Here’s our 4-step candid plan to building an e-commerce website:
Research and strategy
Here, you must seek answers to these two questions:
- What do you want the website to do?
- Who’s your target audience?
The web developer must have a clear understanding of not only your company and the products but the industry as a whole.
Research about the target audience and the likely keywords they might use to search your products or company. And while at it, remember that the three-click rule is paramount. In case you’re wondering, the rule dictates that at best, a customer must get what they’re looking for in three or fewer clicks. Anything past that, and they might end up exiting your site.
Prerequisites
After researching and developing a strategy, you now want to set down everything that a new e-commerce website needs to sell a product or service. These include landing pages, content, search button, user requirements, FAQs, and many more. You need to figure and provide a solution for the level of understanding a customer must have about a product to make a purchase decision.
You want to draw the prospect from searching for broad, ambiguous information with little chances of success to specific products and prices that convert into sales. And the results? You’ll not only attract more customers but also retain them.
Information infrastructure
How hassle-free is it for a visitor to navigate your site and find what they are searching for? The focus here is to optimize your website information architecture and overall layout for a positive user experience. And achieving this feat requires that you have a first-hand understanding of how users interface or browse your site.
The quicker your e-commerce website solves their questions and meets their demands, the higher your conversion and return rates will be!
Mock-up & design
A professionally designed website is a must-have if you want your potential customers to consider your business credible and reliable. You want a design with a classic touch of uniqueness, customer orientation, and one that reflects your brand and objectives.
The design is also pivotal in determining user experience. If it doesn’t align with your products or match customers’ expectations, the number of visitors converting to buyers won’t be very pleasing.
But how exactly do you design the website after planning?
There are several design software you can work with to create a quick website plan. WriteMaps is one of the best tools with incredible features like visual sitemaps and page content collection for effective website planning.
Over to you
What’s holding you from developing your e-commerce website and tapping into the enormous opportunities the market provides? Creating a winning e-commerce site plan is about researching what your target audience is looking for, gathering all the requirements, and keeping the site easy to navigate.
Contact Us today to get started on your own E-commerce website!
Article by Brittney Gaddis – Co-Founder at Honey + Hare and Graphic and Website Designer at Brittney Gaddis Design