When you meet someone in person for the first time, within seconds they have made decisions about who you are and whether they like you - simply by looking at you. It's a survival skill as old as mankind.
The same thing happens online. If your e-commerce store looks amateurish, unorganized and hard to navigate, your customers will go elsewhere, as quick as a mouse click. Today, I would like to recommend some excellent resources to help you understand great ecommerce design, and will reveal the 1 Key to Success that no executive wants to hear.
First, let's talk about basics. If you eCommerce website is difficult or impossible to navigate, you have no chance of getting someone to buy from you. Whether your e-commerce site is b2b or b2c, it must be obvious within a second or less how to find what you are looking for. One of the best books on this - with a title that says it all - is "Don't Make Me Think!" by Steve Krug.
Secondly, there are tons of resources out there if you are interested in design. Here is a great list of website design blogs and magazines that I refer to all the time.
Finally, here is the one thing that every business owner or decision maker must do - right now. Go to a mirror and ask yourself - "Am I a design professional?" "Have I been trained in what good design means and looks like?"
The (honest) answer is probably no. But wait, you say, I am the one writing the check! My opinion counts! Yes, that is true and the one thing you don't want to do is to waste your money.
That key to success? Trust your designer! If you don't have one, go find one and trust them. It's so hard to do. I have seen so many eCommerce sites either languish or go out of business because the owner thought they were a designer, or better than the one they were paying.
Be that owner of a successful eCommerce site and make sure you have it "Dressed for Success!"