As eCommerce professionals, we know how important it is to actively seek ways to grow. Technology and the Internet move at a fast pace. It’s a lot like a high-speed train. If we miss our stop, we fall behind and shift our energy to catching up (while others spend it on moving even faster). It’s better to stay ahead of the game in eCommerce.
The only way we can do that is by implementing a strong strategy to learn. We become obsessed over our business and the customers that keep it alive. But how do you learn? We need relevant information to make it possible. Data is a critical component but if we don’t know what to gather, look for, and how to interpret it, then we can’t use it to our advantage.
We can start by interpreting data that reveals the condition of our website design. Key data that indicates it’s time for an eCommerce redesign is based on consumer behavior. If people do not take action or they aren’t doing what you want them to, then we look to design to see what we could improve on.
Great Website Design is Essential for eCommerce
Imagine you love space. You dream of flying up high and seeing the earth— a surreal and incredible experience. You decide to visit a museum that claims to highlight many missions and has exhibits any hardcore fan would love.
But when you go in there, the center looks like it runs off a fax machine, poorly reflecting an industry of innovation and the latest technology, and they mix in other exhibits like dinosaurs and other things that don’t make sense. As a space enthusiast, you get turned off to the museum pretty quickly. It’s the same with a website design.
If your website looks clunky or out of date, you risk losing customers. While this is true for every industry, it’s especially true for eCommerce with customers that expect convenient, fast, and easy-to-use technology. You’re losing a chunk of your profit margin to poor design.
A great design helps guide website traffic to the right places on your site. It coordinates the flow and the experience of your visitors. This helps drive sales and lead people in the right direction. User-friendliness and the user experience play a pivotal role. If it looks complicated, people will leave.
These are just a few reasons why website designs can directly affect your bottom line. Now, let’s review data parameters that can help you articulate any areas for improvement.
Interpreting Key Data
1. Your Bounce Rate is Too High
Your bounce rate measures how many visitors you get against how many and how quickly they leave your site prematurely. If you notice it is rising, then something needs to change about your website.
A bad bounce rate is also bad for SEO. When search engines see that visitors have to leave your site and search again, it’s a sign that your website didn’t help them. With a declining status on search engines and visitors leaving quickly, you risk losing much-needed sales for your eCommerce company.
Review your website design and rule out any signs that it could be the culprit to a concerning bounce rate. Does it look outdated? Is it complicated to navigate? Can visitors quickly access what they need? Does the design represent your brand and your audience’s style?
2. Low Conversions
Your conversation rate is determined by how many visits your site gets and how many make the purchase or action you want them to take. eCommerce businesses work hard to increase conversation because it’s the blood of the business and helps charge growth.
With great tools today, we can easily measure our conversion. Over time, we can see how well (or not so well) we are doing. We can also compare ourselves to the industry we are in.
A bad conversion rate isn’t good for any business. Companies are often tempted to dilute their brand through too many discounts or spammy promotions. This helps short-term gains but cheapens the brand and lowers the possibility of long-term success.
Review your design and see if there are any distractions. Is the format of the copy/text off-putting or too much? Is there a very clear action button or are there way too many options? Are the images loading and are they the best style to represent the product? Click here to learn more about conversion optimization design practices.
3. High Abandoned Checkout Carts
We see it all the time. Someone gets excited about a product. They quickly hit purchase. They are so close! But when it’s time to finalize and pay for what they want, they disappear. It’s often due to the realization of an impulsive decision but even that it is rooted in one thing (along with all reasons for abandoning checkouts intentionally): there is a hesitation.
Before digging deeper, make sure your website design allows for fast loading speeds and there aren’t any vulnerabilities that can cause your site or checkout to crash. People might get kicked off or lose connection to the cart.
For hesitations, analyze your experience. Getting to checkout should be easy and people shouldn’t have to search for it— a sign of poor design. Make sure your design puts important things front-and-center that could feed any hesitations, like a certificate showing your payments are secure and communicating important purchase policies. A great design avoids them from being a distraction but makes it easy to find for those that are looking.
Design your website with abandoned checkout automation in mind. You should integrate a tool to contact those people with personalized communication. This greatly increases your conversion rate.
4. Low Traffic
Finally, analyze reasons for low traffic. This can be the biggest problem for your eCommerce business because if you don’t have any visitors to start with, then you don’t have any chance of making a sale.
If you notice your traffic isn’t growing or that it is decreasing, review your website design and figure out what could be causing the problem.
How do you start? Review the infrastructure of your design. Is it slow when someone visits your site? Search engines recognize this and could affect future visitors. Make sure you don’t have large files or images that could make it slow.
Make sure your website design is simple and easy to load and visit. Run ads, content marketing, and other campaigns to bring visitors to your site, but make sure your design is optimized to make the best of the increase.
