193: "Must Know" Elements of Successful Ecom Design Most Business Forget

How often have you added a new element to your website because you thought it “looked cool”?

The reality is that a jumble of “cool” widgets and features can slow down your site and actually worsen your customer experience.

In today's episode, we bring back Kurt Elster who is a specialist in conversion rate optimization and runs an ecommerce website design and development agency, Ethercycle.

Kurt shares his insights on the key components of a successful ecommerce website design. Learn the how-tos and what-nots of what makes a great website, including product page design, the importance of great copywriting, and why design actually shouldn’t be your #1 focus.

Enjoy!

Episode Highlights

• 5:02 “Ruthless Empathy”: the mindset Kurt says you need to have when analyzing your website.
• 6:44 The core elements of successful ecommerce website design.
• 8:46 The questions to ask yourself to determine whether you really need all those widgets on your site.
• 10:41 How to balance simplicity with complexity in your website.
• 13:22 Why you should approach your website design with a clear decision framework, rather than a design wishlist.
• 15:36 The interesting things Walmart is doing with its web design that have helped increase its online sales.
• 20:04 What Austin sees as a standout on Walmart's site that a lot of Shopify stores don't do.
• 21:29 Which design should come first: mobile or desktop?
• 24:49 The key elements to include on your homepage.
• 27:00 Aspects of homepage design that work to direct people to the product page (and why this should be your #1 goal).
• 30:59 Your product pages: the must-haves, what's usually missing, and the perfect example of a business that's doing it right.
• 35:08 Why Kurt doesn’t believe you should use artificial scarcity to drive people to buy.
• 37:20 How to use urgency and scarcity in a legitimate way.
• 38:54 Why you should be using video on your product page.
• 41:34 An alternative to artificial scarcity as suggested by Austin.
• 43:49 The best ways to sell complementary products to people and increase AOV.
• 49:39 Why Kurt’s excited about the future of personalization.
• 51:19 Something Kurt believes to be true that most other entrepreneurs don’t agree with.

Links And Resources

• RightMessage
• The Unofficial Shopify Podcast
• [e-mail]
• Ethercycle
• Foxwell Digital
• Brand Growth Experts

Become a Member

If you've been a podcast listener for a while and you've yet to join the Brand Growth Experts Membership, now is the time to do it. It’s my online coaching community, and it’s an incredible resource for you. We've got about 120 members, all ecommerce business owners, and marketers. And in that community, I work with you one on one to help scale up your business.

That could be scaling up advertising, hiring a team, diving into marketing strategy. We go really in depth every single month on topics that we also talk about on the podcast. So, if you've enjoyed the podcast, you're going to love the Brand Growth Experts Membership. Head over to brandgrowthexperts.com for more information. Can't wait to see you guys on the inside.

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