In pursuit of larger markets and more profit, the model of e-commerce has consistently undergone revolutions over the past few years. Some of the driving forces behind these changes include competitors’ content marketing efforts pinging to Google and other search engines, a variety of social media platforms and a wealth of data that has never before been available. Sometimes, however, tried and true methods with a modern twist can be enough to help augment your business’ or brand’s performance. In the following article, we will discuss three web design elements you can use to better connect customers with your brand and inspire confidence in them to make a purchase.

User Integration

Content management systems such as WordPress have long been a staple of many a webmaster who wanted to increase connectivity and social awareness of their website’s products and mission. With thousands of plugins available for these systems, it has become incredibly easy to integrate various solutions that show reviews, stream live social chatter about your products and even provide instantaneous answers from a real person within your business. These elements help integrate users with your brand and can also persuade them with stories from other satisfied customers, which are two actions that can go a long way toward building bridges to new markets and potential customers.

Heatmaps

While this may not be a design element that your customers will see, it is a great way to determine how visitors to your site are interacting with its elements. In turn, this can give you some idea as to how effective your overall design is working. Heatmaps of each page are available through a variety of web analytics packages and can help you determine where people are clicking and hovering on each page. Perhaps the prime focus of a certain product is not getting the attention it deserves: with heatmaps activated, you can learn from these mistakes and reposition select elements in order to be more prominent to users.

Simplicity

Every element of web design should strive to balance functionality, simplicity and aesthetics. Simplicity, however, may be the single biggest element that of the three that influences whether or not browsers become buyers. You may feel like the world will want to see all 1,500 of your products on one page, but most who are not familiar with your offerings will find this overwhelming. Likewise, common questions about shipping and products should be covered in a FAQ page that is easy to find. The simpler it is for shoppers to fetch answers to their questions and browse your goods, the more sales you will generate. While lots of traffic pinging to Google may accentuate your performance in search engines, a simplistic design will grab this traffic by the tail and make it want to buy from you.

Conclusion

Elements of web design have a far more influential role on consumers’ decisions than we often realize. If you want to drive customers to your products and services in an efficient manner, then there are dozens of marketing techniques to consider. When it comes to web design, however, the use of heatmaps to determine activity, simplicity to streamline purchasing decisions and the integration of customers into the platform can all go a long way toward increased sales.