November truly carries more gold in its pocket than any other month for e-commerce apps. The period from 25 to 27 November emerges as the prime time for app installs in the region, driven by the frenzy of Black Friday.
This period registers a marked increase across all platforms, with iOS numbers outpacing Android. On November 25th alone, Android installs rose by 30 % over any other day in the month in South Africa, while iOS saw a steeper climb of 78%.
This is one of a number of key insights on Africa’s e-commerce from AppsFlyer’s 2023 edition of its State of eCommerce App Marketing report.
The report provides an in-depth look at key global industry trends to guide retail marketers in building a mobile-first experience that drives engagement and sales for the second half of 2023, especially during the peak holiday season.
Black Friday
“Black Friday in South Africa last year once again showed its prowess in terms of app installs, with iOS installs rising by more than 30%, and Android installs increasing by more than 15% on this day, compared to the daily average in the month of November, showcasing the importance of this period in particular for e-commerce apps,” said Netta Lev Sadeh, managing director EMEA SANI, AppsFlyer.
“It is critical for app marketers to start their planning now leading up to this year’s Black Friday if they want to maximise this vibrant shopping period. Disruptive user acquisition campaigns could be paramount in the months leading up to Black Friday, and if executed successfully, could be the defining point in the increase or decrease in app installs.”
Key African insights from the 2023 State of eCommerce
In South Africa, e-commerce app installs on iOS devices surged significantly by 81.5% from Q1 2022 to Q1 2023, dwarfing the 15% rise seen on Android devices within the same period of time.
The report also found that in South Africa, non-organic installs rose by more than 60% during the summer of 2022.
South Africa’s remarketing share peaked at 76% in April 2022, but by February 2023, had dropped down to 65%, according to the Report.
South Africa’s share of paying users peaked in November 2022, a testament to the month of Black Friday, it says.
Nigeria recorded a 22.3% rise in total e-commerce app installs from Q1 2022 to Q1 2023 on iOS.
Surprisingly, in Algeria, there was huge growth in total e-commerce app installs from Q1 2022 to Q1 2023 on Android devices, recording a whopping 54% increase.
Wrapping Up:
We at ShopShipShake have been working with businesses like yours with fulfilling experiences. We offer one-stop services, including an efficient supply chain, over 10 thousand of China’s suppliers, over 1,000,000 SKU and more. With a successful track record of over 100,000 clients, we are sure to deliver your orders requirements.
Starting an online store may seem like a daunting task, but it can be rewarding and insanely profitable when done right.
A good ecommerce website builder can help you tackle the hassles of ecommerce and get you set up with a beautiful online store, fast. That way, you can impress customers and start making sales immediately.
There are many easy-to-use website builders for online stores that can help you stand out.
This guide provides a list of the best ecommerce website builders available. Since you have specific needs for your ecommerce business, there’s also a rundown of each website builder’s most useful features to help you select the right one for you.
11 best ecommerce website builders
1. Shopify
Shopify makes it easy to build an ecommerce store with simple tools and attractive website designs.
Shopify is the easiest and most reliable way to bring your business online. As an ecommerce platform, Shopify makes it simple to build an online store without any coding skills or a big budget. Shopify powers millions of businesses and is known for its affordable pricing, beautiful website designs, and helpful marketing tools.
If you want to create a Shopify store, you can choose from more than 100 professional templates with built-in features, such as SSL certifications, domain hosting, custom domains, abandoned cart recovery, and other powerful tools to help you find customers, make sales, and manage your day-to-day operations. You can sell unlimited products through your ecommerce store and across multiple marketplaces, like Amazon, eBay, and Etsy, through Shopify’s native partner integrations.
Additionally, Shopify Payments makes it easy to take payments online. You can integrate with more than 100 payment gateways and options from around the world, including Bitcoin, PayPal, and Shop Pay. There are also more than 4,000 free Shopify apps you can use to extend your store’s functionality and sell more online.
Features include:
More than 100 professional themes created by world-renowned designers, such as Happy Cog and Pixel Union
Built-in mobile commerce shopping cart, so shoppers can buy on any mobile device or tablet
Full access to your store’s HTML and CSS so you can customize every aspect of your ecommerce website
Search-engine-optimized stores to help potential customers find you online
Simple inventory management to track stock counts and stop selling products when inventory runs out
No restrictions on the number of products you can sell in your store
Unlimited bandwidth, so you’re never charged based on the amount of traffic your store receives
Simplified reporting and analytics
Shopify POS system integration to connect in-person and digital storefronts
App store with over 4,000 marketing, sales, and customer support tools
Mobile app to manage your business on the go
Dedicated customer support team available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, through email, live chat, and phone
Price: Start your Shopify free trial, no credit card required. Paid plans start as low as $39/month.
G2 rating ⭐: 4.4/5Email addressStart free trial
2. Shift4Shop
Shift4Shop (forrmerly 3dcart) starts at $29/month.
Shift4Shop (formerly 3dcart) is a shopping cart for retailers who want to sell online. With sales reporting and mobile-responsive themes, it’s a builder aimed at store owners who need to create an online presence quickly.
While Shift4Shop has some ecommerce features, there’s limited creative agency over your stores. Templates have few customization options.
Features include:
160+ payment options
90+ free templates to get your website up and running
Built-in SEO functions to improve websites’ search visibility
Abandoned cart notifications to help recover lost sales
Zapier integrations to help extend your store’s functionality
Price: Paid plans start at $29/month.
G2 rating ⭐: 3.8/5
3. Square Online
Square Online is an online storefront builder, formerly known as Weebly. Anyone can build a website with Square Online for free, but you won’t be able to use your own domain name (or remove ads) until you buy a plan. The free plan offers features like real-time shipping and coupons, but advanced features will require you to upgrade. It also works with Square for payments.
Features include:
Website builder and management platform for controlling inventory and orders
Bulk inventory functions to edit bulk batches of products and import/export information
Mobile-optimized websites
Coupon builder (for paid plans) to create promotions in your store
Drag-and-drop builder and media library to walk you through website creation
Price. Free. Paid plans start at $10/month.
G2 rating ⭐: 4.1/5
4. Squarespace
Squarespace offers starter layouts and drag-and-drop website building tools.
Squarespace is a drag-and-drop website builder that can be used for ecommerce sales once you upgrade your plan.
It offers templates to start designing your store. Once you choose a template, you can customize the colors, text, and images to align with your brand.
Squarespace only accepts payments through Stripe, PayPal, Apple Pay, and Afterpay. The Commerce Advanced plan allows you to sell gift cards and subscriptions.
If you don’t want to deal with setting up Squarespace ecommerce functions, you can always turn your basic website into an online store with the Shopify Buy Button. For $5 per month, you can add a small embedded piece of code to any Squarespace website and get access to more than 100 payment options, sales and growth tracking, simple shipping integrations, currency support, and more.
Features include:
Drag-and-drop builder with templates and starter layouts
Responsive web designs and image scaling
Custom WYSIWYG editing to support content types and complex layouts
Ability to sell an unlimited amount of products
Automatic post-purchase email sequences
Finance, marketing, shipping, and sales extensions
Price: Three-day free trial. Basic Commerce plan starts at $27/month.
G2 rating ⭐: 4.4/5
5. BigCommerce
BigCommerce uses a visual editor tool to design ecommerce stores for enterprise-level companies.
BigCommerce is an online storefront builder aimed at enterprise-level companies. It offers web hosting and customization options. You can’t register your domain name through BigCommerce, so you’ll need to buy a domain name elsewhere and connect it to your store.
BigCommerce’s features include international selling capabilities, SEO apps and optimized stores, and multichannel sales capabilities on social and online selling sites.
Features include:
Visual editor to edit website pages with a drag-and-drop tool
Customizable themes built with HTML, CSS, and Javascript
Checkout customization with server-to-server checkout API and SDK
Digital wallet payment options with wallets like Amazon Pay, Apple Pay, and more
Cross-channel commerce with marketplaces such as Amazon and Google Shopping
Multi-currency and multi-language support for international sales
Price: 15-day free trial. Paid plans start at $29/month.
G2 rating ⭐: 4.2/5
6. Wix
Wix has simple tools and various templates to build a customized ecommerce store.
Wix offers a nontechnical website builder to create online stores.
Users can build an ecommerce website using the drag-and-drop builder for free, but must upgrade to a paid plan to start selling.
Wix has a few tools to manage your ecommerce business. It allows users to track orders, accept online payments, sell on multiple channels, and build abandoned cart campaigns. Wix’s basic plan lacks some inventory management features, such as low-stock alerts, tax calculators, and dropshipping capabilities. Stores with big inventory may want an ecommerce software with different inventory-tracking tools.
Features include:
Editing interface to build online stores
Templates to tailor a site from storefront to checkout
Integrations to help sell on Facebook, Instagram, Google Shopping, and eBay
Free SSL certificate to protect customers’ personal information and payments
SEO-optimized product pages to rank higher on search engines
Ability to import CSV files of store inventory
Price: Business Basic plan starts at $23/month.
G2 rating ⭐: 4.2/5
7. GoDaddy
GoDaddy has more than 100 mobile-friendly templates for online stores available as part of its website builder.
GoDaddy is known as a website builder, but it can also be used to create an online store.
GoDaddy offers built-in tools for search engine optimization and email marketing campaigns. Retailers can sell up to 1,500 products on a GoDaddy website.
Features include:
More than 100 mobile-friendly templates to build ecommerce sites
Integrations with social media sites like Instagram and Facebook
Automatic sales and inventory management across all marketplaces and channels
Multiple payment options such as Google Pay and Venmo
Integration with Square Point of Sale to connect retail and online businesses
Price: Ecommerce plan starts at $16.99/month.
G2 rating ⭐: 3.9/5
8. WooCommerce
WooCommerce is a WordPress plug-in that adds ecommerce features to a website. Photo courtesy of: Ninja Team
WooCommerce is an open-source platform for sellers using WordPress. It’s not an independent website builder, but a WordPress plug-in that adds ecommerce features to a website. A developer might be needed to use this ecommerce website builder.
WooCommerce allows users to manage website features such as inventory and tax management, secure payments, and shipping integrations. Like WordPress, WooCommerce’s features can be extended with plug-ins and themes.
Features include:
Exclusively built for WordPress, with connection to its ecosystem
Mobile-friendly stores make products shoppable on any device
Complete control over customer and business data—no third-party software has access
Worldwide community with more than 350 contributors
100% open source for control over website appearance and operation
Price: Free with other WordPress products and services.
G2 rating ⭐: 4.4/5
9. Volusion
Volution’s website builder allows for customized layouts, with content blocks for text, images, and feature widgets.
Volusion has site-creation tools that let users create a homepage and product pages, integrate with payment gateways, and sell unlimited products.
It offers inventory and analytics features to monitor shop performance, and sports a native “suggested products” feature in its stores. Physical products can be sold with Volusion, but digital products like ebooks, music, or art aren’t supported.
Features include:
Customize page layouts with drag-and-drop content blocks for images, texts, reviews, and more
Zero transaction fees on any of Volusion’s plans
Responsive themes for mobile shoppers
CSS editor to tailor select website elements to business needs
Recurring pricing options for subscription businesses
Price: Plans start at $35/month.
G2 rating ⭐: 3.2/5
10. Zyro
Zyro offers a drag-and-drop website builder that allows users to customize their online stores. Photo courtesy of: SEO and Switch
Zyro lets users create a lightweight website with ecommerce tools.
It offers integrations with Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, and Facebook ads so you can learn about your customers and improve marketing and advertising efforts. Zyro doesn’t have a free plan—users can build a store after paying upfront.
Features include:
Drag-and-drop editor and grid feature to add, edit, and remove web elements
Designer-made templates can be customized for business needs
CRM to manage emails, discounts, and coupon codes
Reporting and integrations with tools like Kliken, MoneyData, and Google Analytics
Marketing and SEO tools to launch campaigns easily
One dashboard for everything from inventory to tracking and customer service
Price: Plans start at $11.99/month, with a 30-day money-back guarantee.
G2 rating ⭐: 4.4/5
11. Selz
Selz is a platform with beginner-friendly features. Photo courtesy of: Selz
Selz is an ecommerce builder that caters largely to beginners. It offers themes that can be customized via a drag-and-drop store builder. Selz gives users the option to add Buy buttons to a standard business site or create full-on stores to sell products.
It offers a dashboard to manage social media channels, along with web hosting, an SSL certification, and payment processing.
Features include:
Built-in blogging platform
Drag-and-drop store builder
Ability to manage all social channels from one dashboard
Accept major credit cards through Selz Pay (powered by Stripe)
Built-in shopping cart
Real-time sales analytics
Price: Starts at $26/month.
G2 rating ⭐: 5/5
How to choose an online store builder
Whether you’re a startup or building your 10th ecommerce store, keep these elements in mind when considering a platform:
Budget, business plans, and pricing. How much are you willing to spend each year on your store? What are your plans for growth? Some site builders charge more as you add more products. Think about what your business needs to launch today, but also consider how many products you’ll offer down the road.
Website-building skill level. How much technical skill do you have? Many builders use drag-and-drop technology to help you create the best ecommerce site, but you’ll still need basic skills to create product pages, add products to your store, and set up any apps or plug-ins. Consider how much experience you have working with software and back-end builders.
Customization. Do you want a simple website to showcase your products? Or do you need more advanced features like adding size charts to product pages and adding a live chat window? Think about how you want your website to look and feel and what extra features you need to make it happen.
Support. If you’re newer to building an ecommerce website, you’ll likely need some help. Does your desired site builder have live support and tutorials? Consider a platform that can help you solve problems quickly and easily so you can get your store live and start selling online.
Payment gateways. You need payment gateways to accept payments from customers securely and to make payments easy for shoppers. For example, Shop Pay’s express checkout feature can increase checkout speed by four times and help customers get what they want, faster. Shopify also offers integrations with over 100 payment gateways, so you can offer the best options for your shoppers, no matter where they are in the world.
Find the best website builder for your business
Now that you know your options when looking for the best ecommerce website builder, it’s time to test them out. Each option comes with its own pros and cons, but hopefully you have a better idea of which store builder is best for your business.
A professional ecommerce website can take your business to the next level. With all these free website builder options available, there’s no doubt you’ll find the best one to build an online store that you’re proud of, impresses customers, and makes sales for you automatically.
Wrapping Up:
We at ShopShipShake have been working with businesses like yours with fulfilling experiences. We offer one-stop services, including an efficient supply chain, over 10 thousand of China’s suppliers, over 1,000,000 SKU and more. With a successful track record of over 100,000 clients, we are sure to deliver your orders requirements.
Purchasing groceries or a hot meal through a preferred delivery smartphone application has rapidly become a typical aspect of daily life in Mzansi.
Bongani Mthombeni-Möller, Director: Smart Mobility Royal HaskoningDHV | image supplied
But how many of us take a moment to think about the delivery men and women, often on their small 150cc motorbikes, weaving in and out of traffic to get us that latest online order of ours in 60 minutes or less?
Increasingly, this army of delivery agents is becoming a crucial part of the supply chain of a booming local e-commerce market.
Research published by FNB Merchant Services last year highlighted how the size of the South African e-commerce market is expected to double in size from just under R200bn per annum in 2022 to over R400bn in 2025. In 2019, the size of the e-commerce market in South Africa was just R90bn.
In turn, the motorbike delivery economy is creating much-needed jobs in a country where unemployment is at record highs, with a driver being able to earn around R2,500 per week according to some reports.
It’s been estimated that there are up to 50,000 delivery bikes on our roads in South Africa right now. However, this figure is still small when considering that there are over 11 million registered vehicles on our roads.
Nevertheless, we must start to think now about how we can adopt a smart mobility approach with our scooter economy. And doing so requires that we need to get our roads, regulatory environment and law enforcement services ready to deal with a growing number of e-commerce orders.
Smarter use of lanes
Driving along South African roads today presents growing risks with potholes, traffic light outages and increased load shedding. Throw into the mix delivery scooters weaving in and out of traffic and you have a recipe for chaos.
A key question is how do we make our roads better fit for two-wheel motorbike deliveries? The answer may lie in Exclusive MotorCycle Lanes or EMCLs, which have been successfully implemented in countries such as Malaysia, Taiwan and Indonesia.
According to research published by Science Direct, Malaysia managed to reduce motorcycle accidents by 39% after implementing EMCL along Federal Highway-2 in Malaysia. Science Direct has reported that EMCLs ranging from 3.3m to 5.2m in width further resulted in three times the benefits of reducing accident costs.
A key question here is whether traffic volumes of delivery motorcycles on our roads right now justify the need for exclusive lanes. Already, dedicated bus lanes have become a regular feature across Johannesburg, Tshwane and Cape Town.
It may take time for scooters to replicate the same kind of priority as buses. However, with a growing e-commerce economy, we may need to start thinking now about how to make the most of existing lanes so as to prevent further problems in the future.
Smarter regulation and sustainability
The saying that regulation lags innovation has never been more relevant than right now, with tech taking over every aspect of our lives.
In this environment, it’s important that regulation helps keep our society safe as well as creating a more sustainable future.
Whatever regulation we implement, we must ensure that delivery motorbikes are road-worthy and safe. Large supermarket retailers and others may own their own fleet of bikes and even check them for roadworthiness. But it is essential that all companies and drivers take on the responsibility of regularly conducting road-worthiness checks. Traffic officials, such as the JMPD, can partner with the private sector to ensure the safety of everyone on the road.
Moreover, with the move towards a green economy, there is a massive need for electric bikes, electric vehicles and charging stations. This creates an opportunity to tap into the e-mobility sector and phase out petrol bikes as much as possible. Legislation can help regulate the entire EV electric micro-mobility sector and the private sector can provide input into policy and legislation to help support the industry.
We’re still in the early stages of our e-commerce revolution, but there’s no doubt that the scooter economy is going to become a bigger part of our daily lives. The motorcycle delivery economy is agile and versatile. These bikes cut through traffic quickly and deliver goods and services in a short period of time. Gone are the days when customers would have had to wait more than 24 hours for deliveries to arrive via a minivan.
The men and women on these bikes play a huge role in revolutionising the e-commerce space in South Africa. And the more that we can do to enable them and ensure their safety and sustainability, the better this industry will become over the long term.
Wrapping Up:
We at ShopShipShake have been working with businesses like yours with fulfilling experiences. We offer one-stop services, including an efficient supply chain, over 10 thousand of China’s suppliers, over 1,000,000 SKU and more. With a successful track record of over 100,000 clients, we are sure to deliver your orders requirements.
What compels someone to buy one t-shirt over another seemingly identical garment from a different brand? The customer may not realize it, but there is science at play. Many brands tap into psychology to understand how the human brain makes decisions.
When a potential customer lands on a website, that brand has several opportunities to influence their behavior. From first impression to conversion, every design decision matters.
Here, learn how psychological design can inform everything from your website theme to your brand colors to the copy on your Buy buttons. And explore the basic principles of psychology through tactics used by some of the world’s top brands.
The role of psychology in design
Academics’ opinions differ slightly on the actual number, but it’s believed that 95% of human decision making is subconscious. Why does that matter for brand design? It means that understanding psychological principles (like the emotional triggers that motivate people to act) will lead to more informed design decisions.
Understanding behavioral psychology can help brands ask the right questions about their target audience. Beyond their basic demographics, what are their deeper motivations? How can you meet their basic needs? Or their desire to belong? What imagery and language helps them feel a sense of security or nostalgia?
Finn’s homepage uses copy, photography, and design decisions to create positive feelings in its dog-owning target customers. Finn
While every audience is different and it’s important to cater your design to their preferences and behaviors, there are a set of widely accepted basic principles of psychological design. These include Gestalt Principles, cognitive load, Hick’s law, mental models, and color psychology. (Later in this article, you’ll learn more about how these principles can be used to influence user behavior.)
In the past few years, many designers have transitioned into UX design (short for user experience design) roles. That’s because design plays an important part in attracting and converting customers. UX designers use psychological design to create relevant and meaningful experiences that compel customers to visit, engage, follow, and buy. This user-centric framework is called design thinking.
Why it’s important to learn psychological design strategies
A beautiful design means nothing if it doesn’t evoke the right emotion or meet the needs of those who see it.
Applying design psychology tactics means the difference between going with your gut and making deliberate design choices based on science. This measured approach will save a brand time spent in trial and error, and help them better understand their target customers.
A website design built with human psychology in mind can make the experience more intuitive and reduce friction. This gets your customer to where you want them, faster and without frustration.
Psychological design: 8 tactics for brands
1. Humanize your business
It may seem obvious, but designing for humans is an effective tactic in design psychology—and some brands often overlook this basic concept. When building your brand, it’s important to stick to your values and design around your tastes, but it’s even more important to center the user experience in every decision.
Remember: Just because something appeals to you, it doesn’t mean it appeals to a potential customer.
Brands often redesign websites or even go through a full rebranding process. The best ones do so to meet changing consumer trends and address feedback. Yet, some websites stay the same forever. Take Craigslist. The popular buy-and-sell site has looked largely the same since the 1990s. Why? It works. The design is familiar and functional and serves the needs of the target customer. Implementing simplicity and ease of use means putting humans first—and is a proven conversion rate optimization strategy.
Trigger a positive feeling
Another way to humanize your design is to use real smiling faces in your website design and marketing. The smiling part is important. One study has found that smiling can be contagious—that humans often react to seeing a smiling face with a smile of their own. This is important because smiling has health benefits. The simple act of smiling can reduce stress, boost your mood, and release endorphins.
In the example below, Nugget uses smiling children in its product page photos to induce a positive feeling—and connection—with customers.
Using the right faces in your design is also crucial. Reflect the faces of your target customer back at them so they feel “This is a brand for someone like me.” Other tactics include using photos of people looking at the visitor (to engage them) or sharing photos of the real people behind the brand (to build trust).
Dream Pops customer reviews also feature photos that trigger a familiar feeling with customers who resemble the presented ideal customers.
Nopalera’s founder centers her own story in the brand’s messaging, and including her photo builds trust with audiences.
💡Tips:
Create an About page for your website that includes photos of the founder and employees.
If you’re just starting and haven’t shot lifestyle photos, use stock photo websites to include smiling people in your design.
2. Use color psychology
Color psychology is a challenging topic muddied by varying takes and a mishmash of Google search results. It’s easy to get caught up in misinformation. Often certain colors will be associated with emotions or reactions, like blue and calmness, or yellow and energy. But not everyone has the same connections with each color.
As behavioral scientist Brian Cugelman writes, “In the Western world, people describe red for its emotional connections to danger and passion. But in China, red is assigned emotional associations to happiness and fortune.” Culture and diversity add nuance to color psychology that cannot be summed up by a single framework.
One study confirms this assertion, finding that although there are patterns across cultures and regions (high association of the color yellow with joy, and black with sadness), these differences matter.
Consider age and learned experience, too. An older audience may have an affinity for colors that remind them of their childhood, like the muted autumnal palette of the 1970s. And a younger audience may be influenced by trends (think “millennial pink”).
Design psychologist Sally Augustin advises designers to consider the attributes of color, too: hue, saturation, and brightness. “Colors that are not very saturated but are relatively bright relax us,” she says.
The example above uses highly saturated, energetic, and warm colors to reflect Fly By Jing’s bold brand. Below, Salt & Stone opts for low saturation to remind the visitor of a peaceful, high-end spa experience.
These examples show how different approaches to color can change the mood of a website. However, don’t apply broad color psychology principles to your branding exercise. Research your target market, use focus groups, and understand the specific cultural or demographic differences that might affect a user’s perception of color.
3. Reduce the number of options
Have you ever stood in front of a shelf of dozens of flavors of soda or shapes of pasta, completely immobilized by this seemingly unimportant choice? It turns out there’s science behind this phenomenon. The paradox of choice, a concept popularized by psychologist Barry Schwartz, observes that when humans are given more choice, the result is not a feeling of happiness or freedom, but one of stress and dissatisfaction.
Choice can also lengthen the time to decision making, according to Hick’s law. Using Hick’s law in design means reducing the number of options and removing barriers to decision making.
When a visitor lands on your site and they are presented with a multitude of options, from products to variants to shipping rates, they may become overwhelmed and leave without making a choice at all.
As you design a website for your brand, consider what’s absolutely necessary and strip out the distractions. Do your customers need 48 color options for one t-shirt? Maybe pick the 10 most popular according to your data or market research. Are there too many CTAs on your home page? Focus your customers’ attention toward the path you want them to take.
Deeps is a single-product brand selling natural sleep patches. The brand’s website is uncluttered and focused toward a clear call to action (CTA).
4. Optimize for ease of use
Annual mobile ecommerce sales in the US alone are projected to reach $710 billion in 2025. As mobile use continues to increase, it’s important your website is optimized to improve user experience on smartphones.
It’s vital to find a balance between ease of use and functionality. You may want to offer customers plenty of choice, but if it affects the usability of your mobile site, the experience may be off-putting.
Analyzing data, such as information gained from heat mapping, can help you understand how potential customers navigate your mobile site, where they get stuck, and when they drop off. A seamless experience with your website can influence a potential customer’s overall feelings about your brand.
5. Use Gestalt principles
The Gestalt principles, introduced in the 1920s, are a set of ideas that can help designers create pleasing and functional designs based on an understanding of the human brain. Our brains naturally organize and find patterns in information to better consume and understand it.
This research led to a set of psychological principles that tend to vary in number and name but often include: proximity, similarity, continuity, closure, connectedness, perception, organization, symmetry, continuation, and figure/ground.
A few Gestalt principles explained. UX Hints
Here are a few Gestalt principles. Learn how they apply to designing a brand and ecommerce site.
Symmetry
Research suggests humans are attracted to symmetry in faces and objects. Expert Alan Lightman explored this idea in his book The Accidental Universe, where he writes, “The search for symmetry, and the emotional pleasure we derive when we find it, must help us make sense of the world around us, just as we find satisfaction in the repetition of the seasons and the reliability of friendships. Symmetry is also economy. Symmetry is simplicity. Symmetry is elegance.”
Humans equate symmetry with harmony, and using this device in your website design can influence a user’s comfort in navigating it. Here’s a great example from beverage brand Avec.
On the other hand, asymmetry can also be effective in design depending on the feeling or action you are trying to influence in your customer. If used carefully, this can be a tool to emphasize a certain aspect of the page.
Figure/ground
The principle of figure/ground is about the relationship between object and background. It encourages designers to make a clear distinction between what is considered the backdrop (the “ground”) and what you want the user to focus on (the “figure”). In this example from the Noah’s Box homepage, the brand uses solid boxes to emphasize the important content (text and CTA) and overlays it on a darker, busier backdrop.
Proximity
The principle of proximity is another useful way to understand how humans consume information. Because our brains want to find order in the world, people tend to organize information into buckets. Ease this strain by mimicking this human behavior and visually grouping related information.
Navigation bars, dropdowns, and footers are great examples of how design can help organize similar ideas and objects to create a seamless experience for customers. Take a look at this classic example from Loisa. The designer uses proximity to reduce chaos and clutter in its multiple links and pages.
6. Guide the user’s eyes
The average person landing on your website for the first time may need a nudge to navigate to the pages and solutions that meet their needs. You can help guide them through this navigation using design psychology.
Graphic elements (like arrows or curved lines) and animation on scroll both use the Gestalt principle of continuity to help a user connect objects and follow a path. You can also use emphasis through color, size, or design elements to draw a user’s attention to a focal point.
See how your eye travels to the orange elements on this product page by Petaluma. By highlighting the subscribe option they are nudging customers to become repeat buyers. This also creates a visual hierarchy, using color to indicate importance.
The example below from Dippin’ Daisy’s guides the eye with a strategically cropped image and strong graphics.
7. Use confirmation bias
Confirmation bias is the human behavior that sees us seeking out information that confirms our own beliefs, while ignoring that which doesn’t. While you want to try to avoid the trap of confirmation bias in your market research (that is, ignoring data that doesn’t jibe with your existing beliefs about your audience), there are ways to use it as a design tool.
Taking a strong opinion as a brand means that while you alienate some, you attract others by confirming their beliefs. It’s a mistake for a brand to try to be everything to everyone—it’s impossible. Instead, define your target customer in sharp detail and be clear about your values.
8. Reduce cognitive load
Put simply, cognitive load is the amount of available space for memory in a human brain. Too much information or a cluttered design can overload the mind. Miller’s law, created by George Miller in the 1950s, states that a person’s working memory can process and hold around seven pieces of information at one time.
Ways to reduce clutter in your design include stripping out redundant links or info, converting large blocks of text into an infographic or another visual descriptor, organizing a lot of info into smaller chunks, and building on existing mental models.
This example from Heist strips down the top navigation to three options and centers a single CTA button atop an uncluttered video of models wearing the brand’s products.
Mental models in web design refer to beliefs users have about the way websites should work based on design patterns. These are founded upon a user’s previous experience and expectation that certain elements will appear consistently in the same places or function the same way. For example, placing a menu in the top left or right corner of a website, indicated by a stack of lines, can reduce cognitive load—the user doesn’t have to find the menu because it lives where they expect it to be.
Use psychology to improve your design—and customer experience
By employing the tactics above and conducting your own research, you can make more informed decisions about the design of your brand and your website. The first step is having a clear vision, a well-defined target audience, and a concrete set of measurable goals. These are the foundations of great design—and they will help you remain focused.
Data and feedback will then help you scale. Pay attention to how users are responding to and moving through your design, and use these insights to constantly tweak and improve your design around the needs of the customer. Tapping into what makes your customer tick makes it easier to build better experiences and drive conversion.
Wrapping Up:
We at ShopShipShake have been working with businesses like yours with fulfilling experiences. We offer one-stop services, including an efficient supply chain, over 10 thousand of China’s suppliers, over 1,000,000 SKU and more. With a successful track record of over 100,000 clients, we are sure to deliver your orders requirements.
As technology and the economy continue to evolve, upskilling and reskilling have become increasingly important for who want to thrive in the future workplacein South Africa. Upskilling refers to learning new skills that enhance your existing knowledge and abilities, while reskilling involves learning completely new skills to transition to a new role or industry.
The jobs of the future will require a different or updated set of skills, knowledge and abilities than those of the past.
Let’s take a look at some of the key trends to look out for in the future of work.
Automation
The rise of automation, including generative AI, is definitely one of the biggest trends in the future of work. lt has the potential to significantly impact a wide range of industries and occupations, and it is likely that many workers will need to reskill or upskill in order to adapt to this new reality.
While automation may displace certain jobs that are repetitive and can be easily automated, it also creates opportunities for new jobs that require skills that cannot be easily replicated by machines. For example, roles that involve creativity, critical thinking, problem-solving, and emotional intelligence may become even more important in a highly automated world.
Moreover, the implementation of automation and AI systems requires a lot of expertise and support, which creates opportunities for jobs such as data analysts, machine learning engineers, robotics technicians, and cybersecurity experts, to name a few.
The gig economy
the rise of the gig economy has been a significant trend in recent years, with many people choosing to work as freelancers or independent contractors instead of seeking traditional employment. The increased use of online platforms has made it easier for people to find short-term or project-based work that fits their skills and availability.
The Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated this trend, as many people lost their jobs or saw their work hours reduced, leading them to turn to gig work as a way to make ends meet. This has highlighted the flexibility and resilience of the gig economy, as workers have been able to adapt quickly to changing economic circumstances.
freelancer working at home
The passion economy is a related trend that has emerged as a result of the gig economy. As more people have turned to freelancing and entrepreneurship, they have also been able to monetize their individual interests, talents, and expertise. This has led to the rise of new online platforms that allow people to sell courses, coaching, and other services based on their personal passions.
The gig economy was further intensified by the economic impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and made way for a new, but related, trend referred to as the passion economy. The World Economic Forum (WEF) says the passion economy is where micro-entrepreneurs monetise their individuality and creativity.
WEF said:
A key reason for the growth of the passion economy is that it offers alternative ways of making money, innovative paths toward professional fulfilment and unprecedented career opportunities for [the youth].
South Africa is currently facing a youth unemployment crisis where a large number of young people in the country are unable to participate meaningfully in the economy.
In the last quarter of 2022, South Africa’s youth unemployment rate stood at 45.5%, and a report by Launch League, a training hub for South African entrepreneurs, suggests that it’s becoming increasingly clear that many won’t be able to get stable jobs in the formal industries as we know them.
The report highlights the gig economy as a potential means for income for youth struggling with unemployment.
“With technological disruption, we have the opportunity to upskill and reskill young people with the appropriate skills and work-related capabilities that orientate them towards new opportunities to earn an income,” the report says. It adds: Hubs, incubators, digital skills trainers and entrepreneur support organisations play a critical role in preparing people for the New Economy reality. “By developing skills in entrepreneurship, digital technologies and gig work, they can provide youth a bridge to help them transition to these pathways to income.”
Digital skills
The third trend to look out for is the increasing demand for workers with digital skills. As technology continues to advance, companies will need workers who can leverage digital tools and data to improve their operations and decision-making. According to a report by Burning Glass Technologies, digital skills are becoming essential across a wide range of occupations, including marketing, finance and healthcare. This trend is also reflected in the growing demand for jobs in technology-related fields, such as software development, cybersecurity, and data analytics. The report says there are three groups of skills that have emerged as critical for the digital economy: human skills, digital building block skills, and business enabler skills. It refers to them as “New Foundational Skills”.
The report suggests that current job seekers should pursue strategies to acquire these New Foundational Skills. Here’s what it advises:
Identify gaps in current knowledge around new foundational skill areas. Use internal training, boot camps, or education benefits to build these skills. Learn to effectively communicate with, and learn from, digitally savvy peers. Gain experience with adjacent tasks and functions, to develop the new skills. Learn to signal demonstrable competencies in new foundational skills areas.
Soft skills
A fourth trend to look out for is the importance of soft skills in the future of work. Soft skills are personal attributes that enable someone to interact effectively with others. According to a report by the WEF, the top 10 skills that employers will be looking for in 2025 are:
Analytical thinking and innovation.
Active learning and learning strategies.
Complex problem-solving.
Creativity, originality and initiative.
Leadership and social influence.
Technology use, monitoring and control.
Technology design and programming.
Resilience, stress tolerance and flexibility.
Reasoning, problem-solving and ideation.
Critical thinking and analysis.
These skills are becoming increasingly important as companies seek workers who can adapt to changing environments and collaborate effectively with others.
Wrapping Up:
We at ShopShipShake have been working with businesses like yours with fulfilling experiences. We offer one-stop services, including an efficient supply chain, over 10 thousand of China’s suppliers, over 1,000,000 SKU and more. With a successful track record of over 100,000 clients, we are sure to deliver your orders requirements.
A well-designed business card can make or break the first impression you give your customers. It can convey professionalism and attention to detail, or it can make you seem unprepared and unprofessional.
Whether you’re just starting out or looking to refresh your current business card, here are some creative ideas to inspire you.
Elements of a successful business card
There are several key components of an eye-catching business card:
A logo.
Your brand logo helps communicate the brand personality or brand identity of your company, and potentially what service you provide. Having a high-quality logo design clearly visible on your business card can increase brand awareness and help people remember your company.
Name and contact information.
The primary use of a business card is to provide someone with your contact details in a small package that acts as a physical reminder of yourself. Include your name and position at the company, phone numbers, business address, email, website address, and up-to-date social media account information.
Memorable design and style.
Traditional business cards typically are black and white with a minimalist aesthetic, while modern cards use more creative approaches to grab someone’s attention. Consider including a scannable QR code that links to your website, using alternatives to cardstock like recycled materials, or trying a vertical business card design.
How to design a business card
Pick your layout
Decide on font and color
Choose creative design elements
Use tools to print your card
It might be tempting to slap your name, telephone number, and email address onto a card and call it a day. But taking the time to design an attractive business card can help market your small business and may increase sales. Here are a few steps you can take when designing your card.
1. Pick your layout
Vertical business cards, cards of different physical shapes and sizes, and cards with graphics or logos can draw the eye and increase the chance that a potential customer remembers you.
2. Decide on font and color
The font and color combinations on your business card should match those on your other marketing materials, packaging, or website. Consider using bolder colors in your brand’s color palette to grab attention.
3. Choose creative design elements
Embossed or raised lettering, photos, graphics, unique patterns, and even different backing materials like wood or recycled fabric can help create a lasting impression on a potential customer or business partner. Without overloading your card with information (remember the power of basic design principles like negative space), consider creative ways to tie back to your core business.
4. Use tools to print your card
Ecommerce businesses like Shopify offer their own free custom business card makers, as well as apps that offer business card templates specific to a wide variety of industries. If you’re looking for a trained graphic designer, Shopify also has a list of the best paid and free business card makers on the market.
Eight business card ideas
You don’t have to have a minimalist business card. Here are some business card design ideas to help it stand out from the pack:
1. A non-rectangular shape
Business cards can come in different shapes and sizes that can reflect different kinds of businesses. One example of this is an investor’s business card that has diagonal lines cut out to reflect the rising line of a stock price that increases in value.
2. Vertical design
Vertically oriented business cards can be a good way to fit in images or graphics that are better suited for that shape, such as portraits if you’re a portrait artist or a graphic of a tall building if you’re an architect.
3. Different backing material
Plastic, metal, wood, cork, recycled composite, or even fabric are all options for your business card backing material. Be aware though that alternative materials tend to cost more to produce in bulk than regular cardstock does.
4. QR codes
QR codes easily directs people to your business website or social media account, and are increasingly appearing on modern business cards.
5. Graphics
A card for a wine distributor might contain a graphic that looks like a wine glass stain, or a card for a framer can have a graphic of a picture frame on it.
6. Unique lettering
Embossed, raised, or otherwise unique lettering is another good way for the text on your card to pop out—literally. An acupuncturist’s business card, for example, can use perforated lettering that brings to mind the work of acupuncture needles.
7. Freebies
Attaching promotional codes or tiny samples can be a great way to get people invested in your operation. For example, a small packet with seeds inside and business information printed on the outside might be perfect for a landscaping or plant-related business.
8. Digital cards
Digital business cards kept on your phone can be sent via text or email. Besides limiting potential waste, digital business cards can also communicate your tech savviness.
Wrapping Up:
We at ShopShipShake have been working with businesses like yours with fulfilling experiences. We offer one-stop services, including an efficient supply chain, over 10 thousand of China’s suppliers, over 1,000,000 SKU and more. With a successful track record of over 100,000 clients, we are sure to deliver your orders requirements.
Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) is revolutionising how e-commerce merchants trade in an increasingly competitive market, and the payment method is only getting more attractive for consumers and retailers alike, says The Digital Media Collective (TDMC) founder Cheryl Ingram.
Historically, delayed retail payment options like credit and store cards have come with prohibitive elements – mainly draconian post-purchase interest rates and the threat of entering into a dangerous debt cycle. A BNPL payment gateway allows the consumer to receive their goods upfront and pay them off over an extended time frame, absolutely interest-free. “It is a gamechanger for consumers wanting to participate in safe retail transactions while enjoying immediate gratification. And for retailers it has far-reaching positive consequences,” states TDMC.
For online retail marketing agency TDMC, integrating BNPL payment options on its Shopify-driven sites has proven to be an essential part of the agency’s suggested strategy – at last count, more than 50% of its retail clients had opted to integrate PayJustNow as an additional payment platform alongside their usual channels.
In an economic environment where consumer cash liquidity is becoming scarcer, and credit interest rates have risen, BNPL as a payment solution is golden, says Ingram. “We see incorporating a BNPL solution as benefitting both consumers and retailers – retailers are able to cast their consumer net further than before, and since the credit parameters are far less repressive than traditional banking institutions, in turn their basket values are rising.
“BNPL mechanisms also mean fewer consumers are being pushed into a debt trap – we think this payment option contributes to more responsible lending which is especially relevant in the South African retail landscape,” she says.
How BNPL works
For BNPL users the premise is simple, albeit with a few variations across different providers. Once approved as a purchaser and it’s clear you are good for the transaction (having made an initial full upfront purchase via the payment portal), you can then enter the extended-payment system. For PayJustNow users that means a 1/3 immediate payment on purchase, followed by two equal interest-free debits in the following two months.
Your credit limit is set for the first few transactions, after which you as the consumer may apply for periodic credit limit increases. For the consumer, it is a no-hassle opportunity to get the things you want and need, ranging from fashion to fine jewellery and even car tyres – with no unnecessary surprises, explains TDMC. The retailer is paid immediately on transaction.
What’s in it for the retailer?
If the consumer is not paying any interest, then surely the retailer carries a hefty portion of the cost and risk? “The merchant does pay a slightly larger fee than they would for processing a credit card, but the merchant carries no risk and is settled immediately in full, less our fees. The real opportunity for the merchants is larger basket sizes and significantly more checkout conversions due to simplicity and affordability,” explains founder and CEO of PayJustNow Craig Newborn.
The BNPL trajectory is showing no signs of slowing down, says Ingram. “When we started onboarding clients into the PayJustNow framework in 2019, there was some initial scepticism, but since we now have such excellent statistics to share, most of our new clients sign up immediately.”
Easing checkout friction
BNPL is a proven solution to a final checkout friction point, says Ingram, and the trust in BNPL is compounded when retailers see an increase in return customers. “Some of our merchants are now seeing up to 35% of their monthly sales fulfilled through PayJustNow. It’s a niche offering that is rapidly becoming a mainstream one,” she says.
“While consumers are certainly feeling the pinch, BNPL as a payment option means they are still able to maintain a level of buying power without compromising on essentials like groceries and electricity,” states Ingram, explaining that the company sees it as a “more conscious form of consumerism”.
While there’s no doubt that BNPL removes some of the guilt when making indulgent sneaker purchases, more retailers with higher price point items are also joining in on the action. “We have seen exponential growth in basket size and are increasingly seeing more high-ticket vendors joining the ranks of BNPL,” says Ingram.
PayJustNow stats underscore this. “Since launching in 2019, we have seen the number of PayJustNow transactions increase 360% year on year. In the past two years alone, PayJustNow transactions have risen by an astonishing 2,300%. In 2019 we launched with just 10 retailers – we now have over 3,000 using the service on a daily basis,” says Newborn.
Ingram adds that including a BNPL option can also increase customer loyalty. “What BNPL has done for our retailers is both practical and emotional – people feel that their favourite retailers are looking out for them and really understand their real-life challenges. Traditionally there have always been four Ps in marketing: Product, Price, Place, Promotion – we see Pay Later as the fifth and crucial key to surviving and thriving as a 21st century online retailer.”
Wrapping Up:
We at ShopShipShake have been working with businesses like yours with fulfilling experiences. We offer one-stop services, including an efficient supply chain, over 10 thousand of China’s suppliers, over 1,000,000 SKU and more. With a successful track record of over 100,000 clients, we are sure to deliver your orders requirements.
By 2025, the value of ecommerce transactions in SA is expected to reach R225bn, as reported.
The market itself is estimated to reach R400bn the same year, facilitated by more than 1 billion transactions annually, pushed by the ‘convenience factor’ as consumers found their fit during the long days of lockdown.
Add to this growing basket the recent announcement that Amazon will be setting up South African headquarters in 2023 – there is no doubt that the industry can expect some dramatic shifts and disruptions to retail markets.
As the growth of ecommerce exploded around the world and into Africa, this type of expansion is inevitable. Amazon has plans to make their mark in new territories that not only include Africa but also South America, and Europe. A move that makes sense, as their year-on-year growth in net sales lost traction from 44% in Q1 in 2021 to 7% in Q1 2022 – the slowest in the company’s history.
Closer to home, BizNews recently reported that South Africa is an excellent choice for Amazon.
It is Africa’s most advanced economy with an already strong local presence with their AWS office in Cape Town and another opening in Johannesburg. That said, the company is set to establish its own marketplace, with local online retailers like Takealot.com, Superbalist and Mr D Food impacted and at risk of losing market share. Brand owners and the sector at large will certainly face challenges when fast tracking their businesses online, as the hot breath of the world’s largest online retailer sets temperatures rising. Fantastic for consumers but a concern for local brands.
Speaking to IOL, CX consultant Julia Ahlfeldt, co-author of the 2022 SA Digital Customer Experience Report, added, “It’s a dog-eat-dog world, which is why local brands must up their ante to guarantee that they can stand-up against or alongside international apps and offer a seamless customer experience.”
Focusing on the next chapter with 2023 in full swing, the following trend observations should be considered as ecommerce strategies continue to evolve (courtesy of http://www.itnewsafrica.com):
The growth of mcommerce
With Statista reporting that some 78.6% of South Africans access the internet with a mobile device – means that well-designed modular mobile-friendly websites and apps with effective secure handling of transactions will continue to enable businesses to modify and grow their features for an enhanced user experience.
AI and web automation
It will be key to maximise efficiency and customer satisfaction as well as take the monotonous and time-intensive tasks away from employees who are then freed up to attend to more important functions.
Progressive web apps
It offers key functionality, allowing businesses to seamlessly synergise updates between their website and mobile apps without affecting information, functionality, and page layout.
Social media advertising
Social media advertising will have trusted influencers making a significant impact on consumer spending habits with GlobalWebIndex reporting that 27% of young people are using social media to find things to buy. A powerful platform for connecting on a more personal level.
Wrapping Up:
We at ShopShipShake have been working with businesses like yours with fulfilling experiences. We offer one-stop services, including an efficient supply chain, over 10 thousand of China’s suppliers, over 1,000,000 SKU and more. With a successful track record of over 100,000 clients, we are sure to deliver your orders requirements.
Who really reads the copy on your product pages, anyway? There are so many other things to do on a website in terms of conversion rate optimization that a product description can’t really make an impact on sales, right?
Wrong. In fact, evidence from an ecommerce study conducted by Nielsen Norman Group shows that 20% of unsuccessful purchases are due to lack of relevant information in product descriptions.Click here to start selling online now with Shopify
Ecommerce business owners and marketers alike are susceptible to a common copywriting mistake (even professional copywriters make it sometimes): writing product descriptions that simply describe your products.
Why is it wrong? Because great product descriptions need to augment your product pages by selling your products to real people, not just acting as back-of-the-box dispensers of information for search engines (though SEO can’t be an afterthought, of course).
Let’s have a look at how to write a product description to persuade visitors on your online store to buy.
Write perfect product descriptions ✍️
What is a product description?
How to write product descriptions that sell
Create your product description template
A compelling product description will always pay you back
Product description FAQ
What is a product description?
A product description is the marketing copy that explains what a product is and why it’s worth purchasing. The purpose of a product description is to supply customers with important information about the features and key benefits of the product so they’re compelled to buy.
A well-crafted product description moves buyers through your conversion funnel. If you add a bit of creativity, your product pages instantly become more compelling, leading to more conversions from casual shoppers.
To succeed in product description writing, you need to answer questions customers have about your products:
What problems does your product solve?
What do customers gain from your product?
What makes it better than the competition?
A product description should answer these questions in a fun and engaging way.
How to write product descriptions that sell
Online stores often make the mistake of listing product features when writing product descriptions. This likely results in lower conversions because people don’t understand how the product helps them.
Let’s look at how you can create perfect product descriptions that sell for you:
1. Focus on your ideal buyer
Understanding how to write product descriptions requires putting yourself in the shoes of your audience. When you write a product description with a huge crowd of buyers in mind, your descriptions become wishy-washy and you end up addressing no one at all.
The best product descriptions address your target audience directly and personally. You ask and answer questions as if you’re having a conversation with them. You choose the words your ideal buyer uses. You use the word “you.”
This is how retailer The Oodie starts the product description for its I Love Plants Oodie in the first of our product description examples.
🎯 Can’t stop buying plants? Unbeleafable. Don’t worry—us too! Cover yourself in your favourite obsession in our NEW I Love Plants Oodie! For every I Love Plants Oodie sold, one tree is planted across Australia.
When it comes time to write product descriptions for your own ecommerce business, start by imagining your ideal buyer. What kind of humor do they appreciate (if any)? What words do they use? Are there certain words that they hate? Are they OK with words like “sucky” and “crappy”? What questions do they ask that you should answer?
Consider how you would speak to your ideal buyer if you were selling your product in-store, face to face. Now try and incorporate that language into your ecommerce site so you can have a similar conversation online that resonates more deeply.
2. Entice with benefits
When we sell our own products, we get excited about individual product features and specifications. We live and breathe our company, our website, and our products.
The problem is our potential buyers are not as interested in mundane features and specs. They want to know what’s in it for them—how it will address their biggest pain points. Successfully executing how to write a product description requires you to highlight those benefits of each feature and overcome cognitive bias.
A great product description example comes from Dr. Squatch.
🎯 Made with real pine extract, this all-star bar is as tough as a freshly cut bat. A true MVP of the shower, this heavy-hitter knocks out grime with its gritty composition and ultra-manly, woodsy scent. Toss in the exfoliating oatmeal and the super-soothing shea butter, and you’ve got a bullpen of natural ingredients that will strike out any stink.
Dr. Squatch suggests that the benefit of its soap is not just that it’ll clean you up in the shower, but that the soap is actually tough enough to knock out any stench. No matter how heavy your day was. It also sneaks in some product benefits including “natural ingredients” and “exfoliating oatmeal” to appeal to its ideal buyer persona.
Consider the benefit of each of your features. How does your product make your customers feel happier, healthier, or more productive? What problems, glitches, and hassle does your product help solve?
Don’t sell just a product, sell an experience.
3. Avoid “yeah, yeah” phrases
When we’re stuck for words and don’t know what else to add to our product description, we often add something bland like “excellent product quality.”
That’s a “yeah, yeah” phrase. As soon as a potential buyer reads “excellent product quality” he thinks, “Yeah, yeah, of course. That’s what everyone says.”Ever heard someone describe their product quality as average, not so good, or even bad?
You become less persuasive when potential buyers read your product description and start saying, “Yeah, yeah” to themselves. To avoid this reaction, be as specific as possible.
One shopper in a recent study could not find the information he needed in the product description, so he left the site to search Google for more product information. In the course of his search, he found another site with the same product, a more complete description, and a lower price.NN/g
Beardbrand, for instance, doesn’t describe the quality of its styling balm as excellent. Instead they describe each detail plus its benefit.
🎯Whatever your style is, Beardbrand Styling Balm is versatile enough to handle it. Designed to work with all hair types, it provides enough hold to keep thick, curly hair under control, keep thinner hair from falling flat, and keep the most unruly beards inline—all while keeping your hair flexible and touchable (no hard, stiff, crunchy hair here). This product pulls its weight when it comes to keeping your look locked in throughout the day. Whatever your style is, wear it with confidence with Beardbrand Styling Balm.
Product details add credibility. Product details sell your product. You can never include too many technical details in your product descriptions. Be specific.
4. Justify using superlatives
Superlatives sound insincere in a product description unless you clearly prove why your product is the best, the easiest, or the most advanced.
Amazon explains why the Kindle Paperwhite is the world’s thinnest and lightest e-reader.
The word signature gives the reader the impression that this is something special. Amazon goes on to quote the pixel density (300 ppi) and how the reader has glare-free display and twice the amount of storage as previous generations.
If your product is really the best in its category, provide specific proof why this is the case. Otherwise, tone your product copy down or quote a customer who says your product is the most wonderful they’ve ever used.
5. Appeal to your readers’ imagination
Scientific research has proven that if people hold a product in their hands, their desire to own it increases.
You’re selling things online, so your web visitors can’t hold your products. Large, crystal-clear pictures or videos can help, but there’s also a copywriting trick to increase desire: let your reader imagine what it would be like to own your product.
Here’s how Firebox stirs your imagination with a description of its Fizzics DraftPour. It shows how the product solves the problems common with going to the pub for a pint.
🎯Nothing beats a freshly pulled pint in your favourite pub—except maybe a freshly pulled pint in your very own home.
Never battle with crowds, struggle for a seat, or have to hang about outside on the pavement just to enjoy your favourite beer again! The Fizzics DraftPour gives you nitro-style draft beer from ANY can or bottle. Even the cheapest economy lager can be instantly transformed into a luxurious draft pint with just one pull of the lever.
The DraftPour may be a sleek piece of kit, but it’s deceptively high tech under the hood, applying sound waves to convert your beer’s natural carbonation into a smooth micro-foam. These diddy little bubbles create the optimal density for enhanced aroma, flavour, and a silky smooth mouth-feel.
Get a fruit machine and a few boxes of pork scratchings in and you’ve basically completely replicated your local pub. Sticky bar-top and ancient, dubiously-stained carpet not included.
To practice this copywriting technique, start a sentence with the word “imagine,” and finish your sentence (or paragraph) by explaining how your reader will feel when owning and using your product.
6. Cut through rational barriers with mini-stories
Including mini-stories in your product descriptions lowers rational barriers against persuasion techniques. In other words, we forget we’re being sold to.
Wine sellers like UK-based Laithwaites often include short stories about wine makers.
🎯 The Dauré family own one of the Roussillon’s top properties, the Château de Jau. Around the dinner table one Christmas they agreed it was time to spread their wings and look to new wine horizons. The womenfolk (Las Niñas) fancied Chile and won out in the end, achieving their dream when they established an estate in the Apalta Valley of Colchagua. The terroir is excellent and close neighbours of the Chilean star Montes winery.
When it comes to using your product description to tell a story about your products, ask yourself:
Who is making the product?
What inspired creating the product?
What obstacles did you need to overcome to develop the product?
How was the product tested?
7. Seduce with sensory words
Restaurants have known it for a long time: sensory words increase sales because they engage more brain processing power. Here’s a great product description example from chocolate maker Green & Blacks.
Green & Black’s sensory adjectives don’t just refer to taste, but also to sound and touch: “crunchy” and “soft.”
Adjectives are tricky words. Often they don’t add meaning to your sentences, and you’re better off deleting them. However, sensory adjectives are power words because they make your reader experience your product copy while reading.
Dazzle your readers with vivid product descriptions. Think about words like “velvety,” “smooth,” “crisp,” and “bright” if you’re selling food products.
8. Tempt with social proof
When your web visitors are unsure about which product to purchase, they look for suggestions about what to buy. They’re often swayed to buy a product with the highest number of positive reviews and testimonials.
One gym apparel seller, Gymshark, includes customer reviews on each product page. It also displays a rating system so shoppers can get product information quickly and easily.
Try to include an image of the customer to add credibility to a quote. It also makes your online business more approachable and relatable. You can even integrate a social media feed filled with user-generated content that shows real people sharing success stories about using your products.
The above quote carries extra impact because it describes the product as popular. The popularity claim is further supported with a cutting from the press and the phrase “press favorite.”
Most buyers are attracted to buying something that’s popular. When it comes to your ecommerce website, highlight the products that are customer favorites.
9. Make your description scannable
Is your web design encouraging web visitors to read your product descriptions?
Here’s a great example of product description from Kettle & Fire. The brand uses bullet points to communicate quick, scannable product benefits. It also replaces the standard “benefits” headline with “Why You’ll Love It,” personalizing the experience for shoppers on the product page.
Packaging your product descriptions with a clear, scannable design makes them easier to read and more appealing to potential customers.
Leaving shoppers’ questions unanswered can derail a sale or even worse, make shoppers abandon not just the purchase, but the site as well.NN/g
Here are some areas to focus on when designing yours:
Entice your web visitor with headlines.
Use easy-to-scan bullet points.
Include plenty of white space.
Increase your font size to promote readability.
Use high-quality product images.
10. Set goals and KPIs
The goal of a product description is to move a shopper toward purchase. But how do you know if your descriptions are working or not?
You’ll want to decide on a set of metrics to track on your product pages. Defining these metrics will help you understand what product descriptions are working best and improve on underperforming ones.
Common KPIs to monitor include:
Conversion rate
Cart abandonment
Return rate
Support inquiries
Organic search rankings
You can then run different A/B tests using a tool like Neat A/B Testing, resulting in higher conversions and more sales for your ecommerce website.
Create your product description template
Unfortunately, there is no one template that can write product descriptions for you. Every product and audience is different and has different buying triggers. And that’s OK, because you want your product descriptions to be uniquely your brand.
If you’re stuck on writing a product description, here are a few prompts that can help you build a product description template that works for your products and business.
First, answer the following questions:
Who’s the ideal customer? Knowing who your product is for is foundational to writing a good description.
What are your products’ basic features? Write out any dimensions, materials, functions, care instructions, and details about the fit (if you’re selling clothing).
When is the product best used? Is your cozy blanket perfect for cold winter nights with a cup of hot cocoa by the fireplace? Or is it more for a brisk autumn evening as the sun goes down? Highlight the ideal scenarios for when a customer should use your product.
What makes your product special? Think about the unique benefits of your product and why it’s better than that of your competitors.
Once you have this information in a document, use the following template to write out your product description.
Write a specific headline that grabs your target customers’ attention. Keep your ideas simple while showcasing an instant product benefit. For example, if you’re selling a yoga t-shirt with a pattern, call it Fleck Studio Shirt.
Craft a short paragraph based on the basic features and best-used information above. Look to the examples above to get inspiration for writing an entertaining description.
Include a bullet list of product features and benefits. Add any technical details needed.
Add social proof. You can use a customer reviews app to capture product reviews on your website and integrate others from third-party sites like search engines or Facebook.
Now you’re all set to add a product (or adjust an existing one) in your online store!
A compelling product description will always pay you back
As you prepare to write persuasive product descriptions for your online store, remember:
Share your knowledge about your product.
Tell stories and explain even the tiniest details.
Make an effort not to be boring and instead delight your web visitors with seductive descriptions.
Most of all, write with enthusiasm, because your passion for your products is contagious.
Product description FAQ
How do you write an effective product description?
Focus on your ideal buyer.
Entice with benefits.
Justify using superlatives.
Appeal to your readers’ imagination.
Cut through rational barriers with mini-stories.
Seduce with sensory words.
Tempt with social proof.
Make your description scannable.
What is the purpose of a product description?
The purpose of a product description is to provide shoppers with important information that helps them make a purchase decision. Think of a product description like a salesperson who works 24/7 on your product pages to sell your stuff.
What is a good product description format?
Specific product title
Short, descriptive paragraph
Bulleted list of features and technical details
Social proof
Call to action
Wrapping up
We at ShopShipShake have been working with businesses like yours with fulfilling experiences.
We offer one-stop services, including an efficient supply chain, over 10 thousand of China’s suppliers, over 1,000,000 SKU and more. With a successful track record of over 100,000 South African clients, we are sure to deliver your orders requirements. Let’s get in touch to build, sustain, and grow your businesses!
If you would like to know more details about us, please contact with us: blog.shopshipshake.com
If you are interested in cooperating with us. Please register on: https://bit.ly/3Cfdu4w
T-shirts aren’t just a staple of casual wear—they’re articles of clothing that often reflect our personalities, interests, and identities.
Because of this, selling t-shirts online has become a popular choice, especially for entrepreneurs and artists looking for a relatively inexpensive way to learn how to start a business. Plus, the global market for the custom t-shirt printing industry is expected to eclipse $10 billion by 2025.
With the growth in popularity of selling t-shirts, there’s no doubt you’ll face some stiff competition. But by building a brand for a specific target audience and creating t-shirt designs your customers want, you can find your own success.
In this guide, we’ll go through each step of how to start a shirt business online that brings in extra income month over month.
How to start an online t-shirt business, step-by-step
Choose a niche
Source quality material and t-shirt printing options
Create your own t-shirt designs
Mock up your t-shirts
Validate your designs
Set up your online store
1. Choose a niche for your t-shirt online business
A niche will help your online shirt selling business stand out and better attract the right target audience without blowing your budget.
You hear the term “niche” tossed around a lot, but it’s important to choose one when trying to understand how to make an online t-shirt business. One of the most important parts of a successful online t-shirt business model is the ability to stand out, and one of the best ways to do that is by catering to a specific target audience or interest group.
Generally, categories like “t-shirts for people who like funny slogans” are going to be too broad to get noticed in a very developed market. You’re going to want to tighten it up a little more. An example of a more specific niche would be t-shirts with funny slogans that relate to doctors and nurses, or to dog owners, as pictured below.
There are many ways to find and evaluate a niche when you want to know how to start a t-shirt business online. Here are a few:
Visit your prospective niche’s subreddits and evaluate the subscriber count and level of engagement.
Use Facebook’s Audience Insights tool to gauge the size of your niche on the platform.
Scan this list of popular hobbies on Wikipedia for inspiration.
Consider your own interests and the communities you belong to—sometimes it’s OK to trust your gut.
Once you narrow down your niche, create a business plan for your shirt selling business that covers your goals and different opportunities to sell custom t-shirts, then figure out how you’ll execute that plan.
2. Source quality material and t-shirt printing options
The next step of how to start an online t-shirt business is to find suppliers. Not all t-shirts are the same and not all print jobs are the same. As we mentioned above, quality is paramount to your brand and its success, so it’s important to educate yourself and choose your blank shirts wisely.
It might be tempting to sacrifice quality for higher profit margins when you start a shirt business online. But you need to consider how the quality will affect a customer’s decision to share your brand and purchase from you again.
Choosing a quality t-shirt encompasses several factors, including fit, sizing, material, softness, and weight. A great starting point for determining which blank t-shirt to use is to check out T-Shirt Magazine’s review of some of the most popular blank t-shirts for printing.
Once you narrow down your choices, it’s strongly recommended to order samples so you can make an informed final decision.
3. Create your own t-shirt designs
Next up in how to start your own online t-shirt business is to come up with the designs. Here are a few ways you can get a head start on your t-shirt business designs.
Find the best selling designs and niches
If you’re stuck for t-shirt niche ideas and designs, a great start is looking at what else is popular and currently selling well.
Below is a list of pages for some of the top graphic t-shirt marketplaces. You can use them to search the “best sellers” and “most popular” sections to help you get a better idea of your next niche or t-shirt design.
Zazzle
Redbubble
SnorgTees
Kickstarter t-shirt campaigns
You may also want to consider checking out Google Trends to get a sense of the topics people are currently interested in for inspiration for your t-shirt online business..
Hire a designer
Once you have an idea for some t-shirt designs, you’re going to have to actually design them. If you have Adobe Photoshop or a similar program, you likely can produce some great designs by yourself. However, if you’re like most people, you’ll need to enlist some help.
There are a wide variety of tools and marketplaces you can use to find a suitable graphic designer to help you.
Design communities
Dribbble: Dribbble is a designer community with lots of unique talent. Search for the style you’re looking for and message the designers you like to see if they’re available for freelance projects.
Behance: Behance is a cool platform to check out. You can see portfolios from different creators around the world who specialize in illustrations, niches, and styles and more. If you end up liking a designer, you can reach out to them and get a quote on your custom t-shirt designs.
Freelance networks
Some other options you may want to try are the popular freelance networks like Freelancer and Upwork. You can find qualified t-shirt designers, fast, and check out their past job successes and portfolio. If you like someone, you can reach out in right in the platform and hire them on the spot.
Buy t-shirt designs
If you’re stuck finding a designer for how to start a t-shirt business online, you can always purchase pre-made designs. Keep in mind that if you choose to go this route, there’s a high likelihood that other people are already selling whatever design you pick, making it harder for you and your online shirt selling business to stand out.
Check out the following t-shirt graphic marketplaces:
Designious: which sells vector packs and PNG t-shirt designs, also clip art to create your own products.
Tshirt Factory: which offers a variety of vector images — from old school to punk rave and urban styles — for t-shirt printing businesses.
Creative Market: which doesn’t focus exclusively on t-shirts, but you can find over 3 million unique fonts, graphics, themes, photos, and templates designed by independent creators from around the world.
Graphic River: where you can buy and sell royalty-free, Photoshop files, vectors, and icon packs for your t-shirt designs.
Keep in mind, if you want to know how to make an online t-shirt business, you may need to purchase a commercial license.
4. Mock up your t-shirts
Once you have some final designs, your next step for how to start a t-shirt business online will be to get some mockup images. Mockups are helpful so your customers can see what the final design will look like printed on a shirt.
There are a few ways you can get images of your final designs on t-shirts, including ordering samples and taking product photography yourself or, with the abundance of t-shirt mockups and templates online, opting to create a 100% digital mockup, like the one below.
Adobe Photoshop t-shirt templates are the most common types of mockup files. They allow you to quickly preview how your designs will look printed on a t-shirt. Most Photoshop templates come with multiple layers that let you change the color of the shirt and apply your own design that will blend with the shirt’s creases, folds, and contours.
Here are several resources to help you find the best mockup file for for your shirt selling business:
GraphicRiver t-shirt mockups
MockupWorld
19 awesome t-shirt templates
If Adobe Photoshop isn’t right for you, you can also use web-based mockup software that will let you do the same thing without having to download and figure out Photoshop.
Printful mockup generator
Printify mockup generator
Placeit
Another great option for tasks like this is to enlist help from someone on Fiverr. Just search for t-shirt mockups.
5. Validate the designs for your t-shirt online business
Before you invest a lot of money on your new business idea, you should verify that there is a market for and interest in your designs. There are many ways you can go about validating the market and sell t-shirts online.
Some of the most popular and more common methods for validating your design ideas include:
Personal social networks. Post some of your designs to your Facebook profile, niche Facebook groups, Twitter, and other social networks your friends and potential customers frequent. Be careful when asking friends and family, however—their opinions are prone to kindness.
Reddit. Despite the community’s general aversion to marketing, Reddit is st
ill one of the best places to get honest feedback on your designs (which can even translate into sales after you launch). With countless subreddits, it’s easy to find a highly targeted niche of potential customers and ask them directly for their thoughts on your designs before launching.
Crowdfunding. Crowdfunding sites have made it much easier to test, validate, and collect money upfront for your new business idea. Launching a crowdfunding campaign can be time consuming and requires a good deal of preparation. However, the benefits can be huge, including fully funding your project before you launch it. If you have a particularly novel t-shirt business idea (say, matching t-shirts for dogs and dog owners), crowdfunding might be for you.
Print on demand. Finally, with a ecommerce platform like Shopify, it’s never been easier to set up a fully functional online store (domain name included) in a matter of hours to validate your business idea. Start a 14-day free trial and integrate a print-on-demand service to validate your t-shirts by trying to sell them online.
6. Set up your online store
Now that you have your t-shirt designs in hand, have made your mockups, and validated your idea, it’s time to build your store. This is especially important if you want to know how to start a t-shirt business online.
There are a handful of t-shirt print-on-demand services that directly integrate with your Shopify store, allowing you to start taking orders in no time. These services will print and ship your t-shirts to your customers on your behalf every time you receive an order.
There’s no need to purchase or hold any inventory upfront, making it a great way to get started. Best of all, if you want to use your design on other printable products, such as mugs and tote bags, you have that option as well.
There are a variety of t-shirts available through the following print-on-demand companies:
Printful
Teelaunch
Printify
Gooten
Once your store is set up, you’ll be ready to start selling t-shirts online.
5 considerations for starting a t-shirt business
Although the tools and technology available for designing, printing, and shipping custom t-shirts makes starting up relatively simple, the difficult part is building a brand to stand out from the competition. Combine competition with slim profit margins and building an online t-shirt company becomes a little harder than it might first appear.
If you want to design and sell t-shirts online, you have to make the right decisions from the get-go.
There are several critical elements involved in starting a successful online shirt selling business. Each of these elements needs to be considered closely before moving forward:
T-shirt printing techniques. There are many different ways to print designs on a t-shirt. Choosing the right one can help you save money and make smarter business decisions.
Design. The majority of people purchasing graphic tees are looking for designs, graphics, and slogans that connect with them and reflect their opinions and personality.
Quality. The quality of the shirts you use and of the print job need to be top notch to build a sustainable business.
Brand, A strong, interesting brand is vital in the t-shirt industry.
Inventory, Will you manage your own inventory to take advantage of volume discounts or use a print-on-demand service to save time and effort.
Let’s take a deeper look at each one.
1. T-shirt printing techniques
There are three popular methods for printing when it comes to how to make an online t-shirt business. Each method has its pros and cons and deciding which one to use will partially depend on how much time you want to invest in the product creation and which printing partner you choose.
Below, we have outlined all three t-shirt printing options, to give you a better understanding of each process. Whether you invest in your own printer or use a local supplier, it’s worth knowing how each printing technique works.
Screen printing
Screen printing is an old technique that has stood the test of time for business owners who design and sell t-shirts online and in-store.
As one of the most popular methods for printing onto t-shirts, screen printing can produce durable and long-lasting results. It also lets you print on products like canvas items, mugs, hats, and other things to make and sell, if you want to expand your product line.
However, a labor-intensive initial setup means screen printing is most cost-effective when printing in bulk. Screen printing also poses issues when it comes to complex designs or designs with more than four to five colors, as each color increases costs and production time.
Pros
Cost effective for large batches
Volume discounts
Cons
Not cost effective for multiple colors
Can only print simple images and designs
Heat transfer
Heat transfers have also been around for a long time and exist in several forms. You may have seen basic heat-transfer paper at your local office supply store.
Although this method makes it easy to print designs from your home computer and transfer them with an iron, it won’t cut it when it comes to running a small business. The more advanced form of heat transfers are called “plastisol transfers” and are printed by professional printers on special, high-quality heat-transfer paper.
The advantage of heat transfers is the ability to order a stack of prints from your local printer and transfer them to your t-shirts with a commercial heat press machine as you receive orders.
Heat transfers can produce full-color images onto t-shirts relatively easily and quickly.
Pros
You can “print” each shirt on demand
More affordable for small batches
No limit in number of colors you can use in a print
Cons
Lower quality and less durable than direct-to-garment and screen printing
Large upfront investment in a heat press machine (from a few hundred dollars to a few thousand)
The do-it-yourself approach means additional time input for you
Direct-to-garment (DTG)
The direct-to-garment printing process operates much like an ink-jet printer you might have at home. It’s a common type of t-shirt printing business equipment because it prints ink directly onto the t-shirt and can produce full-color images with accuracy.
Direct-to-garment printing produces quality printing on par with screen printing and better than heat transfers. Because it operates like an ink-jet printer, there are no setup costs, unlike screen printing. This means it’s easy and cost effective to print small orders.
The major disadvantage of direct-to-garment printing online t-shirt business model is the lack of volume discount for large orders, as it takes the same amount of time to print each shirt.
Pros
Unlimited color options
High detail accuracy in printed design
Great for small orders or one-offs
No set-up costs
Cons
Not cost effective for large production runs
Generally no volume discounts
2. Design
The last thing a visitor would want is to see in your catalog is a copy of a t-shirt design found elsewhere. Your designs don’t necessarily need to be complex—in fact, many of the best-selling graphic tees are very simple. However, they do need to connect with your audience and stand out.
To ensure quality prints for your shirt selling business, your design files should generally be at least 300 pixels per inch (dpi or ppi), have a transparent background, and be large enough to cover the actual print area of the t-shirt. Just note that your exact specifications will vary depending on the printer and printing technique used (more on that later).
3. Quality
The next most important factor in how to start an online t-shirt business set up for long-term success is quality. You can disappoint someone once, but they won’t let you disappoint them twice. A pattern that fades and cracks or a t-shirt that shrinks and rips won’t create raving fans that come back and repurchase.
Higher quality t-shirts might cost more to produce but can also command higher prices. The final quality of your t-shirt will depend on the material of the blank t-shirt, printing technique used, and correct preparation of your design file.
4. Brand
A strong, interesting brand is vital when you start a shirt business online. Your brand is a promise that will tie together all your choices, including your niche, designs, and quality. From your t-shirt business name to the logo you use, building a unique and likable brand is important in a high-competition industry.
When customers have more choices, it becomes extremely important for an ecommerce business to have a distinctive presence to capture their attention.
If you’ve chosen a niche for your t-shirt online business that embodies a certain lifestyle, you can incorporate it into your marketing and website to speak to these customers, like in the anime/streetwear example from Imouri, below.
5. Inventory
When learning how to start a t-shirt business online, most people either opt to buy and hold inventory, taking advantage of bulk pricing and local printers, or use a print-on-demand service to take inventory management and shipping off your plate. You can also opt for a mix of both.
By holding your own inventory for your online shirt selling business, you can more easily sell in-person and potentially improve your profit margins, whereas with print-on-demand, you take on a lot less risk. Weigh the pros and cons before you start. If you’re unsure, print-on-demand is always one of the best small business ideas.
Dropshipping is an easy online t-shirt business model for small business owners to wrap their heads around. With services like Printful, it’s incredibly easy to start and test your t-shirt designs.
Of course, if you have the budget for it, you can also invest in your own printer and set up a base of operations.
Online t-shirt business success stories
Many entrepreneurs have been successful a starting shirt selling business. One in particular, Ryan McCarthy, founder of Imouri (formerly known as Sugoi Shirts), has used Shopify to run his anime-inspired t-shirt printing business since 2016.
Ryan decided to create his t-shirt business when he couldn’t find anime-style clothing that fit his personal style. He quietly launched what he thought would be a small clothing business, which has since turned into a six-figure print-on-demand apparel business selling streetwear inspired by Japanese pop culture and anime. His secret to successfully starting your own clothing line? Identifying winning designs early on by using Reddit and paid ads to test products.
Start your t-shirt business today
It’s never been easier to express your creativity and sell t-shirts online. Whatever niche you choose to serve or however ambitious you decide to be with your quality and designs, a t-shirt store makes for a great first online business makes for a great first ecommerce business for new entrepreneurs.
Wrapping up
We at ShopShipShake have been working with businesses like yours with fulfilling experiences. We offer one-stop services, including an efficient supply chain, over 10 thousand of China’s suppliers, and more. With a successful track record of over 100,000 clients, we are sure to deliver your orders requirements. Let’s get in touch to build, sustain, and grow your businesses.
If you would like to know more details about us, please contact with us: www.shopshipshake.co.za
It may seem obvious, but designing for humans is an effective tactic in design psychology—and some brands often overlook this basic concept. When building your brand, it’s important to stick to your values and design around your tastes, but it’s even more important to center the user experience in every decision.
Have you ever stood in front of a shelf of dozens of flavors of soda or shapes of pasta, completely immobilized by this seemingly unimportant choice? It turns out there’s science behind this phenomenon. The paradox of choice, a concept popularized by psychologist Barry Schwartz, observes that when humans are given more choice, the result is not a feeling of happiness or freedom, but one of stress and dissatisfaction. 
Annual mobile ecommerce sales in the US alone are projected to reach $710 billion in 2025. As mobile use continues to increase, it’s important your website is optimized to improve user experience on smartphones.
The Gestalt principles, introduced in the 1920s, are a set of ideas that can help designers create pleasing and functional designs based on an understanding of the human brain. Our brains naturally organize and find patterns in information to better consume and understand it.
Put simply, cognitive load is the amount of available space for memory in a human brain. Too much information or a cluttered design can overload the mind. Miller’s law, created by George Miller in the 1950s, states that a person’s working memory can process and hold around seven pieces of information at one time.
