Category: SEO

E-commerce enablement in 2024 is a trending topic in the ecommerce landscape. It might sound like a difficult term, but it simply means using software and tools to manage one’s online store. Of course, it is not a term you would use in a normal conversation, thus making its understanding complex. Moreover, e-commerce enablement is like a platform through which we can grow our online sites. It provides the tools and infrastructures necessary for building the foundation of a business. But what exactly are those tools and infrastructures that e-commerce enablement provides?

First and foremost, any business needs an inventory management system, CRM (customer relation management), payment gateways, and optimization tools for a basic build. So, any ecommerce enablement would provide these basic features. Additionally, the term “e-commerce enablement” is usually confused with other terms like e-commerce enablers and marketplace. To better understand these terms, we can look at this table.

We can also understand these terms by a simple analogy. Let’s say we are building a house. Then, the land, infrastructures, and construction tools are e-commerce enablement. Similarly, specific tools for supporting the build of the house, like plumbing and electrical systems, are e-commerce enablers. Likewise, pre-built houses are marketplaces. Businesses and entrepreneurs can highly benefit from using e-commerce enablements. It’s like you are using a service that guides you in every step of building an online store. And with solutions to grow and further expand your sales.

Main features of E-commerce Enablement

E-commerce enablement refers to using tools and strategies that streamline the process of building and organizing an online store. Simply, it focuses on creating online stores and allowing those kinds of businesses to grow and scale up. Furthermore, implementing a successful ecommerce enablement means having a proper execution of its features. A user–friendly design, convenient payment methods, order management, optimization for mobile users, and reliable customer support. These are the features we would want to build a good online store. Similarly, the layout and ease of use of an online service are what draws the attention of an audience. And also increases user retention. 

Ecommerce enablement involves catering to a broad audience, whether it is during the checkout process or managing orders. The customers should have the privilege to choose and use the payment method they prefer. Carrying out order operations is a big deal while doing business. Therefore, inventory level management is also an available feature that enables ecommerce businesses to thrive. Almost half of the population uses mobile apps and services, so there is no way you would miss optimizing your services on mobile devices. Also, integrated features like customer support software can help by providing 24/7 services through different media. 

User-friendly based design

A user-friendly design includes easy navigation, proper readability, inclusive features, aesthetic design, and many more. Think like a customer; if you have a good experience using a website or an online business, then you’re likely to visit it again. That means higher user retention. Therefore, having a user-friendly based design not only ensures a good relationship with customers but also helps businesses reach a wider audience. In addition to that, this feature of e-commerce enablement generates positive feedback, which can drive organic traffic to business sites.

Convenient Payment Method 

A convenient payment method is important to maintain user-friendliness. Let’s suppose you want to buy some product from an online market. Then, after you click checkout, you only have one payment method, which also looks unfamiliar. Even if you proceed, you will have a lot of information to fill out when trying to use the only available option. This runs the problem of cart abandonment and user dissatisfaction. Therefore, having a convenient payment method ensures there are multiple payment getaways, payment options, and a one-click checkout process. And an easy checkout process is much more helpful for maximizing sales and revenue.

Order Management

When you have a business, you need to worry about shipping products or creating a great shopping experience. But e-commerce enablement strategies have your back for these tasks. You would not need to worry about losing customers if you provide them with a good experience in terms of order and management. Moreover, automated transactions are a demanded feature in order fulfillment systems. It is useful for easy e-commerce operations and successful e-commerce business.

Optimization for Mobile Use 

About 46% of the total population, which is almost half, use mobile websites. Now, if you consider the stats, you know why we need to optimize for mobile use. Responsive design, fast page speed, smooth interactions with interactive elements, enhanced readability. These are the features you would need to implement for mobile optimization. Any e-commerce store available on mobile phones can use e-commerce enablement. This helps to make sure that online transactions of their services provide customers with a great experience. And possibly encourage more engagement in the online business. 

Reliable Customer Support

Providing any documentation or help needed to users is crucial. Likewise, we can provide customer service by phone, live chat, email, or even AI support. A reliable customer support benefits both businesses and even customers. Most of the time, customers need help troubleshooting or getting started. Make sure you provide valuable insights to solve any problem. So, having this feature in an ecommerce platform is really helpful for carrying out ecommerce operations. Therefore, many ecommerce businesses have 24/7 available customer service for a great user experience. 

Ecommerce Enablement Platforms you need to know in 2024

If you are operating a business or planning to operate one, then you already know how helpful e-commerce enablement is. They are the all-in-one solution every ecommerce business needs to integrate to help with design and development. Its main purpose goes beyond building an e-commerce business. Besides, we also need to focus on the scalability of business, user experience, and branding. And that is exactly what these platforms provide. 

Likewise, we have a list of trending e-commerce enablements for 2024. All of these platforms are SAAS-based. Although many of the leading ecommerce enablement platforms are SAAS based, there are other models as well. 

Self-hosted: Managed on the own server. Examples include WooCommerce.

On-Premises: Hosting software locally. Examples include Magento.

Custom: Using multiple resources for specific needs. Such as custom API integrations or third-party tools.

Whereas, SAAS platforms provide a cloud-based service. This means users do not need to install any software for managing business websites. That also means you can manage your business from anywhere, and it is very scalable. 

Shopify

Shopify is an all-rounded platform, which makes it one of the top ecommerce enablement platforms. We have listed its main features:

• We can integrate multiple channels and platforms for advertisement. This is helpful to drive inorganic traffic to the business sites.
• It has a wide selection of features. Inventory management, CRM, managed shipping options, and order processing are some of them. In short, just everything you need to operate an ecommerce store.
• It allows business owners to store customer data and purchase history. This helps to build a personalized order system for customers. 
• We can also integrate automatic order processing. This helps to speed up the process and reduce time consumption. 

Weebly

Weebly is the best option for small business owners. In order to sell products online, we need to start somewhere. And, this is the best option if you are just a beginner in the world of ecommerce. Its features are:

• It is user-friendly and easy to set up. Thus not requiring any complex technical knowledge.
• It has built-in marketing features such as SEO features and email marketing called Weebly Promote.
• It has shopping cost calculators with real-time prices. This makes the checkout process inclusive for international audiences.
• It comes with pricing plans with higher pricing tiers. As you go up in the pricing tier, the more it allows businesses to scale as they grow.

BigCommerce

BigCommerce is for you if you want to reach out to a wider audience through multiple channels like marketplaces, social media, and websites. We have listed a few main features of this e-commerce enablement platform below:

• It allows businesses to sell their products across multiple platforms.
• It comes with built-in SEO features for optimizing search engine visibility.
• You can also get analytics and logistics features on this platform.
• It has all the tools for handling e-commerce operations. Operations such as content management, hosting, store building, and many more.

Pricing Plans

E-commerce Tech  And Automation 

Any market, whether online or physical, keeps on changing. A trending technology that was dominating the tech industry a decade ago would not be prevalent today. Likewise, keeping up with any e-commerce tech trend is necessary to know what is in demand. The whole foundation of e-commerce enablement is e-commerce tech and automation. Similarly, e-commerce tech and automation provide a fast processing system with smooth interactions. Not only that, but it also offers effective inventory management and customer relationship management systems for businesses. So you get the idea. Without this, e-commerce enablement wouldn’t be as popular as it is now.

Accordingly, with the help of e-commerce tech platforms like Shopify, WooCommerce, Weebly, and Wix, users can set up their businesses quickly. Furthermore, automation for repetitive tasks can save time and resources. And also gain satisfied users. For any business that lets users shop online, having efficient order processing with fast shipping and fulfillment is necessary. With the use of tools and different software, automation offers multiple benefits. Also, businesses can sell their products by suggesting personalized items with the help of AI tools. Therefore, e-commerce enablement allows businesses to save resources, improve customer experience, and gain competitive advantage.

Conclusion

So, you know the need for e-commerce enablement while building a business. Not only does it help manage and create an online store from scratch, but it also helps lift the extra work off the shoulders of business building. The extra work involves integrating different software and tools that enable one to carry out business needs. Imagine trying to set up an online business, and you have to individually search for each tool that provides the features you are looking to integrate. If you are a beginner trying to sell your products, then you will have no idea how or where to start. 

Therefore, any e-commerce platform needs effective ecommerce enablement. Whether you are a business person or an entrepreneur, we need to provide the convenience of online shopping to the users. In this technological era where physical stores are increasingly turning to online, we need to have knowledge about these types of platforms. This is not only my word because if you look at the statistics of global ecommerce sales, it is an 8.6% increase since 2023.

We need to know the right ecommerce platforms, like Shopify, Weebly, BigCommerce, etc., to make the process even simpler. Research the market trends to know what other ecommerce brands are doing differently. Know how your business can solve the problems of your audience in the same way.

Have you ever visited a website and was like, “Ehh.. this doesn’t seem right”? Or “Wow this looks interesting!”? If you have these kinds of reactions to a website, then we label that as website experience. However, these user experiences are not limited to only the visuals of a website but also functionality and usability. And let’s not talk about the number of times we have been so frustrated watching the screen load for what seems like an eternity. Well, these collective negative and positive experiences help us know what is right and wrong for our websites.

Additionally, there have been websites that have made us want to come back again and again and made our work really easy and quick. It is pleasant to see and has a smooth interface. So, what makes the websites that good? How do we implement those features to have a positive experience? And overall, how can we label our websites as good? How can we be so sure that our websites can collect positive user experiences? If you were looking for the answers to these questions, you have come to the right article.

Why is Website User Experience Important?

While creating a website, we should consider the main component for the website’s success: the users. It is in the hands of users to either make the website a hit or a miss. A positive user experience depends on many things, which we will dive deeper into later in this article. But for now, let’s discuss some of the reasons why website user experience is important.

• To ensure user satisfaction. Everyone likes a smooth and fast interaction with a website where the task at hand is done within a few seconds. A great website user experience means the user is satisfied, increasing the chances of user engagement.
• To earn a loyal and supporting audience. You see when you have a positive experience with a website, you are likely to visit the website more than other competing websites.
• To increase the conversion rate. Any website with a good UX can turn website visitors into potential customers. This is called lead conversion and is crucial for the success of a business or service. 
• Making a website inclusive is also a part of a good user experience. This increases the chances of emotional connection with users, which can help in reaching a wider audience. 
• A website focused on good user experience design increases the probability of higher rankings in search engines. The more visible the website is, the more it will attract new and unique visitors. 

Overall, with a website focused on UX design, it is important not only to reach the target audience for the business but also to reach a wider audience. Implementing best practices for website design helps greatly in reducing bounce rates. Bounce rate is just a fancy term for the rate of people entering and leaving a website rather than continuing with the same site. Moreover, being labeled as a good website is much more than just only the user interface. 

How to Improve User Experience on the Website

We know all the benefits and importance of prioritizing a positive user experience through good UX design. Now, the real deal is knowing the ways to implement it. There is a whole book about user interfaces and the right design process to follow when designing a website. But I will just tell you the 8 tips or principles you NEED to know to improve your website’s user experience. The principles listed below are summarized versions of Schneiderman’s 8 Golden Rules. 

1. Consistency
2. Shortcuts
3. Informative feedback
4. Dialog closure
5. Error prevention and handling
6. Action reversibility
7. User control
8. Memory load reduction

These rules are important to consider when making any user interface, whether a mobile-friendly website or a complex web application. Furthermore, we can also consider Nielson’s 10 usability heuristics for increasing the usability of a website. We can put together a list of 10 tips, 8 similar to Schneiderman’s golden rules and an extra two from usability heuristics. That includes help and documentation and matching the system with the real world. 

Layout or Architecture:

The website’s layout should be simple, minimalistic, consistent, and easy to navigate. And whatever the website’s focus, we can present it in a user-friendly way. Maintaining consistency in layout makes it easy for users to interact. Suppose you are using rectangles to represent key features of your websites. Then, when a user sees another rectangle, they can easily guess that the information in the box is important, but the information in the diamond box might be less important. This way of prioritizing content helps save time and increase engagement.

Likewise, making the website responsive i.e. fitting to all sizes of devices, makes it usable. We should present information in a uniform flow and with no clutter. We can also integrate screen readers or text-size zooming features to include people with disabilities. Overall, with careful usage of layout and architecture, we can communicate the main components of the website.

Design or Style

The website design should follow a uniform pattern for design or style. This includes consistent themes, color schemes, and familiar styles on interactive elements. This helps create a sense of familiarity with the content and ease of user use. Additionally, having a consistent style makes a website look professional and credible. Knowing when to use white spaces is important for reducing clutter and increasing readability. 

Therefore, while designing a website, think about what aligns with your brand. Aesthetically pleasing typography styles or color palettes and other brand elements are necessary for creating a positive first impression of the website. Well-designed elements play a role in smooth interactions with website elements. Likewise, how you design or style your website is vital for evaluating the usability of a website. 

Featured Content

The featured content should be mainly focused on communicating the purpose of the website. The website design and every element or component in the website should represent the goal of the website. For example, suppose you run a cafe. For a cafe, the related color schemes could be brown or beige, representing coffee.

Similarly, the logo should convey the main goal so that when users see it, they immediately know what service you are providing. You can feature blogs about types of coffee or health benefits within your website to cater to other users’ needs. You can also use eye-catching colors, typography, or elements to represent featured content and gain the immediate attention of visitors to your website.

User Navigation

When you visit a website, you expect to gain information from it. So, you begin to interact with the website, trying to figure out the missing piece of information. What happens when you can’t find the checkout page or trace back to the home page? We get impatient or even frustrated. Now, we are already encountering a negative experience, which is not the goal if we want to reduce the bounce rates. 

Additionally, we can make use of various buttons for easy navigation. We can also include Alt texts for images so that screen readers can help users form a mental image of the pictures. Moreover, the information the users are searching for should be presented in a well-organized and clear way. We can do this by having a sidebar menu, predictable placement of interactive elements, and well-structured navigation bars. 

Mobile Devices Adaptation

Have you ever clicked on a website while you were on your phone and found out that it’s not responsive? Let me tell you that it’s a shared feeling. The feeling of annoyance when you have to drag your finger sideways just to access the sidebar menu. You click one item in the sidebar, and it takes you to another page, where you have to again drag your finger across the screen to read all that information spread from one side to another. 

Some of you may have no idea what I’m talking about because you exited the website as soon as you found out that it’s not responsive. Therefore, a website should accommodate all the device sizes. It increases the number of visitors to your website as you include all the device sizes. However, when you cater only to desktop users, the number of visitors can be low. This can cause negative experiences for users and impact your business negatively. 

Does User Experience Matter for Business

User Experience does matter for business. One of the most important components of a business is to have a website representing the brand. Before using any service or business, the website is the first impression for the users to know how well the service will be. 

1. Customer retention: The retention rate refers to the percentage of people who return to the websites. A good retention rate ranges from 35% to 85%. If the retention rate is high, it usually signals user satisfaction and a good experience. This can be a good thing for the business reputation. 
2. Customer engagement: A positive experience while using a website can generate positive feedback. While constructive feedback from users themselves is necessary to grow a business, a user-friendly website helps users engage with the website. This helps businesses gain an idea of the needs of the target users to cater to their needs better. 
3. Long-term customer relationship: Having new and unique visitors for a website is as equally important as having a loyal customer. Long-term customers are the base for the success of a business. To attract these long-term users, the website has to be usable and user-friendly, as it is the first entry point to the business. 
4. Increases organic traffic: If your website does well in creating a great user experience, then prepare it to be the talk among friends or family members. This drives organic traffic to your website, which is required to generate wider customers.
5. SEO benefits: We have already talked about conversion rates and how having an amazing experience using a website can turn visitors into customers and leads. This helps maximize sales and revenue and gives a competitive advantage.

If a website performs well in terms of catering to the users and letting them have a positive experience, it not only helps the business related to the website as a whole but can also help with the success of other aspects of the business.

Conclusion

Therefore, a positive experience depends on many things and influences many aspects of a business. A usable website makes your content more readable. A usable website is not only limited to UI design but also considers user experiences. This includes how users interact with your website without any disturbances like encountering a 404 error page or slow page load. You get the idea: well-designed website pages that help users to move seamlessly and have a consistent design. 

Likewise, a lack of functionality, accessible features, and old-fashioned design practices can make your website feel old and outdated. So, try to avoid those as much as possible. You can also get started on improving your user interface design by paying attention to the most important aspects like usability, responsiveness, and visual appeal. 

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