More and more businesses are investing in their e-commerce experiences to eliminate purchasing barriers and meet the growing demands of digital-first customers. This often necessitates extensive planning and research, as opening an e-commerce selling channel can be costly and resource-intensive.

Throughout my career, there have been several instances where I worked with businesses aiming to establish an e-commerce channel. My boss consistently relied on my expertise and input to determine the necessary software and the progression of implementation. To gather requirements for a new e-commerce experience, I diligently scoured the web for ideas and opportunities to ensure our store met customer demands and surpassed competitor capabilities. Recognizing that others likely face similar challenges, I’ve compiled a set of factors I believe are crucial when evaluating a business’s e-commerce footprint.

Shopping and Comparison Tools

Comparison tools empower e-commerce customers to compare multiple products side by side to evaluate features, specifications and prices. By providing this functionality, e-commerce sites enhance UX, saving visitors time while shopping. 

To analyze the effectiveness of comparison tools, several factors can be considered. For starters, comparison tools should produce filtered and meaningful results. Obviously the results should match the user’s inputs, but they should also showcase the more granular differences between the filtered products. This creates value for customers. 

These comparison tools should also accelerate the decision-making process for a customer. If a user is more confused by the tools than they were before, they will likely leave without a purchase. Considering the potential outcomes of using these tools is crucial in analyzing their efficacy. Ultimately, a well-designed and intuitive comparison tool can significantly enhance the overall shopping experience and drive conversions for e-commerce websites.

Product Details and Specs

It is essential for e-commerce websites to provide detailed product specifications. Clear and comprehensive specifications such as dimensions, materials and colors help customers make informed purchasing decisions based on their unique needs. This leads to higher customer satisfaction and reduces the likelihood of returns due to misunderstandings or dissatisfaction. Detailed specifications also contribute to a sense of transparency and trustworthiness, as customers perceive the retailer as genuinely interested in helping them make the right choice. Moreover, accurate specifications support SEO, as they provide useful content that matches search queries and drives traffic.

When assessing a website based on its product details and specifications, try putting yourself in the shoes of a consumer by asking the following questions: 

• Does the product information suffice in answer common questions? 
• Are the provided details given in a standard format across the site?
• Can I search and sort through specifications easily including use in filtering?
• Are the details easy to skim quickly or are they contained within dense paragraphs?

Based on how you answered these questions, the commerce site you’re viewing may be worth referencing when selecting a platform and compiling your business requirements.

Offers and Promotions

Special offers and promotions are a key aspect of driving sales and customer engagement in e-commerce channels. To judge their effectiveness, consider the relevance and attractiveness of the offers presented. Are they motivational and pleasing to the eye? Or do they look haphazardly designed? 

The clarity of the promotions is important as well. Offers should be prominently displayed and easy to understand without reading the fine print. If the messages appear deceptive or cheap, trustworthiness can be eroded. High performing e-commerce websites will have well-designed, highly-visible, compelling and trustworthy offers placed throughout their experiences.

User Experience Cleanliness

A clutter-free user interface that minimizes distractions is far more likely to generate a transaction than one that is overwhelming or confusing. When assessing the cleanliness of the site’s UX, consider the layout and organization of the page. Are the menus and other buttons easy to click on or interact with? Are the product listings intuitively organized? Are the other design elements and visual hierarchy truly guiding a customer to purchase? All of these questions are important when judging the site’s efficacy.

Color schemes, white space and fonts make a difference in the UX’s effectiveness as well. Industry leading e-commerce sites spend enormous amounts of time and resources getting their layouts correct and optimized for success. E-commerce stores that are seeking to maximize the performance of their user interfaces will likely collect feedback on an ongoing basis and test different layouts to ensure visitors remain engaged and loyal.

Price Visibility

It’s well understood that custom products and services usually must go through a quoting process. However, when the prices of regular products are hidden from the eyes of the public it can be frustrating for consumers. The best performing e-commerce websites will always provide price transparency to all users, whether they are signed in or not. 

There is a school of thought within some commercial circles that pricing should be kept hidden from customers until they speak with a sales representative. This line of thought is outdated and it’s well documented that consumers will just move on and do business with an organization that is transparent with pricing.

Photography

High-quality product photography is fundamental to e-commerce success. Beyond providing customers with clear, detailed representations of the products themselves, photography is a key aspect of a company’s brand strategy. For instance, if images display poor lighting or resolution, the brand may be perceived as less professional or of lower-quality. 

High performing e-commerce websites will not only offer high quality product photography, they will do so with a variety of angles and will show case products in use when possible. E-commerce websites that go above and beyond standard photography may also provide 3D renderings and interactive viewing tools to give customers the best sense of what owning the product would be like.

Personalization and Use of Automation

Although e-commerce is not a new phenomenon, personalization, particularly that powered by AI, offers a degree of novelty. A key way in which successful e-commerce platforms acquire and engage new customers is by displaying unique and tailored marketing messages as a user is interacting with the site. 

If a user sudden stops interacting with a product pages content or navigates their cursor in a way that indicates they may be ready to leave, top-notch e-commerce platforms will deliver incentives to retain the visitor. This might be a discount or special offer aimed at recovering a transaction. Likewise a visitor who spends time on a specific product category may start seeing that product more often as they move through other parts of the site including the homepage. These features are usually powered by the e-commerce platform’s automation capabilities and backed by analytics.

Call-to-Action Effectiveness

Effective calls to action (CTAs) are key tools for driving transactions. I’ve seen many e-stores struggle because they use weaker CTAs like “Browse Options” instead of stronger ones like “Buy Now to Get Free Shipping.”

When analyzing the effectiveness of a website’s CTAs, you should consider their text, color and placement. If they fail to standout or lack clarity, it’s likely that they aren’t as effective as they could be. By putting yourself in the shoes of a customer, you are likely to have a better sense of how these CTAs perform.

When planning your own e-commerce store implementation, you should consider all of the key moments in the customer lifecycle. While transactions are paramount in an e-business program’s success, conversion points like newsletter sign-ups and customer service interactions are equally important to design for and measure. My advice is to map out these various scenarios and detail and evaluate how the CTAs sound/work together.

Use of Trust Symbols

E-commerce websites that Incorporate trust symbols, such as credit card logos and security badges are far more likely to acquire and retain customers than ones that don’t. As visual reassurances of the legitimacy and safety of the e-commerce site, consumers grow in trust when they see them. 

It’s no secret that cybersecurity and data privacy continues to play a massive role in our online lives. With an endless stream of news articles and stores about privacy leaks and system breaches, consumers are naturally skeptical of a business’s ability to protect their data. Nevertheless, e-commerce websites that take the steps to showcase their security partnerships and endorsements will perform much better than those that don’t.

Conclusion

I know there is a ton to consider when planning an e-commerce implementation, but given the amount of resource required to get an e-store up and running, careful roadmapping can reap dividends. From photography and UX to personalization and CTAs, a complete commerce store will truly account for everything that affect’s a users browsing behavior. 

Riviea helps businesses plan for or improve their e-commerce experiences. If you’re looking for expert guidance and input, get in touch with us today.