eCommerce Site Navigation
Did you know you’ve only got about three clicks from your homepage before a lot of people will give up and leave your site? Don’t you hate browsing an online store and having to click through through several web pages before you even see a picture of the product? Everyone else does too. If you want visitors to turn into customers, creating an eCommerce site that is easy to navigate is paramount.
With online stores become more popular, with larger ranges and more competition, good organisation on your site is now more important than every before. But, how can you make sure your site is well organised and also make it easy for your customers to quick reach the product they’re after?
Did you plan your website’s navigation?
Think of navigation on an airplane or on a ship. The navigational system lets you know that you are heading where you want to go. It also signals you when you are off-course.
A great tool you can use to make your website navigation simpler is to use a sitemap. As well as being great for SEO, a sitemap lists the breakdown of where you can find useful information on the site. It includes topic headings and links to those pages. Visiting a site map can take the customer to the general area or the specific place that they want to go.
The Three Click Rule
From the homepage to the product page needs to be a short trip. Customising your site with drop-down menus, easy to read and click buttons and other design features will assist you in creating a visitor friendly website. When any cursor runs over a clickable link it will turn into a hand or even change color. Testing your links and pages before going live avoids any faulty links that lead to products.
Using other landing pages
When setting up a link with another website, or advertising somewhere, nearly all site owners set the link to go to their homepage, or occasionally their online store category page. But what if you did it differently?
If you are showcasing your products, instead of linking to the homepage or even the product page, why not make a landing page? A well crafted landing page can take the potential customer straight to where that product is located on your site, and also display extra information on the product. Some examples are customer testimonials, usage instructions, extra images, other colours and related products available. You could also do the same for a range or category of products.
For online stores that want to use customer interest to create email lists, the landing page can include a form for capturing that information before proceeding to the actual product, or a sign up to recieve a sample or further information on the product. Even today, the money really is in the list.
In short, products that are easy to find have a better chance of generating sales. Spend a little extra time when planning your website to make it easier to link them together and give them the attention they deserve.
