Proven UX design methods to boost your ecommerce conversion rate

Many companies fall into the trap of not considering the user when creating their online platform. If you don't know what problems your customer has or what answers they seek, your ecommerce platform, website, or mobile app won't be user-friendly. Examining the coolest web designs and websites with good web design can provide valuable insights into how to create a user-centric platform. These examples often showcase best practices in usability, accessibility, and aesthetic appeal, ensuring that the final product not only looks great but also meets the users' needs.

When applying UX design methods, one of the most important steps is to create the persona character of the end user. You shouldn't make an abstract user based on preconceptions but rather a credible and realistic character whose motivations and problems you can empathize with during the design process. For digital platforms, demographic data is becoming less significant, and it may not be advisable to define personas based on age groups or age.

Finding unique patterns, such as motivations, is important. A good example is Spotify, where they sought to understand why people share their playlists with others.

It’s worth seeking the opinions of those within the company who interact with users during the purchase or service process (e.g., sales, support, customer service). Following this, it is advisable to conduct in-depth interviews with a few individuals from the target group defined as personas and refine the characteristics of the persona based on the feedback.

The user journey represents the steps a user goes through. The first step is when they feel the need to purchase a new product, and you need to follow their actions until they buy the desired item. This is important to know because it allows you to design your online interfaces (e.g., site categories, functions, product lists, searches, filters) to answer the user's emerging questions and needs.

The user journey also helps in creating prototypes, which come in two types. "Low fidelity" prototypes are more sketchy, with black-and-white sketches, schematic graphical elements, and "lorem ipsum" texts. In contrast, "high fidelity" prototypes are more detailed and appear realistic. The advantage of prototypes is that, as interactive designs, users can directly try out specific functions, allowing you to get feedback on the product's operation before starting the expensive development process. Additionally, conducting a thorough usability analysis on these prototypes helps identify any potential issues early, ensuring that the final product is both functional and user-friendly. This iterative process of testing and analysis is crucial for refining the user experience and optimizing the design before full-scale development begins.

It’s advisable to conduct usability tests with at least 10 people. Based on the feedback, you can perfect your solution during the design phase. This is also cost-effective since issues and bugs can be fixed before the product is developed and launched.

Whether it’s an ecommerce platform, website, landing page, or mobile app, the question often arises: should it be custom-developed, custom-designed, or a boxed software customized (e.g., based on WordPress)?

It is usually not advisable to build the platform entirely from scratch. It is worth finding points that are already available. For example, integrating a newsletter management solution (e.g., Mailchimp).

It’s worth taking advantage of the possibilities in component libraries. These are "building blocks" that can be linked to a given framework. For example, if the development is done in a JavaScript framework, there are UI component libraries related to it, from which you can take, for instance, a calendar module, check boxes, or buttons. Creating these from scratch would take a lot of time and cost, but using a tested component shortens the development. However, this comes with compromises, but you can find quite good solutions.

An Impact / Effort Matrix can also be useful, showing what development can be realized with how much effort. To compile it, you need a developer – who examines the situation from a resource perspective –, a business process expert/customer – who looks at the impact on revenue –, and a UX designer who estimates the value of the development for the users. The matrix, which emerges based on the impact and resource needs of the development, shows which tasks are easy to implement and have high added value (Fill Ins), which have little added value but are easy to do (Quick Wins), which are difficult to implement but have no significant impact (Thankless Tasks), and which have substantial value but are hard to complete (Major Projects).

It is always important to know which key performance indicator (KPI) you want to improve. During the design process, this should be kept in mind; without it, you cannot put the company on a growth path.

Creating a Value Proposition Canvas is a good tool for finding the right value-creating product or service for your target group. The model helps you see what you want to improve (e.g., increasing cart value, revenue growth), what growth opportunities you have, and what problems you need to solve.

You should pay attention to UX design not only when creating the ecommerce platform. Maintaining the transparency and smooth navigation of the online store, continuously adapting to changing customer needs, and striving to increase the conversion rate necessitates continuous monitoring and data analysis.

UX tracking helps you understand how to improve conversion. By using the right tools (heatmaps, session recording, analytics), you can see what is happening on your online platform and make adjustments and improvements accordingly.

Companies that prioritize UX design often report significant improvements in user satisfaction and conversion rates. Here are some common insights and experiences shared by businesses that have successfully implemented UX design principles:

These insights highlight the importance of continuously refining the user experience to meet customer needs and improve overall satisfaction.