12 Attributes of a Great Ecommerce App

A great eCommerce app can help your business make profits, and also rise to the top.

However, getting on the list of the great eCommerce apps is a massive accomplishment, what with the thousands of apps available in app stores. Regardless of your business model, you need to ensure your eCommerce app has the attributes listed below in order to stand out.

1. Ease of registration and login

You need to streamline the registration and login process and ensure that everything goes as smoothly as possible. If your app asks for too many details, users might not like that. So, simplify the registration forms, let customers log in using their email address or via their social media accounts, or even better, just by sending an OTP. Ease of access will lead to higher conversion rates, and ultimately, more sales.  

2. Multiple payment options

Not having multiple payment options might turn a customer away from your app. With people favouring different methods, the payment options need to go beyond cash on delivery, credit and debit cards. With an easy eCommerce app and UPI integration, digital payments are key to evolving your business. Other options such as App Wallets and Pay Later make for a quick and convenient payment experience.  

3. Social Media Integration

Integrating social media into your eCommerce app will lead to 2 things:

• You will be creating more opportunities for your customers to share and promote your products/services, which will lead to free publicity.
• This will lead to an easy and efficient way in which your customers can engage with your brand.  

Additionally, you can use your social media handles for managing customer queries and complaints as well. 

4. Seamless navigation and checkout

It is important that your eCommerce app encourages easy navigation – from having different product categories and subcategories to including filters that let users narrow down their search by brands, price, colour etc., helping people traverse through your app effortlessly is the key to customer retention.

Easy and quick checkout options are always appreciated by customers.  Have a checkout page that does not ask for a lot of information and lets users pay swiftly and safely. In fact, you can also incorporate single-click payment options.  

5. Unique and pretty

A great eCommerce app can falter if it isn’t well packaged, and branded fully in an enticing, yet colorful way.

Justuno (2017) says that ‘93 percent of consumers consider visual appearance to be the key deciding factor in a purchasing decision.’

Your app needs to look appealing, amazing, and pleasing to look at; brand and package it in a recognizable but unique way.

A good example is Boxed, a wholesale retailer that delivers the household products and groceries you love in bulk. Their eCommerce app is easily recognizable as it matches the brand identity, plus it’s pretty.

The look and feel of the user interface differentiate your eCommerce app from that of another business even if you offer a similar service.

The interior layout needs to be fluid, clean – one that doesn’t crash or freeze due to poor design.

A great eCommerce app doesn’t fit too much information and content on the interface; neither does it have an overload of buttons.

Instead, the text is proper and readable, and the buttons are easy to click and highly visible.

6. Easy to use

A great eCommerce app needs to be easy to install, access, and use like Shopify’s app.

Sketch out how you’d like your app to function, and then spend time making it easier.

Users don’t have the patience or time to learn how to navigate complex apps when more intuitive versions are available.

Ensure users get what they want sooner and instantly.

7. Helpful customer support

Not all users of your app are tech-savvy; there are those that will need help with downloads or usage of the app, or simply have a few questions pre/post-purchase.

Nothing kills an app faster than negative reviews.

A great app, therefore, comes with helpful customer support that gets you full answers to your questions in minutes or up to 48 hours at most.

Some companies with many users outsource this service, hiring others to do it for them at hourly rates.

If you don’t have a large user base or don’t get tons of inquiries, you can either create an FAQ section where potential buyers can read or copy-paste answers instead of retyping them, for similar queries.

Be sure to individualize responses with buyers’ or users’ names.

8. Excellent reviews

A great eCommerce app will have tons of great reviews from real users, all over the web! This helps potential buyers likely to purchase it.

At this point, most buyers are close to making the purchase, so positive reviews are helpful, compared to negative ones that can cause death to your sales.

A good example is JOANN Fabric and Craft Stores, which response to its customers’ reviews, whether good or bad.

Avoid lying to customers, sending rude emails, or other negative responses as they can take screenshots, and defame you.

9. Isn’t covered with ads

Advertisements are pretty annoying and a turn-off for buyers especially when overloaded on apps or even websites.

A great eCommerce app may or may not have ads, and when it does, they’re not annoying or imposing but placed strategically on the bottom, side, or top.

10. Localization and Reachability

A great eCommerce app needs to be available for use anywhere, and at any time.

Localization and local-based information make mobility practical and vivid, meaning the app is embedded in the users’ context.

11. Security

Data transferred over the network needs to be encrypted through the carrier network, plus data storage needs to be secured.

This is because some apps sync data with web-based, online apps.

Another facet of security is the data on the user’s device itself, as no one wants snoopers accessing their sensitive data.

Etsy’s app offers swift and secure checkout through its full suite of payment options, with end-to-end tracking.

12. Personalization

A great eCommerce app creates personalized content based on user behavior or individual usage.

It builds on all previous characteristics as this is where the app fits the personal needs of the user and behaves as he wants it to.

This encompasses content, control over storage, sharing and usage of data for further actions.

Often marketing activities like push notifications fail to deliver due to a lack of personalization. This is certainly not what an eCommerce business can afford. Retention and upselling can be easier than going for new customers all the time.

Bottom Line

While there are plenty of other attributes that will set you on a good path forward with your eCommerce app, consider these the groundwork. The final aim is to help customers get their products and services in fewer clicks.

Work hard on it, test it thoroughly, and it could just be the next best eCommerce app to change the world. Ultimately, while choosing the features for your eCommerce app, ensure that they align with your business goals.