Features for Ecommerce Website: 7 Must-Have Elements in 2024
Dec, 18, 2024 
The market for e-commerce websites is growing fast, and it’s necessary to remain ahead of the curve in 2024 to be successful. With online commerce estimated to become $6.3 trillion this year, it’s important more than ever that your online store has the right features. In this article we will uncover the must have features for ecommerce website with some of the latest statistics and examples of the top performing sites!
First, let’s look at some key statistics: By 2024, 20.1% of all retail purchases should happen online, which emphasizes the need for a successful online brand. Another thing to note is that 70.19% of online shoppers abandon their carts, making it essential to have a smooth and user-friendly experience for them.
Including more essential features could give your e-commerce website an edge over the rest and also draw in more customers in 2024. Stay tuned for more detailed insights and examples in the following article from 1Byte.
Mobile Responsiveness
In 2024 and the years to come, everyone needs a mobile responsiveness feature of e-commerce websites. E-commerce is big on mobile, which is why you should invest in it: 72.9% of all e-commerce sales happen on a mobile device. A mobile–friendly design ensures that your website looks and functions well on smartphones and tablets, and more importantly, helps in providing a flawless shopping experience.
It should load fast, too. The statistics show that, if a website is loading longer than 3 seconds, 53% of mobile users will leave it. Your site has to load fast and do its job without any hiccups.
Responsive design provides a fluid structure that adjusts to varying screen sizes and it’s easy for people to navigate your site if you make it responsive. In other words, it improves user experience, while helping your site get ranked better on search engines. A responsive design will also help with your SEO efforts since Google favors mobile friendly sites.
The other key aspect here is simplified navigation. Users on mobile should be able to browse and make purchases without a hindrance. Being able to shop on your phone should be easy with large buttons, easy to read fonts, and a streamlined checkout process.
Examples of e‑commerce sites that are built mobile responsive are Amazon and Shopify. The main reason why these platforms are walking away with the first place is that their sites are, as compared to other sites, optimized for mobile users which has led to a higher rate of conversion and customer satisfaction.
For this reason, by putting emphasis on mobile responsiveness you can ensure that your e-commerce website is able to meet the needs of mobile shoppers today and to become ahead of the competition.
User-Friendly Navigation
Any ecommerce website must have a user friendly navigation system. Having a well structured navigation aids in users to find what they were looking for, increasing sales and customer satisfaction.
According to stats, 76% of ecommerce sites get mediocre to poor performance for homepage and category navigation. This demonstrates the importance of putting time into a good navigation structure.
Key elements of user-friendly navigation include:
- Clear and Consistent Layout: Your site must be navigable by your users without any confusion. Use familiar icons and labels — stick to industry standards.
- Responsive Design: Make sure that your navigation works well on desktop and mobile devices also. Responsive design allows for different screen sizes to adapt to.
- Intuitive Menus: Categorize products in either horizontal or vertical menus. Dropdown menus can help keep the navigation organised and clean.
- Search Functionality: Users can get to products quickly with robust search feature. Ensure that it gracefully handles typos and misspellings.
- Breadcrumbs: Breadcrumbs let users know where they are on the site and helps them to navigate back to pages they have been previously in, easily.
- Error Prevention: Clearly provide error messages and easy to undo options to minimize errors.
Examples of successful navigation:
- Amazon: It uses horizontal navigation, dropdown menus and a mighty search bar.
- Shopify: Provides customizable navigation menus to supplement the store’s specific needs.
Focusing on elements like examples above, ecommerce websites can give their users a user friendly navigational system.
Secure Payment Gateway
For any ecommerce website, this is 2024 and a secure payment gateway is a must have feature. It means that transactions are processed safely and efficiently, (which protects) the business and all customers from fraud and data breaches. A report reveals that the global e-commerce industry is anticipated to touch $6.3 trillion by 2024, suggesting the need for strong security.
With a secure payment gateway, you are offered multiple payment solutions including accepting credit cards, digital wallets like PayPal and ACH payments. This flexibility gives customers their preferred payment option so they can enjoy their shopping. Moreover, a secured payment gateway has advanced fraud detection and prevention tools that eliminate the possibility of chargebacks and unauthorized transactions.
For instance, you can work with a payment gateway like Leaders Merchant Services (LMS) that charges low fees and provides advanced security measures, including, advanced fraud detection, a dedicated charge back team, etc. This makes sure the business can proceed with the safe and efficient transaction handling and reduce the rate of fraud.
Finally, as any online store looking to give its clients a secure and smooth shopping experience, any ecommerce website needs a secure payment gateway. Making a safe payment gateway could help businesses secure their customers’ data, while creating an element of trust which can translate to more sales and better customer satisfaction.
High-Quality Product Images and Descriptions
In 2024, to rank well in 2024, ecommerce websites must have high quality product images and descriptions. According to the statistics, 20.1% of retail sales are projected to be made online. This shows that you need visually appealing, informative product content.
Trust is built with high quality images. According to a study by Storeplum, professional product photos can reduce product returns by a lot. And of course consistent, professional visuals help to build brand recognition and credibility.
Customers are being helped to make an informed decision by way of detailed descriptions. Shopify reports that well written product descriptions can turn browsers into buyers. If this product is not a non product, then the features, benefits and its usage should be highlighted to give their customers an idea of what the value is.
Explaining what a successful e-commerce site looks like are examples such as Master & Dynamic and Rolex. They have high quality images and perfect descriptions of their products.
Customer Reviews and Ratings
In 2024, Customer reviews and ratings are important for ecommerce websites. They earn the trust of shoppers and guide them in making the decisions they have to make. Statista says 93 percent of consumers read reviews before purchasing. What this underscores is the need for a robust review system.
Having 50 or more reviews per product can result in a 4.6 percent increase in your conversion rate. In other words, this can directly impact sales. For instance, in the case of Amazon, the leading e-commerce platform, customer reviews and ratings get highlighted, thereby impacting the buying decisions greatly.
Additionally, adding review systems to the mix helps bring more credibility. According to BrightLocal, for example, 79% of consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations. This leads to greater customer loyalty and increased sales.
In summary, customer reviews and ratings are essential features for ecommerce websites in 2024. Not only that, they also generate trust and credibility with customers.
Personalized User Accounts
Personalized user accounts are a must-have feature for any e-commerce website in 2024. They enhance the shopping experience by tailoring content and recommendations to individual users. According to a report by McKinsey, customers are willing to pay more for brands that offer customized services. This feature helps build customer loyalty and increases sales.
Statistics show that 74% of users get frustrated when the content is not relevant to them. This issue is addressed by personalized accounts, which offer specifically tailored product suggestions based on browsing and purchasing history. For instance, Amazon through personalized recommendations is able to increase customer satisfaction to a great extent and consequently drive sales.
Personalized user accounts would be implemented by collecting and analyzing user data. Using this data, we create a custom shopping experience for the user. For example, if a user purchases books often, the homepage will promote new and best selling books from their favorite genre. What this approach does is it actually makes it more intuitive, more nicer to use, more engaging.
Personalized communication is another important feature for us. Making use of sending personalized emails or notifications based on the individual’s own preferences can give a remarkable boost to engagement. For instance, users could feel valued or encourage repeat purchase if you send birthday offers and updates on items they show interest in.
All in all, you should have personalized user accounts to provide an optimal shopping experience to your visitors. Ecommerce websites rely on them to help them stand out from a crowd in a very competitive market and establish long lasting relations with their customers.
Accessible Customer Support
Something that you can’t start without when creating an e-commerce website has to do with accessibility of customer support. Customers demand help quickly and easily. According to recent statistics, 88% of customers said good customer service makes them more likely to buy again. This indicates the necessity for a strong support system.
An excellent chat service is a great way to offer easily accessible customer support. Customer service via live chat is the closer the customer feels they are being helped immediately allowing the shopping experience to be better. For instance, according to Shopify, businesses who use live chat experience a 20% boost in customer satisfaction.
The other important thing is being able to reach your clients with support across all the channels they are on. Customers like the versatility of finding a way to contact them either by email, phone, social media or chat. A study found that 67 percent of consumers want to be in touch with customer support over social with 41 percent willing to switch to another solution should the company they prefer fail to answer on social.
Just as important is personalization. When support is tailored to that customer’s particular needs they feel valued. With AI driven tools in place, you can now give personalized responses and improve the support experience. Freshdesk’s AI tool Freddy takes on the grunt work helping agents focus on more involved customer issues.
Lastly, having customer support available all year around should improve the ranking. In order for customers in different time zones, help must always be available.
Conclusion
As of 2024, the e-commerce landscape continues to be a rapidly evolving landscape. In order to stay competitive, businesses have to include key features on their e-commerce website. These are features that not only cause user experience but also increase sales and build customer loyalty. Online stores can meet these evolving consumers’ demands by integrating mobile friendly designs, secure payment gateway and personalized user accounts. There is also great potential to leverage social media integration and provide responsive and supportive customer service. When you consider that global e-commerce sales are poised to top $6.3 trillion in 2020, those competencies are essential for business success. To learn in more details refer to the most recent reports on e-commerce trends and statistics.