Key furniture website personalization best practices include the use of simple and “uncluttered” layout designs and an all-round product presentation with meaningful product information/content. These best practices were garnered from the commentaries of furniture and website-building professionals such as Fireart, Science Soft, Agente, and PERQ. They were considered best practices as they were consistently agreed upon principles across all the featured sources.
1. Website Layout and Design
- Fireart proposes that furniture websites should keep the layout and design simple, and avoid “excessive functionality“. The aim, the website creator and digital agency asserts, is to place emphasis on the products, not the deign of the website. Fireart proposes the use of a minimalist design that will not “steal any attention from the products”. Science Soft, professional software developers, agree with this sentiment, adding that website design and format should be “spacious and uncluttered“.
- Both Science Soft and Fireart agree that a furniture website should be easy to navigate, especially incorporating the use of filters that will help clients get to what they need quickly. PERQ, marketing and software solutions provider, asserts that online furniture customers expect to find what they require easily, regardless of the retailer. They also demand “powerful search options“. One of the interviewed participants notes, “The website is where I was making most of my decisions. I needed to have a good experience not only searching for furniture, but also finding information about delivery times and cost. If I had to make a call or go into the store to get that information, I didn’t really have the time to do that.”
- A website purported to exemplify this best practice is Modern Digs, a US-based online furniture retailer. Fireart quotes its use of a simple yet minimalist design that focuses on the products and the implementation of filters that help clients get to the information they need faster and more efficiently.
2. Product Presentation and Content
- Fireart adds that website users ought to achieve “all desired information” in a few clicks, thus it is imperative for furniture websites to curate meaningful content around products on their sites. Fireart proposes the use of product cards for each furniture unit.
- Science Soft goes further to add that furniture websites should vary the content around their product catalogs. Attractive options include the use of 3D visualizations, product building capabilities, and assembly tutorials. Agente, web developer, adds that 3D visualizations must be of high-quality.
- Made is given as an example of a furniture website that utilizes high-quality media and 3D models in its offering. Science Soft extols its use of descriptive photos and “pictograms touching on dispatch and delivery times”.
- PERQ asserts that a winning strategy in furniture website design is curating a website that “allows users to craft their own personal experience“.
