Great UI/UX design is key to the success of any eCommerce business.
When you invest in UI/UX design, you’ll notice an increase in customer satisfaction, a boost in conversion, better retention rates and lower support costs. For this reason, it’s important to track design trends to ensure you’re giving your customers the best possible experience. And 2022 is no different.
Here, Shopify Plus partner agency Velstar has done the hard work for you and curated a list of the top UI/UX design trends for this year.
Simple and Minimalist Design
Year-over-year, this trend has increased in popularity. A simple and minimalist interface removes the barriers to purchase and lets your products take all the focus. Customers are easily distracted and want to find what they’re looking for quickly. So don’t overcomplicate your design. Keep things clean, uncluttered and concise, like the Shopify Plus store we designed for our client French Connection.
Eco-Conscious Style
Consumers are becoming more conscious about their impact on the environment and are choosing more eco-friendly options when it comes to everyday items. As a result, new eCommerce businesses are launching with sustainability in mind, and a new eco-design trend is becoming increasingly popular.
Backgrounds are usually grey or white, complemented with contrasting colors that look dimmed. Typography is minimal and real-life photography is used. If you’re a sustainable brand looking to attract the next generation of shoppers, we’d recommend adopting this design.
Mobile-First Approach
Mobile traffic is on the rise and has significantly surpassed desktop in recent years, so it’s imperative that your eCommerce store is designed with mobile users in mind. Designing with a mobile-first approach forces you to prioritize content ruthlessly and focus on removing unnecessary clutter. This ultimately enables you to create a simpler, more intuitive user journey.
Bolder Typography
Typography is an easy way to create a distinctive, eye-catching website design. Right now, there are no strict rules with regard to typography. Brands have the freedom to be as imaginative as they like when it comes to headers and text. You can mix fonts with shapes, textures, photos and emojis, as long as it’s readable, doesn’t distract users from your products, and resonates with your audience.
For example, when designing our client, YourZooki’s new Shopify Plus store, we incorporated their brand colors into the bolder text to highlight key information and create a more engaging user experience.
Personalized Experience
One of the best ways to retain customer interest on-site is personalization. To do this, you need to leverage AI and machine learning. From product discovery to personalized product recommendations, in 2022, be sure to showcase your brand and products in a way that excites and resonates with your customers.
Augmented and Virtual Reality
Augmented and virtual reality has come a long way since its inception, and major eCommerce brands are adopting immersive digital methods to enrich the online shopping experience and drive customer engagement.
The power of AR and VR cannot be overstated – it gives customers an in-store experience from anywhere in the world. Whether they’re trying on glasses, shoes, or a shade of lipstick, this technology gives customers an opportunity to interact with products in ways that were previously unavailable or even imaginable.
Micro-Animations
Customers don’t want to spend time endlessly scrolling your store to find the products they want. This is where micro-animations can help, such as hover effects. They can be used to indicate to the shopper that there are more versions of a product, as well as provide shoppers with shortcuts to popular actions like add-to-cart, save to wishlist, share, etc.
A New Look for a New Year
2022 is the year to get creative, and online retailers should leverage this opportunity to stand out from the competition. With that said, keep in mind what works for one eCommerce business won’t necessarily work for another, so it’s imperative that you do a deep dive into your data to better understand your customers’ wants and needs. If you’d like to find out more about how Velstar can help bring your online vision to life this year, get in touch with our team of UI/UX design experts today.