Customers use the online store’s user experience to decide whether they trust it. After assessing the current UX of your online store, you can begin to make big improvements so customers are satisfied and more likely to return.
It is not an easy task to change the UX on your entire ecommerce site. There are many features that you can use to make your customers’ shopping experience better. These are the features you should ensure your ecommerce website is capable of.
1. Sticky Add to cart
Customers can add products to their cart using Sticky Add to cart (as well soft add to cart) without having to navigate to another page or open a new browser. Customers can instead hover over the “View Cart” button to see a popup window that details what’s in their cart. Customers can update their cart while staying on the current page. This is convenient and a great benefit for those customers who forget.
2. Page Custom 404
Running into a 404 page isn’t typically a great user experience, but a custom 404 page can turn a somewhat disappointing experience into an informative–and maybe even enjoyable–experience for your customer. Consider linking to your homepage when creating your custom page. Or suggesting links they might be looking for. You can add humor to make the situation more relatable to your brand if you choose.
3. Similar Products or Related Products
If the product they are viewing isn’t what they need, displaying similar products can help customers find it. This helps with conversion rates. Imagine a customer is looking for green boots. He or she finds one in your store but it’s not what they want. They will be offered similar green boots if they are displayed on the product page. This could be their perfect shape.
Similar products can also make shopping easier. A customer may decide to purchase a fountain from your company and sees a cleaning kit or a replacement filter in the similar products section. They can then order these additional products to save time and hassle later. Anything that saves customers time is a great way to improve the customer experience.
4. Pickup in-store
This strategy works well if your business has both an online and brick-and-mortar store. Flexibility is a strength of ecommerce. This strategy allows customers to place orders online and pick them up in-store, making it easier (and more affordable) for their customers to purchase their products. This feature is best for larger online stores with loyal customers and a large customer base. It can be a logistical challenge to link store inventory with online inventory. However, this is a great feature for customers if your company can manage it.
5. One-page Checkout
One-page checkout is more user-friendly than multiple pages that require customers to enter their billing and shipping information. Usability research has shown this. Who would want to navigate through an endless number of pages to make a purchase? To ensure a great user experience, remove all obstacles that could be confusing customers so they don’t feel like they have to go through the same pages again.
6. Guest Checkout
Online hackers can be dangerous for shoppers who shop online. They could release sensitive information to people with malicious motives. Many online shoppers don’t want their billing and shipping information stored on any site, even the most secure. Your customers will be more satisfied if they can check out as guests rather than creating an account that stores their data. While you might prefer to keep customer information on file for security reasons, good UX does not mean that you can’t make it easier for customers and help you close the sale.
7. Search on-site
Your navigation might be intuitive, but your customers will not instantly learn how to navigate your site once they land on it. A site search that instantly pulls up the information they need will make it easier for customers to buy. They won’t have to search for the exact same thing repeatedly which can cause frustration, leading them to look elsewhere.
8. Live Customer Service
Good customer service is what makes customers’ day, no matter if they are in a physical shop or online. Customers should be able to contact someone via phone, email or chat. To reduce friction when customers make a purchase, it’s important to provide live assistance. This is why a live chat and phone number are so useful. Friendly and knowledgeable employees make it easier to shop in your store.
9. Multiple payment options
Have you ever gone to a cash register and handed your credit card to the cashier, only for it not being accepted? This is not an enjoyable experience and you need to avoid making your customers feel the same. There are many payment options today, but most people have a preferred method of payment when shopping online. Offer a variety of payment options to meet this need so your business is accessible to as many customers possible.
Last Thoughts
A great way to make sure your customers return to you is to provide a great customer experience. They will be more likely to buy from you again and to refer your site to friends. To optimize your website’s user experience, make sure to include as many of these features as possible to build a loyal customer base.
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By: Volusion Staff
Title: 9 Features that Improve the Ecommerce User Experience (UX)
Sourced From: www.volusion.com/blog/features-that-improve-the-ecommerce-user-experience-ux/
Published Date: Mon, 28 Feb 2022 16:05:00 GMT
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