The Art of Persuasion: Using Design to Boost Sales in eCommerce

As an eCommerce business owner, you should always strive to develop your website design to cater to your customers’ needs. 

A lot has happened in the eCommerce industry over the last decade. Many customers now rely on online stores instead of going to physical stores to purchase quality products. 

In the current year alone, 2023, 20.8% of retail sales are expected to occur through eCommerce stores with an estimated revenue of $6.3 trillion. By 2026 this number is expected to reach 24% and generate over $8.1 trillion. These stats are provided by Forbes. 

Increasing trends in online shopping in the future require eCommerce store owners to provide the best user experience for their websites to convert visitors and get higher profits. How can one provide such experience, and what strategies should they follow? Well, that’s what we will discuss today. 

The following are ten proven and effective methods that you can use to improve your customer’s experience on your website. So let’s get started. 

Give Branding a Priority

First, let’s talk about branding and its importance in driving sales to your website. As an eCommerce store owner, you must understand that most people prefer to purchase products online from established brands rather than unknown eCommerce sites phishing for credit card information.

Your branding should be considered if you wish to build the trust needed to generate serious sales for your eCommerce business. You should treat your branding as your eCommerce business’ DNA; it’s how you stand out from your competition and communicate who you are as a company.

You should spend time defining your brand and then incorporating that branding into your eCommerce design to maximize your success. Before beginning your design project, you must do a little soul-searching business. Answer these questions for yourself:

• Who would be my brand if it were a person?
• In three words, what does my brand stand for?
• Compared to other eCommerce shops, how does my brand stand out?
• How do we set ourselves apart from our competitors?

Knowing who you are is important before implementing your branding on your eCommerce site. Design a well-crafted logo for your brand so people can recognize you easily. You can use an online logo maker for business to design and test it out as you design your eCommerce store. 

A well-defined brand will increase audience trust, which will help you drive sales and increase profits.

Make Video Content

Videos aren’t new, but their value keeps increasing because online shoppers enjoy them. It has been found that more than 91% of customers wish brands would produce more videos. That’s beneficial to your website, as it keeps visitors on your page approximately 2.6 times longer. 

Video demonstrations of how a product looks and works in real life make a product seem more credible from a consumer’s perspective. Besides adding credibility to a website, video improves its search engine ranking. There is a 53x greater likelihood of reaching the front page of Google when an online store features video. 

The return on investment (ROI) for video content is also greater than for other types of content. According to marketing professionals, the conversion rate for videos is higher than for any other type of content. 

Enhance Real-time Engagement Using Live Chat and Chatbots

Many eCommerce sites integrate live chats or chatbots to provide round-the-clock customer support. 

Using live chat, you can assist shoppers at any time. Strong relationships can be built with your customers through this feature, which ultimately helps in brand recognition as well. A live chat option makes this possible if a customer wants assistance selecting products at your site. Otherwise, your potential customer may go to your competitor. 

In contrast, a chatbot is an AI program that simulates human interaction through chat. Voice or text-based automated/predictive responses allow visitors to interact with your site.

It is possible to use chatbots to offer customer service and sell products in the absence of live chat. It does not matter what you choose; shoppers appreciate the level of responsiveness and personalized service on a website, and chatbots and live chat provide this exactly. 

Optimize Your Website for Mobile Devices

Mobile-friendliness is an important aspect of your online store. Globally, 55% of internet traffic is generated by mobile devices. 

How should you focus your efforts? For starters, be sure that your store’s website loads as quickly as possible. You should remove unnecessary design elements from your site’s design when tailoring it for mobile use. 

Additionally, you should test the mobile checkout process. Transactions and checkouts should be streamlined and user-friendly on mobile devices to prevent visitors from getting frustrated and shopping elsewhere.

Add Interactive Features

What is the reason for people leaving some good websites? Most likely, they are bored. A good website does not suffice; it must also be interactive. 

Incorporate click-based and swipe-based activities within the website pages to make the website design exciting and interactive. 

For example, you can use an interactive showroom to sell furniture by allowing prospects to drag and drop furniture pieces.

They can mix and match furniture items depending on the theme and color scheme. Therefore, the customer can easily envision how their living room will look and know the costs.

If you sell online clothes, you can add VR and AR functionalities to showcase how a shirt would look on a person in reality, so users can decide accordingly. 

Users will stay on your website much longer if these little interactive elements are present, enhancing brand recognition. Consider other options for attracting prospects and converting them into sales by implementing interactive features.

Provide Smooth Navigation

A site’s navigation can be confusing, so users are often compelled to abandon it because of its minimalist design. It can be challenging for a user to locate what they are looking for on a site with poor navigation, especially if they have a wide variety of products (e.g. Walmart).

By maintaining a clear and organized menu and using terminology that is familiar to your consumers, you can significantly enhance your customer’s experience.

Also, ensure your product pages are organized to retain your users after they have located the product they are looking for.

Add a Search Option

Even a well-organized web design will only be effective when navigation is manageable, as in the case of Amazon. In densely packed websites, search often becomes easier to find products. 

There is no guarantee that every website will benefit from a search engine, but it is worth considering whether your users will likely get lost without one. Also, make sure that the search tool is visible to your users so they don’t have to dig around to find it: The easier it is to find, the more likely you are to make a sale.

Use High-Quality images

Most people are highly responsive to visual stimuli, which is also true of online content: an article with two compelling images receives 94% more views than one without. In the experience of purchasing products online, 87% of consumers deem product photos to be very important.

Thus, you have probably noticed that more and more eCommerce sites are focusing on photography. However, it is important to note that being photography-centric does not mean uploading a surplus of stock photos, but rather securing high-quality images of your products and team. 

This will lend credibility to your business and provide your users with an attractive and engaging website.

Make checkout as easy as possible

Among the greatest grievances of online businesses is shopping cart abandonment. In a world where cart abandonment rates average 69.99%, every effort to reduce this number deserves serious consideration. By simplifying the checkout process, you can overcome this problem.

The checkout process should be as straightforward as possible, with as few steps as possible and clear instructions. Ensure that all barriers to customers’ completion of their purchases are removed.

Create a sense of urgency 

A sales urgency is a technique designed to persuade prospects to make a purchase decision now rather than later. You need to create a sense of urgency around your product or service to motivate your prospects to buy now instead of putting it off.

• Deliver free of charge for a limited period
• Provide free shipping to a limited number of customers
• Provide free shipping for a limited time
• Provide a limited number of products
• Provide unique, hard-to-find stock
• Provide warnings when stocks are low
• Display a warning when stock levels are low in the shopping cart
• Give a reward to your first X customers
• Offer discounts from a partner store as a reward to buyers
• Increase the price after X sales are generated 
• Give discounts to abandoned cart items
• Take advantage of special holidays
• Donate to charity through sales
• Display the expiration date of a sale
• Make today’s deals exclusive ads
• Discounts on clearance items

Conclusion

Website design undoubtedly plays a crucial role in boosting sales for eCommerce sites. By strategically implementing design elements, online businesses can create a captivating and seamless shopping experience that entices customers to purchase.

From compelling visuals and intuitive navigation to streamlined checkout processes, every design aspect we explained contributes to the success of an eCommerce website.