How to build a user-friendly App for Online Purchase?

• Spontaneous Shopping Impulse
  

Google studies say that more than 80% of online purchases are triggered by
spontaneous impulse. To overcome this, customers need an online store app
as they cannot visit the physical store anytime.

• Easy Peasy and Fun
  

Customers love user-friendly mobile apps because these services make
online shopping easy, interactive and fun. Customers can shop with just
making few clicks on their smartphones, save products they like in wish
lists, keep updated with the new arrivals and trends, window shop just for
fun, order gifts for friends and family online and many more.
Source: www.rawpixel.com

• Digital Presence

Investing in online purchase app development is no more an add on but it
has become a necessity as the world going digital and the shopping habits
of consumers are changing. In top cities, people are even buying groceries
online. To move forward with the changing world, investing in a
user-friendly mobile app is a great deal to make which is going to get you
good returns. Many small enterprises think that only big enterprises can
build a shopping app as its development cost is very high. This isn’t
true. In fact, the cost of developing a user-friendly mobile app for
online purchase is quite comparable to the cost of developing a
well-functioning website.

The Rising Ecommerce Market:

• According to Statista, by 2021, retail eCommerce sales worldwide are
  expected to amount to 4.8 trillion US dollars, hitting 365% increase
  since 2014.
• The eCommerce share of total global retail sales is going to rise from
  7.4% in 2015 to 17.5% in 2021.
• The number of digital buyers worldwide will also rise by about 162%:
  from 1.32 billion people in 2014 to 2.14 billion in 2021.

These stats make it clear that it is important to invest in building a
user-friendly
eCommerce app. It has been found that most people browse through e-commerce apps while
they are taking a coffee break or while they are commuting. Since they are
doing something else along with browsing through the online purchase app,
it is important to create a user-friendly mobile app.
Source: www.rawpixel.com

Why do customers choose Amazon?

Amazon tops the list of highly used eCommerce app. Let’s see what makes
Amazon the perfect user-friendly mobile app. Reading the case study for
Amazon is like reading the bible on how to build a user-friendly mobile
app for online purchases. The first thing that makes Amazon  Shopping App
user friendly is the way they separate .com (US) and .in (India). Users
can easily login with amazon.in to make an online purchase in India. Here,
they also get some products that are specific to Indian origins. Also,
discounts and sales are according to Indian festivals like Diwali, Holi,
Independence Day, etc. This way Amazon provides its customers with a
personalized shopping experience. The user-friendly interface of the
Amazon eCommerce app is designed specifically for touchscreen devices.
With a huge range of products and a broad number of categories, UI/UX
experts have done an amazing job to make it easy for users to easily and
quickly find any goods from the catalogue within clicks.
Source: Amazon App Research has told that in the US, users
compare browsing the goods catalogue on the Amazon app with a coffee break
–  for them, it’s like a way to relax and get away from work, it’s like
doing shopping at the place of having a cup of coffee. Users browse the
Amazon app with the mindset of window shopping but end up making an online
purchase. This is because of the user-friendliness of the app, the way it
lures the customers into buying by smooth functioning taking from the home
screen to the cart.

• Amazon eCommerce app has user-friendly interfaces and a laconic design
  so that a user needs a minimum amount of time to make an online
  purchase.
• When you care for your customer, the customer cares for you by buying
  more and more products. Amazon takes into account the interests of the
  user and provides quick customer service.
• Interaction is a must. When the users are entertained, they’d be
  continuing to use the app. Providing entertainment while shopping
  makes customers engaged. For example, when you get offline, Amazon
  shows cute dog pictures that engage users even when offline. The crux
  is that your service should be fun and friendly to use, with a lot
  many interactive elements.
  Source: Amazon App
• Creativity should not lead to complexity. Ecommerce apps should be
  creative in design but that should not make it complex in function.
  User-friendly interfaces with better usability is a much more
  significant factor. In the end, if your online purchase app is not
  good to use, you won’t be getting revenues.

There are several “classic” features that you can take advantage of during
online shopping app development, let’s check some key features.

Key Features to streamline Online Purchase

Here’s a quick list of key features to create an MVP model of a
user-friendly mobile app for online purchases.

• Login/Sign Up
• Search Bar
• Wishlist
• Shopping Cart
• Secure Payment System
• Product Review
• Online Chat
• Feedback
• Tracking Order

Top class Technology Integration

It is important to integrate all the advanced technologies that can be
integrated with your online purchase app. Humans are driven by better
technologies, we have become gadgets freaks and gather all the tech
gadgets that make our lives easy.
Source: www.businessinsider.com Voice command technology
(Alexa), AR (augmented reality), VR (virtual reality), IOT (Internet of
Things), etc. are some of the latest technologies that can be integrated
with eCommerce apps as per your budget and needs.  Integrating these
technologies into your
eCommerce app
makes it a more user-friendly mobile app.

User-friendly welcome

When a visitor first visits your online store app to buy something, don’t
ask them to fill a lot of details, make it easy for the visitors to either
log in with google or Facebook or as a guest and get started quickly. Most
users uninstall the app when the sign-up procedure is long. Allowing users
to browse your online purchase app as a guest and then ask him/her to
create an account with the simple registration form or by with
pre-existing google account is a user-friendly technique to attract more
users.

User Friendly UI/ UX design

Creating an attractive but user-friendly design for your eCommerce app is
one of the most important aspects to be focused on. Make sure to hire the
best of the UI/ UX designers with a good sense of design, colour, style,
fonts, etc. so that they can design a user-friendly mobile app for online
purchases.
Source: www.rawpixel.com

• Minimalistic home page with a necessary call to action.
• Prominent placement of the logo to enhance brand retention.
• Categorized way to display products that you are selling that too in
  an interesting manner.
• Flash sales and deals display to lure customers into buying.
• Every product must have a description and 2-3 HD images.
• Visible icons for sorting and filtering.
• Reasonable and easy to locate the call-to-action button
• Use of harmonized color palettes to make the screen look good to the
  eyes.
• Proper placement of necessary icons and other visuals.
• Apply standard Tab Bar feature or the Hamburger-Menu so that the users
  feel familiar with your app since their first use.
• Smooth sliders and scrollers.
• Simple and easily comprehensible design.
• Easy and friendly to use applications.

Embedded Search feature

Source: www.rawpixel.com An embedded search feature is one of
the top
features of an eCommerce
app. Users prefer to browse through the categories when they are casually
shopping or just checking out stuff but when they need to buy a specific
product quickly, they prefer to search, add to cart and order. This
feature allows the customers to quickly look for a product that interests
them.  Providing users with relevant options when they search so that they
don’t have to type full is an efficient way to provide users with a great
experience. It is important that the search is fast enough and displays
the user’s queries in seconds.
Source: ASOS Shopping App The ASOS company implemented the
feature to search by photos making it easier and faster for users. Most of
the time we find some clothing worn by our friends good and we want to buy
the same. For this reason, the feature to search by uploading a picture is
effective.

Safe Payment Gateway

It won’t make sense if the customer drops off due to a difficult payment
getaway. Ecommerce owners need to keep in mind to provide customers with
easy to use payment getaways. They should feel safe while making an online
transaction through your eCommerce app. Trustable payment options build
customers’ trust and they feel safe making the transaction. Colors also
play a significant role here. Green, blue is a friendly color that can be
used instead of red which is considered a sign of danger in general.

Source: www.rawpixel.com

Friendly Feedback Feature

A feedback section is important to interact with your customers. As we
know communication is a two-way process, feedback is the most important
part of it. With this feature, customers feel that they are valued and
their opinion matters to the company. It also helps the company in
improving as per the feedback of customers. Feedback feature makes the
interaction between customers and the company easy.

Machine Learning

For improved user experience, the use of Machine learning is very
effective. There are basically two functions it performs for better UX:

• Product search – the machine learning algorithms can
  analyze a user’s previous search requests and re-order the results to
  give a user-friendly experience to this particular user.
• Suggestions – the machine learning algorithms can
  also suggest a similar product or accessories to the one you search
  for. It provides users with products similar to their choice. It also
  helps in pairing their outfit with matching accessories.

Source: www.rawpixel.com Integrating Machine Learning into the
online purchase app really makes it easy for the users and can generate
more and more customers and hence, revenue.

Customized Intents

They are the building blocks of a successful chatbot. A successful chatbot
that interacts with the user and solves the queries in no time build
customers’ trust in the company. Customized intents have a defined set of
training phrases and then a given response phrase. For example;

• Customer — Can I return my order?
• Bot — Of course, can you share your order number, please?
• Customer — It’s 1282458378.
• Bot — Thank you, I’ll just check that order. (simple text response)

Now, let’s take into account some of the popular user-friendly features of
some of the popular online store apps:

1.
Sephora

It’s one of the most user-friendly mobile apps for online shopping on iOS
or Android and benefits from using the latest technologies.
Source: The Sephora app The application has a unique feature of
‘Sephora’s stories and product announcements’ or the “best selling” screen
to encourage customers to make an online purchase. Women tend to purchase
products that other women are purchasing so that they do not remain left
out. Sephora has played their game hitting this psychology of women.
Another remarkable feature that distinguishes Sephora from the rest of the
shopping apps is a virtual try-on experience. This is really a great
feature for cosmetic services. It allows users to try Sephora’s cosmetics
using their smartphone camera and AR technologies, this way they can
actually take a look at how would they look after applying the particular
product. This makes online shopping for cosmetics easy and even preferable
to offline.

2.
Nike

Nike is a brand that tops in everything. Whether it’s about launching a
new product or a new service of designing your custom shoes or launching a
new advertising campaign, Nike is the best at everything. It is well-known
for its user-friendly mobile app for online purchases as well. Have a
look!
Source: The Nike app What makes it a great user-friendly mobile
app? Let’s check out.

• The Nike application focuses on the visual side. Bright HD images look
  good to the users and keep them engaged.
• The first screen is of the ‘Discover’ section. This is the place to
  find something good for the users. The brand doesn’t prompt users to
  buy but just explore something stylish. Users find style tips about
  Nike clothes, brand news, or new arrivals and recommendations.  When
  you meet a friend, first you have a friendly talk, this ‘Discover’
  section serves the purpose of that friendly talk with the users.
• It’s always better when your app offers some additional value to users
  which they cannot get on the website so that they are forced to
  download the app. From the Nike app, you can not just buy things but
  also get early member access to events, new products, and more. By
  joining the Nike app, you actually become part of the Nike community.

Since our end goal is to increase conversions, the application
architecture must drive the user to the targeted action most effectively
and effortlessly. Each of his clicks should lead him to his cart and
finally resulting in him buying the product. The main goal is to create an
online purchase application that doesn’t make it difficult for customers
to comprehend instead allows them to make online purchases in a friendly
and comfortable atmosphere. A user-friendly mobile app built with great
design and functionality can bring upon a large number of users and raise
revenues to great heights.
Source: www.rawpixel.com