E-Commerce UX Best Practices

What is E-Commerce UX?

UX in E-commerce follows the same basic fundamentals of UX, to provide users with a smooth experience on their e-commerce platform, helping them to complete their objective of purchasing a product without any issues. However, UX is also further applied to affect the user’s perception towards the brand and drive specific actions on the platform that aids conversion, such as prompting users to browse through additional products.

The Value of UX in E-Commerce

Due to the nature of the industry, where conversion directly impacts the company’s revenue, good UX interface design becomes all the more pivotal to the success of these platforms. Factors such as clear product presentation, smooth checkout process, and an intuitive browsing experience play a large role in the user’s experience and their decision to stay on the platform.

For example, the average shopping cart abandonment rate sits at around 70%, with many of the factors attributing to poor UX design like having a complex checkout process or overly-tedious sign-up forms.

Best UX Design Practices in E-commerce

A. User reviews

Shopee incentivizes users to leave reviews after their purchase by rewarding them with coins that can be redeemed for future discounts. Users that include photos and videos in their ratings are able to receive more points. This has led to the development of a strong review system, where users proactively leave genuine reviews, allowing their items to feature quality reviews and proof.

So why does Shopee try so hard to get users to leave reviews? User reviews are a huge factor in the e-commerce user experience, with over 97% of customers relying on reviews to make purchase decisions online. Unlike traditional brick-and-mortar stores, online stores lack in-person interaction and the physical feel of products, thus reviews are important to reduce customer anxiety during checkouts. Statistics show that product pages with reviews have conversation rates up to 3.5 times higher than those without.

B. Streamlining purchases

Amazon first revolutionized the e-commerce world with its “1-click” button for ordering which allowed customers to pre-set their credit card information, shipping address, and buyer’s information so that they can instantly purchase an item at the click of a button. This was a game-changer as it dramatically improved the user’s experience by minimizing friction and reducing cognitive overload for a better user experience. Users no longer need to go through the hassle of filling in form fields or double-checking their card information when making purchases, which also reduces the amount of time for them to re-think their purchases.

Aside from Amazon, this checkout UX practice has been adopted by many e-commerce platforms today, such as Shopee. Shopee has also further optimized the shopping process by providing users with “Add to Cart” and “Buy now” buttons, with the latter bringing users straight to the checkout page. This reduces the effort and time taken needed for those that are only looking to purchase a single item rather than browsing.

C. Intuitive menu and navigation

With over 3,000 brands and more than 30 product categories on Lazada, having a proper information hierarchy and organisation is essential for users to be able to navigate through their platform. Lazada makes use of a nested category menu to display their different categories while minimising clutter. Users can easily hover over a category to view its sub-category, giving them an instant overview with minimal delay. This allows users to find the products in an easy and intuitive manner, especially on platforms with various products and services.

D. Supportive search

Having a search bar is a necessity for most, if not all e-commerce platforms. Its purpose is to help customers quickly and directly find a specific product. These are customers that already know what they are looking for as compared to those trying to browse around. A good UX design applied to this feature is the addition of a search bar that dynamically suggests results as the user is typing, which substantially reduces the amount of time required for users to input their search. This functionality also reduces typographic errors, helping users look for what they need more effectively.

E. Multi-access navigation

Apart from information architecture and optimized search features, having multiple ways in which users can search for products can further increase accessibility. Many popular e-commerce platforms nowadays have picture search functionality, where users can upload or take a photo of an item to search for similar products sold on the platform. This can help users that are looking for a specific product but do not know its name, or those looking for a specific appearance. Additionally, some platforms also have voice search features, allowing users to perform searches without having to spell or type.

These alternative methods of searching provide more accessibility and convenience for users, allowing them to complete their goal of finding products more successfully.

Conclusion

I hope that this article has provided you with some insight into how UX can be used in an e-commerce setting through the various examples from established companies like Shopee, Lazada, ASOS, and Amazon. Although not all UX practitioners work in the e-commerce industry, the ideas and reasoning behind these practices are useful and can be widely applied to other areas. If you want to know more about user experience and its industry, do check out our other resources available on our website, such as our articles, weekly webinars, and podcasts.

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