One of the best ways to dominate with your brand’s online presence is by having a seamless website that makes the buying process easy as can be for your shoppers. With so many pet peeves that online shoppers have, eCommerce websites just can’t afford to create a user experience that doesn’t make it super-easy for shoppers to find what they want and check out.

The best way to dominate with your online presence is by building a site that creates an enjoyable shopping experience in many different ways. The more your customers enjoy the time spent shopping on your site, the more likely they are to give recommendations and become a return customer.

We’ve found five brands that already do this exceptionally well. Here are some killer examples of what they’re doing right and what you can implement on your own website.

1. Apple

Apple has an overall well designed website, but there are three things that set its user experience apart from the rest. Each one has a positive effect on helping consumers make a buying decision and propelling them down the conversion funnel.

Three Things that set Apple Apart are:

• The use of sharp, high-quality images on its homepage to get people’s attention right from the get go.

• The presence of detailed explainer videos that show customers how they can use the product, as seen on the product-demo video for the new iPad Pro.

• Long pages with crystal-clear call to action buttons that make it easy for shoppers to purchase, as seen on the iMac’s product page.

When it comes to your brand’s online store, you can implement the exact same methods to give customers a smooth experience.

On your product pages, you can include a lot of sharp product images from different angles, some close-ups, and others farther away to help customers imagine how they can use the product in their own lives.

If your product is a bit more complicated and needs more than images to explain how to fully use it, then include an explainer video. Econsultancy reveals that online videos that showcase products work to increase e-Commerce websites’ conversion rates.

Longer pages are ideal if you want to use a lot of content and images to describe your product thoroughly to your shoppers. Use this design approach to also persuade your shoppers to purchase the product, by placing “buy” or “purchase” buttons every so often.

2. Overstock’s

Overstock has a really well-organized site, which means that its shoppers can find what they want in a heartbeat. It’s all thanks to the company’s great navigation menu across the top of its pages.

Homing in on the navigation menu, we see why it’s such a great example. It has:

• Clearly labeled categories

• Layers of navigation that open up when you hover on category names (mega menus)

• Color contras

The navigation menu is one of the most important aspect’s of a site’s user experience. Including common mistakes in site navigation, which can bleed into your site’s information architecture and can have harmful effects on conversions. eCommerce websites can adopt Overstock’s navigation best practices to enhance the online customer experience.

Your online store will benefit from clearly labeled categories, as this goes to the overall need for navigation to be simple.

User experience experts, the Nielsen Norman Group, have determined that mega menus are excellent for navigation. The huge, easy-to-read, drop-down panels swiftly group navigation choices and get rid of scrolling. This empowers your shoppers to have more control over their shopping experience since they can see everything at once.

Color contrast is a visual aid that makes it easier for shoppers to see what categories they’re clicking on. Contrast helps them better read what’s on your navigation menu. When designing your menu, use colors that contrast well with each other, such as black on white.

3. SPUD

White space, or negative space, is defined as the space that’s around and in between a subject. It focuses attention on the subject, which is very important on eCommerce websites that want people to concentrate on what they’re selling.

Organic fruit and vegetable retailer SPUD uses a lot of white space on its website. On its How It Works page, the white space is all around the step-by-step instructions that explain to new shoppers how to use SPUD’s service.

This creates:

• A place for shoppers’ eyes to fixate

• Important information stands out to shoppers

• Shoppers can better retention the information

Whether it’s your store’s homepage, how-it-works page, contact info page, or product pages, make sure that the white space in the background contrasts vividly with the information you’re showcasing.

As Carla Rose points out in InformIT, white space guides people’s eyes from one point to another. White space makes it easier for your shoppers to focus on the vital information like the specific instructions on how to use your online store’s service.

4. Toys “R” Us

It’s a proven fact that online shoppers love discounts. Shopify identifies percentage-based discounts as among the most popular ways eCommerce websites try to drive up their revenue. Research also indicates that more than one-third of those between 25 and 34 prefer online discounts to another popular incentive, free shipping.

While we know that price isn’t always the buyers top objection, discounts are a popular way to boost sales.

On Toys “R” Us’ Today’s Deals page, percentage-based discounts are running wild. These kinds of discounts are featured on everything from action figures to board games.

Toys “R” Us’ discounts do the following right:

• They use the color red to help show that there is a discount

• Showcase all deals

• Have easy to read fonts

These tactics make it easy to identify there is a discount or sale and have a simple, clean design to go with it.

5. Dell

Dell Auction is Dell’s refurbished computers auction site. Since auctions are based on deadlines, this site does urgency very well. According to Neil Patel’s The Daily Egg, urgency is shoppers feeling that they’re going to miss out on something very important and so must buy quickly.

Looking at the site’s homepage, we see that urgency dominate. Further, when we click on the actual auction pages, we see a countdown clock, which increases urgency even further.

Dell Auction does a lot right with urgency. This site:

• Clearly displays what shoppers will miss out on if they don’t buy quickly

• Showcases deadlines and countdown clocks

• Uses very noticeable call to action buttons to persuade shoppers to buy

Urgency is an excellent emotional trigger to encourage shoppers to buy now instead of later. Creating a “Buy Now” mindset is important when adding urgency to your online strategies.

Conclusion

In today’s hyper-competitive online world, it no longer suffices for eCommerce websites to just be ordinary. Your website has to be a lead-generation machine with stellar images, videos and easy-to-spot call to action buttons. If you can add psychological triggers like urgency and colors, you are already ahead of the game!

These five companies epitomize how to dominate with your online presence. Keep them in mind as you go about strategizing your online activities!