Common Bad UI/UX In ECommerce And Effective Strategies To Fix Them

By June 15, 2023

5 mins read

UI/UX designs in eCommerce sites may seem to be a small thing, but greatly impacts user journey. A good UI/UX pushes users smoothly from one page to another, a poor one could leave a permanent bad impression. It may even lead touser frustration prompting them to never come back again to your eCommerce web app.

Giving importance to minute UI/ UX details greatly establishes your credibility. It automatically makes you stand out amongst big shareholders in the market improving your checkouts and conversion rates.

In this article, we have compiled some common bad UI/UX examples in eCommerce and discuss strategies to fix them, ultimately improving user satisfaction and driving higher sales.

Complex Navigation

A complicated and lengthy checkout process can be a nightmare for users causing them to abandon their carts in frustration. Thus, it becomes vital to streamline and enhance user journey from browsing till making till a purchase:

• Implement a guest checkout option: One of the blunders is asking users to fill the registration form after selecting their purchase items. On the flip side, it is better to allow users to make purchases without requiring them to create an account, reducing friction and speeding up the process.
• Provide progress indicators: Clearly indicate the steps involved in the checkout process, enabling users to understand how much more is left, enhancing transparency and reducing anxiety.

Forms Not Conveying Relevant Information

Forms are integral to eCommerce platforms, facilitating user interactions and capturing vital information. These require users to complete sign up, login, checkout, etc. Let’s explore effective strategies to apply clear forms:

• Minimize form fields: Only ask for essential information during the checkout process, reducing the time and effort required from users. 



• Indicate the exact reason: Users may not come to know about the reason why their sign up is not successful. Simply showing a word error won’t serve the purpose.Show proper reason like the password is incorrect, forgot password or error in the username. Also, you can mark the reason field with red color.

Missing Advanced Search Functionality

A robust search functionality is essential for users to find products quickly and efficiently. It delivers a successful user experience and improves search capabilities.These steps enhance search functionality to the great extent:

• Implement autocomplete: Offer suggestions as users type in the search bar, helping them find relevant products faster and reducing search frustration.
• Include filters: Allow users to refine their search results based on criteria such as price range, brand, size, or color, enabling them to narrow down options quickly. 
• Provide relevant results: Optimize the search algorithm by displaying the most relevant products based on user queries, ensuring accuracy and precision.

Using Low-Quality Images

Visuals play a vital role in capturing users attention and conveying the quality of products on eCommerce platforms. Let’s delve into how to elevate visual appeal for enhanced user engagement:

• Use high-resolution professional images:These images showcase products in their best light. But, low-quality images, such as pixelated or blurry photos, create a negative impression and undermine users’ confidence in the product’s quality.



• Compress Images: It maintains an acceptable level of visual clarity without slowing down page load times. For this, utilize image compression tools or plugins to strike a balance between image quality and file size.

Inadequate Product Information

Imagine encountering a product page with limited or unclear information—an annoying experience leaving users in doubt and hesitation. If a product doesn’t turn out to be what users were expecting, they won’t rely on you in the future. They can’t make informed purchasing decisions. All this gets added on resulting in lost sales opportunities. 

To address this issue, consider the following strategies:

• Detailed product descriptions: Provide comprehensive and clear descriptions that include key features, specifications, dimensions, materials, and any other relevant information that helps users make informed decisions.
• High-quality product images: Display multiple high-resolution images from different angles, enabling users to examine the product closely and gain confidence in their purchase.
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• Customer reviews and ratings: Incorporate customer reviews and ratings to provide social proof and build trust, allowing users to gauge the product’s quality and suitability.

Unoptimized Mobile Experience

With the increasing use of smartphones for online shopping, users prefer on-the-go shopping. So, it becomes crucial to optimize eCommerce platforms on mobile devices. This facilitates users to purchase at their convenience.

You can follow these approaches for enhancing mobile UI/UX:

• Responsive design:Ensure the website is fully responsive, automatically adapting to different screen sizes and orientations for a seamless mobile experience. 
• Streamlined navigation:Simplify the navigation menu and make it easily accessible, allowing users to find products and browse categories effortlessly.
• Clear call-to-action buttons: Use prominent and easy-to-tap buttons for crucial actions like “Add to Cart” or “Checkout,” preventing user frustration due to accidental taps.

Lack Of Personalization

Personalization plays a significant role in shopping, matching the experience to individual preferences and needs. If users are not getting relevant product recommendations, promotional offers, and content, they are less likely to engage with your eCommerce platform.

These are the strategies for personalizing shopping experience:

• Remember preferred user options: Your eCommerce must remember user’s basic credentials like delivery address, preferred payment mode to deliver seamless UX.
• Easy to choose payment method: Different payment methods allow users to pick convenient options. And the cart to the payment gateway must be less than 3 pages.
• Easy to access cart: If users want to move to checkout after completing their research, checkout must be made universal to the website. It allows them to move to cart anywhere on the website.
• Easy to access customer service: customer service can make or break your eCommerce business. So, your customer service button must be easily accessible.
• Easy to update personal information: it includes delivery address or phone number.

Slow Loading Times

Slow loading times is the biggest factor in making users lose their patience contributing to higher bounce rates. The reason being, in this fast-paced world nobody likes to wait for content to load. This results in shorter browsing sessions, decreased page views, and limited opportunities for conversion.

Implement the following measures to optimize loading times:

• Image optimization: Compress and optimize product images without sacrificing quality to reduce file sizes and improve loading speed.
• Caching and content delivery networks (CDNs): Utilize caching techniques and CDNs to store and deliver content closer to users, reducing server response time and enhancing overall site performance.
• Minify code and scripts: Remove unnecessary spaces, line breaks, and comments from code and scripts to reduce file sizes and optimize loading times.

Ineffective Error Handling

Error messages are critical in guiding users when they encounter issues during their shopping journey. It often leads to users feeling disappointed that even after selecting a certain product with so much difficulty they can’t buy that product.

Best practices to improve error handling

• Clear and concise error messages: Provide specific and descriptive error messages that explain the problem and suggest possible solutions to help users resolve the issue effectively. 



• Visual cues for form validation: Use real-time form validation to provide immediate feedback when users input incorrect or incomplete information, reducing errors and facilitating a smoother checkout process. 
• Offer assistance and support: Include contact information or live chat options to enable users to seek assistance if they encounter persistent errors or have questions, ensuring they receive timely help.

Conclusion

Addressing common bad UI/UX practices in eCommerce delivers a positive and satisfactory user experience. By recognizing the negative consequences of these practices, businesses can take proactive measures to rectify them.

Our eCommerce experts prioritize user needs and preferences and create websites,web apps, and apps accordingly. This helps you not only foster customer satisfaction, increase conversions, and but establish a strong position in the competitive eCommerce landscape.