An online store that has been designed in an attractive and functional way will provide a pleasing customer experience and lead to an increase in sales.
So, how can web design influence potential customers?
A well-designed website will offer a favourable visual impression of your online store. For instance, if you walked into a shop and saw goods displayed in a chaotic and disorganised way, what would you do? You would probably leave and never return.
This type of scenario can also occur with e-commerce websites. If you landed on a web page with a confusing layout, low-quality pictures or unreadable fonts, what would be your first reaction? In all likelihood, visit a competitor.
Here is some information on what customers think about web design:
- 3 out of 4 visitors judge an online shop’s credibility by its design features
- More than 9 out of 10 B2B customers will perform an online search before purchasing a product
- Almost 9 out of 10 visitors’ first impressions of a website are design-related
To ensure your website is designed in such a way as to capture your target market, you should consider consulting with an experienced web design company. They will be able to provide you with valuable insights into how you can improve your site’s design and in turn bring in those much-needed sales.
Once you understand the critical role played by web design, what should you do next?
First, take a look at your leading competitors and their layouts. They may provide inspiration for how you can improve the design of your website. Ensure that every element of your site looks clean and professional. Furthermore, only use high-quality images and keep the styling consistent.
Improve the user experience (UX)
User experience is now a dominant factor when designing e-commerce websites. For example, it is crucial that your online store is user-friendly. Naturally, you will want customers to find your products quickly, so how can you make it easy for them?
- Keep your navigation simple and understandable
- Use call-to-actions (CTAs) to lead customers to where you want them to go
- Provide clear links to pages, such as FAQs and contact details
Make your shop mobile-friendly
It is now vital for e-commerce sites to be mobile-friendly. Make sure you develop responsive web pages that will look good on mobile phones and tablets. Even if a screen is small, you can still incorporate CTAs that are large enough to read and easy to click on. Instead of a traditional menu, consider adopting a hamburger menu or an icon for the shopping cart and account pages.
Maintain a consistent brand
It is essential that you keep your brand and image consistent on every platform, including your online store. For example, a farm wedding venue’s website may use images of newlyweds surrounded by nature, while an accounting company may display images of people working in an office.
Your brand’s image ultimately depends on your target market. How can your brand attract visitors to your website?
The importance of colours
The design of your brand and online store will not be complete without colours. It is important to make sure that you keep the colours consistent across your website, logo and other platforms.
You can also utilise complementary colours. For instance, a blue-coloured logo may need a secondary shade to boost its visual appeal. However, the secondary palette will depend on your brand or product. If you are selling trampolines for children, you should probably go for something like orange as the main colour, complemented by blue.
In addition, according to Colour Theory, colours can send subliminal messages to consumers, as explained below:
- Black – This colour is a symbol of luxury, which is why high-end brands use it to create a sleek image of exclusivity.
- Blue – Favoured by many professional services due to its calming and trustworthy effect.
- Green – People view this colour positively and associate it with freshness, nature and wealth.
- Orange – This symbolises boldness and can grab people’s attention. The perfect shade for CTAs but it can denote aggression if overused.
- Purple – A colour for luxury, power and royalty.
- Red – Another bold colour which symbolises energy, passion and strength.
- Yellow – This bright shade denotes happiness and joy. It is ideal for CTAs.
- White – An obvious choice for websites opting for a clean and peaceful look.
Make your shop familiar but memorable
Remember, your main objective is to stand out from the competition. As such, you will need a menu layout that customers are familiar and comfortable with. You can still make your site memorable without playing around with the navigation. For example, you could add simple elements such as:
- Amusing colour schemes
- A logo that pops out once a user clicks on the button
- Appealing animations and images
Whatever cool idea you choose, make sure it’s both entertaining and memorable.
Conclusion
Web design has helped many e-commerce sites improve their engagement with customers. If you own an online store, you can utilise designs to attract and engage your visitors. Once you have done this, you can guide them to your product pages. Make sure your site is responsive and mobile-friendly, and that it uses colours that accurately convey your brand and image. All these features will help attract your target audience and guide them through the purchasing process.
