E-commerce stores usually operate on a set it and forget it model. As long as your users can navigate easily through your pages, know where to look for new arrivals and otherwise interact well with your brand, there may seem little reason to change. If it isn’t broken, don’t fix it, but that doesn’t mean you can’t consider a small redesign for your e-commerce shop.
You likely know you have a lot of competition when it comes to selling online. Small changes can make a big difference in how well you stack up to the competition. According to eTail Insights, there are around 9.1 million online retailers globally and about 2.5 million in the United States.
How can you know if it’s the right time to freshen things up or if you should just leave things alone and keep promoting your brand? Here are some hints you should consider a redesign for your e-commerce shop.
1. It’s Been Several Years
If you haven’t redesigned your look in several years, it’s probably time to redo things a bit. Design trends change rapidly and what looked great even last year may look dated now. A refresh of colors, buttons or layout can make a huge difference in how customers respond to your online shop.
2. Your Site Isn’t 100% Upfront
Over time, it’s easy to put things on your site that lead to misunderstandings. For example, if you sell clothing, materials might change and old descriptions no longer work. Experts point out data visualization gives businesses an opportunity to exaggerate. Check yourself and make sure you aren’t only using statistics that benefit you or picking and choosing info to make your brand look better than it is.
While it’s perfectly fine to toot your own horn a bit, it isn’t okay to make things appear what they are not. Take the time to look over all your infographics and visualizations and ensure they and your other pages are authentic and honest.
3. You Need to Add Functions
Ramping up the functionality of your website is an excellent reason to redesign your e-commerce shop. Perhaps you have a way to make the checkout process easier for your users, but you must move some things around and update to make the software work. Perhaps you need to upgrade your version of PHP, for example.
A redesign to add functionality may be one of the best reasons for a redesign. You might not even change the overall aesthetics of your site much.
4. You Aren’t Mobile Compatible
BankMyCell reports there are around 6.65 billion smartphone users in the world, or about 83.72% of the global population. Most of those people use their mobile devices to access the internet at least part of the time.
If your e-commerce store doesn’t translate well on a smaller screen, it’s time to go with a mobile-first approach. You don’t want to lose sales because people can’t navigate your site easily.
Assess the Situation
Look at your site through the eyes of a visitor. Is there anything that no longer works? How can you best fix it? If your conversion rates fall, customers complain about your clunky site or you just want to feature new products, now is the best time to redesign. You don’t have to take on the entire site. You can revamp a few things at a time and still make a huge impact on site visitors.
