This Easter, people will once again be looking to fill their baskets with sweet treats. And although we’re talking about the good old Easter egg hunt, we’re sure they’ll be looking to do exactly the same in your online store.
Every Easter egg hunt comes with a few clues to help you find what you’re looking for. But if we were to hide a couple of easter eggs across your online store without any clues as to where they were, do you think your shoppers would still be able to find them?
Before you give your answer, we’ll let you in on a little secret: As long as you look after your shop’s user experience (UX), the answer will always be Yes, they’ll find the hidden eggs! So, what do you need to keep in mind to optimise your UX and make sure your customers’ baskets are filled every time, not just at Easter?
The user experience in search is all about the process
No matter where the Easter egg hunt takes place or who’s taking part, everyone has their own tricks to track down those chocolate eggs. Some people might start searching by colour, others by size. Others might start looking in a certain location first. But no matter where the hunt takes place, everyone has the same goal: to fill their basket with as many eggs as they can as efficiently as possible.
For customers visiting your online store, their goal is the same. They’re looking to enter your shop, start the hunt, filter down the search, and take home what they’re looking for. And just like the easter egg hunt, they expect it to be fun, not a challenging task.
On the face of it, it all sounds pretty easy to achieve, right? The truth is, a lot of websites don’t make this process very joyful. And that might be down to a couple of common problems with the user experience.
The site might not be intuitive. The flow within the shop might be tedious, or you might be forced to scroll page by page to find what you’re looking for. When this happens, it’s not a great experience for the customer, but it’s just as bad for the shop owner. A poor UX can see sales fall as shoppers can’t find what they’re looking for or don’t know what the shop offers.
The solution to this problem is to ensure your store implements some of the keys to a positive user experience.
3 things you need to tick off your UX checklist
If the area of your Easter egg hunt is too big, there’s a hole in your basket, or the eggs just don’t look good, you might decide the hunt is no fun, give up and head somewhere else. The same can happen in your online store.
The best way to make sure this doesn’t happen is to optimise the user experience. In an online shop, the user experience should guide every step. Here’s what you need to know to make sure your UX is in order:
- Pay attention to design. As they say, first impressions count. You should have an attractive but simple website, with accurate and easy to find information about your catalogue. This should include quality images, with a hint of your brand always present.
- Make navigation simpler. The best user experience is on intuitive and dynamic pages. Reduce the number of clicks needed to fill the shopping cart, break down items into categories, optimise product cards, and eliminate payment barriers.
- Pay attention to the search experience. More and more shoppers are using search to find what they need. Choose a search tool that allows you to customise the whole user experience with your brand colours and logo visible. Have functionalities that make searching easier such as synonyms or filters. Have a dynamic, clear, and attractive results page.
Although time’s running out on the Easter egg hunt, there’s still plenty of time to improve the user experience of your online shop this Spring to supercharge your sales. If you’re looking for a solution that can be up and running in just a few minutes, Motive Commerce Search is the tool to help you.