Here are 5 things that will make the user experience on your e-commerce website better. There are small things that you may not even notice until you are stuck on a website that doesn’t do them. These may not directly relate to increasing the conversion rate or pumping up sales. Look at it as you won the traffic war to get them onto your site now don’t lose them!

1. Images: They need to get bigger when you click them

This is especially true when there are several images of a product. Is a user is clicking a photo you can assume they want to be able to see it better which usually equals larger. A huge mistake is showing the same size image in a new window or viewer.

2. Enter Button: Forms with a Happy Ending

Make your forms easier to complete by enabling the “submit” to work via the mouse click and the keyboard Enter/Return button. User’s are conditioned to hit Enter on the keyboard when they’ve been typing like when filling out a form. Hitting the button on the keyboard is often easier than transitioning to the mouse to click.

3. Modals: Clicking outside the model box should close it

Many e-commerce shops now use pop over modals especially to prompt email list sign-ups. They have proven to be effective so to reap the benefits focus on minimizing the hazard. Often the modal window will have a “close” or an “x” button allowing the user out of your mouse trap. However, they require a mouse click on a small precise point. This can be frustrating for a returning user who know exactly where they want to get to on your site. Allow that any clicks outside the modal window will close the modal. This makes it a non-issue for your shops users.

4. Breadcrumbs & Links: Make sure I know where I am

Navigation on your website should smooth the online shopping process. Two obvious way to do this are to make links that have already been visited display as a different color than unvisited links. Usually, a lighter derivative of the color should be used. Breadcrumbs are the always a helpful form of navigation. These are especially important in the checkout process for example:

Cart>Shipping>Payment>Confirm

Allowing the user to click on a step in the process should they decide they would like to make a change is a better process than forcing them to hit the “back” button several times.

5. Home Page: I just want to go home

This is most often missed on blogs and on support/help pages. Many times a plug-in or third party app is being used so the user has left the main website. Make a very clear easy to find a link that returns the user to your Home page. Consider that a user may have found your site via a search engine and didn’t come in through the front door. They read your fantastic user experience tip blog post and are inspired to see your wares. Make it easy for them.