Designing a website is difficult. There are countless different components and features to think about, and you’re going to be spending a lot of time tweaking settings and design elements to make it fit the ideal image of your company.

Thankfully, there are plenty of web design programs to help you tackle both the technical and design aspects of a website. This can make your life a whole lot easier, but that doesn’t mean making a website is completely fool proof.

There are many ways to improve the functionality and usability of your website. It’s all about focusing on creating an excellent user experience. In this post, we’ll be looking at six different features that you absolutely need to have on your online store website in order to draw in a wider audience and make more sales.

Search functionality

Search functionality is extremely important for a store that offers lots of different products. Whether you sell games, clothes or books, you’ll likely have many different products and it makes sense to have a simple search function to look for what you want.

Simple navigation

One of the hallmarks of good web design is having simple navigation. You don’t want your customers to be clicking more than twice to find the product section they’re looking for. The easier your navigation, the more likely you’ll convert.

Useful product filters

Product filters can be extremely helpful in certain industries. For instance, online clothing retailers should have filters for the colour, brand and size of an item to make it easier to browse your selection.

Cart saving and wishlists

Carts should be somewhat persistent. This helps to ensure that your customer can return to your website and continue their shopping without having to re-add the products they found before.

Alternatively, having a wishlist function can also be an effective way to help customers remember the items they found on your website and save it for purchasing later.

Sales category

A dedicated sales category or filter is going to be a huge help if you regularly have discounts. It’s extremely important to make it stand out so you can highlight some of the best deals available in your store.

Product reviews

Lastly, don’t forget about product reviews! Having product reviews on your website makes it easy for people to get a good idea of how a product works or fits.

The type of review will generally change depending on what the product is, but it’s a good idea regardless to have some kind of positive feedback that your customers can rely on before they decide to purchase something from your store.

Creating a website is never easy, but with these six must-have features, you’ll be well on your way to becoming a popular online store. If you’ve ever wondered why your website is struggling, then it may be worth looking at these six must-have features and adding them to your website for an instant boost in usability and functionality.