There’s nothing worse than visiting a website with a bunch of problems. Whether it takes too long to load, you can’t find what you’re looking for, or it takes forever to checkout, it’s a pain in the neck.
The likelihood of you using the site again is slim to none. You might be frustrated enough to file a complaint, write a negative review, or share your unfavorable experience with someone you know. While this is the case for most consumers, eCommerce business owners tend to overlook this fact when it comes to user experience (UX).
It’s not uncommon for businesses to launch their eStores without giving a second thought to the user experience. Some may initially evaluate UX but forget to make changes as needed. Unfortunately, overlooking these factors leads to dissatisfied customers, a ruined reputation, and a decline in sales.
Although evaluating, testing, and implementing processes to improve user experience is time-consuming, it’s a necessary practice to keep your business profitable.
Ways To Improve UX
Whether you’re about to launch your company website or you’ve been in business for a while, these tips can help you improve user experience.
Analyze The Data
The more information you have about your customers and target audience, you are better equipped to provide a positive experience. Thanks to modern technology, collecting data is easier than ever.
Many digital platforms have analytics capabilities that enable you to review key data, from customer names and addresses to cart abandonment rates and sales history. When you use these tools to your advantage, you can identify issues and make improvements to enhance UX.
For instance, let’s say you used Shopify to build and launch your eCommerce store. You can use Shopify analytics to evaluate the number of visits, conversion rates, purchase behavior, and cart abandonment stats to gain insight into the user’s experience.
If you notice a high percentage of people abandoning their carts, you may need to improve your checkout process to make it easier to manage.
Assess Your Site
When was the last time you accessed your eCommerce site from a user’s perspective? Do you know what it’s like to use your site? If not, it’s time you learn.
Visit your site and pay attention to the design, layout, graphics, fonts, color scheme, navigational tools, and content. Go through the checkout process to see how easy it is to make a purchase. If you experience problems, you need to change these things to improve your users’ experiences.
Listen To Your Audience
When your customers or target audience makes reviews, files complaints, or leaves comments, do you listen to what they have to say? While you may not like to hear unfavorable things about your business, it’s an effective way to learn from your mistakes. In fact, feedback is something you should encourage.
If someone tells you that it takes forever to create an account or checkout, you can look at your intake and checkout processes to develop more efficient procedures. No one expects a company to be perfect, but they expect you to value their opinions. Resolving issues with users immediately improves their experience, increases conversion rates, and boosts sales.
Reward Your Users
What better way to get people to make a purchase and return to your site than to offer them perks? Rewards can be instrumental in helping you to improve user experience and conversion rates. They can also build brand awareness and loyalty.
You don’t have to go overboard with your rewards to win over your users. You could develop a point system that allows customers to earn points for every purchase. They can use the points to get something free as they add up. Another suggestion is to give discounts to customers for creating an online account, making their first purchase, and referrals.
Vary Your Content
Not everyone is interested in reading a bunch of paragraphs on product descriptions and FAQs. Varying your content can help improve the user experience. Adding videos, infographics, and images allows users to learn more about your products through a medium best suited for them.
User experience is crucial to eCommerce platforms. It is a representation of how well customers are able to access and use your site.
With online shopping increasing exponentially over the past few years, the last thing you want is to miss out because of a poorly designed site. Poor UX can lower your conversion rates and cause existing customers to stop doing business with you. Therefore, it is imperative to prioritize user experience by using tips like those listed above to improve your eCommerce platform.
