Did you ever wonder why shoppers leave your store without purchasing anything? Just when you think everything is fine. We wonder!

Shoppers’ needs are constantly evolving. As an online retailer, it’s important to understand – what they need and want. Online shoppers nowadays are more informed and demanding than ever before. They love brands offering them a consistent, high-quality shopping experience. They look for a shopping experience that’s intuitive, personalized, and realistic. When shopping, they want to feel prestigious and satisfied. If a retailer overlooks these customer facets, chances are they’ll lose a customer for a lifetime.

In our experience, eCommerce brands that are effectively providing their customers a meaningful shopping experience yield higher customer satisfaction and an increased conversions rate of 10%-15%.

Amazon and eBay are the best examples of such eCommerce brands. According to a report, sales for Amazon were up 24% from a sluggish third quarter (in December 2021) to $137.4bn. Whereas eBay generated around $10.8 billion in revenue in 2021, a 5.8% increase year-on-year.

There is no special secret behind these big numbers. They do things everybody does, but they do them differently. They focus on futuristic eCommerce features and functionalities capable of producing first-class shopping experiences on their websites.

Take a look at the ten recommended eCommerce features and functionalities from our Seattle ecommerce design team to build an intuitive and inviting shopping experience in your store. The list may change in the future, we’ll keep on updating to help you stay relevant and competitive in the eCommerce landscape.

Feature #1: Expected Delivery dates

Within the rising expectations of shoppers, it has become important for online retailers to show their shoppers expected product delivery dates. Many studies have shown that new-age shoppers evaluate delivery dates before making any purchase, and often it is a decisive factor for them. It makes them abundantly clear – when they can anticipate receiving their order.

Promising delivery promises are a great way to lessen customers’ frustration, lower cart abandonment, and increase total conversions in an online store. Making them visible on the product, cart, and checkout pages can greatly enhance the pre-purchase experience.

There are a lot of estimated delivery dates (EDD) extensions that a retail store can use to show realistic shipment delivery dates. They accumulate intelligence to predict each shipment’s delivery date. Since artificial intelligence is involved, the prediction accuracy is around 91%.

Do you find it difficult to find your way around this feature? Reach out to our top Seattle Magento developers today!

Feature #2: Ai-Powered Search

Ai-powered Search is another recommended eCommerce feature to help shoppers quickly find the product they are interested in. Retailers can use this feature to introduce smart product search capabilities in their stores like predictive, typo-tolerant search suggestions and make the user search experience more intuitive.

Smart Ai search makes up the functionality to understand users’ context and intention. Its Ai accumulates users’ data on a website and generates the most accurate and relevant search results. Whenever a user searches for a query, it refines the results based on multiple programmed factors, like the person’s past purchases, common spelling errors, and the intent behind the language in the query.

If you like integrating AI-powered Search into your eCommerce store, reach out to our top Seattle Magento development team!

Feature #3: Multiple Payment Options

eCommerce stores that offer plenty of payment options are perceived as forward-thinking businesses with shoppers’ interests at heart. Multiple payment options, such as credit cards, debit cards, Google Pay, money orders, and cash on delivery when offered to shoppers, take their hesitation out of making a purchase from a new business or brand. A cohesive mix of safe and secure payment options in an eCommerce store can facilitate their relationships with customers. Being able to build a customer-brand relationship is all it takes to encourage shoppers to purchase from you and become your regular customer.

Different generations and demographics of shoppers prefer different payment methods. Some love to make payments using electronic wallets, while others love to purchase and pay at a future date. As an online retailer, you must make an informed choice about “which payment options you will add to your online store to match your audience’s needs and preferences”

Feature #4: High-Quality Images

Online shopping eliminates the physical and tactile examination of the products. Shoppers rely on two-dimensional photographs to determine if a product is worth the price and satisfies their needs and expectations. For an eCommerce brand, it is more important than ever to keep its product appearance as interactive as possible by placing clear, detailed, and eye-catching images.

Great product images can evoke certain emotions in shoppers, leading to an excellent customer experience and satisfaction. Our top Seattle Magento developer even recommends keeping at least five multi-view, professional, and optimized product photos in front of online shoppers – which they can enlarge to check product details, such as the stitching, the construction, the texture, and fittings. Since device sizes can vary, an enlarged image can still appear smaller when they browse from their mobile device.

Feature #5: Comprehensive Product Information 

According to the research, 87% of shoppers take a minute to review the product description before making a purchase. A detailed product description is a prime thing to consider for a first-time shopper before trusting any brand. They are likely to scrutinize every detail of the product they are going to buy, such as product features, the material used, sizes, colors, and more. When a retail store cannot provide accurate, reliable, robust descriptions of its products, the product will look spammy and twist a potential buyer away. The user, as well as the search engine, cannot trust them.

An ideal product description perfectly blends logical benefits and emotional appeal. As Magento eCommerce design experts, we recommend this feature to add a humorous touch to a product description that can help facilitate a connection with a potential audience. Rich product information is an easy-to-access window for brands to build value and win customer experience.

Feature #6: Product Swatches 

Consumers want a seamless shopping experience, and that’s exactly what color swatches offer. Product swatches are the most engaging, fun, and accurate method to show shoppers different variants of a product. Swatches are thumbnail images of each product that a business sells. Usually, there are three types of product swatches that an eCommerce store can create: color swatches, pattern swatches, and shape swatches. 

Swatches facilitate the eCommerce user experience by helping users discover product variants faster and with minimal fuss. When shopping in industries like apparel, home furnishings, and beauty, we can consider them the key to user decision-making. Swatches can be added to any eCom store, regardless of the theme you’re using. You don’t have to be a pro coder to start.

Interested in this feature? Get help from our expert Seattle Magento developer

Feature #7: Shopper Reviews 

About 88% of consumers trust online product testimonials as much as personal recommendations. Product reviews are arguably the most helpful way to drive social proof and improve customer loyalty. Reading reviews from shoppers who make similar purchases – drives customer confidence that buying a well-reviewed item is a good choice.  

Customer reviews will come over time, but that doesn’t mean you can’t speed up the process. Tactics like requesting reviews on social media, soliciting reviews via email, incentivizing shoppers for reviews, and sending survey emails can largely increase the number of shoppers who leave feedback.

You are losing out on many potential shoppers if you have not yet added a review section to your product pages. Get help from the best Magento site design companies.

Feature #8: Multiple Shipping Methods

Offering shoppers diverse shipping options shows the brand’s credibility, resulting in greater customer satisfaction. In a Metapack survey, half of the shoppers admitted to abandoning online shopping carts because the shipping choices were unsatisfactory or did not meet their needs.

Giving shoppers multiple shipping options like free delivery, next-day delivery, collection in-store, and delivery to a local pickup point is crucial to staying competitive in today’s retail space. The more options a business can provide, the better their customer experience will be.

There is no shortage of shipping methods you can add to the checkout process, but every eCom brand faces its own set of obstacles that must be addressed and conquered to determine what works best for you. Let our Seattle Magento developers help you choose the best shipping method for your store.

Feature #9: Frictionless Checkout Process

Baymard data reports that nearly 1 out of 5 shoppers have abandoned a cart in the last quarter because of a “too long/complicated checkout process. Shoppers expect the checkout experience to be simple and frictionless. They expect a seamless checkout experience that comprises:

• Offer free shipping
• Automatic payment population. 
• One-click checkout options.
• Guest checkout options.
• Precise, accurate total costs. 
• Estimated delivery dates.

Checkout churn has a direct impact on your bottom line. This churn may seem pretty straightforward, but it would surprise you when you see the number of people leaving your site because of the superfluous checkout process. As a new-age retailer, if you cannot build an optimized, streamlined, and frictionless checkout system for your customer, you’ll keep on losing potential buyers in your eCommerce store.

Feature #10: Breadcrumbs

Breadcrumbs is a superior website navigation element for users to understand the relationship between their location on a page. This secondary navigation allows users to jump back and forth through the website promptly. The ability to move and trace their route facilitates many aspects of the user experience on an eCommerce website.

This secondary yet effective navigation will not only build a joyful customer experience but also help search engines quickly understand the architecture of a website. Breadcrumbs are placed at the top of the page, separated by a greater-than sign (>). Mainly, there are three main types of breadcrumbs that an eCom website can use: Location-based, path-based, or attribute-based.

Final Thoughts

The best eCommerce website is not limited to the above features, you can add to them based on your budget and scope. Still, these features in an eCommerce store can help deliver a mesmerizing customer experience and drive greater sales.

Remember: whatever website feature you come up with, the first step to the development of a successful e-commerce business is always an easy-to-navigate layout. It should provide value to a user — be it as informative product descriptions or a one-step checkout. Only then you’ll see occasional passers-by converting into loyal shoppers and clicks — into sales.

When you’re ready to commit to setting up your store, make sure you select a reputable ecommerce website design agency that has extensive knowledge and is cognizant of your company’s needs in order to offer you the best solution.

Contact RoryMartin.com today →