There’s no doubt that eCommerce is growing, generating sales, and providing new business opportunities. The question is: can you keep up?

You can. Don’t let the speed of innovation scare you away. As a marketer, you can’t let innovation scare you – you must embrace it. To fear innovation is to fear success and I know you’re better than that. At the very least, relish the anticipatory excitement of embarking on change that can fuel your business.

You want to keep up with eCommerce website design, but you, like most people in this frenzied capitalistic economy, are short on time. No problem – we’ve got the information you need to know in order to create a successful eCommerce website design.

Here are the key elements of eCommerce website design that you can’t live without:

1. Responsive Design

Only 22% of marketers say they’re ahead of the curve when it comes to responsive design. 29% say they have “average” experience, 23% say they’re behind the times, and 4% say they’re hopeless. (eMarketer)

That doesn’t mean give up; it means seek help when needed. Responsive eCommerce website design is the way of the future. Why waste money building a website that will soon be outdated? Responsive web design is the only logical choice for any website built today. Why choose responsive web design? Responsive web design works on any screen – whether it’s desktop, mobile or a tablet. Not only does it work, but it also provides a consistent experience, meaning you will see the same thing, regardless of what device you’re using. Imagine showing a client something on your website in a meeting using your tablet, only to find that it won’t load correctly, or that you have to pinch and scroll and zoom for a couple harried minutes just to find it. That’s just embarrassing. You’re better than that.

2. Mobile and Tablet Compatibility

48% of users say that if they arrive on a business site that isn’t working well on mobile, they take it as an indication of the business simply not caring. (MarginMedia)

Ouch. Can you really afford that in today’s hyper-competitive environment? Unless you are the kind of person that arrives everywhere by private jet, probably not.

62% of companies that designed a website specifically for mobile had increased sales. (Econsultancy)

If you cater to the mobile users, you will be rewarded.

3. Social Media Integration

Approximately 46% of online users count on social media when making a purchase decision. (Nielsen)
By simply adding the Facebook integrations – ‘Like’ button, to the Levi’s site, it increased web referral traffic by 40%. (Business Insider)

Social media influences eCommerce transactions. It’s that simple. Lets revisit marketing before the digital medium became king. Let’s say you’re networking at an event, and you have people interested and excited about your product. They want to go back to the decision-makers of their company and share the information. What do you do? You hand them some brochures, flyers, sales promotion materials, and your business card. They bring these back to the decision-maker who now is equipped with the information he or she needs to choose.

In today’s digital economy, social media is your chance to spread flyers and share your business card. There’s a little bit more finesse to it, because you’re not going to just push a hard sell, but it’s still about creating relationships and getting valuable information to the right people. People live online and social media is essential for the spread of information. Your company needs to have social media integration with your website so that when someone finds your product or service highly interesting, relevant, or useful, they can easily share that information with their network. This means social media integration benefits are twofold: social media helps you spread valuable information about your company, products, and services, AND it helps drive traffic to your website to help you close leads.

Content marketing distribution leads to a 2,000% increase in blog traffic and a 40% increase in revenue. (Marketing Sherpa)

If you don’t have social media integration, you might be missing out on easy referrals from prospects, clients, and other interested parties.

You wouldn’t go to a tradeshow without sales materials. Don’t go online without social media.

4. Fast Loading Time

40% of people will abandon a web page if it takes more than three seconds to load. (Econsultancy)
The change in a website bounce rate spikes to 100% when a page takes 4 seconds or more to load. It jumps to 150% if a page takes 8 seconds or more to load. (Mobile Joomla)

People will leave your site and not come back if it doesn’t load properly. People are busy and impatient, and they don’t have time for that kind of low-quality performance from you. You might think you can afford to skate by with a low quality or mediocre website, but it doesn’t work on mobile devices. You are sending a lot of people away. Who knows how much business you’re losing out on by shutting your doors to the growing population of people who want to meet your business on mobile.

5. A Lead Nurturing Program

65% of B2B marketers have not established lead nurturing. (MarketingSherpa)
Nurtured leads produce, on average, a 20% increase in sales opportunities versus non-nurtured leads. (DemandGen Report)
Companies that excel at lead nurturing generate 50% more sales at a 33% lower cost. (Forrester Research)
Nurtured leads make 47% larger purchases than non-nurtured leads. (The Annuitas Group)

If you would like to improve your sales and save money, implement a lead nurturing program. These stats pretty much say it all.

6. Marketing Automation

Companies that automate lead management see a 10% or greater increase in revenue in 6-9 months. (Gartner Research)
Marketing automation users report 3x more leads passed to sales after one month. (Marketo)
81% of best-in-class companies list “wanting to close sales faster” as their number one reason for implementing marketing automation. (Focus Research)

If you are looking to increase revenue, consider implementing a marketing automation program. It saves time, makes your marketing more efficient, and increases sales. You’re probably in the group of people who would like to close sales faster.