Abandoned shopping carts are a hurdle for online merchants. Abandonment rates range from 60 to 80 percent, depending on the study. Some of this is “window shopping” on the part of visitors. Some of it is due to the complexity of your checkout process. Thus optimizing your checkout will likely increase sales. In this post, I’ll […]
Every business has risks. Part of what makes a business successful is how it eliminates or reduces those risks while still serving customers. The hardware and software that power your ecommerce store create risks. I’ll call them technology risks. Some technology risks are benign and don’t threaten the company. This could be, for example, the
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I’ve addressed different options to host the code for your ecommerce site. In “Don’t Self-host an Ecommerce Store,” I addressed the risk and expense of owning and managing web servers. In “Cloud Hosting the Best Option for Stores That Own Code,” I reviewed the advantages, including flexibility and low cost, of metered outsourcing. There’s one
User experience design is the process of improving the interaction between a consumer and a product. For online merchants, UX design tools can help get early feedback on a website or product, test the versions, and analyze the final results. Here is a list of useful UX design tools. There are UX platforms to design
Utilizing free resources from the design community is a good way to add value to your website. Here is a list of new web tools and design elements from fall 2017. There are designer and developer apps, fonts, content tools, and more. All of these are free. Free Web Tools Khroma. Khroma is an artificial
The concept of cloud hosting can be confusing. “We’re moving to the cloud.” “The cloud can scale this.” Or my favorite, from Microsoft about Windows 7: “To the cloud.” Cloud hosting is similar to hosting on dedicated servers. In both scenarios, you’re renting computers from a third party to keep your store online. That server
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New techniques, technologies, and user behaviors drive ecommerce website and application design every year. In 2018, expect ecommerce sites to employ the CSS Grid Layout, use mobile-friendly full-screen modal windows, offer a lot more video, and include microinteractions and guided selling. 1. CSS Grid Layout CSS Grid Layout is a two-dimensional layout model and part
Color is an integral element of design. Choosing the right color palette for your website can make or break its appeal with potential customers. Here is a list of tools and resources for color design. There are tutorials on basic and advanced color theory, tools to generate effective color palettes, and design community sites for
A good logo conveys the message and essential truth of a brand. Whether you’re interested in creating your own logo or finding the right designer, there are a variety of resources available to develop your logo with relatively little cost. Here is a list of tools and resources to create a logo. There are guides
Online merchants could always use some free expert advice from the design community. There is a wide variety of free ebooks available to help. Here is a list of helpful ebooks on design. There are titles on typography, classic design, color theory, user-experience design, logos, brand building, creativity, and more. All of these ebooks are
