Helpful Tips for Ecommerce and Website Design

So what part does website design play in Ecommerce? First, it is helpful to define what Ecommerce is. To put it simply, Ecommerce refers to the process of buying and selling goods and services on the internet. Ecommerce usually involves a way to accept different forms of payment through an object known as a shopping cart. Here are some helpful tips to remember when designing an ecommerce site:

You Need a Merchant Account in Order to Accept Credit Cards

The idea behind accepting credit cards online at your ecommerce site is to provide payment convenience to consumers. There are websites out there that have you download and order form and mail it in with a check or credit card but these sites typically do not do much business because of the delay involved. Many times, that delay will cause a consumer to change his or her mind and go to another site where credit cards are accepted.

So many clients wanting an ecommerce website want to accept credit cards but are unaware of the process required to be able to do that. While it is easy to design a web page so that a customer can enter their credit card information, more has to happen behind the scenes in order for the charge to be authorized.

This means you need what is known as a credit card merchant account. A credit card merchant account provides the service of authorizing the charge, collecting the payment, and sending that payment to your bank account. They also handle security matters relating to transactions with credit cards online.

When you receive your credit card merchant account for your ecommerce site, you will receive information on the calls required to authorize a credit card transaction from your site to the merchant provider’s gateway. There are different types of services offered. Some models require sending the information from the web page; the gateway authenticates the transaction, and sends a message back to you. Other forms of the service send you a security certificate of encrypting the transaction messages on your server. In any case, you will receive documentation of how to implement the credit card authorization service.

Make it Easy for Customers to Find a Product

This means that your ecommerce site should be designed in such a way as to allow visitors to find a product many different ways. This becomes more critical when you have a large site with many products. The best way to implement a search-friendly ecommerce site is to first put all of your products in major categories and drill down from there. Also have search capabilities so that you can look up by product description and product name. When searching for these products, results should be returned and allow the customer to view by date added or product price. Having the ability to order the results in this manner allow the user to look for either the newest products or the lowest-priced.

Keep Your Design of the Ecommerce Site Uncluttered

Customers to your site want to know what they are buying, the price, a brief description, and how to add it to the shopping cart. Do not clutter the design with a lot of extraneous information that has nothing to with what they are purchasing. Keep in mind that even today, most are still uncomfortable with purchasing products online and the easier you make it for them, the better.

Have an Uncomplicated Checkout Process

As mentioned previously, most customers are still uncomfortable with buying products and services on an ecommerce site. They may get through the stage of adding products to the shopping cart but can quickly get lost in the checkout process if it is too complicated. There should be a clear checkout link. After clicking the checkout link, there should be a page for them to enter their payment information that itemizes what they are buying and the final total. This is not the place to try to sell them extra products and services. And it is most important to return to them a payment confirmation number when the payment is approved and a phone number to reach in case there are any problems or questions.

Remember that simplicity is the key to an effective and productive ecommerce site.

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