Are you running an e-commerce website? Or are you planning to start one in 2023? Creating an e-commerce site is a great way to improve upon the functionality of your store or further monetize your business. Retail e-commerce revenue is projected to reach $6.54 trillion by 2023. Thanks to 2020 and shopping moving more online, we have seen such a shift. It’s not just women who are responsible for an uptick in online shopping, men are also reported to feel more comfortable browsing and checking out online. As a result, 2023 is a great time to get into e-commerce. Technology increases in its journey to rise up to meet the needs and expectations of shoppers. Even though building out your e-commerce website may seem easy, there are e-commerce features to keep in mind.
Before you jump into creating your e-commerce site, you need to consider several e-commerce website features first. In this blog post, we’ll go over the top ten features to use that will help you build a website that customers love visiting and want to keep returning to.
What Features do Customers Want to See on E-commerce Sites?
In general, the e-commerce functions that customers want to see on e-commerce sites can be headlined in three specific points:
- A convenient and intuitive online shopping site that provides a great shopping experience. From the minute the shopper lands on your home page, to the second they check out, they want the shopping to be easy and enjoyable;
- An e-commerce website that has pleasing aesthetics and design;
- An experience that is personalized for the shopper.
Customers who visit online stores make quick decisions about the brand and products within a few minutes of scrolling and browsing the home page. This is why you need to design your content in a clear and concise format. Always keep in mind that the end goal is to convert leads to sales, encourage purchases, and have repeat customers who love your business.
Keep in mind that designing an eye-catching website that engages your audience will cause your dwell time metrics to increase. What are dwell time metrics? Once a customer searches for a product or information and chooses your page, dwell time is the amount of time he or she spends browsing your website. The longer the customers spend on your website, it is more feasible that they will check out and complete a sale. This action will improve your e-commerce conversion rate.
The quality of your products matters. But, those products and sales rely in a great manner on your e-commerce website. It behooves you to focus on improving your e-commerce business, or if you are beginning on this journey, to get started well right out of the gate. Always think about what your customers want from your e-commerce site. Turn your browsers into buyers, and your buyers into devoted customers.
Here are the top ten e-commerce features list of features that customers want to see on e-commerce sites:
1. Convenient Site Search
Customers want e-commerce functionality that is convenient, easy-to-use, and that provides a great shopping experience. They want a search bar that is easy to find and intuitive to them, with predictive search capabilities that show suggestions as they type. Filters and sorting options should also be available to help customers refine their search results.
2. Easy Navigation
A simple and intuitive navigation system will help customers find what they’re looking for fast. Clear and concise labels and categories should be used to help customers navigate the site in an easy manner. They want to be able to find what they’re looking for without spending a lot of time navigating the contents of your site.
3. Eye-Catching Designs
Customers want to have access to high-quality product images and detailed descriptions. They like an appealing site that has pleasing aesthetics and showcases products in an eye-catching way. A clean and modern design with high-quality images will help create a positive shopping experience.
4. High-Quality Product Images and Detailed Descriptions
Customers want to see high-quality product images that show the product from different angles, with the option to zoom in for a closer look. Detailed descriptions should include information such as product dimensions, materials, and care instructions. The descriptions should also highlight the product’s features and benefits.
5. Footer Navigation
Utilize the footer on your website to best assist your customers in finding products they are the most interested in pursuing. To utilize the footer in a productive way, create a list of links to the top products, services, or pieces of information that customers are looking for. To boost this list, make use of analytics and metrics that provide detailed reports about what customers want to find.
6. Customer Reviews and Ratings
Including customer reviews and ratings can help build trust and confidence in your products. Customers want to see what other people think of the product and how it has worked for them. This information can help customers make informed purchasing decisions.
7. Social media integration
Integrating social media into your e-commerce site can help you connect with customers and promote your products. Social media is about forging relationships and connections with your shoppers. They like to feel as though they know the company from which they are buying. Put your social media to good use!
8. Secure and Hassle-Free Checkout Process
Customers want to feel safe when making online purchases, so a secure payment gateway is a must-have. The checkout process should be hassle-free and easy to use, with multiple payment options available. Also, offering a variety of payment options will make it easier for customers to complete their purchases.
9. Mobile responsiveness
Your e-commerce site must be responsive to mobile devices, as more and more customers are shopping on their phones. This goes hand in hand with providing a fast loading speed. Customers have short attention spans, so make sure your site has a fast load time to avoid losing potential sales.
10. Personalization
Providing personalized recommendations and offers based on a customer’s browsing and purchasing history can improve the customer experience and increase sales. Customers want to feel like their needs and preferences are being taken into account.
What Features Make a Good E-commerce Website?
A good e-commerce website is one that provides a seamless and enjoyable shopping experience for customers. It offers you the chance to connect with your customers, build your brand, and sell your products to a wider audience. In order to do all this, it’s crucial to have the right website design.
Here are some key e-commerce system features that make up a good e-commerce website:
1. Keep it Simple
The best design is a simple one. Simple is more. You don’t need a ton of features to keep users interested. A user-friendly interface is crucial to creating a good e-commerce website. Customers should be able to easily find what they are looking for, with clear and concise categories and labels. So don’t overwhelm your customers, use a clear and clean design that makes customers want to shop on your site.
2. Get Serious about Branding
A bland e-commerce site that looks like a hub for money-grabbing scams will deter visitors from purchases. So, invest some time and money into your website branding and image. Think about who you are, and who your company is, as a brand. Create a brand story to tell your customers what about you, as a company, sets you apart from competitors. This level of detail to personalize your branding will go a long way to building trust with your customers and encourage them to make sales.
3. Invest in a Professional Looking Site
Going hand-in-hand with branding, make sure all aspects of your site look professional. Remember, you want your customers to feel comfortable purchasing your products. In order to make those purchases, they need to trust your business and site with their hard-earned money. That’s why it’s key to have a professional looking site that they feel that can entrust their money to. Take time to check your site for misspelled words or grammatical errors. Make sure your site is consistent from page to page and all of the product links work. Create a modern website, not one that looks old and outdated. A good e-commerce website should have strong security measures in place to protect customers’ personal and payment information. Customers want to feel safe when making online purchases.
4. Make Use of Color
Color is one of the top e-commerce functionality elements to incorporate. Understanding the psychology of color is key, as color is an influential tool in making customers feel comfortable on your site. Each color makes you feel a different emotion, which inspires different actions and reactions from us, as people. Use color as a tool to help you convert website visitors to sales.
For example, making the “buy now” button red, catches the attention of your customers. Red is a color that signals excitement and checking out from your site should also make customers feel that sense of anticipation.
5. Make Your Site Easy to Scan
Along with writing detailed descriptions and using color to inspire purchases, make your site easy to scan. Buyers do not want to sift through pages of material to find the information and content they are looking for. Break up your content into easy to read chunks, keep paragraphs short, and use lists to summarize your content.
6. Make It Easy to Check Out
Create a seamless and hassle-free checkout process. This is essential to eCommerce sites. Customers should be able to easily complete their purchase with multiple payment options available. Make sure your site is also optimized for mobile too. With more and more customers shopping on their mobile devices, a good e-commerce website should be optimized for mobile devices. The site should be easy to navigate and use on a smaller screen, and customers should feel secure to check out whether on a computer or mobile device.
7. Display Positive Feedback
Include customer reviews and feedback on your products to build trust and confidence in your products. Customers want to see what other people think of the product and how it has worked for them. Include a section for ratings and encourage your customers to rate your products. Aim for as many 5 star reviews as you can get. Incorporate a section for testimonials as well. Add customer photos with their comments regarding the product, to feature IRL (in real life) concepts of use and happiness, or with their experience working with you.
Bonus Tip
Boost e-commerce traffic on your site with a digital flip catalog. How does a digital catalog fit into e-commerce? Once you create your e-commerce site, digital catalogs can link to your e-commerce platform or be embedded on the site itself. Since digital catalogs look similar to print catalogs, they create a purchasing experience that enables buyers to flip through them, as they would a print catalog.
Online catalogs allow customers to locate product information in a quick and efficient manner. They list such things as item descriptions, SKUs, prices, and product images. Create an immersive experience for your shoppers and encourage them to move through the buying process to close.
Digital catalogs have numerous benefits in relation to e-commerce. An online catalog opens up your business to new customers, offers more opportunities to expand your reach, and causes an increase in sales and ROI. With digital flip catalogs, create an immersive experience. Add interactive elements such as video and audio clips, external and internal links, GIF animations, and more. Much like your e-commerce site, design your online catalog with aesthetics and e-commerce functions in mind. Compose your flipbook with clear and accurate information. Add a table of contents, bookmark tabs, a sliding thumbnail grid, and other navigation options so finding the information is simple.
Digital publishing solutions allow you to manage and maintain your content. Your customers will always have the most updated information at their fingertips at all times. As online shopping continues to rise, it is important to keep up with trends and provide a better way to connect and engage with your customers. A digital catalog allows you to showcase products, enable interactivity, improve the buying experience, and provide cross-platform functionality that makes your customers feel comfortable.
A strong digital product catalog creates a better outcome for the competitiveness of an e-commerce business. Make the purchasing process easier and more comfortable for your buyers and provide direct links to items on your site, or allow customers to shop and browse in the catalog itself. Buyers will love the ease of purchase and become more loyal customers. In that way, digital product catalogs increase sales and reach.
Wrap Up
Putting these ten key features to use on your e-commerce website will help you create a strong site and please your customers. Designing an e-commerce site is a great way to improve upon the functionality of your store or further monetize your business. These e-commerce website features will help you provide a seamless and enjoyable shopping experience for your customers.
Make your site look amazing by incorporating an intuitive interface, high-quality product images and descriptions, easy site search, secure checkout process, mobile responsiveness, customer reviews and ratings, and a professional overview. That way, you ensure that your website meets customers’ needs and expectations.
After you design your e-commerce site, create digital product catalogs that tie your e-commerce platform and products together in a format with which your customers will feel comfortable. Utilizing a digital catalog allows you to showcase products, enable interactivity and engagement, improve the buying experience, and provide cross-platform functionality. Build your business, and increase your sales and reach.
So what’s next? Get started with DCatalog and build your digital product catalog today! Contact one of our Publishing Executives to learn more about building a digital catalog and how we can help you to implement this e-commerce website feature into your website.
FAQ
Why is it important to have an easy-to-use search bar as an e-commerce feature on an e-commerce website?
An easy-to-use search bar is important because it helps customers quickly find the products they’re looking for. By providing predictive search capabilities and filters, customers can refine their search results and find exactly what they need. This creates a positive shopping experience and increases the chances of a purchase.
Why is mobile responsiveness important for an e-commerce site?
Mobile responsiveness is important for an e-commerce site because more and more customers are shopping on their mobile devices. If your site isn’t mobile-friendly, it can be frustrating for customers to navigate and make purchases, which can lead to a decrease in sales.