Currently, it is common for people to access the internet through their mobile devices, not only when they do not have a computer at hand but because it is sometimes more convenient to check their profiles on social networks or surf the internet on mobile phones. It is inevitable, then, that a website is optimized for these devices, otherwise, you could lose users and significantly increase your bounce rate. In an online store, mobile optimization becomes even more evident as it is a possible loss.
In this article, we mention the most important elements to which you must pay attention when optimizing your online store for mobile.
The navigation bar
Navigation is one of the most important elements of any website because they allow the user to go to any section they want. In online stores, the navigation bar is equally important, especially if your store offers a wide variety of products in different categories. The organization of your navigation bar should be appropriate so that users have no problem going from one section to another or directly to the category in which they are interested.
In order to organize your navigation bar, you must have structured your website properly, that is the only necessary requirement. However, while it sounds simple, it can be difficult to do this in an online store, particularly if you have a wide variety of categories and subcategories. Make sure you check if the structure of the site is adequate. Meet with app development companies for your E-commerce mobile app.
On mobiles, the icon of the hamburger menu is usually used to indicate that the menu bar has been minimized, nevertheless, it is accessible all the time. In some sites, once this button is activated, the menu appears on the entire screen. However, for online stores, it is advisable to set the menu aside once it has been activated by the user as is usually seen in the applications. Since they are accustomed to this type of menus, they will be able to navigate through your site without much difficulty.
The product pages
On each product page, several photos are placed from different angles, the name of the product, some identification code, the price and the buttons to add it to the shopping cart. At first glance, these are the elements with the greatest visibility. Because of the size of the screen, you do not have much space to place product information, but it is still important that the user has a way to access certain product data, apart from those mentioned above. While on a computer, it is possible that additional data appear on a kind of tab, on a mobile you can place a button so that the user can access this data and thus avoid having to scroll down. In this way, the information is accessible to users who want it.
Remember to incorporate the common interaction patterns that are used in mobiles to enlarge images, move from one photograph to another, etc. Since the user is used to these patterns, he feels certain expectations when viewing photographs on a website or application.
The search bar
The search bar has become a standard element on any web page, but it is essential in an online store. Thanks to a good search bar, the user can skip certain steps when browsing your site. Instead of entering your site, search for the category and within that category browse product pages, you can directly enter the keyword associated with the product and have immediate results.
Since the search bar is a very useful tool, you must be very careful when developing it to be quite intuitive. If you have an online store with many categories and products, maybe the name of a product is in two different categories. Make sure that the user can choose the category when performing the search. Also, the autocomplete function is quite useful in these cases, so make sure to incorporate it into your search bar.
Like the autocomplete function, you can also incorporate an advanced search using filters. This option is particularly if you have a store with different categories and subcategories. These filters can be presented by drop-down lists or accordion-style menus. Like the navigation bar, the labels associated with each product must be properly organized. Meet with app development companies for your E-commerce mobile app.
Shopping cart
Once users have browsed through the store and reviewed various products, they may have added some of them in a shopping cart. The shopping cart is usually represented by an icon and is always visible so that the user can access it at any time.
It is important that it is easy to verify the most important details of each item such as name and price in the shopping cart. Not only should the users be able to review the products they intend to buy, but they should also be able to change the amount associated with each product, remove any item, add a product to the favorites list, add a promotional code, select the shipping mode, etc. As you can see, the shopping cart must be a flexible system that allows users to change their order without having to go back to the store to look for the same product.
In conclusion
It is not enough that your online store works on computers, you should also consider users who access from mobile devices and optimize your site to be functional on these devices, no matter how much percentage of your traffic is mobile users. There is the possibility of losing a possible sale if you do not consider these users, so you should make sure that your online store has an intuitive interface on both mobiles and computers. Meet with top app development companies for your E-commerce mobile app.
