Ecommerce Website Customization – Tips Before Launching Your Online Store

The internet is our gateway to pretty much everything—and that includes shopping. This is why so many online stores have been popping up recently. People are turning to the internet to sell their products online and generate profit. 

But the way you go about it matters. Your online storefront influences what your buyer sees in your store and how they perceive your brand. You have under one second to make your first impression, so you must make it matter. 

Your ecommerce website design must speak to your target audience and get them to trust your brand. And the best way to do that is with an ecommerce website customization project. Let’s look at what you need to know in order to customize your ecommerce store. 

Design Customization

The best ecommerce website customizations use design elements to create a sense of trust toward the brand when a user starts browsing the site. The design is optimized to be user-friendly and contain a familiarity and sense of excitement for the buyer. Check out these design element ideas on the visual aspects of your store.

Choose the right color scheme

Picking colors for your ecommerce site goes beyond personal preferences. Understanding color psychology empowers you to drive sales strategically. Colors trigger emotions and actions in people, so harnessing this is crucial for conversion.

For instance, using bright colors, like a vibrant red for your purchase button, can boost excitement and increase conversions by up to 34 percent. On the other hand, incorporating blue into your design enhances trust and credibility.

Color is a potent tool—mastering it can greatly impact your ecommerce design’s effectiveness.

Select the right fonts and typography

As you work on your ecommerce site, remember that the words you put down convey information, but it’s the typography that conveys the emotion within that information. Maintaining two fonts and establishing a hierarchy between them is a smart approach. Opt for one font for your headers or titles, then select another for your body text.

Use high-quality images and videos

Videos and images can enhance your website and the user experience. It helps you sell products and shows the customer exactly what they are ordering. But the images and videos must be high-quality. 

Fuzzy, hazy images are a turnoff and will quickly send your audience away from your site. You’ll also want to have more than one image of each product available. People like to see variety and options. Give them some. 

Take high-quality photos of your products and of people using them. If you’re unable, hire someone to do so. It will be well worth it in the long run. 

Create a visually appealing layout

As you embark on the ecommerce design journey, keep it simple. The greater the elements on the page (colors, banner ads, numerous pop-ups), the more they detract from the website’s core objective—closing a sale. 

You don’t require an excess of fancy features on your ecommerce site; they merely serve as distractions. Include the mandatory design elements, keep them attractive and appealing for your audience, and keep your site focused on your product. 

Maintain a straightforward, uncluttered, and uncomplicated design while channeling all the attention towards making the sale.

When designing your ecommerce website, think like a shopper. What would you, as a shopper, like to see on your site?

Ensure the website is mobile-friendly

One of your top priorities should be ensuring your website is mobile-friendly. Why? Because people love their smartphones. 

The reality is:

• 79% of mobile device users have made purchases on their devices.
• 73% of the total ecommerce market is comprised of purchases on a mobile device
• 57% of people in the US have used a mobile device to research a product

Mobile devices are not going away, and for your store to succeed, you’ll need to create an atmosphere that allows any user to shop on your website. 

Content Customization

The visual elements of your website matter, but so do the words you put on the page. If you want to start selling online, your copy must position your website to be found on the internet. 

With all the competitors popping up, your words can help your website stand out among the crowd. Here are a few things to consider for your website customization.

Write engaging product descriptions

Product descriptions are your chance to delve into the finer details of your offering. Make sure it addresses what the product is, as well as your customers’ questions and concerns about the product. 

The aim is to create a detailed description, although perhaps not immediately obvious. A smart approach is to feature a summary next to the product and purchase button, accompanied by a more comprehensive description below, OR include a “read more” link that opens up a modal window with extensive information.

Certain products demand a wealth of information and specifications—think of upscale purchases like technical gadgets or automobiles. Other products may not require as much information but still need to contain the basic information. 

Take advantage of your product descriptions and use them to sell your products to your customers. 

Create persuasive call-to-actions

Just as you strive to create user-friendly pages, you should also aim to craft pages on your website with crystal-clear, persuasive calls to action (CTAs). 

The finest ecommerce website design doesn’t assume customers already know what to do – it’s a design that leads them through the purchase process, providing guidance every step of the way.

A simple method to integrate CTAs into your website involves adding a “Buy Now” button to your product descriptions. Customers can click on it to add an item to their shopping cart. Although seemingly minor, this adjustment can significantly enhance conversion rates.

Make your CTAs visible, straightforward, and easy to use with bright colors, ample clickable areas, and simple language.

Incorporate customer reviews and testimonials

Human nature drives us to seek social proof, and this concept holds substantial weight in e-commerce. There’s no need to wait until a user reaches a product page to present them with testimonials lauding your services. You’ll typically find customer testimonials scattered across most pages, often residing in the footer to avoid disrupting the main content.

Numerous ecommerce solutions offer app integrations, allowing you to feature user-generated content on your site. This encompasses customer photos, your Instagram feed, and even customer reviews. These elements serve as indicators to potential customers, showcasing the credibility of your brand.

Develop a blog section for additional content

Every ecommerce store should consider adding a blog to their store. A blog can help promote your products, show users what they are missing, and answer questions about your brand. You can use your blog to engage customers and help them along their ecommerce journey.

Use high-quality images in your blogs, just as on your product pages, and use concise language. Then, share your blog posts on your social media pages and point people to your store. 

Optimize content for search engines

Your site should be filled with SEO (search engine optimized) content. This means that you are using specific keywords that will help your customers find your store when they are searching for a product online. 

Many buyers are looking for a product, but maybe not a specific brand, and when you use the right keywords, they could end up at your store for that product.

Ensure your content—be it product descriptions, blog posts, or an “About Us” page—is presented in an easily scannable format filled with keywords. Employ concise sentences and paragraphs, use bold text to highlight key details, and incorporate bulleted lists to break down large chunks of information.

By optimizing your content for scannability, you enhance the likelihood of your audience—and the search engines—absorbing your essential messages, thereby increasing the potential for successful sales.

Functionality Customization

Website customization can help your website stand out and showcase your brand and products. But when you make your customizations, you need to be sure they are user-friendly and easy to navigate. Here are a few places to check on. Make sure they are easy to use and designed with good customer intent. 

Offer multiple payment and shipping options

Every ecommerce business should take multiple forms of payment to make things easy for their customers. Be sure to show them all at checkout so your customers can pick the option that works best for them. 

You’ll also want to offer multiple shipping options if at all possible. While most people are happy with standard shipping, some may want last-minute orders to be shipped overnight or as quickly as you can send them. Last-minute holiday or birthday gifts need to get to your customers quickly. 

Provide a user-friendly shopping cart and checkout process

Nothing kills a sale more than a clunky and awkward checkout process. To finalize the sale, you must make your shopping cart and checkout simple and pain-free. Don’t give your customers a reason to back out of their purchase. Give your customers options, but keep them straightforward. Let them checkout as a guest or register for future purchases. 

And make everything crystal clear. Don’t leave them room to second-guess their purchase. This is the final step in a seamless shopping experience, so don’t skimp on the checkout process. 

Incorporate a live chat feature for customer support

Customers have questions, and of that, there is no doubt. Give them an easy way to get these questions answered with a live chat feature that helps them through the buying process. Just because it’s “live” doesn’t mean you have to sit at your desk, staring at the box, waiting for a question. 

Most chatbots can be set up with automatic Q&A, so when customers ask a standard question, they get a bot-automated response. Only when their questions deviate from the norm do you need to have a person get on and chat with them. This modern convenience is a must-have on today’s ecommerce websites. 

Include social media integrations for easy sharing

By including your social media icons on your website, you can encourage follows and make it easy for your customers to share your website. 

You can also amplify any special offers and make sure all of your followers are aware of them. If you have a strong social media following, this can encourage more interactions and purchases as well. 

Design tip: Be sure to put your social media icons near the bottom of your website. You want the people on your ecommerce site to focus on buying first and sharing second. 

Personalize the shopping experience with product recommendations and related items.

Your shoppers are searching for specific items on your ecommerce platform. Show them similar products on a product detail page. Recommend items that are a higher price but similar to the ones they are currently looking at. Or show them items that complement the ones they are looking at to add additional items to the sale.

Technical Customization

Most ecommerce website customizations focus on the storefront—the part your customers see. Make sure it functions well and is easy to navigate and checkout. But don’t forget about your backend. Some of the technical items below greatly impact how your customers view your website. 

Ensure website speed and performance optimization

Website speed is a critically important metric to keep track of. Remember how you have less than one second to make a good first impression?

If your site loads slowly, you’ve potentially lost customers before they even get on your website. A good ecommerce website design will maximize efficiency and performance and keep load times minimal. 

Two key elements to keep track of are web fonts and your images. Both of these can drastically increase your load time. Keep your images as small in size as possible to eliminate slow loading. And limit your use of web fonts as they require extra HTTP requests when rendering.

Implement website security measures

Opt for a secure server to align with shopper expectations regarding their personal information’s safety during online purchases. SSL (secure sockets layer) certificates play a crucial role here: they validate a website’s identity and encrypt sensitive data for added security. 

This vital sign reassures customers about secure checkouts. Strengthen this assurance by integrating SSL and showcasing SSL certificate badges, underscoring the safeguarding of their data.

Conduct regular website backups

Nothing lasts forever, including websites. Disasters happen, whether it’s a server crash or accidental deletion of files. Protect yourself and your ecommece site by creating backup files. Backups let you return to normal pre-disaster times.

Professional websites should focus on backups. Losing orders or inventory hurts your bottom line and can potentially cause you a loss of customers.

Creating backups is easy. Decide how and how often you want a backup and store it safely on an external drive or cloud. 

Configure website analytics and tracking tools

Set your Google Analytics or another tracking software on your website. You’ll be able to track items like which pages your audience looks at and their actions on each page. 

You’ll know which products are the most popular and what your conversion rate is. If you have 1,000 people who look at a product and not a single person buys it, you may need to tweak that product page. But you’ll only have this information available to you if you track your metrics. 

Test website functionality before launching

On many new websites, there are a few bugs. You’ll want to eliminate these before you go live. Go out to your ecommerce store and act like you are a customer. Test all your links to make sure they go where they need to. 

Try subscribing to the email to ensure it kicks off your marketing campaign. Double-check your cart and checkout to ensure your payment windows and shipping options work correctly and that your customers can buy their products. 

Your desktop and mobile sales depend on your store working correctly. Test both of them to be sure. 

Marketing Customization

Once you’ve launched your website, you’ll need to find a way to attract your target audience to your store. They can only make purchases online if they know your store exists. This is where your marketing comes into play.

Develop a comprehensive marketing plan

If this is your first online store, you may have to start from scratch with your marketing strategy. That’s okay. It’s important to take the time to do just this. Your actions from your marketing plan are how your customers will find you online. 

Create a marketing budget and determine how much you intend to spend on different marketing tactics, from social media marketing to PPC ads to direct mail mailers. The faster you can draw attention to your store, the quicker you’ll see sales. 

Utilize SEO tactics to increase website visibility

Use keywords on every page of your website. Your keywords are the words you use to help people find your website and your products. Scatter these words throughout your main pages, product category pages, product pages themselves, and even your contact page and checkout page. 

Create a meta title and meta description for every page that tells a person what the page is about. Your store builder should have a place to put this information. By building SEO into your website, you can move up in the Google rankings and be found more quickly.

Create targeted email marketing campaigns

If you have a mailing list, you’ll want to target these people immediately. If not, you’ll want to grow an email list. As people subscribe to your website, usually to get some sort of discount or free shipping, you can start sending emails to the group. 

Break them into groups, depending on what products they are looking at on your website. Offer them discounts and limited-time offers. Send them a newsletter with industry and company updates. Stay in their inbox, and you’ll start to see a return on investment. 

Integrate social media marketing strategies

One of the best places to market your store is on social media. Share product images, blog posts, and industry news with your audience. Create a loyal following that looks to you when they need something. These loyal groupies will share your posts and help you spread your message across different social media channels. 

Implement paid advertising campaigns

Paid ads are an excellent way to get your business in front of your target audience. When you place ads, they will show up when your customers look specifically for that item. 

If you’re using Google Ads, you’ll only pay for these ads if someone clicks on them—and you’ll be at the top of the search list, where people naturally look for what they are trying to buy. 

Final Thoughts

The internet’s role in shopping is indisputable, and how you present your brand matters profoundly. Your digital storefront isn’t just about products; it’s a canvas for your brand’s essence that resonates with your audience. 

With seconds to capture attention, your online platform must align with your audience and cultivate trust. Website customization must be well done to be a ticket to success. 

From strategic design choices like colors, typography, images, and layout to seamless navigation, on-site searching, intuitive checkout, and flexible payment options, customization is your ally.

In the ecommerce realm, a customized site is your vessel, steering you toward trust, engagement, and sales. It’s not just a virtual storefront; it’s where your brand meets consumers and online shopping unfolds. Harness customization’s power and watch your online store flourish in an ever-evolving digital landscape.