Designing an e-commerce website can be a daunting task if you lack experience in the field. However, worry not as here you will find a comprehensive guide that should help you design a perfectly functional ecommerce website. It covers the seven most important things to remember before you proceed with the designing.
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Logo is a Must
So now that you have decided to go ahead with your ecommerce website, you must proceed with designing the logo first. Make sure your logo is clear, exclusive and easy to remember. This will help you brand the products and services that you plan to sell on your website.
Is there a Currency Converter?
You need to make sure that you make available a currency converter on your ecommerce website. This is particularly essential because there may be customers belonging to different regions and in order to make a purchase, they will need to know the amount they have to pay in their own currency. Therefore, a currency convertor is something you should always remember to add before designing an ecommerce website.
Is there SSL (Secure Server)?
When you look for a web hosting company, make sure you choose one that provides your website an SSL (Secure Server). Since your website is an ecommerce site and will therefore handle sensitive information, you need a secure server. Credit card payments and other sensitive information handling require that you have an SLL (Secure Server).
Don’t forget the Essentials: Login Box, Search Box and a Shopping Basket
It is going to be an ecommerce website so make sure that you have incorporated these essential boxes and items into your website. A login box is necessary as customers would want to login to their account in order to begin the process or carry on from where they left off. A search box is essential for every site as it helps the customers directly reach the product or service they have been looking for, without having to browse through the entire site to find it. A shopping basket or cart is vital for an ecommerce website because customers will use this to indicate the products that they wish to purchase through the website.
Payment Icons
An online transaction at an ecommerce website is never complete until or unless actual payments are made. In order to finalize their orders for a specific good or service, the customers will have to make their payments online. Regardless of the payment methods, there has to be a payment icon prominently displayed on your website.
Social Media Links
An important part of ecommerce is e-marketing and e-advertising. In order to effectively market your business, you should create social media pages of your business on social media networks like twitter, facebook, tumblr, pintrest etc. To gain greater number of followers on social media pages, you need to link those to your ecommerce website. To do this, you can add icons of the social media websites that display your business profile and add a link of each on your ecommerce website. So whenever a customer visits your website they end up following your business profiles on these social media networks.
Contact Information or Chat Box
It is no surprise that eCommerce is now providing customers with an almost face to face shopping experience. Customers who shop online do not wish to be bound by geographical immobility and therefore often require contacting the sales person before they make a purchase. They may be doubtful about the features of the product or may simply wish to inquire more, so it is preferable to have a contact sales person who will answer all their queries and simplify their shopping experience. Hence, you need to make sure that you add contact information when designing your eCommerce website. You may also add a live chat box that works around the clock to assist customers and make their shopping experience an easy one.
We hope that this detailed guide outlining the seven most important things to remember before designing an eCommerce website will prove helpful for you and save the beginners from making common mistakes. In order to run a successful eCommerce website, it is crucial that these pointers are given due consideration.
Author bio:
Paulo Marcus is a professional blogger and has been blogging for the past 7 years. He holds expertise in Ecommerce and is currently an independent blogger who has produced a number of blog posts regarding Ecommerce and iPage Review. Here, Marcus has created for his audience a guide regarding E-commerce websites.