How to Pick the Best Template for Your E-Commerce Store

When potential customers visit your e-commerce store, its design and functionality are vital factors as to whether you get a sale. What your website looks like and how it performs can determine whether a customer decides to make a purchase. Of course, they’re going to be interested in what you sell, but if your website crashes before they get to your products or it doesn’t catch their eye, any potential customers will be off to pastures new before you know it. You have a number of options when it comes to creating your website. Build one yourself, using one of the many free or paid for themes and templates available. Alternatively, hire a developer to bring your design ideas to life. For those just starting out, it might be best to find a free theme that works for you. Here are some things to consider when making your choice.

First impressions count for a lot when it comes to your e-commerce website, so look for a theme that’s visually appealing. Potential customers will have different ideas about what constitutes an attractive site so ask for other people’s opinions. If yours is a relatively new business, have you thought about your brand identity? Choose a theme according to the image you want to portray. From this, you can build on a strong brand that becomes recognizable over time.

When customers visit your site are they going to find it easy to navigate? When making purchases online, people tend to be very impatient. They aren’t going to want to spend a lot of time figuring out how to use your site. Similarly, the purchasing process also needs to be simple. It must be obvious where customers have to click to find products they’re looking for, how to add purchases to their basket and then pay.

You’ve already decided what to dropship, so you need your site to display the products as effectively as possible. Depending on the theme you choose, you can display the products in a range of different ways. Some allow quite large images whereas others will only allow thumbnail size. If your product images are attractive and show a lot of detail, you want to be able to emphasize them. However, if they are not so good, it’s probably better to highlight the written description.

How a theme functions is just as important as how it looks. Can it be customized by adding banners or calls to action? Can the colors be changed to suit your brand? If a theme can be customized look at how easy it is to do. Your site should be one that loads quickly, so impatient customers don’t click it shut, and you lose a potential sale. Also look for a template that is mobile responsive as an increasing number of people are choosing to use a mobile device when it comes to shopping.