E-book – Personalization in E-commerce
In this e-book, you will learn why personalization is important in e-commerce and what the term personalization actually means.
- Increase Shopping Cart Value
How to design the perfect homepage for your online store
Although many online shoppers do not necessarily start the purchasing process on the home page of your online shop, but often land on subpages first, most online shoppers visit the home page at least once during their search. For this reason, it is important to design it in an appealing way and use the available options to convince potential customers of the shop. In this blog article, we will show you how to do this in the best possible way, which elements you should not do without, and which highlights you can use. Get inspired now and design your perfect online shop homepage!
Here's what you can expect to find in this blog article:
Why the home page is so important for your online store
You should not leave these elements off the home page of your online shop
Make it clear what sets your shop and you as a retailer apart
Convey trust and security to your shop visitors when shopping online
Offer your customers added value in the form of relevant content
Act now! Draw attention to special offers and discount promotions
Use relevant recommendations to increase shopping cart values
Offer advice to help customers make the right purchase decision
The highlight among online shop homepages that you should know about
Designing your homepage: The most important elements summarized for you
Conclusion: A wide range of design options for the perfect homepage for your online shop
Why the home page is so important for your online store
The homepage of your online shop is its flagship. It shows potential customers a selection of your product range and gives them an insight into the various product categories in your shop. The homepage of your web shop can be compared to a shop window in a brick-and-mortar store, which makes customers strolling through the city stop in their tracks and, if they are interested, even invites them to enter the store. If the shop window does not appeal to the customer, they will walk past and possibly visit the next store. It's very similar in e-commerce. Based on the homepage of an online shop, a potential customer decides within a few seconds whether a shop and its offerings are interesting to them or whether they will click away and try their luck with another online retailer. We'll now show you how you can convince your users of your online shop in this short time.
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You should not leave these elements off the home page of your online shop
Always customize and design the homepage of your online store to suit your business. However, there are some elements that your store visitors expect and that you should therefore not do without in order to get the most out of your homepage. We will show you these below.
Make it clear what sets your shop and you as a retailer apart
The homepage should immediately convey what your online shop stands for, what you offer there, and what values your company represents. You can communicate this to your shop visitors, for example, through a meaningful slogan, quotes, and unique selling points or USPs ( unique selling propositions). It is particularly important to highlight your unique selling points, which set you apart from other retailers.
ROSE Bikes impresses shop visitors with its presentation of unique selling points and gives customers good reasons on the homepage to choose the shop as their preferred supplier.
Excerpt from ROSE Bikes homepage: Unique selling points (Source: Screenshot from rosebikes.de)
Give your shop visitors confidence and security when shopping online
Convince your potential customers of your shop by creating a basis of trust on the home page of your online shop. This can be achieved, for example, by using trust elements. Quality seals, certificates, or awards that your shop has received contribute to a positive image and generate trust on the part of customers. An excerpt of references as well as meaningful customer quotes and reviews also inspire confidence and reinforce customers' decision to choose you as a provider. Information about shipping options and payment methods can also inspire confidence and convey security and reliability on the home page. This information is often also provided in the header or footer area. This allows shop visitors to find the information they need to complete their purchase on all pages, which can have a positive effect on their purchasing decision.
Ankerkraut is a good example of how awards and partnerships can be presented on the home page. This helps the online shop build trust and ensures that customers feel they are in good hands.
Excerpt from Ankerkraut homepage: Awards and partnerships (Source: Screenshot from ankerkraut.de)
On the ZooRoyal homepage, online shoppers can find important information about payment and shipping benefits at a glance.
Excerpt from ZooRoyal homepage: Payment and shipping benefits (Source: Screenshot from zooroyal.de)
Offer your customers added value in the form of relevant content
Do you offer relevant content for your online shoppers in addition to the products in your shop? If so, you can highlight this on your homepage. Excerpts from blog articles, themed worlds, news, etc. pique curiosity and encourage visitors to develop further interest in your content and products and stay on your site longer.
The online shop babymarkt.de offers its customers various content on topics such as initial equipment, pregnancy, and sleep on its homepage. Each topic area contains recommendations for suitable products.
Excerpt from babymarkt.de homepage: Theme worlds (Source: Screenshot from babymarkt.de)
If you are interested in content commerce and would like to know how you can convince potential customers of your online shop's merits before they make a purchase by providing them with high-quality, relevant content and offering them real added value, we recommend reading our blog article Content Commerce: Creating Online Shopping Experiences Through Content.
Act now! Draw attention to special offers and discount promotions.
What would shopping be without special offers? If your online shop currently has a special offer or discount promotion, it makes sense to showcase it directly on the home page. You can do this by using a banner, for example. Our blog post shows you how you can use banners to draw attention to your campaigns and marketing promotions: Banner management for campaign advertising.
A successful example of this can be found in the ETERNA online shop. Here, online shoppers are greeted on the home page with a banner that immediately draws their attention to the winter sale. Clicking on the banner takes them to the sale items.
Excerpt from Eterna homepage: Banner advertising a sale promotion (source: screenshot from eterna.de)
Visitors to the hagebau.de online shop are also made aware of special offers on the homepage. Furthermore, hagebau.de offers its customers various discount codes here.
Excerpt from Hagebau homepage: Advertising a discount promotion (Source: Screenshot from hagebau.de)
Use relevant recommendations for higher shopping cart values
The homepage of your online store is a great place to draw your customers' attention to products in your range that may be of interest to them with relevant recommendations. One option is to present recommendations in the form of top sellers. This is particularly useful when a potential customer visits your online store for the first time and no data on their preferences is available. For customers who already have a history (in terms of click and purchase behavior), individual products can be displayed that relate to their individual interests and preferences. In addition, newly arrived items can be presented, recently viewed products can be shown, or relevant recommendations for specific categories (product category, brand, etc.) can be displayed.
For example, hagebau.de offers its customers an insight into its extensive range in its online shop with appealing images. In addition to individual product recommendations, shop visitors receive directly relevant recommendations for the various product categories—all on the home page.
Excerpt from Hagebau homepage: Recommendations for individual product categories (Source: Screenshot from hagebau.de)
Offer advice for making the right purchase decision
Another option when designing the home page is to highlight the availability of a product advisor, if applicable. Often, presenting this service makes the most sense at the category level. However, potential customers can also be made aware of this special service on the home page, enabling them to quickly and easily find the perfect product for them. For example, customers visiting the Stempelfabrik online shop will find a stamp advisor on the home page.
With an AI shopping assistant, you can offer a particularly interactive and personalized form of advice: an icon in the search box makes the dialogue-based service visible directly on the home page. Customers can immediately express their wishes in the chat and receive personalized product recommendations in real time.
The highlight among online shop homepages that you should know about
Want to offer your online shoppers an even more unique shopping experience? Take advantage of this opportunity and turn your homepage into a personalized shopping area. This allows you to offer each individual customer a personalized stream on your homepage where they can browse through their own product and brand world and discover interesting items. The stream adapts to the preferences of your online shoppers in terms of content and layout. That's why it's a highlight among homepages.
The personalized stream encourages potential customers to visit your online store every day, which helps increase the repurchase rate. In addition to the home page, you can also position the personalized stream elsewhere in your online store. If this is the case, however, it makes sense to draw attention to the special offer on the home page.
Excerpt from OUTLETCITY METZINGEN: Personalized shopping area (Source: Screenshot from outletcity.com)
Designing your homepage: The most important elements summarized for you
The home page of your online store is considered its flagship, so you should design it as follows:
- Always customize and design the home page of your online shop individually, i.e., tailored to your company.
- Provide information about what your online shop stands for, what you offer there, and what values your company represents.
- Convince your potential customers of your shop by creating a basis of trust with the homepage of your online shop.
- Offer your customers content that is relevant to your products (blog articles, themed worlds, news, etc.).
- Draw attention to special offers and discount promotions.
- Offer your customers relevant recommendations on your homepage and draw their attention to interesting products in your range.
- Offer an online product advisor so that they can quickly and easily find the perfect product for them.
- Take advantage of this opportunity and turn your home page into a personalized shopping area.
Conclusion: A wide range of design options for the perfect homepage for your online shop
The design of your online shop's homepage is in your hands. Be sure to tailor your homepage to your business – by clearly communicating what customers can expect from your shop, what your business stands for, and what sets you apart from other online retailers, you'll have a better chance of convincing potential customers. Offer your shop visitors an overview of your product range on the homepage and present them with a selection of your various products and categories. You can also increase trust by including trust elements and references. Recommendations in the form of top sellers, based on different product categories or your customers' individual preferences, will also increase your shopping cart value. The home page offers you numerous design options and gives you the opportunity to highlight certain features – use it to create a "shop window" that makes customers want to stop and "enter" your store.
Would you like to delve deeper into the topic of personalization and discover further possible applications?
Then take a look at our e-book on the subject now!
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Sarah Birk
Online Marketing Manager - Content & SEO Sarah works as Online Marketing Manager – Content & SEO at Epoq and is responsible for the content area. Her responsibilities range from content planning and conception to analysis and optimization of various content formats, taking important SEO aspects into account.