If you’re reading this today, I’m certain you must have come to see that we now live in a digital era. E-Commerce is the way forward when it comes to buying and selling products and services. The advantages it provides are endless, but what separates a successful E-Commerce store from one that is not? There are three major aspects of design – UI, UX, and CX and we will be discussing all three in this article. These three are the most important tools every E-Commerce platform must have to succeed in today's digital world.

UI is the short name for User Interface or User Interface Design; UX stands for User Experience while CX stands for Customer Experience. Depending on how you harness them into your platform, these three factors determine how much of a successful platform you will be building as you progress.

    What’s the importance of UI/ UX/ CX in E-Commerce?

When building an E-Commerce platform, the primary objective is to sell your products to your target audience, which generally generates more leads, drives in more conversions, and ultimately makes you profitable. All these cannot be possible if you don’t have a clear vision of the User Interface, User Experience, and Customer Design.

So why do you think companies pay so much to hire front-end developers? This is because the front-end developers (the web developers, the UI, UX, and CX designers) are basically the ones responsible for the design and structure of the platform, its accessibility to customers, and ultimately responsible for the relationship and satisfaction of the average user who comes to the platform to purchase a product or service.

The shopping experience on an E-Commerce Platform should be seamless, convenient, easy to understand, and must provide solutions to the customers' answers with anything related to the product or brand. These are the roles, and as simple as they may sound, they are one of the most sophisticated and challenging career paths with massive financial rewards.

It is not just enough to say that UI, UX, and CX are the backbone of any successful platform. The question is, what do you know about UI/UX/CX? What is their individual and collective role in the growth and success of an E-Commerce platform? As you continue to read, you will get a very clear understanding of the distinctions between these design aspects, as well as the answers to the above question.

What is UI?

User Interface, which we all know as UI, is the aspect of design that deals with the way the user interacts with a particular brand. The User Interface of design is essential because most of the time, the accessibility to your product either through a website, an application, or any other means; its look and feel, and its interactivity with the user goes a long way to arouse the interest of the user, which makes a very important aspect that cannot be left out in any area that requires design.

Let’s take an example of the common UIs we see almost every day; the checkout part of a website, the form fields a user is expected to fill, the buttons- the overall layout of the website, all these are what comes together to form the User Interface of the website.

A perfect example of driving home the point of User Interface is the structure of how an E-Commerce site is being laid out: starting from when the user lands on the homepage of the site, the visual representation of the site, its look, and feel, the grids of the website that show the products, the colors used in the site, the design of the buttons – all these should be structured in a way that would help the user not to get lost in the site.

A good UI designer is one that can imagine themselves in the minds of the target audience and be able to see things from their perspective, their needs and expectations, and how they will interact with the brand. A good UI designer is also one with very good communication skills, as the job is never complete without these.

User Interface design is a very exciting, challenging, and financially rewarding career path today, especially now that almost everything is going digital. The most common way a user tends to interact with the interface of a brand is through websites or applications, as this makes it easy for the user to do almost anything just from the comfort of their devices. As a UI designer, creativity will be a very important toolbox in your arsenal. One key skill for every UI designer is the ability to communicate effectively with the client to know exactly what they want to design and who the target audience is.

You can’t overstress the importance of good communication skills in the life of a UI designer - you’re going to be communicating with the UX designers (as we shall be looking at shortly) and the client as well. The bulk of the work of the UI designer is the creative thinking and research to be done before the actual design itself. As a UI designer, they’re certain roles that are going to be part of your journey, and these roles ultimately determine how good of a UI designer you are as you progress. They include the following:

• Working together with the client and the UX designer to have a clear and common goal.
• Doing a lot of research about your target audience and getting to know what they like.
• Designing of buttons, screens, scrollbars, as well as other navigational elements.
• Liaising with the project developers to ensure the right implementations are put in place.
• Testing and Prototyping.

This should have already given you a clear picture of who a UI designer is; you will have a better understanding when we shed more light on the other aspects of designs as you read on.

What is UX?

UX means User Experience, and it is the aspect of design that has its main focus on how a particular product suits the particular need of the customer or the user. Therefore, user Experience puts the customers’ needs first, and to do this, there are certain questions that need to be asked by the UX designer and should be answered very clearly by the client in order to get the best of whatever the project is.

To make it even easier for us, below are some of the design-related questions a UX designer should be able and ready to ask to make work easier. Of course, some of these questions may not need to be answered in every project. Still, it's good to familiarize yourself with as many design questions as possible in order to satisfy your client with the best user experience.

              What are the questions asked by a UX designer when starting a project?

Well, they include the following: Note that the terms Users and Target audience are used interchangeably as they all relate to the customers you intend to serve with your product.

1. What is the primary job of this product?
2. What do you want it to do?
3. What business goals do you have pertaining to the product
4. Do your business goals support the user goals?
5. Who is your target audience?
6. Where best do your audience see your product? (mobile phone, desktop, email, paper, telephone, etc.)
7. What do users don’t like about the product (do your research and be honest with the answer)?
8. Where, when, why, and how often does the target audience use it?
9. Are there special needs concerning the user that I should be aware of when designing? These may include areas with a limited internet connection, less tech-oriented, etc.
10. What does a regular day in the life of your target audience look like?
11. What are the actions the users will usually perform while using this product?
12. Is this product limited to a limited number of users or to a wider range of users? (the question here tackles user analytics – more users, more page views, more conversions).
13. When they come here, will they be able to get what they are searching for?
14. What would be your elevator speech for this product?
15. What are the things you’ve already tried or not tried before related to the growth of the product?

Asking some (or all) of these questions gives you a well-defined plan of what you want to build as a UX designer.

Now that we know the right questions to set you on the right path. Let’s now take a look at what the UX designer really does.

What does a UX designer do?

The solution to this question is what differentiates the UX designer from the other two, and I’ll do my best to give the very straightforward answers:

Strategy and Content

• Product structure and strategy
• Content development
• Customer analysis
• Competitor analysis

Wireframing and Prototyping

• Creating wireframes for the project
• Testing and iterations
• Development planning

Analytics and Execution

• Co-ordination and co-operation with the UI designers
• Monitoring the goals of the project.
• Working with developers

from all that we’ve touched so far, it’s safe to say that even a novice in the design world has picked up a thing or two about who a UX designer is and what they do. You can now clearly see that the role of a UX designer is way more complex and challenging as compared to that of a UI designer. So, you have enough knowledge to set them on the right path whenever you hear people using these terms interchangeably. Now, to the last part.

What is CX?

Customer Experience, usually known as CX, as we shall see shortly, has quite the same similarities with UX, but we’re here to give their difference in detail, so let’s jump right in.

Customer Experience design is an aspect in which the design team follows in order to customize the overall user experience at all points – and these points include before, during, and after conversion.  The CX takes advantage of customer-centered strategies to give customers the best user satisfaction at each step of the conversion journey and also to build a strong customer-brand relationship.

The truth couldn’t be any clearer than what was said by Steve Jobs, Co-founder of Apple and UX guru – “You’ve got to start with the customer experience and work back towards technology, not the other way around.” CX is all about building a strong relationship between the customer and the brand.

CX vs. UX | what’s the difference

The common misconception is that UX is the same as CX. While it is true that both of these designs are concerned with the overall experience of a customer using a service, product, or brand, their difference should not be swept under the carpet.

Let me start by saying that User Experience is a subset of Customer Experience. This is so because a good UX gives your audience the ability to find information faster and easier. The User Experience is the overall perception of the user when they interact with the brand, and these include the emotional satisfaction, effectiveness, and quality of service provided

UX is very important because no matter how beautifully designed your Application or website may be, all it takes for a user never to come back to your platform is when they begin having problems navigating their way around the website. That would be a result of poor User Experience.

Customer Experience, on the other hand, is of an even larger scope. The primary objective of a CX designer is to make the customer feel that they are in control of their relationship with the brand. It’s good to have a beautifully designed website where customers can easily log on to and spend their money with all happiness, but what happens when they come another time, and all of a sudden, products are out of stock without any means to notify users on the website about the number of products left available, or when next the product will be available? The beautiful website will suffer due to a lack of customers, and this is well attributed to the poor vision of Customer Experience.

The collective role of UI/UX/CX in E-Commerce

When you check websites like Amazon, eBay, Alibaba, and other E-Commerce stores out there, the collective roles of UI, UX and CX come to play in different ways. These ways are not for you to understand deeply as that would be the job of the front-end developers, but the general goal of these three designs put together is to ensure that customer interaction with the brand keeps them coming back for more. This major goal is what has built fortunes out of very little beginnings of some E-Commerce stores you see out there.

Conclusion

So, if you ever plan or you’re into the business of E-Commerce, know today that it is worth your time, energy, and every resource available to you to fully develop these three aspects of design in order to give you the fulfillment you desire in this field.

Despite all the hype, Instagram is still not the most-used social platform. It ranks fifth on the list of most popular social networks with 1.2 billion active users across the globe. Other social networks, for example, Facebook (2.74 billion active users) and YouTube (2.29 billion active users) are twice as big as Instagram based on the number of active users and offer more reach. Not only that, Instagram's user base is dominated by teens and the young crowd. 33% of Instagrammers are 25 to 34 years old and another 30% are 18 to 24 years old. This means that businesses that target an older or mixed audience can not reach most of their target customers on Instagram.

Infographics by GO-Globe Web Design Bahrain

Advertising costs are also higher on Instagram compared to other social networks. Yet, 20.3% of businesses say they get more sales from Instagram as compared to 79.7% of businesses that get more sales from Facebook. Instagram is not the most popular choice among marketers and B2B buyers. In addition, most internet users still prefer e-commerce giants, Amazon, and search engines for their online shopping inspirations.

The visibility of business ads and posts heavily depends on Instagram's algorithm which means businesses have to stay on their toes to remain relevant, visible, and competitive in their market. Not only that, Instagram does not provide businesses access to customer data that can be used for future marketing, building long-term customer loyalty, or encouraging repeat purchases.

The world is changing faster than many people can keep track of. However, as business people, there is a need not to be left behind by the changing tides. Technology has made the world into a true “digital village” with everything being done online. E-commerce has given the exchange of goods and services a whole new face.

However, this does not mean that the process has come to a standstill. Far from that. The evolution of e-commerce is a continuous process. Hence this article is designed to keep you abreast with the current trends in evolving e-commercial practices.

We will be considering 19 of the most outstanding e-commerce related tools being used thus far in 2021. To make the best use of your e-commercial capabilities, you need to use these tools. But before that a brief introduction.

What is E-commerce business?

Ecommerce is the buying and selling of goods or services using the internet, and the transfer of money and data to execute these transactions. Ecommerce refers to the sale of physical products online, but it can also describe any kind of commercial transaction that is facilitated through the internet. Ecommerce is a growing industry with a projected revenue of 6 trillion by 2024. More than 2 billion people now shop online, and ecommerce companies are constantly creating new ways for consumers to purchase goods and services.

Whereas e-business refers to all aspects of operating an online business, ecommerce refers specifically to the transaction of goods and services

The internet is the major playground upon which e-commerce is founded. E-commerce transactions could involve the business only or business and customers. Example, business to business (B2B), consumer to consumer (C2C), or even business to consumer (B2C).

E-commerce is one of the fastest growing industries in the world. With the rapid growth and development of ecommerce, it is important for businesses to have a systematic approach to their strategies.

What are the tools you experienced in e-commerce?

A farmer uses his tools and equipment to make the best out of his soil. Without tools, farming becomes near impossible. Even if it were possible, profits and progress would be severely hindered. The e-commerce world is becoming increasingly difficult to navigate.

To hold your own, you also need tools in other to make the best out of whatever you have. These tools which assist manage and promote your e-commerce presence could be referred to as e-commerce tools.

E-commerce has changed our lives, with the rise of online shopping. Online retailers have created a personalized experience for consumers that enables them to shop anytime, anywhere. With the help of tools such as marketing automation software and content management systems, online marketers can now create and deploy complex campaigns in minutes.

There are several tools that e-commerce businesses should consider before starting up their business. These tools help them in making a smooth transition from offline to online operations. The most important tool for e-commerce businesses is an analytics tool which helps them see what works on the website and what doesn't work on the website.

E-commerce as a tools are essential for success in this industry. They help businesses track their performance, improve customer satisfaction, and streamline operations.

Since the inception of e-commerce, there have numerous e-commerce tools have come and gone. Similarly, there might have been a few tools that were “in season” last year. Well, they might have equally phased out. So let us see what “e-tools” we must use this year to get the best e-commerce experience.

19 Top E-commerce Tools

1.      E-commerce platform

This is at the top of the list because it is useful for startups. Even for those who are already established, having a presence on other e-commerce platforms is not out of the picture. For e-commerce one of the largest e-commerce platforms is Shopify. One could always begin from there. They have an easy-to-setup and affordable system operable by all their clients. Another option is Wix.

2.      E-mail Marketing Tool

Some might believe that emails are old school, but that is not entirely true. They are indeed old, but they are in no way outdated. According to the State of Marketing Report by Salesforce, eighty-two percent of marketers use emails for communications. These communications could either be between them and customers, businesses, or other prospects. To make the best use of this Avenue, however, an email marketing platform is needed.

These platforms offer personalized messages. What does that mean and why is it important? Each customer has likes and dislikes. Personalizing messages and responses sent to customers is of paramount importance. People enjoy it when attention is paid to them. This platform does just that.

3.      Website Building Tool

Today’s e-commerce scene already has few “titans”. These companies have made the best use of websites. One could borrow a leaf or two from their playbook. One of these top companies with successful e-commerce websites is Amazon.

Another prominent online marketplace is Walmart. These companies and many more realized the essence of e-commerce websites long before others. They have successfully applied this particular e-commerce tool. But the tool continues to be essential even today.

After all, is it e-commerce if one does not even have an independent web presence? This is exactly what e-commerce websites offer. Independent web presence in the e-commerce niche.

There is another benefit. It ensures that companies could to a large extent guarantee the safety of their customers and their funds.

4.      Analysis and Tracking Tools

Setting up and commencing e-commerce practices through email is not the end. There are so many other ways to use emails to bring up your e-commerce presence. One of these is by thoroughly following up on all essential sales or purchases made through the emails. This simply means that each purchase made by customers is analyzed. The customers’ shopping patterns and online lists could hint at their interests.

This analysis will help you know what kind of messages to send or what products each customer would likely be interested in. In the best-case scenario, the customer keeps returning for more purchases as a result of constantly renewing his or her interest. Thankfully there are certain apps and sites which do this. An example is the Kiss metric.

5.      Online Payment Tools

These tools are extremely important. After all, there is no e-commerce without an exchange of funds. In recent times, e-commerce companies are integrating online payment tools into their systems. Websites, emails, social media platforms, and other forms of online presence all contain payment tools.

So wherever the customers may order from, there is a trusted online payment tool or platform attached. The most common ones so far include PayPal, stripe, and Quickteller. There is no limit to the number of platforms one could use. So employing the use of numerous online payment tools is not wrong.

6.      Content Filling Tools

These tools especially come in handy for newer e-commerce businesses. This is even more useful for those who have set up their web pages. Filling up space on the website with useful content becomes a new challenge. These tools are useful in finding qualified content specialists to assist in filling up the site. An example is Speedlancer.

7.      Social Media Management Tools

These as their name implies are crucial in the management of social media accounts. The role of social media platforms is one that businesses can no longer bear to neglect. This is especially so for e-commerce businesses. Seeing as the youths are the major patronizers of these e-commerce sites, social media is essential.

Social media allows businesses to advertise and keep in touch with customers. While emails also fill in this role, social media is a lot more convenient and updated. Besides, the use of social media platforms seems to agree more with the younger audience.

8.      Online Asset Management Tools

These are simply tools that every e-commerce business needs to keep their transactions in order. Every e-commerce business with plans of growing endeavors to integrate the use of these software or tools into their operations. Larger e-commerce moguls also make use of these asset management tools. So what exactly are the online asset management tools?

Well, selling or trading online is a matter of convincing the customer to trust you. Or convincing them that you have what they want. Since physically meeting each other is nigh impossible, pictures and videos are needed. At times even detailed illustrations or diagrams could be used. The asset management tools help the business to put their asset or portfolio together.

Making sure the advertised products get to the proper audience is also a function of this tool. This asset management tool makes use of what is already on the ground to facilitate expansion. Using pictures and videos to back up the e-commerce marketing activities. These activities include but are not limited to email campaigns and ads. These tools could also be referred to as digital asset management (DAM) tools.

9.      Project Assistance Tools

These tools are simply to help keep up with the multiple tasks running at once. The E-commerce market is one that never sleeps. So to make a decent stand, one needs to be able to keep up with multiple activities at once. This leaves little to no margin for error. But that is easier said than done for anybody. The use of the project assistance tools makes this easier.

These are software that kind of run automatically to carry out certain functions or to issue reminders. It allows businesses to follow up on all stages of transactions. So from the beginning to the end of the supply chain and even customer feedback, this software allows monitoring. This way deadlines are not missed. They are also used in following up milestones.

10.  Keyword Research Tools

One could have the very best version of a product with no one to buy it. This is because people are not aware of how awesome his or her products are. It is not solely about being online. People should be able to see you or your products.

This however requires that one is aware of what people want and search for. When people search for products in the niche they are specialized in, how do they phrase it? What do they request for the most? Finding the right answer to these questions significantly increases a person or business’s discoverability.

There are tools to assist with using the right keywords. These keywords could often change, this tool also assists in making needed updates and adjustments. This way, your products always retain a high level of visibility.

11.  Easy Download Tools

If one deals with online or digital merchandise, this tool is essential. For those dealing in online books and other downloadable files, this is a necessity. A decent tool here allows one to sell an unlimited amount of the file or document. If one is interested, find a tool that is compatible with PayPal or other payment options.

12.  Referral and Reward Tools

The e-commerce world is getting more comfortable with the idea of referrals. This is a way of getting more customers while retaining the ones you already have. These tools allow businesses to keep track of their loyal customers and appropriately reward those who refer newer customers to the business.

This is where the use of reward points and adequately themed promos come in. The promos could be based on just about anything as long as referring a friend is involved. For instance “a 30% discount sale for those inviting 3 friends- lasts 5 days”. It all depends on what pattern would best suit your business or target audience.

13.  Reliable and Efficient Customer Care Tool

This is a tool any good e-commerce business cannot do without. This allows the business to keep in the good graces of the most important elements of any business- the customers. Replying promptly and effectively to the customers keeps them satisfied. This also serves to build up a level of trust that would have otherwise been impossible. So these customer care or service software and tools are equally critical. An example is ReferralCandy.

14.  Shipping Services Tools

This class of tools is especially important for startups and small-scale e-commerce businesses. Manually or personally delivering their products might be largely challenging. This is especially so for those looking to attend to a global audience. These service tools reduce the burden and stress involved in the delivery. Reputable delivery service would even allow the business to follow each step of the delivery process.

15.  Software Integration Tools

These are more focused on the business. As a small-scale or start-up e-commerce business, one still has to put numerous apps and software together to get a successful operation. This tool helps you put all of them “under one roof”. It integrates them in a way that they could update and influence each other.

16.  Financial Tools

These tools are in place to help calculate the financial profile of the business. These specific tools are particularly important to all E-commerce businesses. Certain apps must carry out this function in real-time. This means that purchases and deliveries are being made, one could follow up with profits and losses. An example is Metrilo.

17. Prediction Tool

These are tools aimed at studying the customers' online purchase behavior. The results from the study are further used to make suggestions that would lead to better customer interaction and satisfaction. They assist the business in knowing what manner of approach would best interest the customer. This makes advertising easier. An example is Wigzo.

18.  Website Monitoring Tools

E-commerce business owners need to stay on top of their game. They need to know what their customers want and how they want it. With the help of e-commerce tools, they can monitor the performance of their website, manage inventory, analyze customer behavior and much more.

E-commerce business owners are always on the lookout for tools that will help them increase their sales and to stay ahead of their competitors. Ecommerce monitoring tools provide you with insights about your website traffic, conversions, and customer feedback so you can make decisions about your online store.

List of ecommerce monitoring tools is too broad but we most important ecommerce monitoring tools include commerce analytics software: This software provides you with in-depth insights about your customers, including demographics, shopping patterns, and buying behavior.

In a world where an e-commerce business has a website, one needs these tools.  They monitor your website as well as other websites. The tool is useful in determining what aspects of your web page needs modification. This is based on customer preferences. So you keep what they like and remove or change what they do not.

19.  Design Tools

These are tools that assist you in giving your website the best e-commerce appropriate design. A lot of e-commerce websites make the mistake of excessively designing their pages. These tools could help keep your site simple, attractive, and efficient. An example is 3dcart.

Conclusion

The list goes on and on. But as mentioned earlier, these are the top 19 tools for staying in the e-commerce niche.