E-Commerce Website Design: Make Your Website More Visually Appealing

Did you know that there are somewhere between 12 and 24 million e-commerce websites in the world? 

Besides testifying that e-commerce is a big and prosperous industry, this stat also indicates that it’s also very crowded and competitive. 

In other words, if you want to get noticed and attract your target audience, your website design has to be visually appealing. Superficial as it may seem, this advice is based on psychological research according to which 94% of first impressions are design-related. 

According to the same study, people perceive attractive websites more credible and trustworthy. If we bear in mind that you expect your trust you with their sensitive information, such as credit card numbers, it’s only logical that your e-commerce website should be aesthetically pleasing. 

Here are some website design ideas to help you achieve this. 

1. Design With Users in Mind

Every element of your e-commerce website should be designed in a way that will ensure a seamless user experience. The moment a visitor lands on your e-commerce website, their buyer’s journey starts, and it’s up to you to ensure it’s enjoyable. 

Effective website design is a synergy of ease of navigation, visual appeal, and overall user-friendliness and responsiveness.

Although the 3-click rule, which says that website visitors will be frustrated and decide to bounce if they don’t find what they’re looking for on a website after three clicks, is a myth, you should make sure that they don’t have to click back and forth endlessly. 

This means that your product pages should be designed so that they provide all the necessary information about your products. In order to avoid clutter, you can opt for the so-called hover function – reviews, specs, and all the additional information about a product are displayed when your customers hover with their mouse over the product image. 

2. Keep It Simple

A minimalistic approach to web design can do wonders for your e-commerce store. 

Remember, your products should be the main stars, and nothing else should steal the spotlight. By having more elements than needed, you’ll distract your visitors and ruin your odds of closing a sale. 

The more pop-ups and banner ads you have on your product pages, the less likely your potential customers will be to make a purchase. 

Leverage a lot of white space to give your content some breathing room. This way, your product images will pop and stand out. 

A clear, light, and spacious look is what you should aim for, as it works best for e-commerce sites – flashy design can be overwhelming in this case. 

3. Tap Into the Power of Colours

Colours play an important role when it comes to building visually appealing websites.

However, that doesn’t mean that you should use them unselectively. As a matter of fact, there should be no more than three colours on the same page if you want to stick to the simplicity rule from the previous tip. 

Start by picking your base colours and make sure that they belong to the same color palette.

There’s complex psychology behind the use of colours, and it’s a good idea to understand that every color is capable of evoking different feelings, emotions, and moods in your customers. 

For example, you’ve probably noticed that many financial institutions use blue for their logos. That’s because this color is perceived as trustworthy, reliable, and calming. It inspires a sense of stability and responsibility, which is why the entire corporate world loves it. 

On the other hand, red is the color of excitement, energy, and passion, and these emotions prompt us to spend more. That’s why red can be a good choice for your call-to-action buttons – it will catch the eye of your customers easily and encourage them to complete a purchase. 

4. Leverage High-Quality Images and Videos

When shopping in e-commerce stores, customers don’t have an opportunity to see, touch, and feel products in person. And that’s one of the key obstacles that this industry has to overcome.

Beautiful, high-quality images and videos can compensate for the lack of real-life experience and help e-commerce websites present their products in a good light. 

Many big e-commerce stores implement the latest technologies such as 3D, VR, and AR in order to improve their sales, but you can achieve the same if you use high-res images and videos, 360-degree views, and a zoom-in feature. The thing is that you’ve already done enough if your customers don’t have to look at pixelated images. 

No matter how good and nice-looking your products are, bad photos will make them look shabby. 

What’s even better than offering static images is creating and posting product videos. The reason for this lies in the fact that this is an attention-grabbing format capable of engaging your customers. Stats say that video on a landing page increases conversions by 80%

Video is much more relatable and better at telling a story,  thus bringing your products closer to your potential customers.  

5. Add Social Proof

Another way to improve your e-commerce website design and improve your customers’ confidence in your brand? 

Nothing can beat social proof.

When shopping, people rely immensely on others’ genuine experience, and they will hardly purchase before determining what others think about your brand or the products you offer.

Always have that in mind and aim when you’re thinking about your website design and try to make it easy for your customers to find social proof on your website so that they have to look no further.

Think about how you can best showcase the positive feedback you’ve got from your customers so that you have both a useful and visually appealing website. 

A professional website design company can help you with your website styling, coming up with ideas on how to make a beautiful website that can impact your customers.

Some of the ideas you can use are:

• Testimonials section. You can use it to showcase your customers’ photos along with a few lines on their experience with your brand or your products.
• Rating section. Make it easy for your customers to rate your products and try to excel in your star ratings.
• Customers reviews. You can also ask your customers to review some of their favorite products from your website and include them in your blog section.

Negative ratings and reviews will indeed happen, but you can make the most out of them too. Never ignore them, but handle them with care, which each one of your customers deserves. And create a blog about it.

6. Maintain a Proper Visual Hierarchy

Everything on your e-commerce website should be focused on providing your customers with a great user experience, starting with a smooth purchasing flow.

To achieve it, your website design needs to have a proper visual hierarchy so that your customers can navigate your website seamlessly.

That’s why most of the e-commerce stores use a similar structure, consisting of:

• Header, with brand name and logo.
• Search bar.
• Navigation bar.
• Contacts.
• Hero image or a slider.
• Main content area.
• Footer.

Such structure, along with simple but visually appealing CTAs, will help your customers find what they came for effortlessly and intuitively. 

For your sales, or when you have a new product line you want to show, you can grab your customers’ attention by using typography and colours alone. 

7. Ensure Consistent Branding

Your potential and current customers will remember you by your brand design, so besides making it unique, make sure you make it consistent. 

Your brand identity consists of your logo, slogan, fonts, and the colours that you use. 

As your customers need to link the unique feeling of browsing your e-commerce store to your brand, stick with your brand identity throughout your website. 

Attractive website design is a great investment in your e-commerce business. Start with the basics and implement these simple tricks that won’t break the bank. Nevertheless, they will help your website look sleek and visually appealing.