10 tips to improve the user experience (UX) of your eCommerce

It is often thought that the user experience is only about making a website "look nice".

However, the user experience goes beyond just a good interface design. A well-executed user experience strategy will make your customers buy from your online store smoothly without any friction.

By reducing friction in the purchasing process, you can reduce bounce rates, increase registrations, and most importantly, increase sales. Here are some tips to improve the UX of your ecommerce.

1. Allow users to filter products by features

Users usually already know the features they are looking for in a product. When a user searches for a laptop for work, they already know the specifications they need, how many gigabytes of memory they require, which is the best processor for the performance they need, or the screen size they want to use for work.

Through feature filters, your users will find their ideal product more quickly.

It may seem like feature filters are a common aspect of ecommerce, but 23% of the top sites do not have this functionality.

2. Autocomplete user search

Autocompleting search terms speeds up the purchasing process for users, as it helps them find product options that interest them in less time. It also helps customers to discover other search terms they could use to find their ideal product.

3. Load up to 100 products in product searches

Product lists are where your customer gets a general idea of the products you have in your catalog. If the user sees few products, they may think that you do not have a wide variety of the product they were looking for.

On the other hand, if the site loads too many products, the user may feel overwhelmed by the amount of information they receive. Additionally, when too much information is loaded, the site can take several seconds to show results, which can frustrate the user.Therefore, it is important to show a balanced amount of products. It is recommended to show 50 to 100 products on the desktop version and 15 to 30 on the mobile version.

4. Order products by "relevance" by default

When a user searches on your site and sees the list of products, they become familiar with the types of products you offer, the sizes, colors, brands, specifications, and variety.

It is important that users have an accurate perception of how your product catalog is composed, so they can know what they could find in your online store and what they cannot. Sorting products by relevance will help your customers have a more accurate vision of what is in your catalog.

The "Bestselling" and "Popularity" filters do not usually show the complete diversity of products your online store has, so it is advised not to use them as the default search options.

5. Accept synonyms and typos in search.

Many times users make spelling errors, for example instead of writing "refrigerator" they write "refrogerador".

Or sometimes they use uncommon words, instead of searching for "shoes", they use the word "footwear".

In these cases, most search engines bring up searches with no results, meaning they show nothing to the customer.

Regardless of whether the user makes a spelling error or uses uncommon words, your search engine should be intelligent enough to bring up results related to what the user was searching for. This is to prevent users from leaving the site.

If you want a search engine that tolerates spelling errors and effectively identifies synonyms, we recommend using Algolia.

6. Display essential attributes in product listings

In product listings, you should only show key attributes of your products that help the user decide whether to open or skip the displayed product. There are five essential attributes that should almost always be displayed in any product listing:

• Product title or type • Price • Thumbnail • Ratings • Product variations (colors, sizes, etc.)

7. Show complementary products

Complementary products are those products that are typically used in conjunction with another main product. For example, Zara's online store shows you the products with which you can wear the garment you are viewing.

If your customers can't quickly find complementary products, they will have to navigate the entire site again to find them, which consumes time and effort. Make it easier for your users and show complementary products on the product detail pages.

By showing suggested products, your customers will add more items to their cart.

8. Distinguish between mandatory and optional fields

Show your clients directly which fields are mandatory and which ones are optional within your forms. This way, the user won't try to leave a mandatory field empty and won't receive an error message.

9. Show images and videos on product detail pages

The reality is that users want to know more about the product they are buying. Usually when people go to see a pair of shoes at a mall, they pick them up and see them from all possible angles.

They see them from the front, profile, back and bottom. The only way users can recreate this experience digitally is through images and videos.

10. Automatically fill in fields that the user has filled in before

Seek continuous improvement in user experience

Users find it tedious to fill in the same information multiple times in a few minutes, which slows down the checkout process. Save time for your users by preloading information they've previously entered.

All of our suggestions are based on more than 500 guidelines and 67,000 hours of user experience research.

If you want to improve the user experience of your online store, at Gluo we conduct UX audits specialized in eCommerce.

We evaluate the user experience of your online store and tell you what errors are affecting your conversion rate and how to fix them. By detecting and solving these issues, you'll reduce bounce rates, increase registrations, and, most importantly, boost your online store's sales conversion rate.