WordPress has become a norm whenever we talk about setting up a website. It is the first name that comes into the mind of a beginner when talking about setting up a website. The availability of the eCommerce plugin in WordPress has made it further popular. As it have opened doors for merchants and sellers to sell around the globe.
It is the ease and simplicity of WordPress that is attracting more people to prefer. It has an exciting collection of plug-ins and themes. Some are available free and others at a premium rate.
Yet, these are quite affordable in comparison to other dedicated online store builders. What else you need for a business when you get a lightweight platform for creating an online store? The selection of a theme is though a bit difficult. With this post, it may be easy for you and all others like to kick-start your online ventures in 2020.
Things to consider for choosing an eCommerce WordPress theme
Selecting a theme is like deciding the structure, interior, and exterior of your home. You may know the number of people to reside-in, that is your target audience. You may decide to build the entrance, doors, and rooms. Furnish the rooms according to individual’s interest. The same stays true for a theme as well. It starts with site safety and security, pages and categories, design and layout, etc.
If you are stuck in selecting a theme for your eCommerce website, you may first need to recognize your needs and then decide the setup. Following some of a quick guide to assist you in selecting an relevant and satisfactory theme;
- Pursue better navigation
Your eCommerce website may comprise various pages and sections, and a new visitor may not know them all. To help them find a product or category, you need to choose a theme that provides ultimate navigation.
Optimizing your products or service page for search engines and sharing them on social media may reduce the hassle of navigation. The users may land straightaway to their required landing page on your website.
If someone reach the home page or any of the CMS pages, he or she may need help in finding the rest of the sections. Pursue a navigation that is common in your business niche. And, improve it further with menus, filters, and other useful options.
- Test plugin compatibility
WordPress is huge as it is powering 34% of all the websites, the W3Techs reports. It is quite popular and easy to use, because of which, it has a huge bank of plug-ins and extensions. Yet, these tools may not be always compatible with the eCommerce themes you are about to buy.
Most of the WordPress themes are not compatible with the WooCommerce plugin. They exist for simple and static websites.
So, if you aim to choose among a variety of themes, get to know the theme compatibility. It will help you set up a complete online store without facing any issue.
It will also help you decide the plug-ins you may need soon. A quick install will improve the functionality of your store.
- Prefer a mobile-optimized theme
2019 is about to end, and the year ahead may come up with more challenging demands for mobile users. But, mobile optimization is still the main ingredient to carry forward in the design. It is necessary to have a responsive eCommerce theme to cater to varying mobile screens and smart gadgets.
A mobile responsive website was once an added advantage, but a compulsion nowadays. The increasing number of mobile internet users has made it important to have a responsive website. Let it be an online merchant, seller, or service provider.
The mobile optimization of an eCommerce theme is not only necessary for friendly user experience but also useful for ranking the website higher in search engines. One can judge the significance of mobile responsiveness from the fact the Google has considered it a ranking factor. It means your website will not rank higher if it is not responsive to mobile devices.
- Look for an interactive cart icon
The development of a WordPress theme is different from that of the eCommerce. Because, they have to serve different purposes.
For example, a small accounting firm may want a website with an About Us, Service, and Contact us pages. But, an online store requires a complete mechanism of adding products to the cart.
You may need to understand the differences and go for a theme with an interactive cart icon. This icon informs the users about the number of products in ca cart. Plus, the price and other details.
A standard WooCommerce theme may offer the basic functionality. It may not be useful for providing optimal user experience. It requires a touch of animation. so that a user does not miss cart information if he or she scrolls down the page for more products.
- Overview of the product page designs
The design of a product page affects user engagement. It may lead to higher conversion rates. It relates to the way your target audiences find, view, and learn more about your products in the store.
If the view is not attractive and elaborative, they are more likely to skip and find another store. An eCommerce WordPress themes need to focus on a product page design. So that it can show images and other media content in high quality.
Search for a theme that has more interactive product pages with extended customization. So that you can try different layouts for products and conclude with the most rewarding one. An ideal theme for online stores may include new options and features. With new features, it must include options according to the best practices in the market.
For example, it must provide easy navigation, image zooming and full-screen preview. And, quick view, images upload, video embed, and various other fields. It must have a variety of fields to get instruction for order customization and delivery.
A product page can also turn the sidebar and footer into revenue-maximizing places. You can show relevant, most viewed, best selling, or bought together store items. Find if these features are available in the theme by default or you may need to install plug-ins.
- Check for Checkout and Shopping Cart Customization
A conventional checkout holds many steps that are time-consuming and irritating. The first phase may include various fields that you may be irrelevant. You may not want your customers to answer them.
It needs customization for removing the extra fields. You can delete them or change their titles. Or, replace them with a few but relevant questions to get useful information. Most of the themes offer fewer options to make such changes.
You may need to check for the different field types. So that you can create simple fields for the checkout processes. Additionally, get to know if the theme has different checkout processes.
For example, there are one-page or one-click checkouts, which are easy and quick for a user to complete. Replacing them with the traditional checkout process can save you cart abandonment.
The same is true for the shopping cart. Because, it often lacks customization options in most of the WordPress themes. You may want it to appear all the time. Fix it on the page to display despite the user scrolls down the page or move to another product. So that he or she knows the products in the cart with amount without clicking it over and again.
- Must examine its performance and security
Most of the WordPress themes take less care of the performance, speed, and security. For a small business, poor speed and performance may not be an issue. But, for an online store, every millisecond counts.
For higher search engine ranking, do not compromise on the speed of your website. It all depends on your eCommerce theme. In search of extra features, the developers overburden the theme. They make the theme more attractive to a pool of merchants.
To select a theme, it is mandatory to keep a balance between features and performance. To have an attractive theme, you may be compromise the performance and security of your digital asset.
An expert practice is to get a custom theme. Or, you can have it from a reliable marketplace. Prefer a reliable marketplace rather than a random web development agency. They neither test nor debugs their themes. Find themes available on Theme Forest, Theme isle, Elegant Themes, Studio Press, etc.
Find the best one for your store now
Every theme serves a purpose and is for a specific business niche. When you search for a theme, you may find many options. Some may suffice your needs, whereas others may not suffice the needs, but secure and super fast. You can ignore a theme that lacks in functionality. But, do not go for a theme that lack major security features and updates.
