Best Practices For E-Commerce UI Web Design
When you imagine consumers moving through the e-commerce sites you develop, you more or less expect them to follow this journey:
• Step 1: Enter on the homepage or a category page.
• Step 2: Use the navigational elements to orient themselves to the store and zero in on the particular things they're looking for.
• Step 3: Review the descriptions and other essential purchase details for the products that stimulate their interest.
• Step 4: Customize the product specifications (if possible), and after that add the products they wish to their cart.
• Step 5: Check out.
There are deviations they might bring the method (like checking out associated items, browsing various categories, and conserving products to a wishlist for a rainy day). For the many part, this is the top pathway you develop out and it's the one that will be most greatly taken a trip.
That holding true, it's especially crucial for designers to absolutely no in on the user interface components that consumers experience along this journey. If there's any friction within the UI, you won't just see a boost in unforeseen deviations from the path, but more bounces from the site, too.
So, that's what the following post is going to focus on: How to make sure that the UI along the purchaser's journey is appealing, user-friendly, interesting, and friction-free.
Let's take a look at three parts of the UI that buyers will encounter from the point of entry to checkout. I'll be using e-commerce websites built with Shopify to do this:
1. Produce A Multifaceted Navigation That Follows Shoppers Around #
There once was a time when e-commerce sites had mega menus that consumers needed to sort through to find their desired product categories, sub-categories and sub-sub-categories. While you might still face them nowadays, the much better choice is a navigation that adapts to the buyer's journey.
THE MAIN MENU #
The very first thing to do is to simplify the main menu so that it has only one level underneath the main category headers. This is how United By Blue does it:
The item categories under "Shop" are all nicely organized below headers like "Womens" and "Mens".
The only exceptions are the classifications for "New Arrivals" and "Masks & Face Coverings" that are accompanied by images. It's the same reason why "Gifts" is in a lighter blue font and "Sale" is in a red font style in the main menu. These are extremely prompt and relevant classifications for United By Blue's buyers, so they deserve to be highlighted (without being too disruptive).
Returning to the site, let's look at how the designer had the ability to keep the mobile site arranged:
Rather than diminish down the desktop menu to one that buyers would require to pinch-and-zoom in on here, we see a menu that's adapted to the mobile screen.
It needs a few more clicks than the desktop website, however shoppers shouldn't have an issue with that given that the menu doesn't go too deep (once again, this is why we can't utilize mega menus anymore).
ON THE PRODUCT RESULTS PAGE #
If you're constructing an e-commerce site for a customer with a complex stock (i.e. great deals of products and layers of categories), the product results page is going to require its own navigation system.
To assist buyers limit how many products they see at a time, you can consist of these 2 aspects in the design of this page:
1. Filters to limit the outcomes by item specification.
2. Arranging to order the products based upon buyers' priorities.
I've highlighted them on this item results page on the Horne site:
While you might keep your filters in a left sidebar, the horizontally-aligned design above the outcomes is a much better choice.
This space-saving design permits you to show more products at once and is also a more mobile-friendly choice:
Remember that consistency in UI style is very important to shoppers, specifically as more of them take an omnichannel approach to shopping. By presenting the filters/sorting alternatives regularly from gadget to gadget, you'll create a more foreseeable and comfortable experience for them in the process.
BREADCRUMBS & SEARCH #
As shoppers move deeper into an e-commerce site, they still may need navigational assistance. There are two UI navigation components that will assist them out.
The very first is a breadcrumb trail in the top-left corner of the item pages, similar to how tentree does:
This is best used on sites with categories that have sub-categories upon sub-categories. The more and additional buyers move far from the product results page and the convenience of the filters and sorting, the more crucial breadcrumbs will be.
The search bar, on the other hand, is a navigation component that ought to constantly be offered, regardless of which point in the journey shoppers are at. This goes for stores of all sizes, too.
Now, a search bar will certainly assist shoppers who are brief on time, can't find what they require or merely desire a shortcut to a product they already know exists. Nevertheless, an AI-powered search bar that can actively forecast what the shopper is trying to find is a smarter choice.
Here's how that deals with the Horne site:
Even if the buyer hasn't finished inputting their search phrase, this search bar starts serving up recommendations. Left wing are matching keywords and on the right are top matching items. The supreme objective is to speed up consumers' search and minimize any tension, pressure or disappointment they may otherwise be feeling.
2. Program The Most Pertinent Details At Once On Product Pages #
Vitaly Friedman recently shared this pointer on LinkedIn:
He's right. The more time visitors need to spend digging around for significant details about an item, the higher the opportunity they'll just quit and attempt another store.
Delivering alone is a huge sticking point for lots of shoppers and, regrettably, a lot of e-commerce sites wait until checkout to let them learn about shipping expenses and hold-ups.
Because of this, 63% of digital consumers wind up abandoning their online carts since of shipping expenses and 36% do so due to the fact that of for how long it takes to receive their orders.
Those aren't the only details digital buyers want to know about ahead of time. They likewise want to know about:
• The returns and refund policy,
• The regards to use and personal privacy policy,
• The payment alternatives offered,
• Omnichannel purchase-and-pickup alternatives available,
• And so on.
But how are you anticipated to fit this all in within the very first screenful?
PRESENT THE 30-SECOND PITCH ABOVE THE FOLD #
This is what Vitaly was talking about. You don't need to squeeze every information about a product above the fold. The shop ought to be able to offer the product with just what's in that space.
Bluebella, for example, has a space-saving style that doesn't jeopardize on readability:
With the image gallery relegated to the left side of the page, the rest can be dedicated to the item summary. Due to the fact that of the varying size of the header fonts in addition to the hierarchical structure of the page, it's easy to follow.
Based upon how this is created, you can tell that the most important details are:
• Product name;
• Product cost;
• Product size selector;
• Add-to-bag and wishlist buttons;
• Delivery and returns information hop over to this website (which nicely appears on one line).
The remainder of the item details have the ability to fit above the fold thanks to the accordions used to collapse and broaden them.
If there are other important details consumers may need to make up their minds-- like item reviews or a sizing guide-- develop links into the above-the-fold that move them to the pertinent sections lower on the page.
Quick Note: This layout will not be possible on mobile for obvious reasons. So, the product images will get prominence while the 30-second pitch appears simply below the fold.
MAKE EXTRA UI ELEMENTS SMALL #
Even if you're able to concisely provide the product's description, extra sales and marketing aspects like pop-ups, chat widgets and more can end up being simply as annoying as lengthy product pages.
So, make sure you have them saved out of the way as Partake does:
The red symbol you see in the bottom left makes it possible for consumers to control the ease of access functions of the site. The "Rewards" button in the bottom-right is in fact a pop-up that's styled like a chat widget. When opened, it welcomes consumers to join the commitment program.
Both of these widgets open just when clicked.
Allbirds is another one that includes additional elements, however keeps them out of the method:
In this case, it includes a self-service chat widget in the bottom-right that needs to be clicked in order to open. It also places details about its present returns policy in a sticky bar at the top, maximizing the item pages to strictly focus on product information.
3. Make Product Variants As Easy To Select As Possible #
For some products, there is no decision that shoppers have to make besides: "Do I want to add this product to my cart or not?"
For other products, consumers need to specify product variations before they can include a product to their cart. When that's the case, you wish to make this procedure as pain-free as possible. There are a couple of things you can do to ensure this happens.
Let's state the shop you create sells women's underwears. In that case, you 'd have to use variations like color and size.
However you would not want to just create a drop-down selector for each. Picture how tiresome that would get if you asked shoppers to click "Color" and they needed to arrange through a lots approximately choices. Also, if it's a standard drop-down selector, color swatches may not appear in the list. Instead, the consumer would have to choose a color name and wait on the item image to update in order to see what it looks like.
This is why your variants should determine how you create each.
Let's utilize this item page from Thinx as an example:
There are 2 variants readily available on this page:
• The color version reveals a row of color swatches. When clicked, the name of the color appears and the product photo adjusts accordingly.
• The size alternative lists sizes from extra-extra-small to extra-extra-extra-large.
Notice how Size comes with a link to "size chart". That's because, unlike something like color which is pretty clear-cut, sizing can alter from shop to shop along with area to region. This chart offers clear guidance on how to pick a size.
Now, Thinx utilizes a square button for each of its variations. You can change it up, however, if you 'd like to produce a distinction in between the options shoppers need to make (and it's probably the better style option, to be sincere).
Kirrin Finch, for example, places its sizes inside empty boxes and its color swatches inside filled circles:
It's a little distinction, but it needs to be enough to assist shoppers transition smoothly from choice to decision and not miss any of the required fields.
Now, let's say that the store you're building doesn't sell clothes. Rather, it offers something like beds, which obviously won't consist of choices like color or size. At least, not in the very same method similar to clothes.
Unless you have well-known abbreviations, signs or numbers you can utilize to represent each variant, you must use another kind of selector.
For example, this is a product page on the Leesa site. I've opened the "Pick your size" selector so you can see how these alternatives are shown:
Why is this a drop-down list rather than boxes?
For beginners, the size names aren't the very same length. So, box selectors would either be inconsistently sized or a few of them would have a lots of white space in them. It truly would not look great.
Leesa sensibly utilizes this small space to offer more information about each mattress size (i.e. the normal vs. sale cost). So, not only is this the best design for this specific alternative selector, however it's also an excellent method to be efficient with how you present a great deal of details on the item page.
A NOTE ABOUT OUT-OF-STOCK VARIANTS #
If you wish to eliminate all friction from this part of the online shopping procedure, make sure you come up with an unique design for out-of-stock variants.
Here's a closer look at the Kirrin Finch example again:
There's no mistaking which choices are available and which are not).
Some consumers might be frustrated when they recognize the t-shirt color they like is just readily available in a couple of sizes, envision how upset they 'd be if they didn't learn this until after they selected all their variations?
If the item selection is the last action they take in the past clicking "add to cart", do not hide this details from them. All you'll do is get their hopes up for an item they made the effort to check out, look at, and fall for ... only to discover it's not offered in a size "16" until it's far too late.
Concluding #
What is it they say? Good style is undetectable?
That's what we require to keep in mind when creating these key interface for e-commerce sites. Naturally, your client's shop needs to be appealing and memorable ... But the UI aspects that move shoppers through the site should not provide pause. So, simplicity and ease of usage need to be your leading concern when creating the primary journey for your client's buyers.
If you're interested in putting these UI design viewpoints to work for new consumers, consider joining the Shopify Partner Program as a shop designer. There you'll have the ability to earn recurring earnings by constructing brand-new Shopify stores for customers or moving shops from other commerce platforms to Shopify.