An attractively designed online store featuring popular products will draw in customers. There are however several things you need to take in to account, to keep your visitors from wandering away, and leaving half-filled shopping carts behind. Your website needs to be customer friendly, and here is how you can make that happen.
Creating a Shopping Experience Your Online Visitors will Love
To create an excellent online shopping experience, make it a point to pay attention to the following customer-friendly features:
- Navigation – Shoppers won’t purchase products they can’t find, and if navigation is difficult, they may just abandon their partly-filled shopping carts and go elsewhere. Effective navigation is important for any website, but it is critical for an eCommerce site.
- Products – The design of your site is important, but not as important as the products you are trying to sell. An attractive eCommerce website is a definite plus, but don’t let the design overwhelm or distract from your products. Save the flashing notices for something other than an eCommerce site, as many visitors will find them irritating. Design your pages so that a visitor’s attention is always drawn toward a product.
- Related Products – You can expect more sales if you show related products on the same page as the product your customer is interested in. A related product can be a different make or model of the product of interest, a different size, a different color, or a useful accessory.
- Great User Experience – A web store that only shows product images (and prices) can be a somewhat sterile place to visit. Liven up your store by accompanying your product images with great content. When customers are looking for products, they usually look for useful information as well.
Take Advantage of a Top-Notch WP Theme – Putting these very important tips into practice could involve some labor on your part, but you would find it well worth it to do so. An easier approach would be to allow a premium WordPress theme do the heavy lifting for you. Any one of the themes described here can turn your vision of a great eCommerce experience into a reality.
Atelier is a relatively new and extremely popular multipurpose eCommerce WordPress theme. It has been a hit since day one, and it is currently the most popular of all the premium eCommerce themes. Its main attraction is the 12 high-quality demos, with more to come. To say these layouts are elegant in appearance would be an understatement. You may even be tempted to do a minimal amount of editing to retain the clean and uncomplicated lines, but these layouts are completely customizable, and they contain a wealth of conceptual design ideas.
If you have had problems finding just the right WordPress theme for your eCommerce venture, Atelier is the solution. There are more than 80 layouts you can build on to create an online store that will attract PC and mobile customers alike. More importantly, when you create a shopping experience using this theme, the chances are good that your customers will be tempted to stay a while. Visit Atelier’s website, review the impressive list of core features, and take time to check out their in-depth demo.
If you have been searching for a WordPress theme specifically designed with eCommerce in mind, and a theme that is fun and easy to use, Shopkeeper is definitely worth a look. This theme is powered by WooCommerce, and it has everything you need to rapidly create an online store, including sophisticated store management features to help make your online venture a success.
This theme’s flexible framework lends itself to other genre-specific website designs, but the eCommerce world is where it shines most brightly. There are plenty of pre-built, fully customizable layouts to work with, unlimited header styles, all the design elements you are likely to need, and a variety of grid and masonry style display options. Shopkeeper is updated frequently to keep it at peak performance and to take advantage of the latest technological advances as they appear on the horizon.
Enfold is ThemeForest’s best rated top seller, and for a good reason. This responsive, multipurpose WordPress theme claims to have the easiest to use page builder of any of the top themes, a claim many users will tell you is a valid one. This theme has logged more than 56,000 sales to date, and the number continues to climb. As is the case with most premium WordPress themes, Enfold is updated frequently to keep its performance and peak levels, and to improve on its features whenever the opportunity arises. Its ease of use makes it a suitable website building tool for all skill levels. A degree in rocket science, or a knowledge of coding is not required to build an impressive eCommerce experience in a short amount of time, and advanced website designers will notice an uptick in their productivity once they begin using Enfold for their web creations.
This premium WordPress theme has all the features needed to create an outstanding shopping experience. The authors of Kallyas have obviously put in an extra effort to make this one of the most complete WordPress themes ever. You can create an unlimited number of homepage variations, headers, and colors. There are also multiple portfolio formats, a larger than usual selection of custom pages, and a dozen different sliders and slider accessories to work with. As you would expect, this eCommerce theme is highly responsive, WooCommerce compatible, and translation ready, and no coding is required.
BigBoom is a powerhouse of an eCommerce WordPress theme for three reasons: WooCommerce, Bootstrap, and Visual Composer. This theme will be an excellent choice whether your plans are to create a megastore or a small shopping site, and it also offers an ideal solution for setting up an affiliate site. Built-in features include an Order Tracking system, Tax and Shipping options, Customer Review, and Product Rating functionality, and other store management aids.
Make Certain your eCommerce Site has these Features
Your new online store may be eye-catching, a cinch to navigate, and user friendly in the extreme. But if you have neglected any of the following features when you open for business, you could risk losing sales.
Fast Load Time
If your website pages take more than 3 seconds to load, a third or more of your potential customers could decide to go elsewhere. Slow loading will negatively affect your site’s search engine rankings as well. Test your site’s load times with Page Speed.
FAQ Pages
FAQ pages are relatively easy to create, and they are a good way of offering customer support. Browse a few FAQ pages on other eCommerce sites to get a few ideas of your own.
Mobile Optimized
If your website is not mobile optimized, mobile device shoppers could find navigating cumbersome, and your page displays less that optimum. You can’t afford to neglect the mobile crowd. They represent nearly half of today’s online shoppers.
Customer Reviews
Make customer reviews a part of your online experience. Make it easy for shoppers to leave their comments and opinions. Your customers will appreciate it. They like to know what others have to say about the products they are thinking of purchasing.
Easy Checkout
A cumbersome online checkout process can quickly put a damper on an otherwise pleasant shopping experience. Make sure your checkout process is straightforward, and make doubly sure the process is a secure one. See what others have done.
Choose one of these premium WooCommerce WordPress themes to do the heavy lifting for you. After that, it’s just a matter of following our tips and suggestions. Make a great shopping experience for your customers your top priority, and your online venture should be a successful one. Share your experiences and your own tips or suggestions with us.
