The goal of your e-commerce site: convince customers to buy a product. The user experience is one of the most important factors that determine how successful your online shop is ultimately.

If a user has an outstanding user experience in the course of the conversion funnel, he not only buys the product, but is also very likely to come back. If you want to boost your website's sales permanently, you cannot avoid good web design.

Professional web design will not only make your online shop look better, it will also determine the experience of your users: a professionally designed e-commerce website is intuitive, appealing and pleasant to navigate. A really good design will also have an impact on your most important KPIs such as click and bounce rates - and thereby also boost your sales.

But how do you create a thriving online shop? Here are 10 tips to design an ecommerce site.

1. Make navigation easy

Nobody likes to land on a website and doesn't know where to find the product after looking for it. To prevent frustrated visitors from searching on Google again, you should structure your website in an intuitive, standardized way. On most e-commerce sites, the existing products are divided into different categories.

These can be found in the menu bar at the top of the page (always under the logo) or on the left side.

Be it a specific shoe size or the latest iPhone model: Filters are another way to simplify the search for your customers. Make sure that handling individual filters is as straightforward as possible.

So users should be able to add or remove individual filters without having to return to the homepage. Every e-commerce page should also have a search function that is visible to everyone and is located in the top right corner of every page (including sub-pages).

2. Use high quality images and product descriptions

The biggest difference between an e-commerce website and a real business is the lack of important purchase decision criteria such as the feeling and touch of the products.

Here you can remedy the situation with high-quality photographs from different angles. Your users can get to know the product realistically. Interactive pictures that can be used to view a piece of furniture in 3D or take a look at a book even go a step further here.

Product descriptions also help customers choose the right product. They explain the characteristics of the respective object and build additional trust to the side. The descriptions should be short and essential, but long enough to encompass all the key features of the product.

They should also be as truthful as possible. Because if your customers already know what you will receive later before buying, this will significantly reduce the number of returns.

3. Create a visual hierarchy

Just like in any printed catalog, online shops require a visual hierarchy . Features such as size, color, spacing and layout determine what is seen in which order and thus perceived as important.

Colors play an essential role in the visual hierarchy of your website. Vibrant colors such as red and orange are best suited for key elements such as CTAs and buttons. Finally, they attract attention and encourage users to read, click, and buy.

Neutral colors such as white and beige are more suitable than background colors.

A little tip : If you want to generate additional attention, you should use complementary colors that are opposite each other in the color wheel.

 4. Keep your content up to date

There is nothing worse than finding the item you are looking for and then realizing that it can only be delivered in two months. Those who keep their e-commerce website up to date take care of an essential part of the user experience.

You should also label or remove items that are not in stock. This is how you offer your customers a smooth shopping experience.

5. Make sure you like Google

No matter how well designed your online shop is - if it does not record any traffic because it does not appear in the Google results, the most beautiful web design will not help you.

Anyone who has mastered basic SEO rules or hires an experienced SEO manager lays the foundation for the long-term good performance of their website. Optimize your page for relevant keywords by inserting them in all page titles, H1 headings and meta descriptions.

Make sure the product descriptions are up to date and ensure that you publish fresh content regularly - either through a blog or a news section.

Extra tip : Also add social media buttons so that you can share your content and increase your social signals.

6. Let visitors know how good you are

When purchasing a product via an online shop , users usually return to websites that they can trust. Either because they have already used them or have had good experiences with the service offered. Even today there are many scammers on the Internet and it is often difficult to tell whether a website is trustworthy or not the first time you buy something there.

Therefore, customer reviews are  a great tool to make your website trustworthy and give your products a personal touch. Implement a review system that enables users to assess both your products and their user experience. In addition, use customer opinions to highlight your strengths and ensure a personalized shopping experience.

7. It's all about the buttons

No other element on an e-commerce website is as underestimated as the call-to-action buttons. CTAs will help you turn visitors into buyers. They can have a direct impact on click-through rate, conversion rate and net sales. Therefore, CTA buttons should be placed and designed carefully.

All CTA buttons should be visible and clickable, and their colors should stand out on every single page. It is particularly important that the text used is as short and precise as possible. Ideally, a short request like "Buy now", "Add to shopping cart" or "Pay with PayPal" will suffice. A good example of this is the 99designs logo design page . The button "Let design be created now" is briefly and concisely formulated and has the same size as the header text in order to draw the user's attention.

8. Make sure your shop fits the brand

Nothing makes an online shop more trustworthy than an effective brand strategy . This should be based on two pillars: building credibility and personality across all of your marketing channels and the conformity of your website with the appropriate brand guidelines and your visual identity.

The logo is the most important visual component of your brand and should be placed clearly in the upper part of your website - ideally in the upper left corner. The colors and fonts you choose should also be characteristic of your brand and be used consistently on your website and in advertising materials - from emails and flyers to display banners and print ads.

9. Be brief

While you are building your e-commerce website, you should ensure that the conversion funnel is as simple as possible from the first click on the page until the purchase is completed. Remove unnecessary pages, shorten the checkout process and keep it to a minimum. Because with every click you lose potential customers.

10. Perform an A / B test

Last but not least, don't forget to do A / B tests every time you make changes to your website. Stay critical as you read instructions, recipes for success, and blog articles (including this one!) And be aware that something that works for other online stores may not be right for yours. There are several tools, such as Optimize or Unbounded , that can help you test landing pages and other elements. Before making major changes across your entire website, make sure you are testing on a single page. Take some time to evaluate the data.

Web design plays an essential role in the success of your Ecommerce Website Design. Navigation, visual hierarchy, branding - all these elements should be planned and designed by experienced professionals.

With a professional web designer and developer at your side, you always deliver the best user experience to your customers.