Failing to properly communicate your value proposition and creating bad product descriptions are two ecommerce web design mistakes that can send potential customers running. But those aren’t the only frequently seen issues that have a negative impact for online retailers. Here are 2 more damaging ecommerce web design mistakes.
1: Bad Imagery
There are a whole range issues associated with selecting images to represent your products. Firstly, people can be turned off purchasing extremely easily if an image is slow to load. Avoid using images with a large file size, you always reduce their size through compression or scaling on programs like Photoshop. Low quality or blurry images can be just as damaging to your ecommerce store. Users have to be able to clearly see what it is they are going to purchase from you, high quality images are a must. Getting the balance right between having small file size and high quality is crucial to success. Action shots are also a great way to boost conversions, showing your products in use allows users to imagine themselves using it. This works especially well for industries that rely on aesthetic appeal such as ecommerce clothing stores.
2: No Trust Indicators
If you have a potential new customer visiting your ecommerce website they will have to trust you before they hand over any money for your products. You can build the trust users have in your website by adding some simple trust indicators. One type of trust indicator you can use are security seals. They let users know that they are on a safe site that has never been associated with behaviour that could be a threat to users such as malware or credit card fraud. An example of this would be the PayPal verified or McAfee secured badges. Displaying prominently in the shopping cart area is a great way of reducing cart abandonment. A more easy to get trust indicator can be something as simple as a user testimonial. If someone sees that another user has received good service before them, they will also be far more likely to convert.
Help your ecommerce business thrive by using high quality imagery (with low files sizes) and by inserting trust indicators wherever relevant on your site. When using trust indicators, it isn’t allowed to simply add the badge if the statement isn’t true. For example you may not add a secured by McAfee badge if your site has not actually been secured by McAfee. Doing so would put your site and business in jeopardy.