Both of them have big impacts on how well an eCommerce website will perform, both in terms of online visibility and conversion rate optimization. 

Here’s what you need to know. 

What Are UX and SEO? 

We have to walk before we can run and that requires an explanation of what these two things are. 

In the case of UX, this is a condensation of “user experience.” UX, in sum, accounts for the holistic shopping experience your website produces. 

A website with a good user experience will usually generate more time on page, pages per session, clicks, and of course, conversions and sales.

A website that produces a positive UX will also probably spread greater brand credibility, as it will seem both more professional and more legitimate. 

It can be summatively good or bad, but there is no single piece you can look at. As a general rule, though, UX has to do with design, layout, security, and loading speeds. Instead of being one factor, UX is a collective of a variety of different features and traits that make a website look and feel either good or bad. 

On the other hand, SEO, which stands for search engine optimization, is a collection of practices that improve factors known as “ranking signals” which are intended to improve the organic visibility of your website. 

As with UX, there is no single factor you can look at, and there are many that are known (at least 200) but a website that has good SEO will rank higher in the organic search engine results pages, generating more visibility and clicks, and hopefully more conversions and sales. 

A website that has “good” SEO will have better brand authority and recognition than one that doesn’t, and will also have a steadier stream of organic traffic from search engines like Google. 

UX and SEO have some common ground as well as things that are unique to each. For instance, items like website loading speeds and security are considered elements of both. A website that loads quickly and has no broken features can be said to have good technical SEO and produce a good UX.

Some of these features are unique to each element of a digital footprint. For instance, the inclusion of keywords in the alt text fields of image files is good for SEO, as are backlinks that point to the host domain from a third-party website. These positively influence SEO but don’t really have any effect on UX.

Conversely, there are web page elements that markedly impact UX but which have little to no impact on SEO. For instance, a brand-integrated website design that looks modern, with contact information and cart or checkout pages prominently visible will be good for UX, but have effectively no impact on SEO.

Then again, it is also true that user interaction with a website can positively impact SEO, so on that front, there is some interrelationship between them. But overall, these features don’t really affect SEO. 

How to Improve UX: Best Practices 

So, now that you have a 50,000-foot view of what SEO and UX are, here are some best practices for eCommerce website user experience. 

• Prioritize the mobile experience. A substantial number of users are now shopping on their mobile devices. Even if you have a stellar desktop design, you need to make sure that scales properly to fit the little screen. You can’t afford a 50% bounce rate from mobile users because your mobile UX is, to put it lightly, terrible. Conduct a mobile experience audit if necessary. 
• Include user-friendly calls to action in your web page copy. These CTAs should be prominently featured in hero banners, footers, or on sidebars, be clearly marked with bright, contrasting coloring, and be clickable. 
• Invest in developing a quick checkout process. Every single roadblock in the checkout process, from having to fill out lengthy forms, to hidden fees, is a chance for users to bounce, and they will. Your checkout process should be easy and straightforward and require minimal effort from your customers. 
• Eliminate any requirements that force users to register before buying. Make sure there is a guest checkout process for those that aren’t.
• Navigation should be easy and there should be multiple options. A well-categorized mega menu and a search bar, at minimum, are ideal. Another good practice is to include navigable tiles to bestsellers from your homepage. 
• On product pages, feature items that customers also buy along with the one they’re looking at. This will provide opportunities for cross-selling.
• Use high-quality product images. Take them in-house if possible or work with a professional photographer – or work with your customers to solicit user-generated images that you can use on your website. 
• Capture customer reviews and display them prominently, not only on the product pages in question but also on the homepage. The overwhelming majority of online shoppers read reviews before buying so this can offer a big lift to UX. 
• Ensure that all pages follow the same basic color scheme and branding design for UX continuity across the website. 
• List contact information prominently on the homepage. Users need to be able to find the information needed to contact you if they have questions or concerns. This can make or break a conversion. 
• Highlight any deals and promotions in the hero banner or elsewhere on your homepage and make the highlight navigable so users can immediately get to what you’re selling.
• Integrate your social channels if possible. This will encourage users to follow you and will help foster remarketing conversions. 

Any and all of these items will help to improve your eCommerce website’s UX, and the more you put into practice, the more they will bolster your efforts. 

So now let’s take a look at some SEO best practices to round this all out. 

How to Improve SEO: Best Practices 

While UX influences how users interact with your website and whether that experience is positive or negative, SEO will help them find you (organically) in the first place. The following are some SEO best practices, many of which will also support UX.

• Prioritize website loading speed. Loading speed is not only a ranking factor, but users are very likely to bounce from a website if it takes more than 2 seconds to load. 
• Prioritize website security and implement an SSL if you don’t have one. This is a must, as it influences both UX and SEO and users are likely to bounce from a website that does not have one.
• Ditch duplicate content on product pages and write your own pursuant to a unique keyword strategy. Duplicate content will not help SEO (in fact it may hurt) and if it is ripped from a manufacturer’s website can harm UX because it seems cheap and disingenuous. 
• Compress images to improve page load speeds. There are plenty of free tools you can use to do so. 
• Include internal links on your product pages to other key products and bestsellers. This will improve both UX and SEO. 
• Blog regularly and use those blogs as an opportunity to link to product pages. This will transfer authority from those blogs to your key pages and will improve organic visibility for both.
• Regularly create new content and update your blogs and CMS pages with new information that your customers will find useful (reflect on your recent engagements with them to brainstorm ideas for updates).
• Include target keywords in page titles, headers, and URL slugs, where possible. This little lift can substantially improve SEO and visibility. 
• Monitor GSC for broken links and remove or redirect them wherever a sweep uncovers them. A 404 error is a death knell for SEO and pretty bad for UX, too. 
• Add alt text to your image files, as this will provide a slight boost to SEO.
• Write unique meta descriptions for key pages, and include specific target keywords in each. 

There are over 200 ranking signals, but most of the items mentioned here are easy to put into practice and can go a long way toward improving your overall organic footprint and visibility. Most of them can have a positive impact on UX, too.

Balancing UX and SEO for Success 

Following some of these UX and SEO strategies will help you improve not only the UX design of your website but also help make your website attractive to search engine algorithms so that your website shows up higher in the search engine rankings.

Most importantly, creating a website with a delicate balance between UX and SEO is not rocket science. Outstanding user experience and a well-optimized website are within reach, and together they will help your website get found and encourage greater conversion value. 

The post How UX and SEO Work Together in an eCommerce Website appeared first on 1Digital® Agency.

However, not all websites make that connection possible. Thousands of visitors may go to your website, but many of these online guests do not stay long enough to understand your brand or what you offer, or even if they do they are not converted into paying customers. So what can you do to communicate with your online visitors and persuade them to stay and learn more about your services or products?

One way to make your website a welcoming place for your visitors is to use landing pages as digital doorways for engagement and conversion.  This doesn’t mean you make your regular marketing spiel for every product landing page you create; instead, you have to connect with your visitors and make them curious about what you offer. 

One of the most compelling tools for landing page optimization to boost conversion rates is to make an emotional connection with your target audience through effective storytelling. 

Landing Page Optimization and Emotional Connection 

Landing page optimization (LPO) is the process of improving the elements of a website to boost your website conversion rate.  A website’s rate is the average number of visitors who acted positively upon visiting the site. The calculation for the conversion rate involves taking the number of conversions and dividing it by the number of website visits or interactions. 

Your website’s landing pages are different from the main or home page. It is a distinct page that is designed specifically for one product or service, of which the goal is to generate leads or to increase the sales. 

Often the landing page is the main destination and most important component of any digital marketing campaign, and many businesses use it to promote or advertise a new product or service. 

However, using LPO is not enough to boost your conversion rate. Many companies think it is enough to convert their target audience to paying customers; but you have to use LPO the proper way to boost conversion, brand awareness, customer acquisition, and your overall business revenue. 

Making an emotional connection with your audience through LPO goes beyond the functionality of the page. It is not just about spreading product information, it’s also about telling a story through website design and content that resonates with your audience, addresses their needs, and aligns with their desires.

Why Storytelling Inspires Conversion

Using a narrative or storytelling for your landing pages draws more curiosity and involvement from your audience. Telling a story is part of what makes us human, and when used strategically in a website’s landing page, it taps into human consciousness and allows for an emotional connection.

The narratives that you place inside a landing page should not be just a story. It must have relevance and context that connects your audience to your service or product.

Your narrative should be a showcase of the benefits of your business, which should be relatable and valuable to your online visitors.  Storytelling also engages and retains the attention of your audience, which makes them stay longer on your website and allows for them to envision the benefits of your service or products.

It makes them stay on the page for a longer time, which gives them time to contemplate and consider the landing page’s information. 

How to Make Compelling Narratives for Your Landing Page

There are many ways you can add storytelling to your landing pages, but the most important are the following:

Headlines that Grab Attention 

The headline is the first thing that your visitors will see on the page, and it should be concise and relevant to your product, but also to the needs and desires of your target market. 

Create Engaging Content 

Adding a narrative is not enough. The story should be persuasive, informative, and easy to read. It can be straightforward, and you should use persuasive elements such as images, testimonials, and even videos. 

Fulfill The Need for a Speed 

Your webpage’s loading speed should be under two seconds. This allows for the user to focus on the narrative, and to be engaged in the story elements. The sites that achieve the best conversion rates often have a loading page speed that is 0 to 4 seconds, and anything that goes beyond that risks the loss of interest for web visitors.

Use an Intuitive User Interface 

An intuitive interface for a website allows for clear and easy navigation. You should have a website design with an intuitive interface that tells the story clearly. The progression should be clear to the visitor, allowing them to feel more positive and engaged as they go through the page.

The webpage’s layout is also not cluttered, and the images, text, and spaces guide the user to the desired action. Using colors also increases the user’s positive UI experience, which increases the likelihood of conversion.

Always Go for Testing

A/B testing should always be part of your LPO, as doing this can help identify what elements work best for your audience. It also helps you identify what your audience considers engaging, interesting, and helpful, so you could continually improve your pages. 

Optimization Includes Mobile

Your storytelling won’t be compelling if you do not have a mobile-responsive webpage. No matter how interesting or informative the content, if half your audience cannot access it or read it, then your conversion rates won’t be improving much. 

LPO, the Key to Boosting Conversion Rates

LPO offers much to small and large businesses, but it will not work much if you do not have an interesting or compelling narrative that allows for an emotional connection. You can create an interesting user experience for your audience, but you also need to capture their minds and hearts. And that involves storytelling. 

And the core of that is understanding your market, the psychology that underlies their behavior. Know what it is they need, and understand what it is they desire from a product or service. Then weave a narrative that they can identify with and you’ll find your conversion rates go up along with your webpage visits. 

If you need a digital agency that can improve your conversion rates through an LPO strategy that uses compelling content and storytelling, our 1Digital team creates strategies and web design services that can make your web page a conversion winner.

The post Emotional Connections: Landing Page Optimization That Boosts Conversion appeared first on 1Digital® Agency.

A poorly designed website can lead to a loss of customers and revenue, so it’s important to know the signs that your eCommerce web design is ineffective. These are some of the top signs to look out for.

1. Slow Load Times

One of the most common signs that your eCommerce web design is ineffective is slow load times. Studies show that 47% of customers expect web pages to load in two seconds or less, and 40% of customers will abandon a website if it takes more than three seconds to load. Slow load times are a major problem for eCommerce websites because customers are less likely to make a purchase if the website takes too long to load.

2. Poor Navigation

Another sign that your eCommerce web design is ineffective is poor navigation. Navigation is one of the most important aspects of an eCommerce website, as it allows customers to find what they’re looking for quickly and easily. If the navigation on your website is clumsy or confusing, customers won’t be able to find what they’re looking for, and they’ll be more likely to abandon the website.

3. Lack of Mobile Optimization

In today’s world, customers are more likely to access websites from their mobile devices than from their desktop computers. If your eCommerce website isn’t optimized for mobile devices, customers won’t be able to access the website easily, and they’ll be more likely to abandon the website.

4. Poor Security

Another sign that your eCommerce web design is ineffective is poor security. Customers want to feel secure when they’re making purchases online because they’re parting with sensitive information like their names, addresses, and credit card numbers. One of the fastest ways to earn a bounce is by lacking an SSL; it’ll hurt your SEO scores, too.

5. Outdated Design

An outdated design is another sign that your eCommerce web design is ineffective. Customers want to see a website that looks modern and up-to-date, so it’s important to ensure that your website is visually appealing. If your website looks outdated, customers won’t be likely to make a purchase.

6. Poor Search Functionality

Search functionality is one aspect of navigation and is a key component of an eCommerce website, as it allows customers to quickly and easily find what they’re looking for. If your website’s search functionality is poor, unintuitive, or located somewhere on the page where customers don’t see it easily, customers won’t be able to find what they’re looking for and they’ll be more likely to abandon the website.

7. Lack of Social Media Integration

Social media is a great way for eCommerce websites to reach customers and increase sales, so it’s important to ensure that your website is properly integrated with social media. If your website doesn’t have social media integration, customers won’t be able to easily share products and promotions, and they’ll be less likely to make a purchase.

8. Unclear Calls to Action

Calls to action (CTA) are an important part of any eCommerce website, as they encourage customers to take action and make a purchase. If your website’s calls to action are unclear or confusing, customers won’t be likely to take action, and they’ll be more likely to abandon the website.

Another similar feature is called an urgency play, which encourages customers to act by appealing to their sense of time constraints or urgency – such as “While Supplies Last,” and similar callouts.

These are just some of the features of eCommerce web design that can tip you off that something needs changing. But what can you do about it, and are there any steps you can take to try to understand the problem more fully?

Now let’s talk about some of the ways you can go about uncovering any of these deficiencies in your eCommerce website’s design. 

How Can eCommerce Website Design Audit Benefit You?

An eCommerce website design audit is an essential part of any online store’s success. There’s no one-size-fits-all approach to website design and no single template that works for all businesses. Every company has unique needs and goals, and an audit will help you identify areas for improvement and make sure your website is optimized for success.

An eCommerce website design audit is a comprehensive review of your website’s structure, design, and functionality. It’s a way to make sure your website is up-to-date and meets the needs of your customers. The audit can help you identify potential problems, such as slow loading times, confusing navigation, or outdated design elements. It can also reveal areas where you can improve the user experience and increase conversions.

When it comes to website design, it’s important to think about the user experience and how user-friendly the shopping experience is. How easy is it for a customer to find what they’re looking for, or is it easy to navigate? Are there clear calls to action? Is it easy to add items to the shopping cart? How easy is it to find product information? An eCommerce website design audit can help identify areas for improvement in these areas and more.

An audit should also assess the overall aesthetic of your website. The design should be attractive, modern, and consistent with your brand. It should appeal to your target audience. It should also be easy to read and navigate. It should make use of high-quality product images and logos. An audit can help you identify areas where the design can be improved to better meet the needs of your customers.

It’s also important to consider the technical aspects of your website. Is it optimized for search engines? Are there any broken links or errors? An audit may be able to help you identify and fix any issues that may be affecting your website’s performance (also an eCommerce SEO audit is more in line with this).

Finally, an audit should also assess how your website is integrated with other services, such as email marketing, payment processing, and shipping. An audit can reveal areas where you can improve the customer experience and increase conversions.

An eCommerce web design audit is a valuable tool for any online store. It can help you identify areas for improvement and make sure your website is optimized for success. By taking the time to review your website and make necessary changes, you can ensure that your website is up to date and provides the best possible experience for your customers.

These are just some of the features and capabilities to consider when choosing an eCommerce platform. At 1Digital^Ⓡ Agency, we understand the importance of choosing the right platform for your business. We specialize in developing eCommerce websites, and we work with you to determine the best platform for your needs. Contact us today to learn more about our services and how we can help you create a great eCommerce website.

The post Symptoms of an eCommerce Website in Need of a Redesign; and, What You Can Do About It appeared first on 1Digital® Agency.

Immersive User Experience

Arguably the most important trend in eCommerce web design in 2023 will be creating an immersive experience for users. As more people shop online, they expect an e-Commerce website to be intuitive and easy to navigate. To do this, designers will focus on using product images, videos, and animations to make the user experience more interactive and more appealing to the target audience. For example, when shoppers land on a product page, they should be able to see multiple images and videos of the product from different angles. This will allow them to get a better sense of what the product looks like in real life. Additionally, designers will focus on using interactive elements, such as hover effects, to make the website more engaging and user-friendly. Bright colors, clear calls to action, and custom apps and tools also can make an eCommerce website more engaging and immersive. 

Leveraging AI and Machine Learning

AI and machine learning will be key trends in eCommerce web design in 2023. AI-powered chatbots and virtual assistants will be used to help customers find the products they’re looking for and provide personalized recommendations. Additionally, machine learning algorithms will be used to track user behavior and make suggestions based on their past purchases. This will allow companies to create a more personalized shopping experience and increase the likelihood of a customer making a purchase.

Data-Driven Design

Data-driven design is another trend that will be popular in 2023. By analyzing data, designers will be able to create more effective website layouts and features. For example, they can use data to determine which page elements are the most effective at driving conversions. Additionally, they will be able to use data to optimize the user experience by making changes to the website based on user feedback. This will help ensure that the website is designed in a way that is most beneficial to customers.

Mobile-First Design

Mobile-first design is one of the most important web design trends for eCommerce in 2023. With more and more people shopping online from their phones and tablets, it’s essential that your website is optimized for mobile devices. This means designing a website that looks great on all devices, from desktop to mobile. To do this, designers should focus on using responsive design techniques and utilizing tools like Bootstrap and Flexbox to ensure that the website looks great on any device. It’s also important to note that for a website to be fully search engine optimized, it must be mobile-friendly, too.

Voice-Activated Shopping

Voice-activated shopping is one of the most exciting trends in eCommerce right now. With the rise of voice assistants like Alexa and Google Home, shoppers are now able to shop and make purchases directly from their devices. To take advantage of this trend, designers should focus on creating voice-enabled experiences that make shopping easier and more intuitive. This could include using voice commands to add items to the cart, search for items, and even complete the checkout process.

Personalization

Personalization is another key trend in eCommerce for 2023. With more and more customers expecting personalized experiences, it’s essential that your website is able to provide tailored experiences for each customer. To do this, designers should focus on using personalization tools like AI-powered recommendations and dynamic product categorization. These tools can help create a more personalized shopping experience that will keep customers coming back.

What Sorts of Tools Will an eCommerce Design Agency Use?

When it comes to web design, the tools used by web designers can be the difference between a good website and a great one. In today’s digital world, having a website that stands out from the competition is essential for any business, and the best way to achieve this is to have a web designer who knows the ins and outs of the tools they’re using.

Every web designer needs a good text editor to write the code that will form the backbone of the website. Popular choices include Notepad++, Sublime Text, and Atom. An eCommerce design agency might also use Adobe Photoshop to create graphics and images for the website, as well as Adobe Illustrator to create vector graphics.

Once the website’s design is complete, web designers turn to the development side of things. They use HTML and CSS to create the structure and styling of the website, and JavaScript to add interactivity and dynamic content. They may also use frameworks like Bootstrap and Foundation to speed up the development process and make it easier to create responsive websites that look great on any device.

Finally, they lean on content management systems (CMS) like WordPress or Drupal to create websites that are easy to manage and update. These systems allow web designers and developers to quickly add new content and features to the website, as well as customize the design with plugins and themes.

How Does the eCommerce Platform Affect Web Design?

Platforms like Shopify and Magento are popular with eCommerce businesses because they offer a wide range of features and customization options. Both platforms have their own distinct advantages and disadvantages when it comes to web design. Shopify is great for small businesses, as it’s easy to set up and use, but it’s limited when it comes to customization options. Magento, on the other hand, is more complex, but it offers a lot more flexibility when it comes to designing and customizing your website.

Another popular eCommerce platform is WooCommerce, which is a free WordPress plugin that allows you to turn your WordPress site into an online store. WooCommerce is a great option for businesses that want to use WordPress as their content management system, as it’s easy to set up and use. However, it’s not as feature-rich as Shopify or Magento, and customization is limited.

There’s also BigCommerce, which is a powerful platform that offers a lot of features and customization options. It’s great for large businesses that need a lot of customization options.

No matter which platform you choose, it’s important to keep in mind that the design of your website should be tailored to the platform you’re using. For example, if you’re using Shopify or BigCommerce, you’ll be able to use their templates, theme editors, and design tools to create a website that looks great and functions properly. On the other hand, if you’re using an open-source platform such as Magento, you’ll have more freedom to customize your design, but you’ll need to be familiar with HTML and CSS to make the most of it.

One of the main advantages of using a platform like Shopify or BigCommerce is that they offer a wide range of themes and templates that you can use to quickly create a professional-looking website. These themes and templates are designed with eCommerce in mind, and they make it easy to create a website that looks great and functions properly.

Shopify vs. BigCommerce Website Design: What Are the Differences?

Both Shopify and BigCommerce are extremely popular subscription-based, Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platforms that are specifically designed for eCommerce. But when it comes down to Shopify and BigCommerce website design, what are the key differences between the two?

BigCommerce

BigCommerce is a comprehensive eCommerce platform that offers users a wide range of tools and features to create and manage an online store. The platform offers a variety of design options, from simple, one-page stores to complex, multi-page stores.

For users who want an easy-to-use and customizable design, BigCommerce offers a number of templates and themes. These templates are designed to make creating a store easy and can be customized with images, colors, fonts, and more. Additionally, BigCommerce offers users the ability to customize the HTML and CSS of their store, giving them full control over the look and feel of their store.

BigCommerce also offers users the ability to create a custom store design from scratch. This feature allows users to create a unique look and feel for their store that is tailored to their needs.

Shopify

Shopify is another popular eCommerce platform that offers users a variety of features and tools to create and manage an online store. Like BigCommerce, Shopify offers users a range of templates and themes to choose from. These templates are designed to make creating a store easy and can be customized with images, colors, fonts, and more.

Shopify also offers users the ability to customize the HTML and CSS of their store, giving them full control over the look and feel of their store. However, unlike BigCommerce, Shopify does not offer users the ability to create a custom store design from scratch.

BigCommerce and Shopify Custom Designs: Does Custom or Prebuilt Templated eCommerce Web Design Offer the Greatest ROI and Customizability?

When it comes to creating a website, businesses often face a difficult decision: should they choose a prebuilt template or invest in a custom web design? After all, the cost of a BigCommerce or Shopify custom design project can be significantly more than a prebuilt template, so it’s important to understand the advantages and disadvantages of both options.

First, let’s look at prebuilt templates. Prebuilt templates are a great option for businesses that are on a tight budget and need a website up and running quickly. Prebuilt templates are typically much cheaper than custom web designs, and they can be easily customized with your business’s branding.

However, prebuilt templates can also have some disadvantages. For one, the design options are limited, so you may not be able to get the exact look and feel that you’re looking for. Additionally, prebuilt templates may not be optimized for SEO, and they may not offer the same level of functionality as a custom web design.

Now, let’s look at BigCommerce and Shopify custom designs. Custom web designs offer more flexibility and functionality than prebuilt templates, and they can be tailored to your specific business needs. Custom web designs are also typically optimized for SEO, so they can help you get more visibility in search engine results. Customizing themes can also give your online store a bespoke look and feel that cannot be imitated easily.

The downside of custom web designs is that they can be more expensive than prebuilt templates. Additionally, custom web designs may take longer to develop and launch, so if you’re in a hurry to get your website up and running, a prebuilt template may be a better option.

So, which option is the best for your business? Ultimately, it depends on your budget and timeline. If you’re on a tight budget and need a website up and running quickly, a prebuilt template may be the best option. However, if you have the budget and timeline to invest in a custom web design, it may offer better ROI and custom functionality in the long run. A web design agency with experience can also serve as a key strategic consultative resource to help you make that decision.

Working with an eCommerce Design Agency 

1Digital^Ⓡ Agency is an eCommerce design agency with over 10 years of experience working with all the major platforms, including both Shopify and BigCommerce in addition to WordPress, Magento, Volusion, and others. We are also BigCommerce Elite Partners and have a vibrant client portfolio showcasing the proof of our works. 

Take a look through our many examples of eCommerce web design and digital marketing success and then get in touch with us at 888-982-8269 or at Info@1DigitalAgency.com if you have any other questions. 

The post Top eCommerce Web Design Trends to Keep Your Eye on in 2023 appeared first on 1Digital® Agency.

As you can imagine, installing a sliding barn door inside a home offers no standardized process. There aren’t really any sort of “one size fits all” options for homeowners that want to add barn doors to their homes’ interiors.

The process must be planned, carefully, and, as you can imagine, the act of creating a largely hands-off online ordering process is no walk in the park. It requires attention to detail, as well as forethought. At least enough to see what could go wrong with an order, and set up a purchase experience that does as much as it can to prevent those hiccups.

That’s the sort of thing we specialize in. Here’s how we did it for Barndoorz, with a little help from our skilled BigCommerce developers.

The Challenges of Ordering Barn Doors (Literally!)

As stated above, buying a barn door is not a typical process. Setting up an online purchasing process that works takes some additional foresight and creative firepower.

For instance, when you buy, say, a hammer online, you know what you’re getting. Excuse the blatantly simplified metaphor, but it serves the illustration perfectly.

There are few tools simpler than a hammer. Buy one online and you can easily see on a product page how heavy it is, what materials are used in its construction, and so on and so forth. You use a hammer to drive nails and stakes. It’s all right on the surface. What you see is what you get.

Well, with interior furnishings like sliding barn doors, sometimes what you see is not quite exactly what you get.

Size, finishes, compatibility of hardware, and other factors can complicate the process of buying a barn door that not only can be installed in a given location but also the process irself of installing it.

Customers that buy, large, expensive doors like these, understandably do not want to have them arrive only to realize they can’t install them as they’d have hoped. They also, understandably, don’t want to have to deal with the process of returns. It’s time-consuming and can be expensive.

So, basically, for a client like this, we knew we had to make sure that the end result – the product pages – we delivered removed as many question marks from the purchasing process as possible, and guided the buyer along the journey.

However, this was an atypical case.

Putting the Pieces Together

Barndoor originally came to us in a very unique situation. Typically, we work with clients on BigCommerce development and design projects from start to finish. We scope out the process and then design and develop the pages and tools as needed by the customer.

Barndoorz had already been working with another partner to complete its page redesigns and product page customizations. Barndoorz ended up needing some additional customizations that were better suited for an Elite Certified BigCommerce partner with extensive experience to handle – so they came to us with some of the design files ready to go, with others needing some adjustments.

Part of our work was easy. Barndoorz had most website design files queued up. All our developers had to do was implement those.

But it was the changes we made to the product page templates that really set the record in order for Barndoorz and their customers.

BigCommerce Development and a Near-Perfect Product Page

If you visit Barndoorz at the link above and take a look at, for example, their Mirror Barn Door, you will see just how we set the product page in order to guide the purchaser’s hand.

As you can see in the image above, the first thing the page template requires the users to do is take the measurement of the width of the door frame in inches. This comes before any other customizations can be made.

The purpose is, clearly, to prevent customers from investing too much time in configuring a door that won’t properly cover their door frame in the first place! It helps to prevent frustration and hiccups along the way, too.

Let’s say the customer determines that the door is, in fact, the proper size for their home. Then, in order to properly configure the order, the customer would also have to measure the height of the door as well in order to make sure it would fit. Detailed instructions for how to measure height and width are on the page as you can see from the image above.

We also added some custom functionality to the product page with respect to finish options with realistic photos showing customers what sorts of finishes are available with each barn door so they know what to expect before making the purchase. This can be seen below.

The process we created continues to guide the user through the journey of configuring and purchasing a door, helping to eliminate guesswork and ensuring that, at each step of the way, the customer is configuring a door that can be installed in the intended location and which comes with all of the necessary components and hardware.

As you can see from the image below, the process we created through this BigCommerce custom development project prompts the customer to choose “Rolling Hardware Options,” as well as “Rail Options.”

In the latter case, the page explicitly and prominently informs the user that this step is only necessary if he or she selects a hardware kit with the door.

As you can see from the image above, we also integrated helpful pop-ups with useful information into the product pages. All a user has to do is hover over a question mark icon and the pop-up will walk the user through the process of selecting a rail size that is compatible with the door.

The custom product pages we developed also prompt the customer to configure the purchase with front and back handles, handle placement, a privacy lock, and soft close and header board options.

Again, in each instance, the page layout guides the user’s purchase in order to ensure that everything that is necessary is added to the order and that nothing that is necessary is omitted.

Aside from a newly redesigned website with unique, differentiating functionality, Barndoorz has reaped a few additional benefits.

Primarily, this page has helped to provide a passive level of customer service. Instead of bogging down their customer service department with live queries on how to configure their purchases, customers can just use this easy, straightforward interface to make sure what they purchase meets their needs and fits in their homes.

This initiative to develop a better, “foolproof” product page has also been completed with the intention of improving customer satisfaction. Barn doors are a sizable investment and in many ways, each order is customized in some way or other.

It’s also discouraging to buy something like this and have it not meet your expectations – but rectifying the issues can be time-consuming and potentially expensive. This product page interface helps prevent simple mistakes and all but ensures that an order is configured and placed accurately and in a timely, efficient manner.

For this eCommerce client, it wasn’t just about optimizing the pages of the eCommerce platform for conversion rates. That was an aspect, but a greater aspect has been to create a page that not only encourages conversions but ensures that the customer gets what is needed, as needed, boosting buyer satisfaction.

See Past Your Own Hurdles (with the Help of Our BigCommerce Development Team, That Is)

A BigCommerce development project for expanded product page functionality that enhanced the user journey is exactly what Barndoorz needed. Some eCommerce clients like Barndoorz need similar development assistance. Others don’t, but need mobile apps developed, payment gateways integrated, or search engine optimization marketing plans devised.

Each eCommerce website has its own unique needs and serves an equally unique segment of the market. What your customers need may be entirely different from what this client needed. But it’s not about product page customization. It’s about customization as a concept.

Thinking critically, acting creatively, and understanding the strengths and limitations of the platform. That’s what our BigCommerce development team excels at, and it’s how we delivered success to Barndoorz.

For those of you reading this with BIgCommerce websites who are wishing the platform could deliver a little something more, don’t try to figure it out on your own.

Check out our eCommerce case studies to see some more examples of the work we’ve performed for past clients. Many of our projects have been for BigCommerce stores. Then get in touch with us for BigCommerce development services and let us do the in-depth creative problem-solving. We’ll create a high-quality, one-of-a-kind solution for your online store that will please you and your customers with a high-level user experience.

The post BigCommerce Development and Improving Customer Satisfaction appeared first on 1Digital® Agency.

The flip side is that an online store (regardless of the platform it’s built on) with a sloppy, inconsistent, or unprofessional-looking website design will leak customers like a sieve.

Take these BigCommerce design tips straight from our professional eCommerce designers to heart for 2022 and bring in more customers.

1. Choose a theme that works with your brand (Consider a redesign if your current theme isn’t working)

One of the best things about BigCommerce is that there are so many free (and even more premium) themes available, making it a matter of pointing, clicking, and typing to get an eCommerce website set up. With the help of a web developer, BigCommerce themes can be broadly customized as well.

Still, no amount of developer work can fix a poorly chosen theme that just does not speak to the value of your theme. Consider a website design audit, invest in a custom-developed theme, or simply redesign your website with a theme that’s better aligned with your brand value.

2. Keep brand focus in mind

It is every bit as important to keep your eyes on your brand as it is to make sure your design is simplified. There are innumerable facets to branding, but keep a lookout for features like colors, fonts, logos, imagery, and other visual design elements.

The size, weight, and colors you choose are a huge opportunity to reflect the value of your brand. Think about the message you want your brand to convey, and then repeat the same elements throughout your website design.

3. Use high-quality images only

Do you know what immediately communicates the sense that a website is unprofessional? Low quality, pirated photography. Customers can almost feel it.

That doesn’t mean there isn’t high-quality stock photography out there. There is, but it can only go so far. Besides, your business model isn’t successful because of how much it is like other brands, right? It has its own value and it communicates it.

Get out there and get some custom product photography that shows your products in action, or get consent to use customer-generated media. Better yet, work with a BigCommerce agency to put a creative spin on what you already have.

4. Invest in responsive development (yesterday)

According to Statistic.com, m-commerce sales accounted for 72.9% of all eCommerce sales in 2021, up from 70.4% in 2020. It is a number that grows every single year.

Equally important is the fact that Google has adopted mobile-first indexing, so it’s now official that mobile responsive websites have a technical advantage over desktop-only sites.

Do you need more evidence? The takeaways are clear.

Luckily, there are many BigCommerce themes that are already fully responsive and mobile-optimized, but if you aren’t using one yet, you need to be.

5. Keep it simple

Few eCommerce stores (if any) benefit from clutter. Minimalism is becoming a mainstay in eCommerce. The elements that are there are the ones that speak the value of your brand.

Again, this is a situation in which many of BigCommerce’s free themes can help, since many of them are very basic, minimal, and straightforward.

Still, the theme does not do all of the work. Remove excess copy on your website, use imagery as needed but down overdo it. An over-cluttered homepage is confusing, off-putting, and can encourage users to bounce rather than investigate further.

6. Simplify and streamline navigation; offer more than one option

Offering search functionality is nearly imperative for all businesses excepting (perhaps) those that offer only a few unique products. Even so, search functionality is helpful, and it’s fortunate that BigCommerce is compatible with so many plug-ins that deliver.

In addition to search functionality, take some time to reenvision your mega menu to make it more succinct and easier to follow. Consider implementing something like breadcrumbs on your website to make it easier for users to retrace their steps.

Add in more than one navigation function. For example, if your homepage has a search bar, consider adding tiles for featured products or bestsellers, too. Offering a multi-pronged approach to user navigation gives users options, improves the experience, and funnels visitors towards conversions.

7. Make contact details prominent

It might not stick out in the minds of online entrepreneurs as an important page, but believe it or not, your website’s Contact Page (along with the About Us page) is one of the most important pages on your website, and fundamental among BigCommerce design tips.

Customers may have a question about your product, about available discount programs, your shipping information, return policy, or even something more obscure. The fact of the matter is that so many online shoppers will simply bounce instead of going out of their way to figure out how to get in touch with you.

Of course, if you have that information prominently displayed (such as in a sticky banner or footer) or as a primary page in your menu, you’re more likely to have customers reach out to you, and consequently, more likely to close conversions.

If you don’t have a Contact Page, add it to your website.

8. Add customer and product reviews

User-generated content is some of the most important out there. First off, customers believe it and see it as inherently credible, and secondly, many customers intentionally seek it out before making a purchase.

For example, according to Qualtrics, up to 93% of online shoppers read a review before buying a product. You can do the math, that’s most of them.

Giving customers the ability to leave product reviews, or even soliciting general testimonials and then displaying them on your website, can significantly boost user engagement and conversions.

In addition, customers specifically looking for reviews of certain products may land on your site (if you have a review available) whereas if you had none, your website might not show up in the search results.

9. Advertise shipping costs (whether you charge them or not!)

Even though offering free shipping is becoming really important to online shoppers, it’s fine if you need to charge shipping. Some customers will still understand that.

What’s not alright is if you don’t advertise your shipping policy and costs upfront. Customers hate when there’s no mention of shipping fees and then they suddenly populate right before they’re about to click “Purchase” or “Submit.” Actually, that’s apparently a leading cause of cart abandonment – hidden shipping fees.

Set up your checkout process in such a way that shipping fees are as noticeable as the cost of the goods and services themselves. Customers may not be happy about paying for shipping, but at least they won’t feel duped.

Besides, if you offer free shipping, this is an opportunity for you to advertise it in a sticky banner, on your homepage, or on a badge somewhere on your product page. That will certainly encourage sales and conversions for your BigCommerce store.

10. Create and display “Add to Cart” functionality

No list of BigCommerce design tips would be complete without this, even though it’s hardly a secret. Make your “Add to Cart” feature noticeable and consider displaying it in category pages or anywhere your products display, instead of just on your product pages.

The color red is both attention-grabbing and creates a small sense of urgency because it is an inflammatory color, but if red is off-brand for your website, just choose a bright color from your brand that creates a little sense of contrast and use that.

11. Create filtering functionality

Filtering through products or search results, for example, by color, size, use, or compatibility, is a huge time saver and helps customers get to what they want to buy more quickly.

The more roadblocks you can remove from your customer and their ability to find what they want to buy, the better. Any impediment you can remove will encourage sales and conversions.

Plus, most BigCommerce themes come with product filtering options. Of course, if they don’t you can always work with a BigCommerce developer to create that custom functionality for your theme.

12. Is your copy stale? Update it! (Make it scan-friendly, while you’re at it)

You might be surprised how much sales copy can make an impact on the overall user experience, and specifically how much it can affect a user’s purchasing decision.

Powerful copy is a part of your brand. It can speak to your users, impacting them emotionally, just as your brand was designed to do. You can also embed valuable internal links in sales copy to improve SEO and direct traffic to best-selling products or for the purposes of cross-selling opportunities.

Generally speaking, overly wordy, fluffy copy is a conversion killer. Be succinct and punchy, speak to the value of your products, or tug at your users’ heartstrings.

If you look at your website design and think “I’m not sure what all of this means to say,” then your BigCommerce website could potentially use some revamped copy.

Fortunately, some professional eCommerce designers work hand-in-hand with seasoned copywriters during the design process, in order to audit, offer suggestions, or even to draft fresh copy from scratch.

13. Add social proof

Social media marketing and management are quickly becoming some of the most important (if not the most important, together) facets of digital marketing. Customers consume content on social media, both actively and passively, using it as a way to interact with, learn about, and connect with brands and products.

You’re fighting half of the battle if you maintain active social media accounts and routinely interact with your followers, but you’ve dropped the ball if your BigCommerce website is not integrated with them.

BigCommerce easily integrates with popular social media platforms, and you can work with a BigCommerce designer to make sure the icons are prominently displayed in order to attract attention and direct followers. Even if all you get from a website visit is a follow, you’ve just earned a lead.

14. Streamline your checkout process

The checkout process is the ultimate test of a BigCommerce website’s design. If a user gets that far, they’re thinking seriously about pulling the trigger on a product. It’s also a place where the bounce rate skyrockets. There’s even an obscure, industry term for it that you may have heard of: shopping cart abandonment.

A BigCommerce agency can help you streamline your checkout process, enabling it to be completed in as few steps as possible.

Eliminating fields that don’t need to be there, auto-populating information for existing customers, and allowing customers without accounts to check out as guests are all good features to offer. BigCommerce has a native one-page checkout feature, but an experienced developer can help you take any remaining unnecessary links out of the chain.

15. Most important: Think like a customer

Finally – and this is nonspecific among BigCommerce design tips – think like a customer. More directly, think like your</> customers. After all, you know them better than anyone else. You’ve become an expert in targeting them!

Do they need to read a lot about your products before buying? Are they impulsive? Do they get easily put off by a surfeit of copy, or does additional information frame your services with context and lend a feeling of authority?

These are questions you need to be asking. If your website design makes you feel like you’re ready to dive in headfirst and start buying, then you’re gold. But if you get lost in the weeds clicking through your own website, well then, you’ve got some work to do.

That’s just our two cents. Of course, you can get the whole dollar by giving our BigCommerce designers a call.

Bring in More Customers with These BigCommerce Design Tips

Ready to gear your website up for long-term success with these BigCommerce design tips? Get at it!

If you hit a roadblock in terms of design or development, you can always get a free eCommerce brand appraisal to get some analytical insight regarding your overall brand.

You can also work with our BigCommerce designers (we’re Elite BigCommerce partners!) to tackle more involved design and development projects.

We’re here and ready. Give us a call at 888-982-8269 or send us a message at Info@1DigitalAgency.com.

The post 15 BigCommerce Design Tips to Bring You More Customers in 2022 appeared first on 1Digital® Agency.

But when business grows – and for Perfectly Priscilla, operating from PerfectlyPriscilla.com, that offers unique designs in clothing, footwear and accessories, it did – it can create growing pains, if you’ll excuse the pun. Selling online requires a pleasant user experience, one in which the customer feels a connection to the seller, even if they’re only purchasing through a screen.

This was one of the main reasons that Perfectly Priscilla partnered with 1Digital^Ⓡ Agency. They wanted to migrate from their BigCommerce store to a newly designed and developed Shopify Plus website which, they hoped, would better align with their brand, present their visitors with updated and relevant imagery, and provide UX-enhancing, conversion-boosting functionality. They’d need a Shopify migration agency that provided holistic eCommerce web design and development services as well.

Partnering with a Shopify Migration Agency to Shift the Focus to a New Platform

Perfectly Priscilla had determined that the basic B2C-friendly features of Shopify Plus were better aligned with their long-term strategy. The problem is that the company fielded countless orders on a daily basis, managed thousands of different products, and had a significant corpus of content as well. Getting from BigCommerce to Shopify Plus, notwithstanding a redesign and the advanced development that would go with it, would be no small feat.

Poorly planned migrations can spell various disasters for eCommerce businesses. Without proper protocols in place, including established processes for accounting for data and ensuring it syncs properly, customer accounts can be lost, products can be lost – even orders can be completely lost, especially during the time that the migration is occurring. It takes a skilled Shopify migration agency with a well-developed process to deliver results without any hiccups.

Even worse, a poorly planned migration that does not establish 301 redirects in its wake can destroy all of an online business’s organic rankings. Luckily for Perfectly Priscilla, which had countless pages of products and categories in addition to plenty of blog content, 1Digital^Ⓡ Agency’s process was watertight.

To say that the corpus of data that we migrated for Perfectly Priscilla was large would be a comical understatement. Their website contained over 70 categories of products with over 1,000 product entries, containing sensitive information associated with SKUs, price, imagery, descriptions, and more, including SEO-sensitive data.

The scope of the migration also had to account for over 80,000 customer accounts and order history associated with more than 140,000 orders. We also migrated more than 200 blogs for the client.

Ensuring that all of their data would populate in the proper locations on the newly established Shopify Plus store required our migration specialists to perform more than one resync, even after all of the data had been migrated over in the first place. By the time we had completed the first data transfer, between 20,000 and 30,000 new orders had been placed. This required our team to do a resync to ensure that the original information had been migrated successfully, but that all of the orders placed in the interim would not be lost or corrupted.

During the migration, we also implemented a 301 redirect for every URL that was moved over to the new Shopify Plus website so that Perfectly Priscilla would not lose any domain authority as a result of the migration. We even monitored their Google Search Console just to keep a second pair of eyes on traffic in the wake of the migration.

Of course, building a better store for Perfectly Priscilla only began with migrating them to a platform that was more closely aligned with their objectives. We also created a brand new eCommerce web design and developed a brand new look for their online storefront.

Tweaking UX with Updated eCommerce Web Design and Custom Functionality Features

In conjunction with this migration, 1Digital^Ⓡ Agency performed a full website redesign for Perfectly Priscilla, updating all of the major aspects of their eCommerce web design, including their category and product pages as well as their content pages, about us page, and of course, their homepage.

Their homepage was originally more neutral and lacked bold, direct imagery that the client felt would be appealing to its customers. As you can see from the before and after pictures below, we used larger, brighter imagery in their branded design of their new homepage, especially in the creation of the custom banners that accompanied the redesign.

As you can see from the picture of their new homepage design below, the overall look is brighter, more colorful and more engaging, with bolder, larger pictures and imagery. Our client felt that this aspect of the redesign was necessary to create a better, more personable user experience.

We also updated the design of their mega menu to encourage customer engagement and navigation. Previously their mega menus offered only a simple, text-heavy drop-down. Our updated mega menu design offered a more user-friendly interface. It fills more of the screen, separates the categories more effectively, and augments the experience with colorful, brand-aligned visuals.

This client was also interested in the additional services of our Shopify migration agency as a Shopify Plus developer for creating custom features that would enhance the online shopping experience and foster additional conversions. For example, we created a pop-feature that displays at the right side of the page when a user adds a product to the cart, informing the customer of the additional order value required to attain free shipping, as shown below.

This feature offers two key benefits, despite the basic simplicity of the design. One, it informs customers that they may be eligible for free shipping – and all online shoppers want that – and secondly, it encourages additional conversions in order to get the order to qualify. It serves the needs of both our client, Perfectly Priscilla, and their customers.

We created other conversion-boosting features for this client, including a tool that would recommend additional products by popularity, based on the items in which a visitor to their website showed interest. Even better, we created a “Buy the Look” feature, enabling customers to purchase all of the clothing accessories displayed by a model in their product pages. For example, if a visitor to their website wanted to purchase the entire ensemble in the image shown below, they would need only to scroll down the page to see all of the products included in the ensemble. This significantly boosted customer engagement and satisfaction.

In order to further refine the customer experience, we also implemented faceted search features for the client, allowing for advanced filtering to provide a better customer experience by refining the accuracy of their search results. We also implemented a lazy loading feature for their search results pages, creating a scroll-friendly design that continuously loads the search results as a user scrolls down the page, eliminating the need for pagination.

In addition to completely redesigning this client’s website and implementing all of the custom features enumerated here, our Shopify Plus developers also integrated a wide range of business-critical apps to ensure the website functionality they wanted to offer to their customers.

In order to improve a variety of customer experiences, we implemented Amazon Pay, customized an add-to-cart pop-up and added InStockNotify functionality to their website. 1Digital^Ⓡ Agency also implemented a wish lift feature for the product page, displayed product reviews on their product pages to encourage conversions, and integrated Google and Facebook analytics to facilitate the client’s management of the platform.

By the end of the project, Perfectly Priscilla enjoyed a thoroughly rebranded, redesigned website that was more closely aligned with their customer expectations, integrated with tools to facilitate management and improve the customer experience, and suffused with custom functionality that created a delightful online shopping experience. Most importantly, they had settled on a platform that would meet their needs more effectively as the business grew – and it has.

The success story of Perfectly Priscilla is one that plays out for our customers time and time again. We’re not just a Shopify migration agency; we’ve migrated clients to newly designed and developed websites, offered our services as an eCommerce development agency to build custom apps, and created strategic partnerships with online merchants, offering eCommerce SEO and PPC management services that propel them to new heights – and we can do the same for your organization.

To learn more about our various client success stories, visit our collection of eCommerce case studies to learn more about the different projects we’ve completed for clients in a wide range of different industries. There’s probably one that illustrates your plight – and if not, your business may as well be the next 1Digital^Ⓡ Agency success story. Call our team at 888-982-8269 or message us at info@1digitalagency.com to get started!

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The post How our Shopify Migration Agency Vastly Improved Our Client’s UX appeared first on 1Digital® Agency.

They say that there are no second chances at a first impression and that rule holds for eCommerce design. The layout of an online store can tell the visitor a lot about the business in question. For businesses that want to stand out from their competitors, having a custom designed eCommerce store is a great way to ensure that visitors will be interested in exploring their brand.

1Digital^® offers a wide range of eCommerce web design services. They can help modify existing templates to better fit a brand’s image or create entirely custom designs that will match the exact look and feel a business wants. Their team includes experts in designing for all of the major eCommerce platforms including BigCommerce and Shopify. Their online portfolio offers a glimpse of the design projects in their repertoire.

For businesses interested in eCommerce Design work, 1Digital^® offers a free brand appraisal where their designers will take a look at your website and objectively assess its design. These appraisals not only offer valuable insight into how users perceive an eCommerce website but are also designed to serve as the groundwork for any design projects 1Digital^® undertakes.

In addition to the design services they offer, 1Digital^® also specializes in eCommerce website development. The development of custom features like improved menus and search functions often goes hand in hand with design. Their custom design process involves several steps, including review and revisions so clients can make sure that the final results are a perfect fit for their brand. Upon completion of a project, 1Digital^® offers convenient retainer packages so businesses can rest assured that any small design, development, or bug fixes will be handled by the same team of professionals who designed their store.

Any eCommerce businesses interested in custom design services should pay 1Digital^® Agency a visit. On their website, you can see detailed information on the types of design and development features they have produced for their clients. Their team of designers is always happy to put together a free brand appraisal for potential clients and discuss the services they offer. If you have an eCommerce business that is in need of a redesign, call 215-809-1567 or send an email to info@1DigitalAgency.com to speak with one of their design experts.

The post 1Digital® Agency Offers Amazing eCommerce Design Services appeared first on 1Digital® Agency.

Design impacts how a brand makes users feel, affects how users navigate through pages to find products and consume content, and how they interact with the website overall.

A poor website design can ruin a healthy eCommerce business, crush sales, destroy the customer experience, and tarnish a brand. All of those things are very difficult to recover from. Ideally, your website should offer the best design and interface possible.

Conversely, a well-planned design can do the opposite. It can turn bounce rates around, increase conversions and sales figures and help an online business grow. Among these concrete benefits are the intangible values that result from good brand management with a UX-optimized eCommerce web design.

Stores built on the Shopify platform that suffer from poor design will be just as adversely affected as those built on BigCommerce but utilize a poorly-chosen BigCommerce theme. It is not platform or industry-specific. These issues to be investigated are universal in eCommerce web design: below are five key metrics that may indicate that your online business is in need of a redesign.

1. Bounce Rate

A high bounce rate is a problem, whether or not it is attributable to a poor website design. A rising bounce rate is even more of a problem because it indicates that something is seriously wrong with a website.

Bounce rate indicates any of several factors, but at the most basic level, a high bounce rate indicates that your customers are not getting something that they expected from your website. When their expectations are not met, they leave.

Now, there are many reasons that a website can suffer from a high bounce rate. It could be to do inconsistent branding. It could be due to poor messaging about a product’s value. It could be that your website has an overall untrustworthy feel. Poor search functionality, confusing or overwhelming search results, or ineffectively arranged product categories can all adversely affect user experience, and when UX suffers enough, visitors leave.

Not everything that causes a high or increasing bounce rate can be addressed by a redesign, but you’ll notice that several of those mentioned can be.

As an example, consider these real-life examples from several of our clients. The clients featured below are in vastly different industries; one is in food service, one is in a PPC restricted business and the other sells furnishings and home improvements. In each of these projects for which we performed a redesign for the client, we took a look at the bounce rate in the months after the project was delivered and then compared it to the previous period.

This is just a snapshot, and you can see that the figures vary widely, but there is a common trend here: after each redesign, the bounce rate dropped sharply. In one case, the bounce rate was slashed in half.

The takeaway here: redesign may not solve all of your eCommerce woes, but bounce rate may be an indicator that you need one.

2. Dropping Time on Page

Dropping time on page is another real concern that there’s something missing from the design of your website that should be there. It could be an indication that customers are not satisfied with your site design or that your brand is weak or poorly integrated.

As with the rising bounce rate, there are a lot of factors that could be causing your average time on page to be dropping. It’s not the secret indicator that you need a redesign or need to develop some new features, but consider this:

Your website’s average time on page might not even be dropping. It might just be very low, and low time on page rarely correlates to conversions. It usually goes hand in hand with a high bounce rate, which may also indicate that your website is in need of a new appearance.

Consider getting a free E-brand appraisal from our team of specialists so you can see if your website suffers from poor brand integration and less-than-desirable UX features. We’ll give you a snapshot of how your website performs and offer some explanation for poor performance metrics like these.

3. Dropping Conversions

Dropping conversions are a concern whether they are attributable to poor design and layout or not. Nonetheless, a long term decline may indicate that your website is missing out in some area of design.

Perhaps your search features are not robust enough or they are too difficult to find. Perhaps your website’s categories are confusingly arranged. Perhaps there is a death of content on your website and customers want to learn more. On that note, maybe there is no good way to get in touch with you. This, after all, is a feature of design, and without it, frustrated customers will often just leave rather than do the legwork to find you and answer their questions.

Ultimately, there are a lot of variables to consider, but there’s a very good chance that conversions that are falling off are indicative of a general design that leaves customers wanting more. It could even be that your competitors recently unrolled a new design and are taking business away from you.

To know for sure, you’ll need to take a deep dive into the industry and at your own customers’ behavior. That’s where a specialist like 1Digital^Ⓡ comes into the picture.

4. Odd Exit Page Statistics

Odd exit page statistics actually usually mean one thing. Usually, these off-statistics mean that your visitors are not getting to a location on your website where their expectations can be met, getting frustrated, and leaving somewhere random without legitimately progressing along the sales funnel.

For example, if you have an influx of customers to your homepage, and that predominantly these customers travel from the homepage through product or category pages where they ultimately exit without making a purchase, it’s not a good thing.

Every website is going to have exit page statistics, but if you get visitors from your homepage to your product pages from which they ultimately bounce, it’s not a good thing.

It could mean that your visitors could not reach the product pages that they wanted to, which is an issue with navigation. It could mean that your visitors were not sold on your branding or product image. It could also mean that your website lacked the promotional or educational material your visitors wanted before making a purchase and thus had to get it elsewhere.

These problems are all unique, but they are also all directly related to design. If you’ve had an eye on your analytics and feel that something is up with the pages from which customers are leaving, it might mean it’s time for a redesign.

5. A Lot of New Users – but Few Returning Users

Let’s say you have an eCommerce website that gets a lot of web traffic, most of which are new users. The good news is that you have a lot of new users, which means that you may have great organic rankings, you might be getting sent a lot of traffic from social media, or even that you are running a paid search campaign that’s generating a lot of clicks.

New users are great, and to some degree, every business needs them. However, an influx of new users and no returning users could indicate that your landing pages (as a part of a PPC campaign) are poorly optimized. It could mean that you have great organic rankings but that your website design is falling far behind and is failing to attract and engage attention.

While you should celebrate an influx of new users, customer retention is vital, and a design that visitors enjoy using is one great component of CRM.

Still curious on how some of the features mentioned in this article are affected by the design of your website? You’re in the right place for more information, and our eCommerce experts can help. Since 2012 we’ve been solving tons of complex problems in eCommerce and impressive, UX-optimized designs and advanced development are only some of them!

Our eCommerce website design specialists know more than a thing or two about what makes a website design that will dazzle and satisfy your customers and have them returning time and time again. We’re also well versed in the in, outs, ups, and downs of the biggest and most powerful e-Commerce platforms out there. Whether you’re looking for a Shopify Plus Partner or want to learn more about our dedicated BigCommerce web design services, contact us today at 888-982-8269!

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But Ohio Hardwood Furniture does not only sell the works of other craftsmen. Their founder, Pascal King-Smith, brings a lifetime of woodworking and furniture making experience to the business, and the company is as noteworthy for the designs it produces in-house as for the designs of others.

For Ohio Hardwood, eCommerce, understandably, is not necessarily a focus. The shopping experience for furniture tends to be done in-person so that shoppers can see, feel, size up, and actually interact with their designs. Shopping for furniture is not like shopping for other consumer goods; it is done rarely, with purpose, and often conducted on a very personal level.

Still, the executives at Ohio Hardwood Furniture recognized that there were opportunities to be had in the online marketplace, and knew that they could compete more effectively with an established online presence. They started their search looking to improve their customer’s online shopping experiences, spread brand awareness, and generate leads to their business, even if those shoppers would ultimately visit them in-store instead of ordering online. That’s when they found us, 1Digital^Ⓡ Agency.

Custom Design for Lead Generation, Brand Exposure, and User Experience

Buying furniture online is a tough and difficult process, and even though Ohio Hardwood came to 1Digital^Ⓡ with a pre-existing Shopify store, they had never actually closed a sale through that store, even for a ready-to-ship floor item. What they needed was to improve the user interface in order to provide a better user experience, even if it meant simply pushing more visitors to their showroom in Ohio as a lead generation tool.

So they sought out a full service Shopify agency to redesign their Shopify website to promote a better shopping experience that was more visually striking and brand-integrated. Before the redesign, their online storefront was bare bones and contained little information about their business – it was really only used as an effort to push customers to their actual brick and mortar store.

This is justifiable, however, since the premise of their store is furniture sales, and most furniture sales require a thorough and highly personalized shopping process and experience. Furniture, like cars and clothing, is something that shoppers like to interact with before buying, and so previously almost none of the company’s sales came through their online store.

Despite the fact that they still fully expected most of their sales to go through their physical location, they also recognized that eCommerce operations would become increasingly important in the future and that to scale growth, they needed to offer online options for sales and customizations in order to reach a wider audience. The people living in Ohio aren’t the only ones with furniture in their homes, after all.

The new Shopify store we built for them, OHFInteriors.com, features bold, bright, original product imagery, was visually appealing, and placed a high emphasis on the allure of their furniture. It also features a sticky menu (a preview of which you can see below) that follows the user down the homepage and across any other pages visited. This sticky menu allows visitors to shop through a huge selection of furniture items, some of which are ready-to-ship floor items and others that require a custom order and a high degree of input from the customer. This latter area of design and development is where Ohio Hardwood Furniture’s work with our Shopify experts has really paid off for them and will continue to do so in the long run.

Still, the majority of the design project, which was completed in February 2020, did not focus on eCommerce. The basic idea was to improve the online user experience with the intent to drive traffic to their physical store. That was still how the majority of their sales were conducted, while the website was seen as a lifeline and a lead generation tool. There were new and better options for closing sales of floor items on their newly designed website, but sales were slow online and better in-store.

Soon, however, they would realize just how lucky they were to have that redesigned Shopify store, and with a little help of a Shopify developer like 1Digital^Ⓡ Agency, they’d have an agile solution to help them avert the challenges on the horizon.

How eCommerce Adds More to a Brick and Mortar Business

The redesigned store was intended to drive traffic to their physical storefront. This was acceptable to the owners since that was the purpose of the website, to begin with. The website was bringing in a little bit of revenue from ready-to-ship floor items, but the problem with the premise of that was that most of Ohio Hardwood Furniture’s value comes from the customized designs they create for their customers. While customers were buying a modicum of ready-to-ship items, they weren’t capitalizing on Ohio Hardwood Furniture’s bread-and-butter, at least not online.

What happened next was something that could not have been predicted.

In March 2020, when businesses across the country were being forced to shutter their doors to customers, Ohio Hardwood Furniture, like many other businesses, was forced into a very difficult situation. Store owners across the country were being hit with lower patronage even where they were not being mandated to shut down, and Ohio Hardwood Furniture was in the same boat. Traffic to their physical store dropped off, and they looked to eCommerce as a lifeline. They needed a solution that would enable customers to place custom orders for the furniture that Ohio Hardwood produced in-house. Without the in-person traffic to sustain the store, they turned to 1Digital^Ⓡ Agency, their Shopify Partner of choice, for relief.

Working together with the team at OHF, we determined that what Ohio Hardwood needed was a solution that would mimic the in-person shopping experience closely enough to draw custom orders from the website. Since Ohio Hardwood Furniture specializes in the production of custom, built-to-order furniture, they needed a way to entice these types of orders online.

While customers could previously visit their location in Peninsula, Ohio, to see examples of their furniture in their showroom and place custom orders, what they needed now was to create a simple and intuitive process for doing the same thing online. It would have to clearly state and display the options that customers could choose, and it had to be a pain-free experience, otherwise, customers would not go through with it.

What we created was a custom app (in the form of a new product page template) for their Shopify store that was easy, simple to use, and could be quickly navigated. All the while it categorizes and displays a large amount of information, succinctly and in a straightforward fashion.

Ohio Hardwood Furniture sells an assortment of different types of furniture for many areas of the home, from the bedroom to the office to the dining room and everywhere in between. To illustrate the value of the app we created, we’ll investigate a hypothetical scenario.

Hypothetical Scenario:

Let’s say a customer visits OHFInteriors.com because their actual store is inaccessible. If the customer in question intends to buy a dining room table (or a dining set with chairs) he or she could easily navigate through to the collections we arranged for them via the sticky menu that we created when we initially designed their website.

Once the customer sees a table that strikes their fancy, that’s where the real value of our app comes into play. Let’s say a customer is enticed by the Bayfield Table which you can see listed on the product page in the image below.

That is well and good, but the thing to keep in mind here is that Ohio Hardwood makes these tables to order, from the wood of the customer’s choice, in the size and configuration of the customer’s choice, and finished according to their wishes. As you can see from the images below, the customer is prompted to select product options.

When this is selected, it sends the customer to a display showing sizes. Once a size and configuration is selected, as shown below, the customer will be prompted to select the type of wood from which he or should would like the table made.

As detailed below, the customer will have a choice of several hardwoods, including but not limited to Red Oak, Quartersawn White Oak, Cherry, Walnut and others.

In this fashion, we were able to as closely simulate the in-person shopping experience as possible, while giving Ohio Hardwood Furniture the ability to include pictures of stains and finishes with the app (featured at the top of the product page, beneath “Select Product Options”) in order to boost conversion rates through a better, more thoughtfully crafted user interface.

Only two weeks after we created and delivered this Shopify app for their online store, they reached out to us with some great news – after months of sluggish online sales of nothing more than floor items, a customer had completed Ohio Hardwood Furniture’s first-ever custom online order – a dining room table and chairs, all completed through our custom product page template that offered the experience detailed above.

This represents a significant victory for our client, Ohio Hardwood Furniture, and displays how an adaptive approach to agile eCommerce solutions can spell out the difference between success and tribulation. Many businesses around the country are and have been struggling due to the economic impact of government-mandated shutdowns, and Ohio Hardwood Furniture is one of them. However, their entrepreneurial spirit, and our innovative thinking, has delivered a solution that will help them grow in the future. Now they have nothing to look forward to but more sales and more custom orders, whether online or in their store.

No one could have foreseen the closures around the country that have been enacted due to COVID-19, but thoughtful, considerate eCommerce entrepreneurs could see that eCommerce is a viable outlet for sales and growth even when in-person sales are not practical or possible. The Shopify platform is a powerful, capable eCommerce platform, and when vested with the custom functionality that our web designers and developers can give to it, it is an adaptable tool that has come to the rescue of online businesses like Ohio Hardwood Furniture.

What we’ve done for Ohio Hardwood is provide a happy ending in the face of an otherwise grim reality, and we can do the same for your online business, as is evident from our collection of eCommerce case studies. There’s no time like the present to craft an adaptable eCommerce solution or have a custom app developed that improves your customers’ online shopping experience, and if all you need is a little help to get moving, we’re only a call away.

Whether you’re just looking for Shopify theme development or you’re in need of more advanced custom development from a capable, experienced, digital agency, call us today. Let us know what your business is facing and we’ll help you prepare or respond. It all starts with a call or a message, so reach out to us at info@1digitalagency.com or by phone at 888-982-8269.

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