Why do some stores feel more professional? Find out here

Some stores have it, others do not: that WOW feeling that arises when everything is clean, organized, intuitive, yes, professional, down to the smallest detail. But what actually creates that feeling? At its core it is about making it easy for visitors to find things. We list eight golden rules!

1. Invest in menus and categories

The menus and categories in your web shop are like a map for your visitors, without them it would be very hard, perhaps impossible, for visitors to orient themselves and find their way to the goal. Make sure to:

• Use standard categories. A product range can be categorized in many ways, but sometimes one sorting feels more intuitive than the others. Clothes are usually categorized by type of garment rather than size or color (which is used for filtering, see point 3). Following this kind of "standard" means visitors understand the structure and find what they are looking for faster.
• Use clear menu names. For customers to use your menu/category map effectively, the labels need to be easy to interpret. So they must be specific and concrete, so visitors understand what they are looking at.

2. Apply the "max three clicks" rule

Categories are good, up to a limit. Going "too deep" with many branches forces visitors to work hard, which can cause fatigue or getting lost. A rule of thumb is to keep your web shop to three levels or fewer, and a visitor should reach the right page in three clicks. Example for a beauty store: makeup → eyes → mascaras.

3. Let visitors filter to their needs

Given that an assortment can be sorted many different ways (point 1) and that the shop should ideally have three levels or fewer (point 2), it is hard to create a user-friendly base structure that is also detailed enough. But you can always let visitors filter to the right view themselves!

Say you sell clothes and have followed both standard categories and the "max 3 clicks" rule, so your levels are women → bottoms → skirts. One visitor wants to see all kinds of bottoms (skirts, shorts, trousers etc.) in blue, while another wants skirts in a specific size and price range. By having product filtering in your store you ease their visit, and they get that great feeling of effortlessness while shopping.

4. Think "old", not new

In many areas the advice is to think "new" and "outside the box". But that does not apply to the structure and layout of your web shop: here the advice is to follow the unwritten rules. Just place the various elements where visitors expect to find them, so they do not get confused and have to hunt around.

A few examples:

• The search bar should be (easily accessible) high up on the page.
• Keep the menu on the left, or make it horizontal with interactive vertical submenus, especially with a large product range.
• The cart should sit in the top right corner.
• "About us", terms and detailed contact info usually go in the footer menu.

5. Create rhythm, balance and alignment

For your shop to feel harmonious and be easy to take in, it needs to fulfill three graphic criteria: rhythm, balance and alignment. Without them, the shop feels scattered and drains energy from visitors.

Rhythm means there is consistency across the shop, and visitors recognize the format as they move between pages. You create it by:

• Placing text, images and other content within the same "frame" (page area) and having identical margins throughout the shop.
• Having a similar structure on pages of a certain type (e.g. all product pages look a certain way).
• Placing recurring elements (like the search bar) in the same spot in the layout.
• Being consistent with colors, typography and other graphic elements.

Balance means your shop has "equal weight" on each side of the center line. You create it by placing different shapes (big and small), colors and weight evenly across the layout.

Alignment means content in your shop sits aligned vertically and/or horizontally. You create it by placing texts, images and other elements along an invisible grid with straight lines.

Psst! If you are using a theme in your e-commerce platform, rhythm, balance and alignment are often already taken care of. But as you add new pages, you may make adjustments in sizes, fonts and colors, so review with critical eyes periodically!

6. Use contrast to help the visitor

When you have rhythm, balance and alignment in your store it is very pleasant and professional, but maybe a bit dull. For visitors to skim and easily "read" a page, certain things need to stand out. And contrast is your best friend! With contrast you can highlight the important components of your shop and give a clear "start here" signal when visitors skim.

You can create contrast with:

• different sizes
• different shapes
• different weights/intensities
• different colors

But remember: do not create contrasts that are too big or too many, or the rhythm, balance and alignment will likely disappear! Complement instead with other methods, like ribbons, popups and notifications (point 8), to help visitors and give them a great shopping experience.

7. Give visitors comfortable shortcuts

The menus and categories are the map of your shop, they show the important landmarks and visitors can always return to them to orient. But why should they start "from the top" every time?

By using internal links on your pages and, for example, related products, you offer shortcuts so visitors can find the right thing even faster.

Say a visitor is buying a toy. They find the product and the description mentions that it requires a particular battery, which you also sell. With a direct link in the text and/or that specific battery as a related product, you help the visitor and lift the "professional" feeling of the store.

Sure, they could go up to the menu and click through, but it usually means more clicks and possibly remembering the name/code of the specific battery.

8. Show the way with ribbons, popups and notices

Besides contrast, there are several other methods for "highlighting" or lifting things in your shop. Three examples are ribbons, popups and notices:

• Ribbons. Great for drawing attention to specific products. Common for marking new arrivals, but usable in many ways to give visitors an overview! For example, highlight gift ideas, organic products or test winners depending on what you sell.
• Popups. Impossible to miss as a visitor, so popups are a good solution when you need to lift something genuinely important. Could fit after big changes to structure/layout. But many visitors find them annoying if used too much or for the "wrong" things, always provide value and try to keep a popup personal to create wow.
• Notices. A small bar at the top of the page is not as intrusive as a popup, but still an effective way to catch visitor attention. Like popups, it can be used to guide visitors after big changes to structure/layout.

When it feels pleasant and easy for visitors to move around your shop, you have taken the first steps toward a WOW store. Refine the content next and create a personal experience for each visitor, and you take even bigger strides forward. Go for it!