Are you looking for new growth paths for your online store? Wondering how to improve your existing sales performance? Do you notice a sudden drop in the number of customers and want to know the source of it? Regardless of your motivation, an eCommerce audit, i.e. a comprehensive analysis of your platform performed by specialists, may be a good solution. A subjective look at your business backed by experience can shed a whole new light on eCommerce opportunities. Find out how an eCommerce audit is performed in practice and how it can help improve your platform.
Online store audit - what does it actually consist of?
In business terms, an audit boils down to a comprehensive examination of a company by an external and independent entity. It allows identifying the strengths and weaknesses of a company, as well as comparing its goals with reality. But how to relate the concept of an audit to eCommerce?
Similar to a business audit, in an eCommerce audit the key objective is to identify errors, shortcomings and find opportunities to optimize the running of an e-store. The knowledge and experience of outside specialists used in this process allows you to gain an objective view of the performance of your sales platform. As a result, the audit provides valuable knowledge that can significantly affect the success and efficiency of your online store.
What does an eCommerce audit examine?
Matching the scope of the audit to your eCommerce is key to effectively reviewing and evaluating the performance of your online business. Depending on the complexity of your site (number of pages, products, functionalities), an audit can cover different areas of your eCommerce site. How do you choose the ones that will best assess the health of your sales platform? Depending on the selected audit scope, the most frequent audit includes:
- technical and functional elements, e.g. page loading speed, responsiveness, or store performance as measured by indicators,
- the quality of the content posted on the site and its alignment with SEO principles,
- ensuring proper UX, including, in particular, taking care of consistency, design and aesthetics of the site.
Before you proceed with the audit and select the various areas of research, determine your goals and expectations. Do you want to identify weaknesses in your eCommerce, optimize sales processes, or perhaps improve conversions? Clearly defining your goals will help you choose the right areas for the audit. Also analyze the unique requirements and characteristics of your industry, the profile of your target audience and your analytics data. When in doubt, it's worth enlisting the help of an experienced software house to help identify areas for improvement and propose specific solutions. What's more, such cooperation can, in the long run, provide you with ready-made tools and solutions that will help you fix the identified errors and develop your eCommerce.
What audit methodology should you choose?
The result of an audit work should be a list of areas of the e-store worth improving and recommendations for possible changes. In order to collect all the necessary information, different types of research methods are used. The most common are two of them - heuristic and cognitive wandering. You will learn about the first one by reading this article. If you are curious about the essence of cognitive wandering, keep an eye on our blog - we will surely reveal its details soon!
Audit in 10 steps, in other words, Nielsen's heuristics
Although the word heuristics may seem like a complicated term, each of us uses heuristics more or less consciously on a daily basis. Behind this term is the ability to search for connections between facts and discover new knowledge and formulate hypotheses. Often, such inference can lead to the creation of certain mental simplifications and predictable patterns of behavior.
Based on this principle, in 1990 Jakob Nielsen, a Danish usability specialist, developed 10 heuristics that have now become the basis for an eCommerce audit. Each heuristic addresses specific areas of a site and evaluates them based on the established principles. Find out if you are definitely using each heuristic in your online store.
#1 Show system status
First of all, make sure that your platform allows the user to perform all expected actions. When a potential customer visits your e-store, they will expect an intuitive and straightforward purchase path, in which no element of the process will raise their doubts. To achieve this goal, be sure to include information about the progress at each stage of his or her journey, e.g. by means of visible page titles, and by including a clear message about the actions he or she can take within them, e.g. adding a product to the shopping cart or payment status.
#2 Ensure consistency between the system and reality
Have you wondered why so many people use music services like Spotify? Notice that the design of such apps mirrors physical music players (including the layout and shape of buttons). Users are more likely to use functionality they know from the real world. This principle also applies in eCommerce - shoppers are more likely to buy from a store where going through the entire purchase path seems familiar and natural. You can achieve such an effect by taking care to use clear and intuitive design or language that appeals to the customer (e.g., using a CTA with a clear message
#3 Give the user full control
Lack of full familiarity with a new system can make users fear that they will accidentally make some irreversible mistake. Such thoughts may even completely discourage visitors from performing any actions on the site. For this reason, it is important to give them a sense of complete control over their own actions. Make sure that the ability to edit an order or cancel the purchase finalization is as intuitive as adding a product to the shopping cart.
#4 Stick to standards and maintain consistency /span>
It is worth remembering that when designing the layout of your platform, you should take into account the habits and expectations of shoppers. The product search engine is most often placed at the top of the page, the drop-down menu is either on the left side or at the top, and possible options (such as color or size) appear next to the product price - this idea of a website has become the benchmark. When a website conforms to it, buyers do not feel consternation or confusion. It is especially important for new customers to be able to find their way around the site almost immediately, find the products they are interested in and use the features they need.
#5 Prevent mistakes
When undertaking new activities, it's easy to make mistakes. So it's not surprising that a customer, visiting an unfamiliar platform for the first time, may feel lost. Nielsen has distinguished between two types of such errors - slips and mistakes. What are the differences between them and how to prevent them?
Slips are unconscious mistakes made by customers, usually caused by their inattention. Due to the individual characteristics of buyers, their complete avoidance is impossible. However, you can reduce their occurrence, for example, by implementing smart hints in the product search engine. Thanks to this functionality, the customer will find the searched phrase, even if he makes a so-called "typo" while typing it. Mistakes, on the other hand, are deliberate errors that are a direct result of improper site design. For example, including information that a product is out of stock will cause a frustrated customer to abandon making any order.
#6 Give choices instead of forcing memorization
Have you ever happened to forget an important task, even though you were very anxious to complete it? This is because humans have limited short-term memory resources. When designing the interface of your eCommerce site, you should reduce the number of elements the user has to remember. When creating individual functionalities, follow the principle of " suggest, point, remind". A good practice would be, for example, to include a "recently viewed" section in a prominent place on the page, provide auto-complete forms or provide an option to re-order. The latter will be particularly well received in industries where customers make regular transactions (e.g., daily necessities).
#7 Ensure flexibility and efficiency
The system should adapt to different customer needs, so when designing a platform, you need to meet the expectations of both more and less experienced users. You can achieve e-store flexibility and efficiency by using various methods, such as:
- automation of individual steps, e.g. by enabling registration and account login via social media,
- simplifying the form ( ticking all consents with one click),
- streamlining product search with the option to select multiple filters at once.
#8 Opt for aesthetics and moderation
An online store should not only please the eye and be consistent with the brand's visual identity, but most importantly, it should meet the primary goal of maximizing sales. For this reason, you should ensure that the layout is functional and conducive to efficient navigation of the site. However, this does not mean that your eCommerce should be completely "flat" and lacking in visual effects. It is important to reach a compromise, making sure that the design does not distract the customer when making important decisions (e.g. when finalizing an order).
#9 Ensure effective error handling
At this point, it is worth referring once again to the 5 heuristics. What if, despite your best efforts, you can't avoid creating errors on the site? In such a case, first of all, do not delay, but as soon as the mistake is detected, give the user a clear message and if possible - suggest a solution. It may happen that the user during registration offers a password that does not meet the requirements. In that case, it is worthwhile to immediately display information about the login rules (the number of capital letters or special characters in the password). This will prevent the customer from feeling the frustration caused by making repeated attempts to enter the password.
#10 Take care of support and documentation
Depending on the type of products and the industry you're in, you may need to be a little more advanced. If you sell technology products, it's important to provide detailed information on their specifications. You can do this by posting downloadable attachments prominently on the product page. On the other hand, if the products in your offer need to be personalized, it is a good idea to prepare short step-by-step instructions (e.g. in the form of a video).
Also, don't forget that there is always the possibility that some user will simply need help. Regardless of the complexity of your site, it's a good idea to provide basic information, for example, in the form of a FAQ (frequently asked questions) section.
eCommerce audit ready - what's next?
A comprehensive analysis of the platform by specialists allows you to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the company, optimize sales processes and improve the efficiency of the store. Before proceeding with the audit, it is worthwhile to clearly define the goals and expectations, analyze the specifics of the industry and learn about the methodology for performing the audit. You already know what Nielsen's 10 heuristics are, now it's time to put them into practice and discover new prospects for your eCommerce development. If you have doubts about how to get started - we'll be happy to help!
