The ongoing pandemic has changed the way we see eCommerce businesses. From being a choice to a necessity due to COVID19 being outspread, eCommerce has come full circle.
According to a report, North American eCommerce giants like Amazon, Walmart, and Target Corp. have seen a growth of 45.3% in 2020. It is much higher than the overall growth rate of 34% for the entire North American online market.
Image taken from Statista
The North American market and eCommerce markets worldwide have been seeing growth due to the ongoing pandemic. ECommerce markets saw revenues of $4.28 trillion (about $13,000 per person in the US), which will grow to $5.4 trillion (about $17,000 per person in the US) in 2022. Such growth of market revenues means good news, right?
However, higher market growth attracts many fresh players, increasing the competition. So, it would be best if you had that competitive edge with an enhanced eCommerce homepage that works as a first responder to the user's request.
Every customer interacts with the eCommerce website homepage, which makes it crucial for sales conversions. Here, we have discussed the top ten eCommerce homepage best practices that can help with higher conversions.
Top eCommerce HomePage Best Practices
1. The Hero of Homepage
A homepage is the first point of interaction that your business will have with users. So, it is essential to follow the eCommerce homepage best practices to introduce yourself properly. Many people confuse a landing page with a homepage, but technically they are different. For example, a landing page is created with conversions and a homepage designed to introduce the product.
Image taken from Strikingly user’s website
A homepage is like the first step towards a relationship, and the landing page offers the union! As you can see in the above homepage example of HubSpot, which introduces their services to the customers. Below is the example of a landing page you get when you click on the "start free or get a demo.”
Image taken from Strikingly user’s website
However, discussing how eCommerce businesses can leverage the goodness of a landing page to the homepage. When users spend around five minutes on an average per website, instant introduction to your products needs a hero text and image. If you are an eCommerce business leveraging a hero text can mean a clear understanding of your products.
Image taken from Strikingly user’s website.
Take an example of the Outdoor Voices homepage. The eCommerce apparel brand has a hero text suggesting the product on offer and a clear CTA (Call to Action). You will reach the product page with one click, and the next step will lead to purchase.
Even the hero image or main image on the homepage communicates the products straightforwardly. You can also use a static image instead of a carousel for your hero image to load the homepage faster. When you click on the call-to-action button, you will have a new product page to optimize. The initial step for page optimization is to create a The first step towards optimizing product pages is to make a gateway via the homepage or sales section.
2. Gateway to Sales
The second part of the eCommerce homepage best practices is the sales page. Sales sections are a fold on the homepage that can help you display various categories of products. Take an example of the Prime Day Sale from Amazon. During the Prime Day Sale, Amazon uses the homepage folds to improve its traffic.
Image taken from Amazon
Here you can look at the design of the homepage tweaked for the prime day sale. The placement of CTAs, and different sections related to live sales, cashbacks, credit card sections, and the Prime membership promotions is well embedded.
Image taken from Statista
The result was $11.2 billion in sales during the Prime Day Sale, $10.4 billion in 2020. In addition, we can learn from Amazon's homepage how well the CTAs are used, and multiple folds are explored to attract customers towards different products sections.
From exploring multiple homepage folds, CTA placements, and even leveraging hero text or images, these are great ways to design an eCommerce homepage. However, one crucial aspect is offering a secure shopping experience.
3. Secure Shopping Experience
While designing a homepage or even landing page, pay attention to eCommerce homepage best practices because security is the critical factor any visitor looks for when landing on your site. There are multiple checkpoints on an eCommerce platform where users must share their personal data. According to a report, 78% of security professionals believe that DDOS or Distributed Denial of Service attacks can reduce customers’ trust in websites. In addition to that, according to Elluminatiinc.com, over 35% of people prefer online shopping due to the ease of payment options. so offering secure and swift payment solutions is imperative.
However, DDoS is not the only threat for eCommerce businesses to be concerned about; other attacks like malware, ransomware, and financial fraud can be threatening. In addition, users share many different types of personal data, from login credentials to payment details, that need top-notch security measures to avoid any cyberattack.
Some of these measures are,
Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) relates to the eCommerce industry standard that ensures security measures are taken for credit card information stored or transmitted during transactions.
ISO/IEC 27001:2013- A standard from International Organization for Standardization (ISO) that covers data security. This certification is essential for high-quality management systems, data security, risk-aversion strategies, and standardized business practices.
Secure Socket Layer (SSL)- SSL certificate helps eCommerce websites obtain trusted site badges or HTTPS authorized badges. SSL enables the authentication and encryption of the in-transit data within a network. There are several security organizations and firms that offer SSL certificates. You can also buy SSL from ClickSSL that offers superior quality security solutions and certifications for businesses. A PCI-DSS pre-requisite, it keeps phishing, MITM attacks at bay.
MFA, 2FA & 2SV- All these multi-factor authentication approaches add an extra layer of security to your existing security protocols. 2FA or Two-factor authentication requires users to acknowledge their login attempt through a mobile device if logging from the web.
At the same time, 2SV asks users to enter a one-time password or code received through SMS, email, or call. Thus, MFA is like 2FA, but instead of a single two-factor authentication process, it refers to multiple factors for authenticating a login from a user.
Apart from the design and security, your eCommerce best practices are an advanced search bar. It helps users to search for what they are looking for without too much beating around the bush!
4. Advanced Search
More than 7.87 billion people purchase online which is about 27.2% of the world's total population. Yet, despite such a massive number of online shoppers, only 2.12% of conversions are achieved by eCommerce businesses in 2021. Why? Because they might overlook eCommerce homepage best practices.
So, what is the reason behind such lower conversion rates?
One plausible reason is the inability to search for products easily. If an eCommerce platform lacks an advanced search feature, the customer will have to spend more time to reach the product they want to buy. Thus, it can lead to a bad user experience and loss of conversions.
The solution to this issue is a simple and advanced search bar on the homepage. Take an example of Ikea's website.
Image taken from IKEA
Apart from the keyword-based search, you can upload the furniture pictures in the search bar, and Ikea will provide a related suggestion. It is an example of an advanced search bar and a fantastic way to personalize the entire shopping experience. However, you can add more categories, filters, and sorting features for users to search for products in the search bar.
For any eCommerce business, the personalization is not limited to the search bar, and you can improve the entire customer experience by personalizing it at various levels.
5. Shopper Personalization
Personalization of your homepage can yield great conversions. A Forrester report suggests that 77% of customers have purchased products from brands that offer personalized recommendations or paid services.
Image taken from Audible
Take an example of Audible from Amazon. It offers personalized audiobook suggestions for users based on their listening patterns. Even OTT platforms like Netflix or music streaming services like Spotify leverage recommendations to enhance the user experience.
Therefore, leveraging smart product recommendations is the sign of following eCommerce homepage best practices carefully. However, personalized recommendations on the homepage can improve the conversion rate and customer experience; the design element is also crucial. In addition, navigational ease for users can improve the entire shopping experience.
6. Navigational Ease
Navigational ease across the eCommerce homepage is essential for a good user experience and calls for eCommerce homepage best practices. According to a study by Baymard Institute, navigation and product browsing issues are the most significant factors that affect customer journeys during a transaction.
Image taken from Baymard
The study also suggests eCommerce platforms use clear hit areas for product listing, which 28% of websites fail to achieve. It is a design element where a user can tap the entire element for checkout or just a thumbnail. A clear hit area will help users easily access the checkout of a product purchase or even a landing page by tapping on any part of the element.
However, this design element relates to the mobile shopping experience of your eCommerce website. Therefore, it leads to another essential best practice for your eCommerce web page- Mobile-first design.
7. Going Mobile
Mobile-friendly design is another essential eCommerce website best practice. Mobile eCommerce is set to account for 72.9% of the total sales by the end of 2021. So, ignoring the mobile-first approach can be risky for your eCommerce business.
Image taken from Bewakoof
Take the example of Bewakoof.com. It enables a mobile-first approach by clearly displaying swipe-able product categories, a clear CTA of the shop now that takes you to the design of the day, and others.
Bewakoof does best in its homepage design in different sections that you can leverage for your eCommerce business. Another essential aspect of going mobile is the loading speed of your website.
8. Faster Loading
Image taken from Strikingly
Whether you use a carousel or static image, or even a simplistic user interface, your conversions will be low if the website loads slowly. Last but not least, this is the most important eCommerce homepage best practice to follow because, according to a report, due to a 1-second delay in loading eCommerce websites, there is a loss of 7.9% in conversions.
So, the question in your mind will be on how to ensure faster loading? The best way to know whether your website homepage design loads faster or slower is to test it.
There are three approaches that eCommerce platforms can leverage.
- A/B Testing- It will allow you to test two website designs by isolating the specific variable. So, you can compare both the designs and understand the impact of other variables on loading speeds. It is recommended when you are tweaking individual elements on the homepage for better loading speeds.
- Split URL Testing- Such a testing approach helps differentiate between two versions of your website through URLs which you can test individually for loading speeds.
- Multivariate Testing- This approach is recommended to test multiple homepage versions entirely rather than individual elements.
Some of the best testing tools to use these approaches are,
- VWO
- Adobe Target
- Optimizely
- Google Optimize
Conclusion
As we move forward with several waves of the pandemic hitting worldwide, online shopping will grow higher. So, the competition in the eCommerce market is set to surge, which means you need to prepare your platform. Here we have discussed some of the eCommerce homepage best practices businesses can leverage for enhanced user experience. But, of course, which one to apply will depend on the specific needs of your business.
So without any ado, follow these eCommerce homepage best practices and experience bolstered growth in your online sales.
