10 Important Features an E-Commerce Website Must Have in 2024

Introduction

It is essential to have features of an e-commerce website on priority list while setting up an online store. Without the e-commerce website development features, the website could become just a kid’s artwork rather than a productive profit-making machine. There’s no use of spending thousands of dollars on something shiny. Even if done, it will raise the total cost of the eCommerce website.

Being cautious, let’s now dive in and see some of the important features of an e-commerce website that every sales-drive online store needs to have.

Features of E-commerce Websites to Keep In Mind

1. User-friendly Design and Navigation

The foremost feature on this e-commerce platform is its emphasis on user-friendliness. Simplify everything. A user-friendly navigation system aids visitors in effortlessly locating their desired items. Arrange your product categories in a logical manner and include a search bar for swift access. Intuitive menus and precise labels enhance the overall browsing experience.

A site is said to be user friendly and navigation friendly if it flows well on large screens and smaller screens as well. If you are keen in developing your e-commerce business, you must make your website easy to navigate. This means visitors should find it easy to move across your pages and post without thinking more or cracking their heads about it.

Not doing this can drive people away from your website permanently. A great way to ensure your website is easy to use is by having a clear menu. You can make it even better by using a big menu that shows all the different parts of your website. Also, make sure there's a clear menu at the bottom of your website too.

2. Mobile Friendly

Mobiles have become a part of every human. People use their phones for various needs like getting to know new things, games, ordering products, ordering food and shopping too. Make sure your e-commerce website is mobile-friendly to cater to the growing number of mobile users. A responsive design ensures that your site looks good and functions well on various devices, from smartphones to tablets. A mobile-friendly ecommerce website is essential for any business looking to thrive in the digital landscape. By investing in mobile optimization, you can provide a potential user experience, increase traffic rates and conversion rates, gain a competitive advantage and improve your brand's visibility.

3. High-Quality Product Images and Videos

High-quality product images can help to improve ecommerce sales by making the product appear more attractive and warm to customers. Good pictures can make customers trust a store more. This makes them more likely to buy from the store again later on.

Utilize the power of social media by integrating sharing options and showcasing your products on popular social platforms. This not just makes more people see your brand but also gives a clear connection between your social media and online store.

4.Security and Encryption                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    

Security is a top priority in e-commerce. Ensure your website integrates trusted and secure payment gateways. Customers need to have the belief that their financial information is safe only if the security is strong, ending up in trust. Popular payment options like credit cards, digital wallets, and other secure methods should be supported. Strengthening the security layer band is of immediate need, to protect customers and companies from fraudulent threats, scam and malware.

The usage of e-commerce increases day by day, the need for encryption of customer data increases as well. When you sign up on a website for a membership, your personal information is stored. Once you start new or continue to purchase products or services from the same company, the transactions are stored in ‘history’ for keeping up individual activity records. Now they have a majority of your personal information interlinked with your purchase history. If it weren’t for encryption, if a hacker were to breach the initial security of these websites, they would have access to all of your information.

To prevent unexpected happenings, companies have teams within their organizations to monitor unethical data encrypting activities to keep the environment secure, but are also constantly updating new technologies to build an even stronger encryption on data security solution.

5.Multiple Payment methods

Limiting your customers to only one or two payment options can have catastrophic results. In case if an alternative option is not provided, you are surely going to lose two things - customers and sales cum profit. This is perfectly true, if your customers are in other countries. Certain countries have payment constraints, bringing inconvenience for online shopping customers across another country. For example, if you limit your payment option to only PayPal, for instance, you will cut off many potential customers. To add, few aged or unaware customers will stick to their preferred convenient payments rather than to try a new unknown payment method.

People would rather go to another website than use a payment method they don't know. It's better to let customers pay the way they like.

6.Shopping Cart and Checkout Options

It's not necessarily needed to have an account to shop in most online stores. This is because most sites now enable guest checkout options. Enabling checkout on your eCommerce site improves customers’ shopping experience as they won’t have to create an account to buy products.

Another major benefit of enabling the checkout option is that it lets you capture the pulse of the buyers which greatly reduces your website’s cart abandonment rate.

This is because forcing shoppers to sign in can create pressure on them, causing them to abandon items in their purchasing carts.

7. Reviews and Ratings

Customers trust the other customers only. Real-life experiences and their personal feedback are only reflected in the online reviews and ratings. This gives the spectating potential customers an idea about the quality, deliverability and trust of the product or service they look in for. They provide valuable insights for customers, influence purchase decisions and can impact brand perception. Before they purchase online products, consumers read online reviews first. They need to know everything they can, that's why online reviews will help your future buyers know what existing customers say about the products, especially if they have already purchased them. Implement a review and rating system for your ecommerce website, which helps shoppers make informed decisions and adds a layer of authenticity to your online store.  

8. Order Tracking

Most eCommerce businesses use order tracking software to manage and track their orders. This software is integrated with the company's website or online store to track everything, including eCommerce delivery tracking information in just one spot. An unique tracking number to each shipment is allocated. Customers can track their order using their tracking number and get updates. The tracking information is updated automatically, step by step through  the software.

It allows businesses to see where each order is in the journey. This procedure helps them to reduce their doubts, anxiety and be pre-planned to receive their product or service, improvising the customer experience.

9. Return policy

On our next list of the e-commerce website features is the product return policy information. Customers may want to return a product for their own personal reasons. Reason could be the variation in color, size, a different product itself or else a damage in product. Might also be they don’t want the product anymore. Customers need to know the return policy irrespective of the reason whatever might be. Whether they can return products free of cost; the minimum and maximum waiting period for returns; Can they exchange the current product for another. These are some of the questions you are responsible to answer in the product return policy information.

10. Customer Support

Customer support has a personal touch among the important features of an e-commerce website venture. Providing multiple modes for responding to customer inquiries, such as live chat, email and through customer support calls. Responding promptly on time to customers builds trust, belief and loyalty. Not only will it smoothen your customers’ buying experience, but also build credibility for your business.

Conclusion

So there you have it; 10 essential features of an ecommerce website that should never be missing from your online store if you are serious about growing your business.

If you need help with any of these, feel free to reach out to us.