User experience has become a decisive factor in the success of any e-commerce site. In an age of instant gratification, visitors no longer tolerate friction—slow loading times, confusing navigation or poorly structured content can kill a purchase intent in seconds. And yet, many retailers try to stand out without first getting the basics right.
In this fourth article, we go back to fundamentals. Responsive design, clear information hierarchy, effective call-to-actions… These essentials are anything but optional—they’re the foundation of performance. The result: a smoother, more engaging site and conversion rates that take off.
Get the basics right first
Best practices in e-commerce, such as responsive design and an optimised sales path are essential elements to start transforming your site interactions into a unique buying experience.
Since its inception, e-commerce has constantly pushed its standards higher, in order to remove purchasing barriers. Like the famous Maslow pyramid, consumer expectations have gradually evolved from a basic need to be reassured about online shopping, to less tangible aspirations related to the shopping experience itself.
A few years ago, the major challenges of e-commerce were more about the credibility of the digital medium, the security of transactions, the normalisation of HTTPs and the guarantee that your order would be delivered. Then, online shoppers’ considerations began to focus on usability, including load times, page readability and visual quality.
Today, usability has come to the forefront. This is the wonderful world of user experience (UX).
In fact, UX has practically become a science as the field of investigation is so vast. Beyond simple graphic design, user experience goes through a multitude of micro details that will transform a visitor into a customer or, better still, a loyal customer.
UX is a continuous improvement process, with its own tools (e.g. heat maps), methods (e.g. A/B testing) and a set of core principles to respect. There is a subtle balance to be found between the aesthetics of your site, your commercial objectives and the technological constraints.
Each website is different, but these are often the biggest areas of opportunity:
- Become mobile first. (In 2020, mobile represented 45% of e-commerce sales, and 57% of visits to sites) As well as the responsive design element, it’s the choice and size of font, the areas of exposure, and the number of thumbnail images per line that need to be considered.)
- Working on the readability of menus and the offering. For example, putting the most in-demand categories first, and speaking the customer’s language.
- Highlight calls to action. For example, using a bigger font, a flash colour or using a negative space, meaning a space which is empty around a button. Over to you to consider these areas in more depth!
Perhaps technological progress will ultimately mean that the top of Maslow’s pyramid of self-fulfilment includes immersive and memorable shopping experiences. We’re getting there!
Real world example
Remember to practise what you preach. For this example, we have chosen to show you how we too rely on basic principles and data-driven logic to improve performance for our customers.
We regularly try out new ergonomics for our search layer. To do this, we change certain graphic elements of our search layers.
After trialling several iterations of suggested terms, we ended up doubling their usage rate! Proof that the devil (like performance) is often in the detail.
Cheat-Code 4: The market sets the standard It’s up to you to go one better.
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