10 E-Commerce Design Tips the Pros Use

The advent of the internet seems to have disrupted the retail industry more than previously predicted. Now, more people than ever are choosing to skip the lines and shop online.

Business Insider believes the E-Commerce will become so huge in the next few years, that it’ll take up nearly one-fifth of the entire retail industry!

If you’re considering opening up an E-Commerce shop of your own, now is a perfect time! Of course, not everyone has the funds like Amazon, who can simply pay someone to design their site.

There’s a high likelihood that you’ll need to build your site yourself to keep costs down. But don’t worry, you can still get a professional looking, well-built site.

Here are 10 of the biggest design tips that E-Commerce pros use.

1. Simplify Everything

We’ll begin our list of design tips with the most important piece of advice a newcomer can get: don’t overwhelm your audience.

Imagine walking into a store where the aisles are crowded together and the shelves are stacked to the point where items are about to fall over.

This is, in essence, the kind of design mistake that many people make at first.

Overloading your customer with information is a surefire way to achieve two things:

First, your site will look unprofessional. An overloaded site implies that the designer had no clue what he or she was doing.

Second, it makes sure that a customer will take their business elsewhere. Why search for a product in a mess of text and images when you can easily find it somewhere else?

2. Don’t Use Colored Text

In 2014, there were over 110,000 E-Commerce shops on the internet. Now, several years later, that figure has undoubtedly grown.

You’ll likely feel that your site’s design should stand apart from the crowd. And, truthfully, it should!

But please, for the sake of the audience, understand that there’s a difference between standing out for the right reason and standing out because you committed a design faux pa.

Take colored text, for instance.

Yes, colored text is fun and can look pretty. But it doesn’t mesh well with most background colors and can even cause eye strain among visitors.

So please, stick to simple black and white text. Your customers’ eyes will thank you.

3. Create a Mobile-Friendly Design

E-Commerce is expected to continue growing, but so is mobile browsing. In fact, mobile browsing already makes up more web traffic than desktop browsing.

Therefore, it’s important that your E-Commerce site features a mobile-friendly design.

If you need some help, there are plenty of great professionals who are willing to give some design tips.

Some, like Pixel Productions Inc., will even work with you to build a mobile site that reflects your business.

4. Include Photos

Admittedly, this is one of the design tips for newer E-Commerce designers.
Shopping, even online, is a multi-sensory experience.

Yet no sense is more important to the E-Commerce world than that of sight. Above all else, E-Commerce needs to be a visual medium.

Think about it: would you buy a product if there was an image-less listing? Likely not, nor will your customers.

Include multiple photos of each item, ideally from different angles. Photograph with the mindset that your customers won’t bother to read the listing, just look at the photos.

5. Include Well-Written Listings

That said, a picture may be worth a thousand words, but that doesn’t mean that text is useless.

Quite the contrary, in fact. A well-written listing can be the deciding factor in a purchase and an abandoned cart.

You don’t have to fancy yourself the world’s greatest writer, just write listings that paint a picture.

Include descriptive language that explains the item, what it’s used for, and how it could enhance the customer’s life.

6. Use Warm Colors

Earlier we talked a bit about the importance of visuals. But did you know that something as simple as color can influence our purchasing decisions?

It’s true! The marketing industry has long been one that embraces the importance of color psychology.

And now, you can use those same philosophies and apply them to your website.

For instance, you’ll want to set a mood with your color scheme. It’s often recommended that E-Commerce stores take warmer colors, as they’re likely to elicit positive feelings.

7. Limit The Number of Items Per Page

Now let’s delve into the nitty-gritty of E-Commerce design tips — your page design.
Remember, the idea here is not to overwhelm your customers. Therefore, try and limit the number of items you have listed on a given page.

How many items you feature per page will likely depend on factors like whether a visitor is using the mobile or desktop design or how large your images are.

It’s a good idea to keep it to around six to 12 listings per page. If this seems like too little or too much, don’t forget that you can let customers choose for themselves.

GameStop’s online website, for example, lets users choose between 12, 25, and 50 items per page.

8. Include Customer Reviews

Featuring customer reviews on a product listing is a great way to let your audience know that their voices matter.

Furthermore, reviews go a long way in helping our purchasing decisions.

Take a note from E-Commerce giants like Amazon and eBay and feature customer reviews on your product listings.

9. Simplify Your Checkout Process

When it comes to E-Commerce, two words strike fear into the hearts of sellers everywhere: cart abandonment.

Cart abandonment is responsible for millions of dollars in lost revenue each year. So what’s the cause? Most of the time, overly complicated checkout procedures.

The fewer steps between a customer and the ‘purchase’ button, the better.

You can eliminate any unnecessary steps by letting customers sign in as guests or including one-click purchase options.

10. Prominently Feature Contact Info

Finally, make sure that customers have a simple way to get in touch with you. Be sure to include your contact information where customers can find it quickly.

One of the best pro design tips is to include it in the top right corner of your site’s header, that way it’s accessible no matter what page a visitor is browsing.