7 Elements to Mull Over When Building a Successful E-Commerce Website

The e-commerce landscape has changed a lot over the last five years. The e-commerce sales is set to reach $5.4 trillion by year-end. E-commerce has experienced a growth rate of 14.3% since 2021 and shows no signs of slowing as the momentum continues to gather.

The need for having an online presence for a business has never been greater until now, with millions of people accessing the internet daily. A Full-scale Development Company will give your business a solid foundation and potentially establish recognition among your target audience.

If you’ve been mulling over on the idea of launching your online store, be mindful and realistic about the competition and how you plan to combat it. If you haven’t made one before, don’t let that stop you.

Get ready, as we’re ready to show you exactly how to turn your business into a dominating e-commerce player.

7 Elements of a Successful E-Commerce Website

To capture the attention of your target audience, your site must provide a complete experience, nd that to better than its competitors. Here are the top 7 elements you need to take your online store to the next level.

Know Your Target Audience

Identifying the target audience for your brand will determine the look and feel of the e-commerce site. It will enable you to devise messages and content that set the tone for your brand. Also, it will help you develop a better selling strategy to meet the unmet needs and drive profits.

Whether you’re selling sportswear or a digital agency, analyze your visitor, why they stumbled upon your site, and what factors can engage them. Determine who you have to focus on, create segmentation, conduct surveys, know your advocates, and keep track of your competitors.

Design for Success

Much like a brick-and-mortar store, if you stepped in for the first time, you develop a positive or negative impression. Likewise, your online store is the gateway to winning customers and generating more sales. 94% of first impressions relate to a website’s design and build the entire customer perception in merely 0.05 seconds. A well-designed website increase customer conversion up to 3x times.

Design-related losses: 70% of the visitors abandon their shopping carts due to poor user experience.
Loss of Credibility: 75% of the visitors make a judgment about your credibility based on web design.
Stop Engagement: 39% of visitors will immediately stop browsing if images won’t load or take too long.

An immediate visual identification and a connection between your business and customers are vital. An e-commerce store with greater usability, easy navigation, and clearly listed categories are ought to create a unique space in the market.

High Quality Product Images & Videos

Product photos and videos are essential for an e-commerce website. As the customers cannot physically feel or hold the product, images play a vital role in selling. Product images also help you build credibility and trust in your business. Always remember, product images are not for aesthetic purposes when it comes to an e-commerce site but to assist people in understanding your product better.

Enhances Shopping Experience: 87% of the people consider product images as the key element.
E-Commerce Customer Experience: 35% people stated lack of product images caused poor experience.

Security Features

An E-commerce website gives your business visibility, generates brand awareness, and instills confidence in online shopping. It’s imperative to prioritize security for your e-commerce website to protect customer data. People are less likely to purchase if they don’t trust your website. Some of the most common security layers for an e-commerce website include:

Secure Sockets Layer Certificate (SSL) – Enables your website to transmit data securely.
Address Verification System (AVS) and Credit Verification Value (CVV) – Required for secure checkouts.
Creating secured passwords and regularly updating to prevent hack-related breaches.

An expert e-commerce Web Development Company ensures your site is fully-secured from vulnerabilities, and a custom security checklist ensures data protection, and financial risks.

Prominent Shopping Cart & Checkout Buttons

Shopping cart abandonment is one of the most common challenges e-commerce website faces. While you can’t organically control the abundance, ensure your website has an easy-to-use cart and checkout feature. To encourage conversions, ‘add to cart and ‘check out buttons must be prominently displayed on your site along with all the details like name, price, quantity, and description.

Checkout Optimization: Experts estimate an increase in conversions by 35.62% with smooth checkout flow.
Create an Account: 34% of people will abandon carts if they are forced to create an account to continue checkout.

The call to action must be easily recognizable and compel the visitor to act. Choose the colors that trigger the target audience, and set the layout in a way that creates urgency and doesn’t give the customer time to mull over the purchase.

Multiple Payment Options

Every customer has their payment preference. It helps your business gain a competitive advantage among others and builds customer trust. Also, they can serve as the backup if there’s a technical problem with one type of payment process. A multiple payment options has following pros:

Increase conversion rate
Increased customer satisfaction
Lesser abandoned carts
Enhances brand credibility
Creates hassle-free checkouts

Rating, Reviews & Other Social Proof

Do you read reviews and go through social media pages before making a purchase? A BigCommerce study revealed that 69% of online customers demand more reviews of products on the website. The power is in customer reviews, and they can influence the attitude of others during decision-making. Reviews act as an advocate and a testimony to product quality.

Review & Ratings: 95% of customers will not make a purchase until they read reviews and check ratings.
Reviews Add Comfort: Positive affirmations about a product make customers 71% satisfied to make the purchase

Summary

Does your e-commerce site have all these essential elements? Your business can tap into a multi-million dollar marketplace to unleash endless growth opportunities with a great e-commerce website. Create an experience for your customers with usability that supports the customer purchase journey.

For more ideas and tweaks to your e-commerce website, you can connect with GYB Commerce to help you gauge your website performance according to industry standards.