5 E-Commerce App Design Tips That You Can’t Miss
It is an open secret that mobile eCommerce (or put simply, mCommerce) has been gaining more popularity in recent years. According to stats, by the end of 2018 mobile devices will account for 27% of overall US retail eCommerce market share. First off, let’s have a closer look at mCommerce landscape of now.
The ways customers do mobile shopping
There are two usual ways to access some eCommerce content on the Internet using mobile devices – via mobile website and with the help of mobile apps. While a mobile website is just an alternative version of the original site, meaning you have to use your mobile browser to reach it. The only distinctive feature here is responsive design enabling this mobile website to be displayed on various mobile gizmos and adjusted to different screen sizes and layouts.
In the meantime, mobile apps are specifically designed downloadable applications with their own functionality that get installed on mobile gadgets. According to a recent study by eMarketer, mobile users prefer spending most of their time online utilizing apps. No wonder why developers and designers start crafting multiple mobile apps to cater to tablet and smartphone users’ evolving needs.
Why great UI design is needed for your eCommerce store
Since mobile shoppers are opting for special mobile apps, marketers keep questioning if eCommerce apps are efficient for online business. Flurry comes up with a definite positive answer (please, see the infographics below). Moreover, shopping apps prevail here with groundbreaking 54% showing a stable 6% YoY growth.
So it becomes quite obvious why any eCommerce store owner should power up his website with an actionable mobile app. That is where effective UI design comes into play. An appealing interface appearance is the very first thing mobile customers see when they visit your web store. That is why their first impressions and experience are of utmost importance for further business success.
To start with, never underestimate your prospective customers as they have evolved greatly so far. Either have your competitors. The only way to stay ahead of the curve is to improve the shoppers experience by implementing smart-looking design for your mobile app.
5 E-Commerce App Design Tips To Improve CX for Your eCommerce app
Since outdated solutions won’t do, here are 5 tips to help you drive more traffic to your online store by employing actionable UI design.
1. UI Simplicity
A landing or a homepage overloaded with tons of images, text blocks, videos and menu options is a very sad though a commonplace picture of today’s eCommerce mobile apps design. So it is crystal clear that the first thing to do is to simplify your app user interface. It holds true especially for the newcomers to your web store. The initial UX they acquire is beyond any price, so make sure your starting page/main menu looks concise yet eye-catching. However, simple should not be treated as primitive. While prototyping your eCommerce app, think twice which content is relevant for a mobile version and what can be eluded.
2. Product before design
No matter how great-looking your UI design is, it will surely turn out to be a damp squib without your brand in mind. Design experts are unanimous that multiple imagery displayed holus bolus on a smartphone screen is treated as a mere advertisement. Your UI design is meant to highlight your commercial offer. Period. So set your online business priorities to realize what exactly your eCommerce website visitors want to see first when they use your mobile app. The whole range of the products you are going to offer to your customers must be showcased in a vivid and efficient manner. It guarantees the lead conversion growth since the online shoppers can observe all the products at a time. Bear in mind though, it works pure and simple only when you run a startup with a small number of product items. If your assortment is rather extended, you need to orchestrate it first and put all the items into several categories. This approach in design does strike gold with UX improvement. For instance, your mobile app users find it handy to start with choosing one of three generic categories like Men’s, Women’s, Kids’ wearables, appliances, you name it.
3. Smooth navigation
Easy-to-navigate UI design can contribute significantly to the increase of customer satisfaction and enhanced UX. This is indeed a matter of concern for UI designers, for mobile users have no mouse or physical keyboard to help them out with their shopping needs. So the indispensable thing here is touch optimization. First, redesign all the menus, buttons and fields to be quick to touch and to scroll. Secondly, how you can improve your mobile customers UX is to make all the product images zoomable. Unlike brick-and-mortar goers, website visitors just can’t touch and try on the things they like in your store. That is why, a zoom feature is invaluable for streamlining UI design as it provides online shoppers with insights on your product details, like color, size, material, texture, etc.
4. Signup and checkout process minimization
People hate undergoing a long registration procedure on a website with numerous fields required to be filled in. The same holds true when they have to give their contact details, address, credit card info and whatnot after shopping cart is through. Mobile users are way too much mad with these futile processes. Reconsider your mobile UI design if you get the same pitfalls, so to reduce superfluous fields and therefore benefit from stronger customer retention and better UX. Make it possible for you web store visitors to sign up via social media accounts, enable Save and Favorites options in case shoppers prefer finalizing their purchases later from desktops and provide clearly seen pricing and shipping data.
5. Strong web app security
The last but not the least things to consider is keeping your online customers away from dangers of security risks. Any eCommerce store shopper must be 100% assured that all the transactions on your site are hands-down safe. Does it have anything in common with UI designers’ responsibilities? Sure thing. Cybersecurity spells confidence and beefs up drastically your customers’ experience. While finding vulnerabilities is primarily a development, tech or QA depts’ objective, designers in the meantime can provide your customers with explicit registration and payment methods info, personal and financial data encryption guarantee and trustworthy Contact Us page, to name a few. All these will definitely help forge healthy relationships with your mobile customers.
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e-Commerce app design principles: In a nutshell
To sum everything up, be aware of several following aspects while designing your mobile app UI that caters to surefire UX improvement of your online customers.
- Stick to keeping the four main UX principles, that is usability, utility, desirability, and accessibility.
- Ensure simplified but not primitive design.
- Deliver your brand value in a clear fashion.
- Build strong cybersecurity for customers’ data.
- Utilize only relevant visual components.
- Make smooth web store navigation.
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Should you enjoy reading this article on e-commerce app design, please, feel free to visit my blog and stay tuned for new UI/UX design trends.
