by Alex Schnee
When you have thought about starting an e-commerce store, you might have considered how you are going to market it, what you are planning on selling, and more. However, you might not have thought about how users are going to navigate your site and make purchases. If this is not a priority, then you might want to consider making it one since how your users navigate your site can make all the difference of whether or not it is a success.
Here are some simple ways you can keep users in mind when creating your new e-commerce store.
Know your backend
Before you can make build an e-commerce store or make any major changes, you need to know that your site will run properly. Which type of platform are you going to run your store on? Some are easier to get around as a user than others, and you’ll want to think deeply about who will be the people using your site the most. Knowing this can affect the whole process of how your customers buy your product.
Run some tests
Once you have an idea of who your user is, you might need to run some tests on your site. You can do this easily by separating the frontend and the backend of your website with headless commerce. It’s easier than ever to see if your site is working properly and if there is any confusion when it comes to the ordering process. Make sure to ask initial users (they can even be friends and family) where they are having difficulty and how you might make it simpler for them to use.
Make it mobile-friendly
More and more shoppers are purchasing items online, and it can greatly affect your user experience if you don’t take the time to make your mobile site as intuitive as your desktop one. Not only that, but search engines are also prioritizing sites that work well on mobile before those that aren’t, giving you another reason to make the e-commerce experience on phones as seamless as possible. As per the statistics, 30% of the consumers abandon a shopping cart because they find the checkout process time taking and complex. Would you prefer to happen that with you as well? This might also mean some additional tests in order to find out where your mobile site might need some attention.
Look at your analytics
Once your site is up and running, you will also need to take the time to go through how your users are interacting with it. You might find different results than what you were expecting, which means that you should make some adjustments depending on your bounce rate, exit pages, and more. If the visitors visit your online store and make a purchase, make sure that they find the process convenient. Every extra step in the process enhances the chances of leaving the transaction midway. These insights can help you fine tune your processes and see what changes you can make in order to get the conversions you want as well as see where your business is succeeding and which ways you can make it better.
In summary
Creating a user-friendly site is now more important than ever. Fortunately, there are some easy ways that you can track how well you are doing when it comes to user interaction.
