Chapter #75. Follow the Standard E-Commerce Pattern
If you're selling items online—physical goods or digital items—then, like it or not, you're in the world of e-Commerce. The word e-Commerce seems hopelessly outdated, but it's the best word we've got to mean "selling things online through a website or app."
Now, because e-Commerce generates revenue for businesses in a very direct way, it was one of the first areas of online experience to really get deep focus and attention from UX professionals. Even marginal gains could increase revenue by significant volumes, so it was worth putting in the effort of user testing and A/B trials.
The "e-Commerce pattern" we've arrived at from the past 20 years of the consumer web is both well-refined and well-understood by users. Getting a customer through a purchase funnel is difficult, which means that it has to be as frictionless as possible, so make everything as familiar as possible.
It goes a little something like this:
Products: Products are listed...
