On entering your website you have approx 5–7 seconds to hold your visitors’ attention or they will ‘bounce’ and will leave before clicking to another page. Less than one person in every 100 visitors to the average ecommerce website will buy!
Increasing this visitor-to-sale conversion rate is all about usability and a simple conversion path. This includes everything from the way the graphics, images, text, navigation menus are used on the website. Prospects (potential customers) need a simple, clean path from entry (entering your website) to exit (having bought your product) without resistance or site elements that make them have to think or work out what to do.
A clean, clear and simple navigation layout, with multiple navigation and product search options is the way to optimize usability—and consequently maximize sales.
Finding products easily is down to using a clear hierarchy of product tiers, using text links or buttons to navigate from the home page down to the product pages. This clear structure is critical so your site user knows where to click to find the products they want. Use clean and uncluttered product menus and navigation bars. If you have a long product menu, split this into groups with a small heading per group so that it’s not one long—hard to read—menu.
