11 Must-Have eCommerce Mobile App Features To Maximize Your Userbase

It is estimated that mobile apps will dominate online sales by 2021, accounting for 54% of total online sales. Unsurprisingly then, thousands of eCommerce apps enter and exit the market every month. If you are planning to launch an eCommerce business, it’s vital that your app has all the essential eCommerce mobile app development features.

Before talking about the top eCommerce app features, let’s understand the basic components that you will need to build for your eCommerce app.

An eCommerce app dashboard has three panels – customer panel, vendor panel, and admin panel. Here is what each panel must accommodate so that your app can function efficiently:

The end objective of these three panels is to deliver an experience that gets you more customers and more revenues. The key is to improve the performance of the above components by accentuating them with the best eCommerce mobile app development features.

Top eCommerce Mobile App Features

Following are the top app features you should focus on during all stages of your eCommerce mobile app development:

1. A quick registration process to retain the user

Your eCommerce mobile app has just a moment to hook your customers. Long registration forms that demand more than two or three answers are a huge turn off to users.

To achieve good conversion rates, make sure the sign-up process for your eCommerce mobile app is short and simple. Enable options for social connect so that the users can sign up/sign with just 1 click.

2. Product-filtering and sorting options for easy navigation

The mobile screen size is limited and so is the users’ attention span. So it’s important that your eCommerce app facilitates an easy journey to your users.

Ensure that each product has a category, preferably a subcategory and a brand associated with it. If users can search for products by categories and/or brands on your eCommerce mobile app, they are more likely to return to your app often.

3. Essential eCommerce analytics to measure performance

Integrate an appropriate analytics tool into your eCommerce app to track buying patterns, user behaviors, and profitability of your business.

Google Analytics is an excellent tool to measure click-through rates, user session times, cost of conversion etc. Getting insights into who your high-value users are, where they are coming from, what their buying journey looks like, which categories they browse the most etc. will help you devise improved and more desirable user experience.

4. Multiple payment options for hassle-free checkout

Not finding a preferred mode of payment in an eCommerce app is one of the significant reasons behind cart abandonment. By making your checkout processes simple and secure, you can reduce your cart abandonment rate by 31%.

Some users prefer to pay using their credit cards to build loyalty points while some prefer cash on delivery. UPI has become extremely convenient for some users and some are looking to get cashback by paying through e-wallets.

So facilitating all these payment options securely is one of the most important eCommerce mobile app development features you should focus on.

5. Attractive push notifications to increase eCommerce sales

Push notifications will drive sales for your business only if they are carefully crafted to entice and provide value to the users.

An easy way to do this is to send notifications about fresh arrivals, festive deals or simply about discounts on items lying in their cart. Go beyond cliché promotions and formulate a strategy that makes the best out of current circumstances.

For example, you can send out weather-based notifications to the users in geo-locations that see a sudden rise or fall in the temperature. While this is optional, sending reminders to inactive users is non-negotiable.

6. An effective feedback system to protect your eCommerce brand image

In the absence of a holistic feedback system, a negative experience can cost you a lot. Customers are likely to share their negative experiences with at least 16 other people in their network.

The best way to avoid this is to integrate an effective feedback system in your app. It should enable users to report all kinds of issues and also allow them to offer suggestions.

You can set up detailed feedback forms on your app to get insights into the users’ problems and needs. Sending out email survey forms and asking the users to rate your eCommerce app and review your products are other common ways to get feedback from your customers.

7. Quick access to eCommerce customer support

Over 90% of customers feel their mobile eCommerce experience disappointed them when they tried seeking customer support. This makes improving your customer support services all the more important.

Enabling your users to quickly contact and get help from your customer support can be a game-changer for your eCommerce mobile app.

It’s common for eCommerce businesses to provide customers with email and calling support. Additionally, you can set up efficient customer service accounts on social media along with in-app live chatting options. Quick responses from your brand will make the customers feel valued and establish loyalty.

8. Simplified purchase journey for more conversions

The app’s UX should be able to simplify the entire purchase journey of the users. Any complexity or delays while using the app can cause your users to move to a more user-friendly app.

Improve search functionality by adding useful eCommerce mobile app development features like autocomplete suggestions, search history, and voice search. Having a UX that grabs the users’ attention and seamlessly leads them from logging in to check out is essential for your eCommerce app to be successful.

9. Smart personalization for recommending relevant options

If your app is able to make the right personalized recommendations for your users, it can increase your e-commerce sales by up to 15%.

Adding the user’s name while displaying the list of recommended products is one way to give a feeling of personalization. “Frequently bought together” and “customers who bought this also bought that” are also effective ways to get your users to consider more options.

Lastly, sending out personalized recommendations via email campaigns can go a long way in establishing a connection with your users.

10. Order summary, status and tracking options to keep the users informed

One of the basic features a user needs in an eCommerce app is an easy to understand summary of his order. This allows them to reconsider and confirm what they want to buy before they make the payment.

After the purchase has been made, it’s necessary to keep the users updated on the status of their order. Ensure that your eCommerce mobile app notifies the users about when an item has been shipped, when they can expect its delivery, and whether there is some delay in the shipment.

This enhances transparency from your end and makes the user trust your brand for all their transactions.

11. Augmented reality for a better eCommerce experience

Integrating your eCommerce mobile app with various augmented reality features can greatly enhance your users’ buyer journey. AR can help them look at the products from 3 dimensions and actually see if it suits their requirements.

Hiring expert AR app developers for adding the best AR functionalities to your eCommerce app can make it stand out from the rest of the eCommerce apps.

5 eCommerce Mobile App Features To Make Your Application Stand Out

The eCommerce app features mentioned above are absolutely essential to make a fully functional app. However, in order to get noticed by your target audience, your app needs to have certain features that make the customer journey easier.

1. Detailed product descriptions for informed purchase decisions

Like traditional brick and mortar stores, eCommerce stores often have visitors that are casually looking around. However, this window shopping session can be turned into an actual shopping experience with the help of a product description that sells. A well-written description is a combination of educative and creative copy that convinces the user that the product listed is of good quality and the right fit for them.

Hence, to increase the conversion rates on your eCommerce mobile app, make sure you list all the products with a crisp and clear description with respect to the material, size, capabilities, and other important product details.

2. Product gallery to establish trust

A visual depiction of the products is equally important. While the written description lets the users know what the product is made of, a product gallery helps them gauge how the product actually looks. This is particularly important for products like clothes, watches, home appliances, etc.

A product gallery goes a long way in establishing trust in the products. It also helps the users take appropriate purchase decisions and maximizes customer satisfaction.

3. Timely returns to keep the customer coming back to your eCommerce app

A major reason behind Amazon’s success is the convenience of easy returns it offers to the users. No matter how credible an eCommerce mobile app is, some product fit issues are bound to occur. What if the shirt you ordered doesn’t fit you? What if the cushion cover looked bigger on the app and is too short for your cushions in reality? This is why, despite the ease of online shopping, traditional shopping is still so pervasive today.

However, with easy returns, you take the fear out of your customers’ minds. If you enable them to return or replace the ordered product, they will choose your eCommerce mobile app for frequent online shopping without much hesitation.

4. Wishlist for a more organized eCommerce shopping experience

Sure, every eCommerce app has a cart wherein users can keep the products they like. However, a major limitation of the shopping cart is that users have to buy the entire cart while checking out. Eventually, they have to let go of the products they wished to buy later. A wish list or something like Amazon’s Save For Later is a super useful eCommerce mobile app feature that overcomes this limitation.

Whenever a user comes across something they are interested in, they can organize it separately in the wishlist. This makes it extremely easy for users to plan their purchases.

5. Flash discounts and sales to attract new users and retain the old ones

Whether it’s a small brand for the middle class or a global brand targeted at the elite, sales and discounts work like a charm for every segment. If your eCommerce mobile app is struggling to expand its userbase, flash sales can help you acquire new customers.

Also, if planned and executed well, flash sales almost become synonymous with your eCommerce mobile application brand identity. Don’t we all await the launch of the Big Billion Days Sale every year?

Best eCommerce Mobile App Development Features - Conclusion

With the eCommerce industry booming like never before, the competition is getting harder by the day. Equipping your app with all the essential eCommerce mobile app development features is a must for the survival of your business. Once you have built a user-friendly, versatile app, crafting a holistic marketing strategy for your app can take your eCommerce business to the next level. We’d be happy to offer you a free consultation and help your eCommerce app development idea turn into a reality. Send us your brief here and an expert from our team will get back to you.

Third Rock Techkno is a leading IT services company. We are a top-ranked web, voice and mobile app development company with over 10 years of experience. Client success forms the core of our value system.

We have expertise in the latest technologies including angular, react native, iOs, Android and more. Third Rock Techkno has developed smart, scalable and innovative solutions for clients across a host of industries.

Our team of dedicated developers combine their knowledge and skills to develop and deliver web and mobile apps that boost business and increase output for our clients.