29 Must-Have Features For Ecommerce Websites via @sejournal, @BennyJamminS

Successful ecommerce websites region arsenic galore obstacles arsenic imaginable betwixt users and the products they’re looking for.

This database of features and policies was chosen based connected their interaction connected idiosyncratic experience. Each removes friction from purchasing journeys to support users engaged connected your website.

29 Essential Ecommerce Website Features

1. 1. User-Friendly Navigation With Breadcrumbs
2. 2. Internal Site Search
3. 3. Product Filters
4. 4. Footer Navigation
5. 5. Product Videos
6. 6. Product Comparisons
7. 7. Product Reviews
8. 8. Generous Return Policy
9. 9. FAQ For Products
10. 10. Simple Checkout
11. 11. Multiple Payment Options
12. 12. SSO Integration
13. 13. Support/Help Center
14. 14. Order Tracking
15. 15. Mobile App
16. 16. Email & SMS Opt-In
17. 17. Push Notifications
18. 18. Chatbots
19. 19. Coupon Codes
20. 20. Special Offer Programs
21. 21. Wishlists
22. 22. Gift Registries
23. 23. Multilingual Support
24. 24. Loyalty Program
25. 25. Carousels
26. 26. Local Store Information
27. 27. Personal Data Policy
28. 28. An Affiliate Program
29. 29. A TikTok Shop
30. 30. Conclusion

1. User-Friendly Navigation With Breadcrumbs

The cardinal to helping customers find the products they request rapidly is to connection a user-friendly navigation system. Products should beryllium logically categorized, with the astir fashionable categories listed first.

Sephora knows however customers similar to shop.

Some specifically question retired products by brand, portion others store by category. The navigation barroom reflects this organization, on with speedy links to worth sets and existent sales.

To assistance the idiosyncratic get backmost to the main leafage oregon merchandise categories, Sephora besides implements breadcrumb navigation passim its site.

Navigation features should beryllium tested rigorously connected mobile devices to guarantee that customers utilized to the desktop website tin conscionable arsenic easy find what they privation to purchase.

2. Internal Site Search

In summation to user-friendly navigation, site search is simply a diagnostic recovered connected astir of the apical ecommerce sites.

It allows customers to bypass the navigation and hunt for precisely what they want.

Nordstrom offers a tract hunt with suggestions for fashionable brands and products matching your entry.

This tract hunt adjacent includes fashionable searches and trending searches adjacent the customer.

3. Product Filters

For stores with a ample enactment of products, merchandise filters tin assistance customers rapidly find the merchandise needed based connected features, size, availability, and different pertinent information.

Walgreens offers customers an point availability filter to benignant products based connected pickup, same-day delivery, shipping, oregon in-stock availability.

In addition, galore merchandise categories person filters related to circumstantial types of items, separating medicines from cosmetics.

Have you considered the champion mode to utilize your website’s footer to assistance customers find your apical products?

Try a database of links to the apical products, services, and accusation that customers privation to find.

T-Mobile uses its footer to nonstop customers to its societal media profiles, English and Spanish sites, featured phones and plans, support, and institution information.

The footer efficaciously includes links to everything the institution wants customers and hunt crawlers to observe from immoderate leafage connected its website.

5. Product Videos

Adding video to your merchandise pages tin summation conversions.

Most ecommerce platforms let retailers to adhd videos and images to their merchandise pages.

Apple uses video to item features of its latest iPhone connected its income page. The high-quality merchandise images and videos assistance merchantability its products online and in-store.

6. Product Comparisons

If you person a ample enactment of products to take from successful immoderate category, fto customers rapidly comparison the main features of each.

REI allows customers to bash this with products similar hiking bags.

When customers spell to the examination screen, they person a elaborate statement of each product, ratings, reviews, and pricing.

7. Product Reviews

Product reviews and ratings are the astir fashionable signifier of user-generated contented connected ecommerce sites.

This conception of an ecommerce merchandise leafage is important to providing societal impervious to shoppers that a merchandise volition acceptable their needs.

Amazon allows customers to adhd photos and videos to reviews, marking applicable reviews arsenic verified.

Amazon has besides experimented with AI-generated lawsuit reappraisal summaries connected immoderate products.

While generative AI features are progressively contiguous successful the ecommerce landscape, retailers should proceed cautiously, arsenic AI contented tin beryllium inaccurate.

8. Generous Return Policy

Want to summation user assurance successful the products you sell? Offer a generous instrumentality argumentation and see it connected your merchandise page.

Better yet, marque your instrumentality options arsenic casual arsenic possible.

Zappos does some by giving customers 365 days to instrumentality oregon speech products and an further mode to instrumentality items with minimal hassle.

9. FAQ For Products

Another mode to incorporated user-generated contented into your ecommerce store is by adding a conception of customers’ astir often asked questions.

This conception tin assistance your store successful immoderate ways.

• Increase the fig of income by answering your customer’s apical pre-sales questions astir your products.
• Reduce the clip your lawsuit work has to reply merchandise questions earlier and aft the purchase.

Magic Spoon offers an FAQ conception aft lawsuit reviews of its cereal.

Screenshot from Magic Spoon, February 2024

When imaginable customers click connected presumption much FAQs, they observe an organized conception of answers for shipping, orders, and different inquiries.

10. Simple Checkout

The past happening you privation to bash earlier a lawsuit is astir to participate their recognition paper accusation is frustrate them.

Make definite that customers tin easy find the buying cart to cheque out. Urban Outfitters does a large occupation by adding a small checkout popup each clip you adhd a caller point to the buying cart.

On the checkout page, you tin spot details astir the items successful your cart and tin checkout rapidly utilizing PayPal oregon proceed for much options.

You are besides reminded of items you’ve saved for aboriginal and items that complement what you are astir to purchase.

You tin motion successful oregon checkout arsenic a impermanent connected the pursuing page.

11. Multiple Payment Options

Another mode to marque the checkout process easier is to connection customers aggregate outgo options alternatively of an relationship sign-up.

Online retailers similar Xena Workwear fto customers checkout utilizing Shop Pay from Shopify, PayPal, and Venmo.

Customers utilizing these outgo methods connected different sites volition automatically beryllium comfy with the process.

12. SSO Integration

To assistance users make caller accounts and motion successful faster, integrate single-sign-on for your customers.

This allows customers to make an relationship and motion successful rapidly with their Google, Microsoft, Apple, LinkedIn, oregon different often-used account.

eBay is 1 of galore large buying destinations that connection this option.

Reducing friction during the signup and sign-in could amended your store’s income volume.

13. Support/Help Center

In summation to the FAQ for your merchandise pages and store, see adding a assistance center.

This should screen immoderate wide questions radical whitethorn inquire astir online privacy, security, payments, shipping, returns, and different buying concerns.

Etsy offers assistance for galore of the apical enactment issues customers look successful its assistance center, arsenic good arsenic assistance for sellers connected the network.

This saves the Etsy enactment squad from having to reply wide questions and gives them much clip to lick analyzable issues.

14. Order Tracking

Once your lawsuit places an order, the apical question connected their caput is: When volition my bid arrive?

Make it elemental for customers to cheque their existent bid presumption connected your website.

AutoZone has an bid tracking leafage that doesn’t necessitate customers to log in.

Customers simply participate their email code and the bid fig they received successful their bid confirmation email.

The leafage is easy discoverable passim the website successful the footer.

Ecommerce brands connected Shopify tin besides promote customers to usage the Shop App for casual bid tracking, societal posts, and reappraisal reminders.

15. Mobile App

In summation to having a mobile-friendly website that shoppers tin entree from immoderate device, see having a mobile app for your store.

Mobile apps let you to support your marque successful customers’ minds by placing your app icon/logo connected their astute devices.

You don’t person to hold for customers to unfastened up a browser oregon different app for societal media oregon email to get your latest income messages.

You tin propulsion those promotional updates done your app to immoderate customers with notifications arsenic Home Depot does with its app.

16. Email & SMS Opt-In

Having a revenue-generating email database is simply a must-have for retailers.

If you can’t get visitors to acquisition connected your website, 1 of the adjacent champion conversions for your store would beryllium to attain the visitant arsenic a subscriber connected your email list.

This would let you to scope them with aboriginal income and email promotions.

Another mode ecommerce retailers tin seizure email addresses is by adding an opt-in signifier with a peculiar promotion successful the header and footer of their website.

Betabrand uses an introductory connection popup for caller lawsuit discounts via email and SMS.

A regular reminder for others is included successful the website’s footer, merchandise reappraisal highlights, and an bid presumption page.

17. Push Notifications

If you privation to bypass spam filters and societal media algorithms, propulsion notifications volition beryllium the adjacent champion mode to seizure your ecommerce store visitors arsenic subscribers.

Push notification services let visitors to subscribe to your latest updates successful their browser.

When you person a promotion you privation to notify subscribers of, you tin nonstop a connection that volition beryllium delivered to their notification halfway via their browser.

Shein is 1 of galore ecommerce brands that allows visitors to subscribe to propulsion notifications.

Once subscribed, visitors volition spot the latest messages from the marque successful their desktop notifications.

18. Chatbots

One of the benefits of moving an ecommerce website is its quality to make gross 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, passim the year. That besides means providing enactment to your customers during those hours arsenic well.

Many ecommerce stores usage chatbots to assistance online shoppers with basal questions and navigate them to a circumstantial merchandise oregon enactment page.

Lowes uses “Leo,” an automated adjunct with circumstantial prompts for visitors to take from erstwhile looking for a circumstantial answer, uncovering a circumstantial product, oregon solving a basal lawsuit work inquiry.

Note that the chatbots for ecommerce stores are not needfully the aforesaid arsenic AI chatbots, similar ChatGPT.

It’s important to probe chat features earlier implementing them into an ecommerce store.

Even if the chatbot offers inaccurate information, your institution whitethorn person to grant the accusation it provides customers, arsenic Air Canada recovered retired successful a caller lawsuit wherever it had to wage a refund that its chatbot initiated.

19. Coupon Codes

We cognize that consumers often hunt for coupon codes connected Google erstwhile presented with a coupon oregon discount container connected a checkout page.

In the United States, 88% of consumers usage coupons erstwhile shopping, utilizing coupon sites similar slickdeals.com, groupon.com, and retailmenot.com.

If you privation to support customers connected your website passim the checkout process, springiness them large deals via your ain coupon codes.

Victoria’s Secret has an connection codes leafage to vie with coupon sites and publishers with coupon sections that treble arsenic affiliate gross generators.

20. Special Offer Programs

Does your ecommerce store person peculiar discounts for students, military, archetypal responders, and others?

Ensure your merchandise pages item those offers – particularly for high-ticket items.

Samsung does a large occupation of doing this for caller website visitors.

21. Wishlists

Add wishlist functionality to assistance customers find the items they wanted during erstwhile visits.

The Nintendo Store makes it casual for logged-in users to prevention an point to their wishlist – they conscionable click oregon pat the heart.

This volition guarantee they cognize precisely what they privation the adjacent clip idiosyncratic needs a day contiguous thought oregon wants thing for themselves.

22. Gift Registries

If you hunt acquisition registries connected Google, you volition find dozens of well-known marque retailers.

Target, Amazon, Walmart, Crate & Barrel, and Bed, Bath, & Beyond are conscionable a fewer that look connected the archetypal leafage of SERPs.

Why are acquisition registries important to driving sales? Let’s conscionable look astatine wedding registries for a moment.

CNBC reported findings from Baird’s 2022 survey that Amazon leads arsenic the apical wedding registry supplier with 45% listing penetration.

Walmart offers acquisition registries for babies, weddings, and classrooms. You tin besides make a customized registry to observe immoderate juncture you choose.

23. Multilingual Support

If your ecommerce store caters to customers successful a circumstantial region, you person 2 options to enactment the apical languages spoken successful their region:

• Depend connected Google Translate to assistance customers construe your website into their language.
• Create aggregate versions of your website for circumstantial languages.

Xfinity uses English connected the www subdomain and Spanish connected the es subdomain.

24. Loyalty Program

Do you privation to summation lawsuit retention? Offering a loyalty programme is 1 mode to promote radical to store from your e-commerce store again.

These are typically escaped oregon paid programs wherever customers get backstage oregon aboriginal entree to the champion deals.

Many let customers to accrue points per purchase, starring to rewards specified arsenic a circumstantial dollar magnitude disconnected your adjacent acquisition oregon a escaped product.

Ulta is 1 of galore brands offering a escaped rewards programme for loyal customers.

Customers tin articulation for escaped and gain points redeemable for products and services online and in-store.

25. Carousels

While marketers whitethorn disagree connected the worth of homepage representation and video carousels, galore ecommerce brands usage them.

Major retailers specified arsenic Walmart, eBay, Home Depot, Samsung, Wayfair, Lowes, Costco, Sam’s Club, and Kohls person carousels with their latest promotions and sales.

Chewy is different ecommerce marque that features a carousel connected the homepage. This carousel promotes discounts for auto-ship orders, steadfast favored food, flea & tick medications, favored bedding, and more.

26. Local Store Information

If your ecommerce marque besides has physical store locations, you tin boost offline income by adding details for the nearest store to your website’s header.

This would let customers to store online, reserve for in-store pickup, oregon browse their section store inventory earlier making an in-store purchase.

Brands similar Hobby Lobby inquire astir website visitors’ determination to bring them much from their nearest store.

27. Personal Data Policy

Depending connected wherever your ecommerce store is based and the customers it serves, your tract whitethorn request a argumentation that notifies visitors of the information collected astir them connected your website utilizing cookies from the website and different analytics tools.

Michael’s ecommerce store displays a popup advising visitors astir cooky usage to heighten idiosyncratic acquisition and analyse website traffic.

Visitors past person the enactment to judge the policy, larn much astir it, and set cooky preferences.

28. An Affiliate Program

Offer an affiliate programme to get much contented creators talking astir your product.

This lets your apical customers monetize their contented by promoting their favourite products.

Major retailers similar Target connection an affiliate programme and creator web to make much marque ambassadors.

29. A TikTok Shop

Having an established beingness connected societal media is simply a given. However, immoderate brands person extended their ecommerce enactment to TikTok Shop.

TikTok offers Shop products successful a dedicated feed, allowing brands to spouse with contented creators connected the level for influencer selling content.

Brands similar OtterBox person adjacent added vertical videos and branded hashtags to their websites to beforehand societal commerce further.

Conclusion

Building a palmy ecommerce website requires focusing connected what you cognize astir your customers, their journeys, and their needs. Then, you request to marque those journeys arsenic casual arsenic imaginable to travel connected your website.

The pursuing principles use arsenic you physique ecommerce buying experiences:

• Prioritize a seamless idiosyncratic acquisition for each devices and platforms.
• Make navigation intuitive, hunt functions intelligent, and accusation readily accessible crossed each tract sections.
• Product descriptions should beryllium elaborate and immersive, featuring user-generated contented similar reviews and lawsuit photos. In the adjacent future, expect technologies similar augmented world (AR) to revolutionize however customers interact with products online.
• Blend your online beingness with brick-and-mortar locations, allowing for convenient options similar buy-online-pickup-in-store (BOPIS) oregon in-store returns for online purchases.
• With increasing concerns astir information privacy, intelligibly outline your idiosyncratic information argumentation and stress unafraid outgo options.
• Make a beardown committedness to transparent lawsuit work and elemental instrumentality procedures. This fosters a consciousness of assurance important for semipermanent marque loyalty.

The occurrence of immoderate ecommerce website yet depends connected exceeding lawsuit expectations.

Stay existent connected the latest trends with caller technologies, and strive to present an exceptional online buying experience.

More resources: 

• SEO For Ecommerce Product Pages: 20 Do’s & Don’ts
• How To Effectively Perform Keyword Research For Ecommerce
• Ecommerce Marketing: The Definitive Guide

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