Anyone who is looking to start an online store needs to think about a number of factors on their business journey.
Once you create the perfect website and fill it with products, you need to start attracting customers. However, knowing there are between 2 to 3 million eCommerce websites in the world, it is obvious that the competition is fierce.
You need to find something that will make your store seem much more appealing than your competitors’ and stand out in a sea of other eCommerce websites. There are many tactics you can try, but there is one that has proven successful over and over again, and that’s using visuals.
Start with your logo
Every business needs a brand identity that will make them instantly recognizable to their customers. A brand identity consists of many different aspects such as colors, typography, data visualization, and so on. The most important part of your brand identity, however, is your logo.
Without a doubt, the logo is the most recognizable part of any brand and it’s the thing that pops into the head of most people when they think of a company. But that’s only true if the logo is well-designed and embodies your brand perfectly.
Now, you may think that a good logo will cost you a fortune. However, there’s no need to hire a designer because you can use a free logo maker to create the perfect logo yourself. You just need to keep these things in mind:
- Do your research. Look at as many logos of your competitors as you can and find what kind of features they all share. While it’s important to create a logo that is uniquely designed, don’t make it too unconventional or it won’t be successful. See what works best for your competitors and find inspiration from it.
- Think about all mediums. Your logo will appear on many different mediums and you need to take that into consideration when you’re creating the design. Create something that will look good wherever it’s displayed.
- Simplicity is key. In the design world, less is more. If you include too many design elements in your logo, the message you’re trying to get across will be overlooked. Busy logos with too many elements can also be confusing to consumers.
- Think about your clients. The perfect logo has one job, and that is to attract the company’s ideal clients. That is why you need to think about people you want to attract when you’re designing your logo and create something they will find appealing.
Keep it consistent
Once you have your logo, it’s time to continue to build your brand identity and it’s very important to keep that branding consistent. According to the latest branding statistics, consistent branding across all channels increases revenue by 23%.
Look at your branding like a big puzzle, and all its aspects as the puzzle pieces. They don’t need to be exactly the same, but they need to be similar enough and come together effortlessly.
If you want to create a cohesive branding strategy, you need to follow these rules:
- The color palette needs to be consistent. The colors you use in your logo and the rest of your branding need to be consistent and conform to the principles of good design. Use two color palettes and make sure the color combinations complement one another.
- Use complementary fonts. Don’t make the mistake of using different fonts on each of your pages, because that seems unprofessional. Use fonts that work well with your brand and are easy to read. You can use different fonts for headlines, but they need to be complementary.
- Illustrations need to be cohesive as well. Illustrations are a fun addition to any website, but as soon as you use one type of illustration, you need to stay consistent. All future illustrations need to be in the same or similar style.
Include various visuals on your website
Visuals are very important for any eCommerce website. They can help your customers get a clear picture of what kind of products you’re offering and what they can expect if they purchase something from your website.
The biggest drawback of eCommerce stores is that customers don’t have the opportunity to see the product in person and that’s why visuals are there. However, some eCommerce websites don’t use visuals to their full advantage.
If a store just offers pictures of their products and nothing more, they can’t expect to pique the interest of their customers because there are many more creative ways you can display your products.
The best way to make your products stand out is to follow design trends for 2020 and include the following types of visuals on your website:
- 360-degree product view. This type of visual allows your customers to have a close in-person experience without ever physically holding a product. It allows them to examine it from all angles and control how they explore the product.
- Instructional videos. Video is the most popular form of media used in content marketing because it can show much more than just the product’s physical features. It can show customers how a product works and its benefits in a fun and engaging format.
- User-generated content. A lot of eCommerce stores can benefit from visuals their customers provide, not only because it adds more visuals to the website, but also because it provides social proof. This type of content shows potential customers that there are real people out there who are satisfied with your products.
- High-quality images. While it’s not recommended to only use images, your store can’t exist without them. You just have to keep in mind that the visuals need to be high-quality, otherwise your website and your whole brand will seem unprofessional.
Spice up your written content with visuals
Written content is another important element of eCommerce websites, but it’s not customers’ preferred type of content. If you spend hours or even days writing the perfect and overly-detailed product descriptions, it’s probably a lost cause as most customers won’t even read it.
The sad truth is that people are not too fond of written content on any type of website and most website visitors only read 20% of your webpage. There are countless possible reasons for this, such as short attention spans or impatient readers, but the fact still stands – written content is usually glossed over.
However, since you still need to include it on your website, you can combine it with visuals to make it more appealing to your customers. Since most people nowadays just scan the text on a page in search of the important information, place what you want them to focus on in the center of an image.
In some cases, you need to include bigger blocks of text that your customers need to read, and visuals can also help here. Just include relevant images, videos, gifs, and other media in strategic places to break down the text and make it easier to read.
Final thoughts
People are visual beings and they prefer to get their information through visual aids more than any other medium. This has been the case throughout history. Smart entrepreneurs think about visuals while they’re creating an eCommerce store.
If you’re smart enough about how you use your visuals, you can rise far above your competitors and have a unique store that no customer can turn away from.
