Online shopping is enormously popular, however, not all eCommerce sites are equal. While some cater for a pleasurable, informative, and straightforward shopping experience, others seem to do just about everything to stop people from making a purchase.

Have you ever been on an eCommerce site wishing to make a purchase but ended up leaving the site because it was all just a bit too painful? Most people have, and when planning the design of an eCommerce website, you should do so from a customer’s perspective.

In essence, the easier the shopping process, the better. Everything from conducting a product search, to finding information, right through to checking out must be Childs play.

Essential Features of a Good eCommerce Website

The design of your eCommerce website can have an enormous impact on your sales. Some features are essential in providing customers with the tools required for easy, pleasurable shopping, including:

•    Clear design and company logo
•    Stunning product images, preferably several for each product
•    Special offers and free shipping deals
•    Quick checkout
•    Clear information on product, payment, and delivery
•    Good product search feature
•    Features on most popular products
•    Easily accessible shopping cart
•    Multiple payment options
•    Social media links
•    Customer reviews
•    Online chat facility
•    Store locator
•    Trust marks and media appearances

These are the essential features of a profitable online store, with a clear priority placed on ease-of-navigation throughout your website.

Features of a Bad eCommerce Website

Online shopping is enormously popular, however, not all eCommerce sites are equal.

There are plenty of poor eCommerce sites, and most of them share a poor design quality. Too much text features strongly, as do a lack of style and design uniformity. Some sites lack one or more of the above-listed essential features, while other site overkill with a plethora of pretty useless features, including:

1.    Sneaky Ads: Though it may be tempting to disguise ads using services like AdSense, customers in general find ads irritating and are less likely to shop on your site on a regular basis. Your short-term gain may turn into a long-term loss.

2.    Pop Ups: Pop ups interrupt the shopping flow and detract from the shopping experience. Because many people use pop-up blockers anyway, you may as well just drop them.

3.    Music, Uninformative Videos, and Flashing Images: Don’t “jazz up” your eCommerce site with irrelevant or poor-quality videos. Don’t feature music or irritating flashing images. The calmer the shopping environment, the greater the likelihood of shoppers making an actual purchase.

4.    Information Overload: While it is important to provide plenty of product information, limit this content to essential information. An excessive amount of text will only put customers off. If you would like to give in-depth information, give customers the option to either see this information or opt out.

5.    Image Overkill: Some eCommerce site feature little apart from admittedly stunning product images. Unfortunately, customers may find it difficult to purchase a product without finding out essential information.

6.    Too Many Product Recommendations: Most sites feature a “You may also like…” section and that is perfectly acceptable provided these recommendations do not distract or detract from the chosen product.

7.    Sign up Hell: Under no circumstances should your customers need to create and account to make a purchase. Don’t feature irritating sign up forms and provide customers with the option of opting in rather than forcing them to subscribe.

8.    Poor Navigation: Customers will leave your site if they frequently get stuck on yours or find it difficult to navigate between the different sections.

9.    Horizontal Scrolling: Make sure customers do not need to scroll horizontally, no one likes it!

10.    Hard-to-Read or Fancy Fonts: Legibility is enormously important. Select font, size, and color carefully, focusing on creating an enjoyable shopping experience.

Less Is More

Provided your eCommerce website has all essential features and an attractive design, people’s shopping experience will be positive, and your business will perform well. Using useless features serves no purpose and will only hamper a straightforward shopping experience.

Visiting plenty of eCommerce sites will quickly allow you to experience the difference between good and bad sites.