Store design is such an important thing when it comes to ecommerce. As a customer, I’m particularly picky with it. I think that those who have flawless design by having great attention to detail, will treat the rest of their online business in the same approach.
That means that products will be delivered on time, messages will be answered quickly, support for the product will be provided and more.
On the other side (and this is only anecdotal) I’ve noticed that bad sloppy ugly designs have resulted in the same level of product, customer service and support. I think I would have a few supporters of this idea.
Ok so I a little harsh on store design for BigCommerce templates in my post: BigCommerce Vs Shopify. I recall saying:
BigCommerce looks like one of those older styled ecommerce stores we’re use to seeing. It doesn’t stand out. Of course in terms of functionality it works well, but with the rise of so much competition, functionality needs to be closely married to a modern design.
Let’s expand on that comment
Most of the BigCommerce templates are 3 column styled. First column has the navigation, the middle has the products and the third column is where the newsletter, top sellers, and comments are displayed (usually).
Having a template like this will not make you stand out. Your product displayed on a BigCommerce Template like that will probably not go viral either. But what it does do well is give the customer a sense of security, professionalism and intuitiveness.
Now I know for a fact that security, professionalism and intuitiveness are the ingredients you need to turn a visitor into a customer.
So don’t be alarmed going for one of the free templates that BigCommerce offers you. Your aim is to make sales, and that will be accomplished using their templates. I do however have some tips for you to get the most out of it.
Top 7 Tips for using a BigCommerce Template
- Pick a template based on the style, color and font
- Don’t pay too much attention to the banner image
- I’d recommend hiring a freelancer from oDesk to make you a banner. Make sure you show them the template so that they have a good idea on what you’re after, and how they’re meant to integrate the banner
- You want to make your design flawless, but you don’t want to fidget around for hours making small changes yourself
- Write a list of all the design changes you’ll like to make and get a web developer / designer from oDesk to make those changes for you
- Spend some time looking at your competitors website design. Take notes of the good and bad things that they’ve done
- Don’t copy your competitors! Do better
There you have it. Once you’ve built your own BigCommerce Store and if you want to share your design (and get yourself a nice back link to your site) – add the details to the comments section below.
Whats up, This page is incredibly beneficial and fun to read. I am a huge follower of the things blogged about. I also love reading the comments, but it seems like a great deal of readers need to stay on topic to try and add something to the original topic. I would also encourage all of you to bookmark this page to your most used service to help get the word out. Thanks
I agree with you that bigcommerce has much more room to improve on their templates. Though they give a large number of free templates, compared to the ones at shopify, it was frustrating to find a good one because basically all the designs looked the same (like you said, the usual 3 column style) just in different colours and sizes. Shopify on the other hand had more flexibility in this area, and sleeker/cleaner designs that i was looking for my store.
and i just don’t get it, is it that difficult to play around with the different components within the template designs? For example, why must the logo almost always be on the left (same for both bigcommerce and shopify templates)? why can’t the logo be a big centralised one? can users have the options of removing the side columns which makes the site looks cluttered (though i agree those are great tools to draw visitors to shop)
that said, i’m still finding it hard tomake a decision!
Jon,
This article had great advice! May I also suggest to your readers that you try out a rotating banner (jQuery slider). They look super professional, and are really cost effective if you go with the right company.