There is no doubt that user-friendliness adds value to your store. In a good online store, customers can quickly find what they need; see a good presentation of product colours, options, etc.; add the product to the cart without unnecessary clicks and go through an easy and understandable checkout process.
In a bad online store, people have to struggle to achieve what they need, and most of them would leave a messy store without a purchase.
I bet that as an online store owner, you want your shop to be user-friendly and conversions-oriented, right? Then there are some things you should know.
Site Navigation
When you see your store many times a day, and you know which products you have as you spend much time adding and editing them, it’s hard to have a brand new look at your store. This means you are not always objective when it comes to your store usability and to the navigation in particular.
The goal here is to ensure as seamless a shopping experience as possible, so make sure your site structure is logical and easily understood.
For example, you can have this structure:
Homepage – category – product
but not that one:
Homepage – category – subcategory – subcategory– subcategory– subcategory – product
In addition to smooth navigation, give your customers an opportunity to sort and filter products by different attributes like price, colour, size, etc. Most people avoid extensive catalogues, they value their time and need the filtered or search results delivered quickly. By the way, don’t forget about search option: relevancy is the key here.
Prominent product options
If you have configurable products, you should find a solution to display them. For example, you can use a colour swatch to let users choose the option they are interested in.
One more important thing is product zoom. It is an indispensable feature for almost any Magento store. If you sell clothes, shoes, gifts or other products, zoom is a must-have.
Unlike an offline store, your Magento shop doesn’t let users touch and examine the goods, so having Zoom can compensate for it. Moreover, if you give customers all the important info before they make a purchase decision, you can decrease the number of return requests.
Benefits highlight
I assume that you have some competitive offers for your customers. For example, fast delivery, items on sale, etc. You should let us know all your potential about your special offers by highlighting them. You can even create a separate category for your special offers. Your goal is to make them prominent and easily found.
Shopping Cart
When a user adds a product to a cart, he is one step closer to the purchase. If he needs to add a few products from the category page, give him that opportunity! Don’t try to redirect a customer to his cart once he adds something; give him the option to continue shopping.
Don’t forget to show all the additional costs (shipping, taxes if applicable), as it’s very frustrating to see one sum and pay more.
I hope these tips are useful for you and you’ll take them into account in 2016!