtering options important for an ecommerce store?
The ecommerce website needs better search and filtering choices to make it easier for customers to find what they want. A strong search bar helps customers find things easily with suggestions and fixing mistakes. Filtering options help users to make their search more specific. They can choose things like price, brand, size, color, and ratings to find what they want.
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