Creating your own online store may seem like a fun, rewarding project. And indeed, it can be, but only if you do it right. Building a new store and selling online isn’t difficult, but building a store that will convert and attract paying customers most definitely is.
Here, we take a deeper look at the ways your store design can impact your overall store conversion rate and success. Use the following as a starting point for your own research, and ensure you learn everything you can about web design and eCommerce if you really want to succeed.
Below are a few of the ways web design is related to conversion rates:
Responsive Designs Are Just Better
We could spend all day talking about responsive web design and why it’s an absolute must, but we won’t. In short, the thing you need to understand is that you need to use a responsive design, or else your store just won’t be successful enough.
Without a responsive design, your store won’t appear attractive or very functional on mobile devices. When this is the case, people just aren’t very likely to make a purchase, which is something that will directly lower your conversion rate.
Simple Navigation Is Essential
When people have trouble navigating around a website, and consequently can’t find the things they want to, conversion rates can plummet. This is because people are busy in the modern world, and they tend to dedicate their time to things that are rewarding and easy.
To ensure that this doesn’t become a problem, we’d recommend using clear, easily accessible navigation menus. Consider the structure of your website and how navigation sublevels are working. Similarly, ensure you add some sort of search function so people can find pages or articles with minimal effort.
Readability Is Absolutely Crucial
A well-designed online store will be scannable, which basically means that readers can skip over your content, getting your main message without actually having to read everything. While it may seem a little pointless even creating content if it’s going to be treated like this, it’s not.
Some people will read everything, but you need to design your store to be easily scannable. Use professional, simple fonts that don’t take too much brainpower. Add plenty of spaces between lines, and use white space to draw peoples’ eyes to important information.
Calls to Action Must Be Implemented
Finally, it’s absolutely crucial to ensure you add relevant calls to action throughout your website. Your design will play a large part in this, as a clever design will help you draw people to the buttons or other things they need to notice to perform the action you want them to.
For example, there’s no point in having your call to action as a simple in-text link surrounded by paragraphs of boring content. Instead, you will be much better off using a colourful button that’s immediately obvious to everyone who navigates to your site.
Final Word
You may not realise it at first, but web design and online store conversion are very closely linked. Because of this, it’s extremely important to ensure you keep a number of things at the front of your mind when designing your store. The above tips will help you get started, but ensure you’re always learning and improving your understanding of topics like web design.