Developing Ecommerce Customer Journeys Part 3: UX & UI Best Practices

Bringing customers to your ecommerce site is only half the battle. The real challenge is making sure they stay, engage, and complete a purchase. That’s where User Experience (UX) and User Interface (UI) come in.

Good UX and UI design can mean the difference between a customer completing checkout or abandoning the process. In this post, we’ll look at best practices that help create a smooth and engaging online experience.

What’s the Difference Between UX and UI?

• UX (User Experience): how a customer feels while interacting with your site or app. Is it smooth, fast, and satisfying, or frustrating and confusing?

• UI (User Interface): the visual and interactive elements like menus, buttons, icons, and page layouts that guide the experience.

A great ecommerce journey needs both. UI provides the tools to interact, while UX ensures those interactions feel seamless and enjoyable.

Best Practices for UX & UI in Ecommerce

1. Know Your Audience

   • Design for the customers you want to reach. A site for young shoppers may highlight bold visuals and lifestyle imagery, while a site for professionals may focus on clarity and trust-building.

2. Keep It Simple

   • Clean layouts, clear menus, and prominent calls to action reduce friction. If users have to guess where to click next, you risk losing them.

3. Tell a Story

   • Use visuals and copy to guide users emotionally through the site. A strong brand story can turn browsing into a more engaging experience.

4. Mobile Responsiveness

   • With most ecommerce traffic in Thailand coming from mobile, every page must adapt perfectly to smaller screens. A poorly optimized mobile site can kill conversions.

5. Personalization Features

   • Remember customer names, past orders, or preferences. A simple “Welcome back” or “You might like this” adds a human touch that drives loyalty.

6. Create Urgency

   • Show stock limits, countdowns, or flash deals. This encourages users to act quickly instead of leaving items in the cart.

7. Prioritize Speed

   • A slow-loading site is one of the fastest ways to lose customers. Tools like Google’s Test My Site or Hotjar can help identify performance issues.

A Real-World Example

When Virgin America redesigned its site to be more responsive and user-focused, usability scores jumped dramatically. The lesson is clear: improving design is not just about aesthetics — it directly impacts sales and customer satisfaction.

Final Thoughts

UX and UI are not one-time projects but ongoing parts of your ecommerce strategy. By constantly refining design, speed, and personalization, you can create a customer journey that feels effortless and encourages repeat purchases.

In the final part of this series, we’ll look at Personalization and A/B Testing — how to move beyond best practices into testing and tailoring your customer journey for maximum impact.

If you would like to dive deeper into this session, you can watch the full lecture here:

👉 Developing Ecommerce Customer Journeys

Want feedback on your ecommerce site’s design? Click below to request a free Insight Audit from AIQ and learn where your UX and UI can improve.

Get an Insight Audit