Where do you sell your products? In a brick-and-mortar shop right around the corner? Somewhere in a busy shopping mall? Or maybe a night market where people flock for cheap bargains?
No matter where that is, the thing with the Internet is people are no longer constrained by distance. They can reach your business and buy something from you if you have what they want.
It sounds simple; until it isn’t.
According to Goodfirms, 73.1% of users run from a website with a non-responsive design. That alone is already a compelling reason to invest in your online store’s web design and user experience.
Here’s your complete guide to all the website design tips you need to know to make more sales.
Blog overview:
What Is an eCommerce Website?
Seven eCommerce Web Design Best Practices You Should Know
1. Design for Mobile
2. Make Navigation a Breeze for Everyone
3. It’s All About Conversions
4. Instill Confidence With Customer Testimonials
5. Don’t Forget About Your Brand
6. Be Very Visual
7. Technical Aspects Matter (A Lot)
What Is an eCommerce Website?
Many companies make this crucial error when building a website: that it just has to look good.
While that is certainly part of the equation, the structure of an online store is very different from that of a brochure or portfolio website. An eCommerce (also known as e-commerce) website has an essential function: to generate sales
“An eCommerce platform is a website that allows you to sell your products online,” said Zeeshan Zulfiqar, Thrive’s Digital Designer.
“It provides features such as a product catalog, shopping cart, payment gateway and order management.”
He explained that traditional websites “are not intended to facilitate online transactions, but rather to inform or persuade potential customers or clients.”
Here’s a breakdown of how they’re different:
| Purpose | Primarily for buying and selling products or services | Mainly to provide information or content |
| Functionality | Shopping carts, payment processing, inventory management | Basic functions like search, contact forms |
| User Interaction | Highly interactive: users can browse products, add to cart, and checkout | Less interactive: users read or download content |
| Content Update Frequency | Frequently updated with new products, deals or sales | Updates may be less frequent, primarily static content |
| Security | High-level security for transactions (SSL certificates, payment encryption) | Standard security measures, less focus on transaction security |
Basically, a traditional website is meant to be a “face” of a company. It must showcase one’s work, values, how to reach them and even a company’s culture.
For online stores, it’s all that information with a tiny nuance. An eCommerce website functions as a hard extension of a physical store, with the added convenience of being accessible anytime and anywhere.
Types of eCommerce Websites
eCommerce websites aren’t one and the same. Zulfiqar proposed that there are six main types of eCommerce websites built for different purposes:
• Business to Business (B2B): These are websites that sell products or services from one business to another. For example, Alibaba.com is a B2B website that connects manufacturers and wholesalers from different countries.
• Business to Consumer (B2C): These are websites that sell products or services from a business to an individual consumer. For example, Amazon.com is a B2C website that offers a wide range of products to online shoppers.
• Consumer to Business (C2B): These are websites that allow individual consumers to sell their products or services to businesses. For example, Upwork.com is a C2B website that connects freelancers and clients from various industries.
• Consumer to Consumer (C2C): These are websites that enable individual consumers to sell or exchange their products or services with other consumers. For example, eBay.com is a C2C website that facilitates online auctions and transactions between buyers and sellers.
• Business to Administration (B2A): These are websites that provide products or services from a business to a public administration or government agency.
• Consumer to Administration (C2A): These are websites that allow individual consumers to access or provide products or services to a public administration or government agency.
Knowing which type of website you run is important, as it helps you tailor your services to meet the needs of your target audience.
For example, a C2C website may focus on creating a user-friendly platform for individuals to easily buy and sell products, while a B2A website may prioritize security and efficiency in providing services to government agencies.
7 eCommerce Web Design Best Practices You Should Know
Building a website to get more sales is not easy, though. That’s why the average conversion rate for eCommerce is between 2.5% and 3%. (Shopify) So, how can you make your online store conversion-ready? Here are website design tips to keep in mind:
1. Design for Mobile
All responsive web design tips start with mobile.
“Without it, customers will have a poor user experience on their smartphones” and other devices.
In this day and age, it’s already a no-brainer that your website must be optimized for these devices. Every person has a smartphone right in their pocket, making it easier for them to shop online and on the go.
Make sure that your eCommerce web design can do the following:
• Load fast
• Resize images and text to fit smaller screens
• Have a user-friendly interface for touch commands
Take a look at this website of a glass railing company:
Its desktop eCommerce design still looks similar when it’s resized for a smaller screen:
This makes it easier for customers to navigate the website on different devices and ensures a consistent experience. Websites should always be accessible, no matter where you are or what device you’re using. That’s what mobile-friendly e-commerce website development is all about
2. Make Navigation a Breeze for Everyone
Resizing elements for all screens isn’t where it stops, obviously. Your customers should also easily make sense of the hows and wheres of your website.
“Don’t overwhelm your customers with a messy and disorganized design,” said Zulfiqar.
For instance, if you’re selling different types of products, group them into clear categories, such as clothing, accessories and shoes. You should also use simple and easy-to-understand labels for your navigation menu.
Here’s how a rubber surfacing company is leveraging navigation for a better user experience and e-Commerce website development:
Aside from having separate categories for its residential, commercial and standalone surfacing products, it also made knowing about the company easier. It included a portfolio of its works, an About Us section and service locations.
That way, customers won’t feel lost navigating the website despite the variety of products being offered.
3. It’s All About Conversions
Conversion rate optimization (CRO) is the process of deliberately placing elements and texts across your website to nudge visitors to take action. eCommerce designers leverage this strategy to get more sales in a single web page.
Here are some responsive web design tips to do this:
• Designing call-to-action: A call-to-action (CTA) tells your audience what to do next. It could be a button that says ‘Buy Now’ or a simple sentence like ‘Book your appointment now.’
Screenshot from skiing equipment vendor company
• Utilizing white space: Cluttered websites turn customers off, making them less likely to make a purchase or sign up for a service.
• Simplifying forms: Lengthy and complicated forms discourage potential customers from completing them. Keep your forms short and only ask for essential information.
Screenshot from skiing equipment vendor company
Everything should be easy for your customers: to read, go to the next step and make the final purchase. If they have to do multiple steps just to achieve one goal, then you’re likely to lose them.
You can also “include a frequently asked questions (FAQs) section, where customers can find answers to common questions or chat with a bot.”
Zulfiqar also suggests offering multiple payment options, such as:
• PayPal
• Apple Pay
• Google Pay
This way, “customers can choose their preferred method and avoid entering their card details manually.”
4. Instill Confidence With Customer Testimonials
It’s natural to be cautious about untested products. If you don’t see any evidence of how a product has helped other customers, you might hesitate to buy it.
So, give your customers much-needed reassurance by displaying customer testimonials and reviews on your website. These can be in the form of written text, videos or even photos.
Screenshot from skiing equipment vendor company
Doing this “can increase your trustworthiness and persuade more visitors to convert,” said Zulfiqar.
The more reviews you have, the better. Just make sure that, as eCommerce designers, your reviews come from real people with real experiences. Google doesn’t like it when reviews are manipulated, AI-generated content.
5. Don’t Forget About Your Brand
You’re an online store competing with others that offer similar products. So, it’s crucial to give consumers a reason why they should choose you.
That’s what a brand is in eCommerce design.
“You want to make sure that your website matches your brand identity and personality so that people can easily recognize and trust you,” said Zulfiqar.
He suggests being consistent with the following elements throughout your website to achieve this:
• Colors
• Fonts
• Logos
• Tone of voice
Everything should be consistent and reflect your brand’s personality.
There’s no hard rule about on-brand content in e-commerce website development. After all, everyone’s different. Just make sure that when you design something, it’s always with your brand in mind.
Take a look at this franchise restoration company:
Images from franchise restoration company
It has a consistent color palette and text fonts in its eCommerce design, making it easily recognizable when scrolling through different pages.
6. Be Very Visual
An eCommerce store with no photos? Sounds like a recipe for disaster.
“Customers rely on images to see the details, features, and benefits of your products,” said Zulfiqar.
“Offer different angles, zoom functions and customer feedback to help the user compare and choose the best option,”
Visual content is crucial to showcasing your products and giving customers a clear idea of what they’re purchasing.
Take a look at this organic beauty company’s website:
Images from organic beauty company
It uses professional-grade lighting and photography to showcase its products, making them look even more desirable. The use of natural elements also complements its organic branding, further reinforcing its brand identity.
7. Technical Aspects Matter (A Lot)
Aside from looking good, your eCommerce store should also feel good to use. This means ensuring that it’s user-friendly, loads quickly and has a secure checkout process.
Zulfiqar suggests using a “one-click checkout for all purchases, or filling in the minimum amount of information needed to complete the transaction.”
Optimizing technical search engine optimization (SEO) elements is crucial to achieve this. Check your Core Web Vitals, fix any broken links and use HTTPS encryption to ensure a smooth user experience. Yes, these website design tips sound very, well, technical. But there are tools out there that help diagnose website health, such as:
• Google Search Console
• Google Lighthouse
• Semrush
Use these tools to identify any technical issues and address them promptly. This helps you rank well in search results and reduce the number of customers leaving your website.
Build a Conversion-Ready Website With Thrive
Finding the right combination for an eCommerce store can be difficult. Do you want it to be visually appealing or user-friendly? Should you prioritize search engine rankings or the checkout process? Use these responsive web design tips for your eCommerce store to take your business to the next level.
With Thrive, you can do all that and more.
Our eCommerce designers and teams offer comprehensive website-building solutions that fit stores of all sizes. Whether you’re a small business just starting out or a large corporation with multiple products, we have the tools, expertise and web design best practices to help you succeed.
Start building your dream online store with Thrive today.
