3 Things to Test on Your eCommerce Site
By Magda Siembab, QA Analyst
Testing your eCommerce site is crucial to ensuring that that your store performs optimally and that your customers have a great experience on your site (and return to do more shopping in the future!). We’ve discussed before some tips for A/B testing, but what should you actually be testing? Here are three things to make sure to test on your eCommerce site.
1. Product Detail Pages
Probably the most important thing to test on your eCommerce website is product detail pages. After all, if you can get a visitor to click on a product page, you’re already well on your way to making a sale!
There’s a lot that goes into the makeup of a standard eCommerce product page: product descriptions and details, photographs, swatches, customer reviews, and maybe even video. While there’s a lot of information out there that you can provide to your customers, it’s key to know what parts of this information matters to your customer. Test the placement of these elements and also how much of this information the customer sees. Shoppers appreciate a streamlined, easy to navigate process while still getting enough understanding of the product to make an informed purchase. Providing a lot of information is great, as long as it’s in the manner that works for your customer.
2. Category Pages
Ever been to a store after a blowout sale and you come across aisles of misplaced products, making it almost impossible for you to find what you’re looking for? In this same way, it can be frustrating for customers to visit a site that is unorganized and chaotic when it comes to how products are displayed. That’s why category pages are another crucial aspect of your site to get right.
Just like product detail pages, category pages can contain a lot of information for shoppers about your products. Customers want to be able to quickly scan and find what they’re looking for without putting in much effort. Test the way you filter and group products to make sure you’re presenting information in the most organized and well thought out manner. Knowing what paths your customers take to make selections on your site will help you set up improved category pages and navigation for a better user experience.
3. Check Out
The average online shopping cart abandonment rate is 68.53%. Imagine how many more sales you could have if these shoppers actually completed their purchases!
As we discussed in a review of shopping cart abandonment data, customers abandon purchases for a number of reasons including complicated payment processes, requests for too much personal data (as in having to create a personal account with a merchant), and too many steps or an unclear flow to the check out structure. Simplicity and ease are key to successfully converting shopping carts into sales. Test your process to make sure the customer doesn’t encounter unexpected obstacles that would make them want to leave your site before completing their purchase.
By testing the three elements of your eCommerce site above, you’ll be able to identify opportunities to improve your site for customers, and in turn, improve your sales. Want to learn more? Contact us.
