The Importance of Visual Features for a Successful eCommerce Business

Anyone who has ever walked into more than one casino or supermarket is bound to notice that these venues have their own unique designs and layouts. While to an innocent bystander, this may seem like something completely random, there is a method to this madness. You see, certain shapes, colors and design tricks evoke an emotional response from people. Needless to say, some of these responses make them more susceptible to the idea of spending money. With this in mind, one cannot help but wonder whether it would be possible to apply these visual principles in the digital environment, as well. Let’s find out.

Images and feature descriptions

The first thing you need to keep in mind is the fact that in an actual store, you can actually take the product in your hands and read about its features from the package. This is the first major advantage that a traditional resale holds over eCommerce. The closest you can come to this is to display a photo of the product and list the features below. While it may seem intuitive that the picture carries more weight in the final decision-making process, in reality, only about 18 percent of the time gets spent on the image, while 82 percent of the time, people read the description below.

Visual hierarchy

Another vital feature that you need to consider is the one of visual hierarchy. You can never get a second chance to make a great first impression; however, in the digital world, it is up to you what your audience will encounter first. It’s human nature to look at the larger font first, as well as to pay more attention to the font that stands out due to color or the fact that it’s in bold. Moreover, while we already determined that images get less viewing time, they are definitely the first element of the page to catch one’s attention. Still, if you are to make this first impression count, it might be worth your while to look for appropriate and industry-specific eCommerce photography.

Left side is more dominant

Next important issue that we need to address is the alignment of your content, be it a post on your e-store’s blog or your e-store itself. One particular survey proved that horizontal attention always tends to lean left. Because of this, it might be much more user-friendly if you were to make the most vital information on your website a bit closer to the left margin of the screen. One last thing, the area at about 400 pixels off the left margin (on a 1024×768 monitor) is the absolute hotspot of attention.

Sometimes less is more

According to one study, two test groups were presented with a $1 coupon for jam. The first group was offered to choose between 6 different jam varieties, while the second group was presented with 24 different jam types. The results were staggering, seeing as how the first group was 10 times more likely to make up their mind than their counterparts who were offered more choices. In other words, if you want to encourage your visitors to make up their mind quickly, you need to be very careful not to present them with more options than their mind can handle.

With these four simple principles on your side, you are bound to see an immediate and noticeable increase in your sales. As for some other features, like the issue of color that we mentioned in the introduction, they mostly depend on your industry or the purpose of products/services that you provide. For instance, black is more suitable for luxury items, while red, orange and burgundy seem like the obvious choice for low-end items. When it comes to green, it is the color of luck, which is why it’s no wonder it’s so predominant in casinos and gambling dens. On the other hand, the above-listed four are, more or less, universally applicable.