What is online UX and how can you improve it in your fashion store?

Team Easysize
20 Jul, 2022

UX means “user experience” and it refers to how people interact with the product, store or even brand. For example, when we go to a physical fashion store, we see the design of the rooms, follow the layout, interact with shopping consultants, cashiers, fitting rooms: and each one of those elements can impact our overall experience.

UX design is about shoppers

In order to have a great user experience, you have to deeply understand your target user (the audience you’re created your brand for): or in the case of fashion, a shopper. What do they look for when they visit your store (physical or online)? How do they behave there? What is the context in which they interact with your brand? It is critical to be able to put yourself in their shoes (before they put on yours) and see the overall experience from their eyes.

UX design is an ongoing process

There will never be a point when you are going to be “done” with UX. It is a never-ending progress: you improve some things, you get new feedback from shoppers, you work on those details, then new feedback comes in and so on. The industry also doesn’t stay in one place: there are going to be new standards, new expected level of service that you will have to provide.

UX design should account for business needs

As much as we focus on the shopper, UX is not just about making them feel good. It is also about achieving business goals, so these two things should go in parallel and balance each other. By improving your UX, you make shoppers satisfied with their interaction with the brand, so they come back and purchase more from you, and not your competitors.

If the changes you’re introducing do not impact the business results, that means you’re not paying attention to the right growth areas. There’s usually a lot that can be improved to provide shoppers with the best shopping experience, but you should prioritize the areas that will impact the business the most.

For example, as Easysize’s data shows, not knowing which size they should choose is a big problem for online shoppers, so that is a UX problem that you can solve. But it’s not just about the shopping process easier and smoother: the conversion rate also goes up to +60% when the shoppers are confident in the size they’re buying.

UX improvements are a long-term game

You probably won’t see the changes overnight, or even in a week. Improving UX should be a part of your long-term strategy with regular reviews and updates to the plan. You won’t know what really works for you, so you should start trying different things out and measuring how those changes impact the metric you’re trying to change: be it conversion rate, overall revenue or customer satisfaction.

UX for a fashion e-commerce

In fashion people really care about visuals: so a visual appeal becomes a part of the UX for fashion online stores. If your pieces are looking great, but they’re displayed on a clunky, outdated site, that will not satisfy the customers and might even be the reason they leave your store.

Make sure your brand identity is reflected in your design, that shoppers feel “immersed” in the brand. Do you use lighter or darker colors? Are your fonts consistent? Does the copy match the tone of voice that you want your brand to be associated with?

Tips for improving UX

  • Always remember mobile users. Make sure your site runs smoothly on mobile, and it is easy to view and purchase the products from a phone;
  • Add live chat to your site for shoppers to refer to for support. It is always easier to quickly send a question in a chat, rather than search for a support e-mail and wait for some time to receive an answer. If you do have a chat on your site, make sure someone is always available, so that shoppers aren’t left hanging;
  • Help shoppers choose the items that are right for them. This could be personalized recommendations based on what shoppers viewed previously or an AI-size advisor (add links) to help shoppers get the correct size for them. Remove the uncertainty and experience from shopping with you will be way higher;
  • Add filters to navigation bar. Think about what matters for your shoppers when they’re looking at the items. For some it’s materials, for others — colors or length. If you’re selling T-shirts with text on them, maybe a topic filter would help the shoppers find what they really need?
  • Add “Save items” functionality. Sometimes a shopper is just not ready to purchase, but they really like something in your store. Of course, they could create a bookmark in their browser, but adding this items in “Favorites” is more convenient, plus they can get a notification about the item being in stock, on sale, etc. Apart from good UX this also gives you additional opportunities for communication with your shoppers.

UX might look like an intimidating term at first, but in essence it is something that entrepreneurs have always been working on: making sure the customer has a great experience with the brand and is 100% satisfied with how the purchase went. In e-commerce, where the site becomes the main touchpoint with a shopper and can make it or break it in terms of brand perception, taking care of UX should be on top of the priority list for any brand.