The Growing Importance of User-Friendly E-Commerce Sites

User-Friendly E-commerce is a force of today. It brings the world to your doorstep, and it’s not just a cliché. Fifty years ago, they would have called it a wonder. A miracle of modern times. Back then, people waited. They walked to the store and hoped what they needed was there. Now, we click a simple button, and it comes. Goods from far away, things we never knew we needed (and most often, we don’t). It saves time, the most precious thing we have. Business has changed too. A small man with a big idea can sell to anyone, anywhere. He doesn’t need a big shop on a crowded street. All he needs is a connection.

But thanks to this, e-commerce is a battle. Buying an e-commerce plan for Shopify is not much different from buying a shirt online. The field is crowded, and everyone wants to win. There are thousands of stores, all pushing for the same customer. If a site is slow, they leave. If it’s confusing, they get frustrated. This puts even more importance on user-friendliness, especially for long-term projects.

Stripping Away the Noise

Over 50% of people leave a site that takes more than three seconds to load. That’s the fact. In e-commerce, time is gold. People come to buy, and expect things to work. They don’t have time for cluttered pages or hard-to-find buttons. They want a clear path, a fast road. If they don’t get it, they move on. Luckily for them, and unfortunately for some business owners, there’s plenty of competition to choose from. Often, they sell the same goods.

Just don’t mistake simplicity for user-friendly. Simplicity is not just less. It’s less with purpose. To be user-friendly is different. It means to think like the customer. Create a clear path for them. E-commerce websites can be simple, but not necessarily user-friendly. The internet is a place where everyone’s shouting, and people are quick to lose focus these days. When all the noise is stripped away, the world becomes a place easier to grasp.

What Does the Data Tell?

There’s a lot of data available on how a user-friendly website should look like. Not just from the design perspective. That one is important too, but it’s the layout and the small things that makes the whole user experience. The best practices are laid out clearly. Simplify the checkout. Make the search bar prominent. Don’t hide important buttons. Ensure fast loading times. Most online platforms in the UK already use these user-friendly best practices. They are backed by a solid decade and a half of e-commerce experience, gathered under numerous blog articles and case studies.

Those just starting often find all those a bit intimidating. Understandable. But in reality, it’s simple – when you put the customer’s journey first, you build loyalty. A site that works well also ranks better in search engines. Google doesn’t like sites that are hard to use. A smooth experience helps the site climb the ranks. It’s all connected and relevant. At the end of the day, a good user experience is like a handshake. It says, “you can trust us.” Everyone remembers a good handshake. And over time, that trust builds the brand.

The Brand. Don’t Forget the Brand

Some 75% of visitors will judge a company’s credibility by the website design. Those are the numbers discovered by the Stanford University in one of their studies. And it makes sense. Having a nice website is like dressing nice. You’re sending a message. It might seem superficial, but that’s how it is. No matter how good the product is, if the presentation is not matching, new customers will hardly come in.

Ensuring success in the digital age is about many things. A user-friendly approach is one of them. Building a brand, rather than just another store that sells dog food or no-name t-shirts, is another. Success in today’s world is, despite all the opportunities and tools available, harder than ever. Western markets are mature and saturated in most niches, while developing markets have their own set of problems. For that reason, building a strong brand that revolves around solid user-friendly foundations is probably one of the best ways for any business to set off quickly.