One of the most critical services we offer at Simplistic is strategic/UX design.

UX design is a cornerstone of modern online retail, yet it’s also a foreign concept to a surprising number of online shop owners.

UX design places the user at the center of your offering, creates frictionless interactions, and ultimately paves the way for sales and conversions. Let’s examine UX design and define how you can implement it into your online shop.

What is UX design?

“UX design” stands for User Experience design and defines how a user interacts with and experiences your site or online product or service.

UX design considers the layout, the order of content, and the functionality of each element on your site. Quality UX design allows users to seamlessly engage with your site without ever getting confused, frustrated, disoriented, or distracted.

Strategic UX design is essential to creating an efficient, easy-to-use experience for the user that allows them to quickly understand what your brand makes or sells, what the value is, and decide if they want to make a purchase.

UX vs UI design

Sometimes, you’ll see UX paired with UI as “UX/UI design.” “UI design” stands for User Interface design. 

The key difference between UX and UI design is that UI design pertains to the entire interface and every possible element that enables someone to interact with your site. UX design focuses solely on the individual user and what they take away from their experience with your site.

Think of UI design as the aesthetic elements of a site and all the things the user sees on the interface, and think of UX design as the actual experience of interacting with a site.

Why UX design matters for your shop

Photo by UX Store on Unsplash.com

UX designers place themselves in the shoes of your customers and determine how to build a simple, straightforward experience on their behalf.

Design is often the first stage of work we offer to clients, followed by development, optimization, and ongoing support.

To us, the best design is easy to use, empowering, and highly memorable. We take a human-centered approach by leveraging the latest in behavioral science and technology and considering how and why people make decisions at each step of the design process.

If the design of your homepage or one of your product pages is clunky and unintentional, the user often becomes confused or uninterested. Similarly, if you try to add too many elements to a page, it forces the user to choose between multiple decisions and overwhelms them.

In each case, the user will likely leave your site without making a purchase.

UX design presents crucial information to a user with simplicity and carries them through the customer journey from initial contact to final purchase, or any other action you want the customer to take.

Examples of UX design in E-commerce

Okay, by now you recognize the irrefutable importance of UX design in creating a successful online shop and offering. Let’s analyze a few, real-world examples.

Apple

Consider Apple, one of the sleekest, most forward-thinking design companies on Earth. Apple built the iPhone to be as intuitive of a device as possible, creating soft-edged apps that line up in rows and enable users to quickly toggle between all the functionalities on their phones.

Screenshot from Apple.com

Apple’s website presents an ocean of calming white space with large product images and simple, clickable text. Beneath a bold header reading “iPhone 13 Pro” is a short, concise tagline “Oh. So. Pro.” and two simple routes for users to take—“Learn more” and “Buy”.

If a user clicks “Buy”, they are immediately taken to a product page with big, clear buttons prompting them to choose between the iPhone 13 Pro or Max versions, followed by the color, storage capacity, and carrier.

If a user clicks “Learn more” they are whisked over to an elegant, highly-detailed landing page defining the upgrades of the iPhone 13 Pro and comparing it to previous models. A sticky bar at the top follows the user on their journey, giving them the option to “Buy” at any point or learn about the tech specs, or how to switch over to iPhone.

W&P

One of our clients, W&P, marries “design and function” to produce an array of chic, thoughtful kitchen essentials that improve how people eat and drink on a daily basis.

In working with W&P, one of our core assignments was to help them move from a brand-based design to an optimized E-commerce shop that put the user at the center of the site.

Screenshot from W&P.com

On the “Shop All” page, W&P’s most popular products appear similar to most online shops. But, we added small, customized functionalities that make purchasing a breeze.

When a user hovers over the Porter Insulated Bottle, a “quick buy” bar pops up and even offers two buttons, one for a 12oz bottle and one for a 16oz bottle. Other products feature an “add to cart”, or the option of quickly adding one or two items.

We also placed small bars above each product, indicating if a product is brand new, if it’s currently being discounted, or if it’s out of stock. These small tidbits of information help guide a customer toward or away from certain products and help narrow down their buying decision. It also presents information on the “Shop All” page that is typically only found on individual product pages.

Dream it, design it

UX design must be considered in everything you create online. 

It’s the guide that ushers customers through your online offering and helps them identify what they want. Use these insights to help home in your UX design and create a better customer experience.

Want to see how we can upgrade your UX design?