The Science of Good UX on E-commerce

Ecommerce websites have completely revolutionized how internet-savvy individuals shop. According to Forbes, Ecommerce B2B ecommerce alone is projected to an eye-popping value of $6.7 Trillion by 2020. What makes e commerce a thriving industry is the easy access to goods and services – anytime, anywhere. And with more and more mobile and desktop-based ecommerce sites in the web today, it becomes a need for designers to craft better websites.

But what makes an Ecommerce website “better”?

To answer that, maybe it’s wiser to consult User Experience. And basically, what good UX preaches can be summarized into being fast, being light and being responsive.

In this article, we will be discussing what Good UX qualities should be present in Ecommerce websites. We will be talking about how these qualities should be applied. Let’s take a look!

De-clutter you Design

User interface is a big part of web design, we all know that. Average users spend 15 seconds in a page, but in fact, according to Time.com, 55% spent fewer than 15 seconds actively on a page. Realizing the small window you have, it is important to realize how much effort you should put in order to make a sale within that span of time.

There are a few things to do, of course and it will involve revolutionizing a few things within your design.

• Users don’t read, they scan. Scanning content has always been a user-tradition ever since. Because your Ecommerce customers probably don’t have much time (well because if they do, they will go to malls or shops instead of going into you), you have to think that users only scan. Having said that, you need to consider refurbishing your content and making them reader friendly.
• The F pattern. F is for fast, they say. As heatmaps would confirm, users scan web pages from the top left corner through the bottom right as if forming an imaginary letter F. It would only mean that if you want to turn that F into fabulous (or fantastic) and not the f-word you wouldn’t like to hear or read, you need to target these areas and put your most important content out there.

Make your Interface Faster

The determination of a good user experience actually leans on the beautiful manipulation of the interface in making sure that the flow of information is fluid and efficient. Normally, better-looking websites provide better user experience. However, aesthetic beauty is just one of the many ingredients.

Not only that it should look good, it should also load well. Slow-loading websites often drive traffic away because, let’s accept it, no one wants to wait anymore. This is why, as much as possible, you would want to improve the speed of your site.

Here are a few tips to make your website load faster:

• Minify your code. Minifying your code (usually HTML, CSS and JavaScript) allows you to remove all the unnecessary comments, spaces and code within your pages. Doing this will help your page load speed because it lessens the number (and size) of file(s) to be loaded. Think of this, if you are moving in to your new apartment, what will finish faster? Unloading 30 boxes, or just 10?

The same rule applies to code. To do this, you have to employ a few tools:

1. UglifyJS
2. YUI Compressor
3. Google Closure tools

• Create External CSS and JavaScript files. If you will be using external files to load your JavaScript and CSS, your pages will load faster because the browser will cache the CSS and JavaScript for you, thus saving a few moments of load time.

But if you don’t feel like it, you can always use CSS in the pages themselves. However, you need to put them within the head element. With JavaScript, place them at the bottom of the page.

• Remove Duplicates. At times, there will be duplicate codes within your pages. This often roots from confusion and/or human error. But be sure to remove these codes as they take up space as well. Not to mention hampering or bugging a few of your codes and functionalities.
• Optimize Images. Image sizes take up memory as well, so be sure to reduce your image sizes into web-ready formats. For this, you can either use GIF, PNG or JPEG.

Easy Selection, Easy Checkout

Of course, if Ecommerce aims transaction, selection and checkout are paramount concerns. The consumer must have a first-hand like experience of viewing the item. As much as possible, you should allow them to see everything they would want to see about the product or service they are availing. You could also allow them to choose, mix and match or maybe even customize what they want to buy or avail. For example, some websites like Jack Jones give suggestions on what clothes to mix and match.

Here are a few things you should remember:

• Use a creative hover text and color (Hover is used by designer to show the price and information about a product)
• Make less objects clickable (Show only what seems necessary to avoid going back and forth to items.)
• Undo/Redo (Have an option to undo “add to cart” items, or redo accidentally removed items.)
• Avoid drag and drop interface (Drag and drop inter face is useful for games, not on ecommerce websites.)

User checkout

Shipping fees, product warranty, and return policy, builds the rapport of the e commerce site. Discounts on shipping fees, a 6 month product warranty, a one-month-return policy – these are every online consumer’s security blanket. One bad review of the service provided in this area is the iceberg to the titanic.

Conclusion

Overall, in any e commerce website, user experience is the primary product and what it sells is usually just a bonus. In a digital age where every online consumer wants to bleed dry each of their penny’s worth, satisfaction must always be guaranteed.

The clamor for e commerce website is not pure bliss. They also come with real risk, both on the consumer and business. The transfer of goods and services require the use of money, hence making it vulnerable to identity theft and fraudulent behavior.

The science of UX in e commerce site portrays the continuing effort of web designers to make each online venture a success, linking necessity and desire, making each transaction happen at a click, and end with a customer satisfied smile.