Expert Advice : Successful UX Design of an E-commerce website

For an online shop (an e-commerce site), it is important to have a good UX. Indeed,without it, Internet users can feel lost on your online business. A physical shop is well organised and thought out so that customers are guided through their shopping experience. On the internet, the same must be done. With the mass of information and the mass of offers on the web, you have to think about the user.

For this, we have, in this interview-type article, interviewed the UX Designer of Digidop, Mérieux, to help us understand the best practices to respect to optimize and succeed the UX design of its e-commerce site.

Presentation of our UX Designer

I have been a Mérieux Hechter UX Designer for 2 years. It's a job that came to me quite naturally thanks to my passion for design. In my work as a UX designer, I will be asked to imagine the future user experience (UX) of end users. This user experience will be thought out on the client's platforms in terms ofUX, but alsoUI (user interface).

For me, the user experience (UX) is the responses and perceptions of a person that result from the use of a product, service or system. It is also about creating a good digital experience that meets business challenges and user expectations. This is a job that is very important these days. Indeed, the world is going digital, more and more companies need a website to have an online visibility. Having a website is one step, but thinking about it for the user is another. A site with a good user experience can limit the bounce rate, increase the length of time users spend on the site and generate leads. In fact, UX Design and SEO are becoming more and more associated these days. You can also find our advice on natural referencing (SEO) for an e-commerce site.

Thanks to my education and my professional experience, I was able to carry out different projects. I was able to be a facilitator, create wireframes and mock-ups, or think about the user path and user research. All these missions have been carried out thanks to my skills in interface design, user experience design, user path design and mock-up and testing.

What are the most important criteria of UX Design for E-commerce?

UX Design is subject to many requirements. Every page of your website must be designed in such a way that the user knows where he is. And these requirements are all the more present for an e-commerce site. Indeed, if the user experience is not good on an online shop then your sales will not increase. In this section, we will take into account three important criteria for the UX Design of an e-commerce site: the voice of the business, the voice of the market and the voice of the user.

Voice of the Business: Understanding needs

One of the first steps is to understand the ecosystem. In this criterion, we take the time to listen to the voice of the user. We have to analyse any kind of constraint that a user may encounter according to their needs and take into account the needs of the team. Then we have to succeed in implementing all this while taking into account the business issues.

The voice of the market: Strategic intelligence

Here, we are mainly interested in market trends. To do this, we will monitor the trends and what is being done. The aim is to offer a product that meets the needs of users while taking into account the requirements of the market. We must be able to offer a system in which the user does not feel alienated in the usability.

The voice of the user

This criterion allows us to compare the main needs of users with the strategic/marketing objectives of the company. We will take into account the context of use. This is when we take the time to understand the real needs. This is also where we put ourselves in the real conditions to meet their needs. All of this without forgetting to propose a technology that is simple/easy to use for the user and implementable for the technical team.

So far we have seen three voices that we need to listen to. All these voices allow us to create an experience, I would even say a real experience!

Do you have any tips for improving the UX design of your e-commerce site?

There are several tips on the web to improve the UX design of your e-commerce site. The tips I use are based on the UX methodology. This is a methodology during which we learn to understand :

• The real needs
• The issues
• Issues raised by the user

This is done in three ways: in a general context (overview), in the context of the company and in the context of the users.

General context: the needs of the E-commerce site

In this section, we will see that it is important to understand the real needs of an e-commerce site. In fact, it is necessary to have an overview of the project before starting to build it. This is an important study phase during which the following questions will be asked:

• What are the objectives of the project? (The answer to this question is the incentive for users to go to your site)
• What is the problem to be solved (the answer not only targets the needs of the users but also brings a touch of innovation)
• Who are your users? (student, elderly, active person, child...)

Depending on the answers to these questions, the e-commerce shop will not be built in one way or another, but rather in such a way.

Company context: the challenges of the E-commerce site

On the other hand, it is necessary to understand the company's issues. That is to say, we must determine what the company concretely expects from its website. To do this, we can ask ourselves two main questions:

• What are the specific issues for the company? (For example: Enhance the image of your brand or company? Sell more? Increase your conversion rate? Develop your visibility? Avoid cart abandonment?)
• What are the difficulties (analyse the cost, the time needed to design or implement your product)

Knowing the client allows us to build a site that meets their expectations. Then, we will mix the expectations of the company and those of the users to have the best possible UX. Thus, the online navigation (menu, home page, call to action, content, elements) will be totally adapted and the site will have good ergonomics.

User context: the problems of the E-commerce site

Finally, we take the point of view of the users / visitors of the site. Indeed, gathering and understanding customer feedback will facilitate the UX optimisation process. In addition, it will facilitate the creation of an effective site that converts. Here again, several questions and issues need to be answered:

• What tools do users use today? (This phase allows you to observe what types of devices are used: Is it a smartphone/mobile, a tablet, a computer? What applications do they use?)
• How do they use them and have they been used so far? (Gather feedback / opinions from users)

Bonus tip

A little tip I can give you as a bonus is to have documentation. This is a documentation that you will fill in as you go along, like a database. You can put in the problems you have faced or ideas. So if you encounter similar situations between different projects, you know how to deal with the problem.

Digidop Design and build your e-commerce site with UX in mind

Digidop is a nocode web agency. We offer our clients a 360° experience for their website or e-commerce. You have a project?

• We create a wireframe and a model of your project
• We develop an optimised and personalised site just for you
• We automate your tasks to make your life easier
• We ensure that your site meets the best SEO practices so that it can appear in the top positions on search engines