Our society is built on a culture of ‘more, better, quicker’. On demand is now our default! Its human nature to take things for granted and once we have a need met, it may satisfy us for a while but then we soon want more, we want bigger and we want better.
We all have constantly rising expectations but with that comes a degree of anxiety and stress:
- Choice paralysis – how do I decide which product is right for me? Lots of choice can make it hard for shoppers to reach a decision which impacts on the choice of whether to purchase or not.
- Buyer’s remorse – I’m worried I made the wrong choice. Even post-purchase shoppers will still worry about the choices they did and didn’t make; perhaps they should’ve gone with the alternative products they originally rejected.
Offering your customers more is great and necessary to remain competitive; but you need to ensure that you are providing the tools for them to make an easy, informed decision. Here we run through what you can do to improve the user experience on your e-commerce store.
Keep it simple
Make it easy for your shoppers to buy from your store:
- Design – ensure that your website provides the right ‘on brand’ experience throughout the entire site.
- Navigation – map out a logical journey based on how your customers want to shop. Think about how customers navigate from page to page and not just how they use the menu.
- Language – use intuitive, descriptive signposts throughout your store.
- Consistency is key –be consistent with information and images provided – you want to make things feel familiar and easy for shoppers as well as aesthetically pleasing.
Inform your shoppers
Provide your customers with the tools to help themselves with their purchase decision such as:
- Size guides
- Comparison tables
- Search and filter tools. These could include colour, style, brand, price or categories such as most popular, best value or usage type.
- Clear details on your delivery and returns.
Be helpful
To help shoppers move along the purchase-decision process, make sure that you provide:
- FAQs – frequently asked questions
- Useful product guides, case studies, examples – blogs and social media can be great for this
- Provide social proof – testimonials and customer reviews help emphasise similarities and therefore hugely influence shoppers
- Offer recommendations and cross -sells – many themes have this feature built-in or you can use an app
- Provide customer service help – how can customers get in touch with you? Consider using use online chat to answer any queries quickly
- Consider providing samples or trial products – offering a smaller step which involves less commitment than a full purchase makes it much easier for the shopper to start a relationship with you
- If relevant consider offering gift cards and gift wrapping.
We hope you’ve found this guide useful. Do give us a call on 01242 236600 or drop us an email if you need help improving the user experience on your store.
