Ecommerce solutions website design
Good ecommerce site design requires a balance between supporting or enhancing the brand identity, and making sure that usability, content and the online shopping experience stay centre stage.
2.1 Homepage layout
The layout of the homepage is crucial as, in most instances, it will be the landing page for visitors.
Ecommerce solutions need to present homepages that use design effectively to communicate a number of pieces of information in a clear and concise way.
Average score: 27 out of 30 = 90%
High flyers: Amazon.co.uk, Play, Comet
The retailers we assessed performed well in this category with only one failing to score.
One of the danger areas for some of the homepages was that the page layout became overly complex and busy.
The most effective pages struck a good balance between content and focused calls to action.
Best practice guidelines
* Don’t drown the user with text and information – use design to focus the user’s attention on the core messages, links and calls to action
* Keep main calls to action ‘above the fold’
* Make sure the main navigation is obvious, with key departments or categories clearly labelled
* Use personalisation to entice returning visitors
* Keep a good mix between popular items and special offers
Top Tip
* Use dynamic content to tailor and personalise homepage content for returning users, based on their own settings or behaviour on your site.
2.2 Page design consistency
Consistent use of logos, strap lines, navigation and design across the site is important to maintain usability and user confi dence. There are conventions to follow as well.
Most web users will be familiar with seeing a brand’s logo at the top left of the webpage.
The logo can also provide an easy to find link to the homepage no matter where a user is on the site.
Average score: 46 out of 50 = 92%
High flyers: Asda, Comet, The Fragrance Shop
The retailers scored very highly in this category with most ecommerce websites demonstrating consistency throughout their sites.
The area where retailers fell down was in relation to the consistency between landing pages and product pages, with some sites including a very different look and feel on deeper pages.
Best practice guidelines
* Keep the logo and strap line in the top left on every single page.
* Link the logo back to the homepage
* Keep navigation consistent across the site
* Keep link styles and fonts consistent across the site
* Ensure there is enough consistency between homepage and product pages to maintain user confidence in the site and the brand
Top Tip
* Don’t assume that because your brand is sufficiently well known ‘offline’, a strap line on your website isn’t necessary. A powerful strap line, consistently positioned on all web pages, with a single-minded and compelling proposition can say more about you than pages of website content – and help to drive more conversions.
2.3 Tone and presentation
This section looked at how well the retailers knew their target audience and how well the website spoke to this group.
Tone is always a very diffi cult criterion to get spot on and requires a range of considerations from design and branding, to content and vocabulary.
This is important both for customers that are already familiar with the brand and for those who are trying a website or a brand for the first time.
Average score: 25 out of 50 = 50%
High flyers: John Lewis, Boots, hmv.com
With so many components to get right, it is no surprise that there was a varied range of scores in this section.
Whilst some of the websites were clearly (and correctly) geared toward a particular demographic and user profile, other sites took a more neutral approach, aiming to appeal to a wider cross-section of the population.
Both approaches are equally valid, as long as they don’t become confused.
At one end of the scale, the John Lewis site conveyed the high-end quality of the brand and its values.
Conversely, the hmv.com site, with its splash of offers and deals spoke to a different target market using a very different tone and presentation.
Best practice
* Think carefully about every component on the website and ensure they all match the overall tone and presentation style of the brand
* Pictures are vital for any ecommerce site, but the style of photography will largely depend on the tone you want to convey
* Writing compelling copy that will appeal to the right audience is no easy feat. ‘Less is more’ is often a good start here
Top tip
* Get to know your customers. ‘Paint a picture’ of the people you want to attract and sell to – how they look, the kind of sites they visit and media they consume.
This will help you design and write content with an appropriate tone and style.
2.4 Design and brand experience
Engaging design can be the difference between increasing or decreasing your ‘bounce’ rate (i.e. percentage of visitors who enter your site on a certain page and leave without visiting any other pages).
If a site’s design is compelling and fits in well with the brand and the products being sold, this can have a dramatic effect on conversion rates.
Average score: 27 out of 35 = 77%
High flyers: Play, lookfantastic.com, Argos, Boots
Again, there were mixed scores in this section.
The challenge for most retailers seemed to stem from problems around combining brand enhancing design with the necessary functionality required on the site.
Too often, content ran the risk of getting in the way of the overall look and feel.
Best practice guidelines
* ‘Clicks and mortar’ retailers need to have a clear understanding of their offline brand and shopping experience in order to ensure the online brand supports and reflects them consistently
* Understand clearly what the proposition, competitive stance or USP of your retail business or online shop is.
This will inform the tone and presentation of the site (e.g. if your proposition is that you ‘pile ‘em high and sell ‘em cheap’ then your website design and tone of copy should convey this)
Top Tip
* Remember that trust plays an important role in a user's decision to buy a product from your site, or from a competitor’s.
Investing some of your budget (and your time) in creating a really good site design will pay dividends down the line.
Some designers are not as au fait when it comes to designing for different ecommerce solutions and its particular design rules.
Remember – you’re not designing to win awards, you’re designing to win business.
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