Never Talked About Secrets For eCommerce Web Design That Converts

Before diving in and creating an eCommerce website, it is important to understand that this is a type of app with lots of logic in place…

This means that before you dive in head first, you need a plan of action…

This starts with design, part of the eCommerce web design process is the engineering aspect of the app, how you plan out your app logic, the api endpoints, and how all this communicates…

Another aspect is the structure of the app itself, how it is architected, and this is different from the engineering aspect of it…

It is crucial to consider what it is that an eCommerce website is used for in the first place…

It is meant to be a revenue driving source for an eCommerce business…

In order for it to drive lots of revenue, it needs to be designed in a way where it converts as high as possible…

This is a key difference between the engineering aspect of it which involves the app doing what it’s supposed to do without error, and the architecture aspect of it where things are structured in an effective manner to help an eCommerce business fulfill its most important goal…revenue...

So what are these design considerations that must be made?

Well we need to look at what it is that helps drive revenue in an eCommerce store…

First thing to consider is leads, the website itself needs a good way of generating leads into the business…

This is when you collect someones name and email in exchange for some value…

eCommerce businesses do this in a variety of ways, one of which is driving traffic to an opt-in page that has some sort of lead magnet, and the more valuable the lead magnet and sales copy on the opt-in page, the better the lead conversion rate…

Let’s say it’s an eCommerce store that sells diet plans, then a good valuable lead magnet could be a diet guide that visitors can get access to if they sign up as a lead…

Most people online are gathering information, and the more value you can provide, the better your eCommerce business will do…

Though it is also not enough to just have great free value, you also need to sell users on reading and consuming the value you provide through attention grabbing headlines and strong copy...

You need to work just as hard to sell the value you provide (even if it's free) as you worked to put it together...

Now if you have a store that just goes straight for the sale and everything on the website screams at visitors to buy, then you lose out on all those that are just looking for information and are on the fence about what you offer…

This is what I mean by the architecture of the website, you can have a fully functioning website that has all the cart, payment, shipping, order logic in place…

It can be fully responsive, it can look beautiful, but that won’t necessarily drive revenue…

Both the engineering and architecture aspect of the application is very important…

Opt-in pages with lead magnets are one way to get leads, there are other techniques used as well…

Some of these common techniques are during a checkout process to allow someone to sign up to get a discount on their first order…

Also having exit intent popups that show up when someone is about to leave the website and offer them something to sign up…

Leads are huge for an eCommerce business, and so it is something that should not be overlooked when architecting an eCommerce website for a business…

It's even worth it for some eCommerce businesses to lose money on the first sale just to generate that lead...

Other things that tie into architecture are ways to increase average order value…

This is a way to get someone to add a little more to their cart during the checkout process, and squeeze as much juice out of the orange if you will…

These can be done through order bumps, quantity breaks, one click upsells, ebooks, shipping and fulfillment, warranties, and free plus shipping items…

These things are each very small in value, but when all used together can greatly increase the average order value…

Order bumps are any additional thing the user can add, something that’s a bit of a bonus before they click the order button…

Quantity breaks are similar to order bumps, but are just a better deal on the current item getting ordered if more of that item is ordered at once…

One click upsells are a one time offer after the order has been placed where the user can just click a button and get charged for the additional item without putting in their payment details again, typically you’ll see one or two upsells…

Shipping and fulfillment is paying a little extra for either faster shipping or being placed ahead of the queue to get your order shipped faster…

Warranties are just an increased warranty for the product for a small additional price…

Ebooks are just an impulsive 10 dollar or so add-on that the user can get which is great for average order value since it doesn’t cost you anything since it’s digital…

Then free plus shipping are items that at the end can be added to the cart and you just ask the user to cover the additional shipping cost that will come with adding on the item…

When it comes to eCommerce stores, there’s the idea of a pay back period too, which is how long it will take to make a return on the expenses to generate the sale…

These payback periods can be 3 months or even much longer, and an eCommerce business would have to burden those loses until they make their money back from that customer returning and buying once again…

Through increasing the average order value, you can greatly reduce this payback period and can even bring it down to as low as a single month…

Then how do you get customers to come back?

Well that’s why generating those leads is so crucial to an eCommerce business…

There's also the concept of the life time value of a customer, this is how much the customer is worth not just from that first sale, but the accumulation of sales over the lifetime of your business...

And getting those leads is how you get those customers coming back, so it's vital to have mechanisms in place for generating them...

Yes eCommerce businesses will use retargeting ads also to bring users back to the website, but you have to consider that email is by far the most profitable form of marketing so leads are insanely valuable to this kind of business…

I hope you can see why the engineering aspect of the app isn’t the only important part, and just how important the architecture aspect really is…

If you thought eCommerce was as easy as just having a functioning store that traffic gets sent to, then think again!

So I covered leads, I covered average order value, but there are other factors too that greatly improve conversions for eCommerce websites…

The product descriptions…instead of having some weak copy attached to the product, it makes a massive difference when there’s a story attached to it…

This can be of how it is manufactured, why it is being sold, and even how it may have improved your own life, because stories sell…

If it’s some consumable good, you could even talk about the ingredients, where it’s from, how it is made, and anything additional to add to the value of the product…

Also attaching a cause to the business can both greatly help those who are less fortunate while also helping the business prosper, and as a result have even more impact for the cause…

The last point I want to drill when it comes to building eCommerce websites is that you don’t want friction for the buyer…

You want to reduce this as much as possible, if a visitor is ready to buy, why make it harder for them to do so?

Why bring them through a bunch of hoops just so that they can buy that which they are already ready to purchase…

This is a recipe for destroyed conversion rates…

This includes things like the need for a user to do things like sign up, this simple additional step is something that can really hurt conversions…

Now I also want to note that eCommerce businesses vary from one another, this means that not everything here is universal for every type of eCommerce business…

For example, if the eCommerce store is selling protein powder, doesn’t make much sense to have a warranty step for increasing average order value…

Or if the store is selling juicers, a quantity break wouldn’t make much sense…

You get the point…

But you want to utilize as many of these techniques as are applicable…

If you’re a developer, you want to plan for these features and have them included in whatever eCommerce app you are developing…

By having these sorts of features included, this means whatever eCommerce app you develop, you can command much higher fees for your services…

Because an eCommerce app with these features integrated is worth a million times more than one without them…

It also means offers you make for your services can be much more bold when you can create apps with these kinds of features that guarantee increased conversion rates…

The more value you produce, the more you get compensated…

I hope I’ve been able to open your eyes to the things that really matter when it comes to conversions on eCommerce websites…

Don’t get me wrong, having things look clean, giving elements room to breathe, having clear call to actions, these are important too, but those things alone mean nothing…

It is the strategies that take place, understanding the target market, the sales copy addressing that market, these are the things that make the biggest difference when it comes to conversions…

Now take this secret knowledge with you so you can create truly high value eCommerce applications…