ecommerce store design elements tips guidesAny sharp eCommerce shop owner will understand that there is one thing that can drive their sales more than anything else and help provide enough growth to get them through their early years: marketing. The good thing about marketing is that, for the most part, you can do it yourself without the need for a dedicated team. Here are some elements you should add to your site that can help you throughout your marketing process and offer basic optimizations for driving sales.

1. The Looks

There are two sides to every website: aesthetics and function. There’s no point having an exquisitely designed site if users aren’t driven to go through with sales intuitively. Having said that, you probably won’t be too popular a brand if your site looks ugly and unappealing. Graphic design is a solid investment and it’s one that can last a long time. You can either put enough money into your graphic design in the hopes it’ll last you years or go cheap and keep rebranding as you can better afford high quality designs. There’s nothing wrong with the latter and rebrands can go really well, but keep in mind that rebranding can dilute your brand (which can erode its value).

So, a good eCommerce store should have a good logo that looks professional and matches the general design of the site. Using bright colors alongside simple geometric arrangements is your best shot at making a memorable logo (many suggest 3 colours but this isn’t crucial).

2. Top-notch Functionality

As previously mentioned, good looks aren’t worth anything if your website breaks or otherwise stops the visitors from actually making a purchase. Your site should be intuitive to navigate, and one of the best ways to ensure this is with analytics. According to Digivante, analytics are crucial in the fight for converting your visitors into buyers. Before you launch, it’s well worth soliciting a full audit, which will let you know which elements of your site you should change for maximum revenue. This logic is similar to dealing with human health – it’s better to prevent than to treat.

3. Reviews

Reviews are super important as 84% of customers trust online reviews as much as friends. You should encourage reviews as much as possible as they help reassure the buyer that they are making the right choice and can offer genuine value to your website by letting you know if you need to change any elements of your service or design.

4. A Personal Touch

Though it may be tempting to overlook the importance of contact information, your potential customers will feel reassured if they know that if they have any problems, a real person will help them to deal with them. You should make it easy for anybody to get in touch with you, the business owner, and resist the temptation of making your company seem bigger than it is. It means a lot if the owner of the business tends to your needs, and if you have the time and resources available to be able to do this then you should use it to your advantage. It’ll help to develop your brand and provide long-term value to customers who will want to keep coming back.