Understanding User Behavior in Online Shopping
Understanding how people shop online reminds me a little of the feeling I get trying to find my car keys in my handbag. Thereâs stuff everywhere. And when you find it, the relief is real. More or less.
Users are rarely loyal - theyâre a little bit like me with car keys. If I canât find them straight away Iâll take the bus, so if users canât navigate your online store with ease then theyâre likely to take their wallet and go elsewhere. Online behaviour always feels a little unpredictable, but there are some handy rules you can use to guide your menu design. The way I see it, for instance, research shows that users typically scan a website using what is called an âf-shapedâ pattern - focusing on the top and left areas of a webpage.
Knowing this helps designers strategically place essential navigation elements in these high-visibility zones for enhanced discoverability and engagement. And while itâs great to think outside the box, itâs also important to remember that people often respond best to the familiar. There are six logical menu structures that are quite effective when it comes to optimising navigation and enhancing user experience. They include horizontal menus, vertical menus, drop-down menus, hamburger menus, tabbed navigation and breadcrumb navigation - we can unpack those another time.
More or less. Basically, any one of these can be implemented successfully depending on the size of your store and volume of products as well as your target audience. At the end of the day while these rules are extremely effective in streamlining navigation within an ecommerce website - itâs important to understand your customer first before implementing these changes because everything ultimately comes back to human behaviour - even though weâre talking about digital spaces hereâŚ.
Key Principles of Effective Menu Design
Menu design is a bit of an underrated art. I Imagine most people ignore it, but i'm guilty too sometimes, until i accidentally click something or have to scroll endlessly to find the thing i want. Then suddenly, I appreciate it a bit more.
It can be so seamless when done right you donât even notice it, but if itâs wrong - if there are too many drop-downs or nothingâs where you think it should be - then your entire shopping experience can feel off. You want to avoid the 'cognitive overload' thing where shoppers are trying so hard to just navigate your store that they end up clicking out after a minute or two because itâs too much effort. Making things easier to find is absolutely the key here - and not trying to reinvent the wheel either.
Categories at the top in their own menu, with sub-categories in one or two drop-downs max under each - you know the gist. When youâre working on menus for your eCommerce store, try this exercise. Pull up six different stores that are similar enough to yours - from different countries ideally - and look at their menu designs.
Youâll start noticing what you like and dislike quickly enough (for example, some online clothing stores have only a Shop option and then every single category in one massive column under that). Shorter drop-downs with 5-7 options maximum work well for most brands, especially if you have a wide inventory. Where most people go wrong with menu design is by not testing it with actual users whoâve never shopped from them before (especially customers of their competitors).
This sort of feedback can be crucial in catching errors that might otherwise stay hidden till months later and possibly affect sales without anyone realising why.
Hierarchical vs. Flat Menu Structures
I get that weâve all been conditioned to value simplicity as the holy grail of design. But, letâs be honest, an endless scroll of products or information is fairly tiring. Flat menu structures are definitely simple and easy to build but theyâre lacking in the function department - particularly on e-commerce websites.
When youâre selling online, finding a logical menu structure to display your product range is crucial. Hierarchical menus help you create subcategories for your products. This is a neat trick to help customers find the product they want quickly and efficiently - and then, letâs be honest, buy it.
I wouldnât say flat menus are outdated or unnecessary. It seems like they could work for some industries and businesses if what youâre selling doesnât need much explanation, doesnât have many categories and subcategories, and isnât time sensitive in any way. But I do believe hierarchical menus add a clear structure to your online store - giving users a pleasant experience thatâs more likely to make them engage with you. Depending on the theme of your site (and your budget), there are plenty of ways to create this menu navigation system so it works for your business needs.
Incorporating Search Functionality
It's sometimes peculiar when you walk into a store - or in this case, a website - and can't seem to find what you're looking for. And, I mean, this is mostly fine if it's something physical but can be especially frustrating when you're online. All you want is to get through the shopping process as quickly as possible, and click 'Add to Cart' in no time. This is precisely why some websites have seen the need for an easier way to find items, whether it be clothing or accessories or more.
Incorporating a search button into your store's menu structure means that you're making sure that no one gets lost in the mess of clicking through page after page for a specific shirt or necklace. They're able to enter the name of what they need and easily find it without much fuss. Additionally, adding this tool to your menu isn't something that's very hard - and it also looks pretty cool. It adds this added appeal to your storefront that says, "Hey, we know what we're doing" - which everyone loves when they're trying out a new site for the first time.
You might even see people searching for things even if they know where they are just because it's so fun and easy. And that's a rather important thing for any brand - it's nice when you allow customers to have some fun during their shopping process without them getting frustrated and clicking away halfway through. Incorporating search functionality into your storefront navigation means allowing people to choose how they'd like to shop - there's nothing as frustrating as feeling boxed in with only one way to look through a collection you want. Sometimes people want to search with keywords while other times they like browsing more than anything else.
Why not offer both.
Mobile-Friendly Navigation Strategies
Touch navigation on mobile. Never fun for those with bigger hands. It seems like seems like one thing that has always baffled me, as someone who is constantly shopping on the go, is how difficult it can be to navigate some online stores.
After all, isnât the whole point of shopping on my phone supposed to make things more convenient. And the simple answer is yes, yes it does - as long as the store I am shopping from has a logical mobile menu structure. Mobile navigation design plays a big part in converting potential customers into buyers and getting people to spend more time on your website, looking at your products.
And unlike a desktop, menus canât be stacked one on top of the other - nor can there be sidebars or footers (without making it messy and overwhelming). A mobile navigation needs to take up minimal space without being too minimal in function. I know that sounds like a contradiction but itâs true. While you donât want your home page cluttered with floating icons, you do want a hamburger menu that is presumably visible and accessible.
So placing that right at the top of the screen makes perfect sense. Within that hamburger menu itself is where things get interesting. Because unlike desktop menus where you can usually hover over options to reveal sub-categories, you need to build those extra clicks into your menu design itself for mobile users.
When building this out, you want to look at logic and customer journey mapping to decide how many subcategories need to be included within each main category (or parent tab). Too many means information overload - not enough and itâs inconvenient for users who will then need to keep scrolling through multiple pages instead of landing exactly where they want from your home page. Of course, all this work counts for nothing if your siteâs UI/UX doesnât work well with smaller screens.
Testing different versions of your site layout on various mobile devices means allowing for a more seamless user experience regardless of whether someone is shopping via their laptop or their iPhone 15 Pro Max (I really wish Apple would find another naming convention). Now throw in easy access links like contact details, social handles and search bars - and you have yourself a robust online store navigation system that works equally well across devices.
Testing and Iterating Your Menu Design
Itâs odd how one small decision can shape an entire storeâs digital presence. The way a menu is designed can make or break a userâs experience with the store. Of course, it can always be fixed if users struggle with the navigation of a storeâs website.
People can test their stores themselves, but they should also invite other people to test them, too. Sort of. It can quite a bit be fairly simpleâ ask friends or family to find a product from their website and see what the process looks like for them. Then, ask some guiding questions such as âdid you find what you needed.
â âHow long did it take for you to find what you were looking for. â âWould you say it was easy for you to understand how the store was categorised. â If people have access to online community forums where they have shared their store, they can request feedback there as well. There are also professionals that can help conduct user testing on their store design and websites.
This is usually done after the launch of the website but it can also be done during the early stages to help work out kinks in design before going live. People may not want to change anything about their menu and thatâs okay. However, keeping an open mind will allow them to spot opportunities for growth and improvement.