All websites are distinctive in their approach. We’ve seen trends in eCommerce web design like animation, 360-degree product previews, advanced filtering, and dynamic product search. However, trends don’t guarantee conversion rates or seamless user experiences. Websiteadvisor.com agrees that apart from having a suitable e-commerce platform for your website, there are essential components every eCommerce website must have to be relevant and competitive.
Here are five features your eCommerce website must have
- Ease of use
Ease of use and simplicity must be your goal to develop an excellent website. Studies show that 76% of shoppers say that the most necessary characteristic of a web site is ease of use.
The objective is to assist shoppers to get to what they need, quicker and not making them run through the hassles that discourage them from making a purchase.
Online sellers have seconds to entice users to buy. If you give an enhanced user experience by providing sorting and comparison capabilities, filters, and product descriptions, you’ll help buyers make decisions quickly.
- High definition photos and videos
Gone are the times of posting one photo with a couple of bullet points and a price tag. Shoppers wish to ascertain multiple angles and vet the product in numerous environments. They want to zoom in and zoom out to have a real feel of the product.
Technical considerations for pictures are crucial. Photos that don’t load or take too long to load can see a client drop-off rate of 39%, consistent with Adobe.
According to Sharon Winget, Staff Writer with GoodFirms, images sell, not text. eCommerce websites ought to show multiple photos per product. The photos have to be of high resolution and optimized for page loading for better conversion.
- Mobile responsiveness
Google declared it, so it has to be done. All websites are required to have a mobile-friendly version. If this reason isn’t adequate, one of three online purchases is completed on a smartphone.
With a responsive website, content intuitively adapts to whatever device is accessing to provide the most user-friendly experience. It saddens me to see that many sites still have not adopted a responsive or mobile version. Probably, they are digging their own grave!
- User generated reviews
Shoppers browse reviews. Moreover, this is a proven fact. The star rating on a product is the number one factor for persuading buyers to make a purchase.
You might assume that having negative reviews may be a sale killer. Ironically, the contrary is true. Having negative reviews of your products is beneficial to you. There’s a general mentality amongst shoppers that a product with zero negative reviews and many positive reviews is fake.
eCommerce sites can use plugins from the common review platforms such as Yelp, Foursquare, and Facebook.
- Product suggestions
Simply seeing the phrase, “you may like this” causes curiosity and excitement of exploring your other products and services. Suggesting related items on an eCommerce site makes the user stick longer to your website.
It happens like this. You saved an A-line dress in your shopping cart. A section emerges that claims, “you may like this.” You tap in and find a plethora of options for dresses. Moreover, you might end up buying. When an eCommerce seller adds related suggested items, he/she is giving more options to the user to buy. Related things should also include similar product categories to comparison shop, “people who searched for this item also looked for” and so on.
Wrapping up
No matter what industry you cater, an eCommerce website must have these features. Try and test a mixture of these features along with new innovative methods to see the desired results. Always ensure to provide seamless user experience and hassle-free customer support to stay a notch higher in the competitive market.
Nina Smith 
Nicola Holder