Website design for jewellers: what you can't do without

As the owner of a jewellery shop, the main goal of your website is to attract more customers. Whether you run an online business or a physical shop, without the right website you risk losing potential customers, and significant revenue with them. If you are not sure about the quality of the web design you have or want to have, this may be the perfect time for a refresh. In this article, we explain best practice for jewellers' and goldsmiths' websites, how a website should be structured and everything you need to reach the top of the search results.

Why does a jewellery shop need a website?

A few years ago, you may have felt you did not need a digital presence, especially if you had a shop open. What was the point of a website if nobody could buy through it? Well, the truth is that times have changed. Today, customers do extensive research and the decision to buy is made mainly online. This means most customers now look up brands or products on search engines and visit their websites before they go to a physical shop, so a website is crucial for your business.

An online shop for jewellers or goldsmiths is how you represent yourself in the digital world, and it gives you the chance to offer potential customers everything about the brand, the business and the products available. Today, people who want to buy a ring, a necklace or another piece of jewellery search for exactly these terms. Sometimes they are even more specific: engagement rings, gold bracelets or pearl earrings, for example. A website also lets you give a clear answer to anyone looking for information about jewellery and goldsmithing before they visit.

Even if you only have one shop in Porto, in Lisbon or even in Paços de Ferreira, a simple website can reassure customers that they are making the right choice with your brand. Make sure you include your address, opening hours and other general details, as people search for them a lot.

The look of the website: why does it matter so much?

But is it really essential to invest in web design? The answer is: yes. Some studies show that people process images and visual elements much faster than text. Because of this, our brain takes in how something looks faster than what it reads, and that makes a better impression. So the web design of a jeweller's website, whether local, national or international, says a lot about the level of professionalism the brand can offer.

Customers unconsciously connect visual elements with marketing messages to understand a business. So if your website looks sloppy and disorganised, people may see your brand the same way.

Best practices to follow

Now that you know more about why web design matters, let's look at some practices and standards your website should follow. If your goal is to build the best website possible for your shop selling gold, silver or gemstone pieces, these tips can make sure your customers form a positive link between your brand and what they see on screen, which makes them more inclined to buy a piece of jewellery.

1. A simple, clean layout that focuses on the pieces

On jewellers' and goldsmiths' websites, every distraction is a bad idea. With hundreds or thousands of euros at stake, even a small distraction can drive a potential buyer away and kill a sale before it has even started. To make more sales online, or bring more qualified leads to your shop, make sure your website has a simple, clean look that focuses on the product you want to sell, whether that is an engagement ring, wedding bands or chokers set with semi-precious stones.

This means clearing the background and using colours such as white or pale grey, offering accessible navigation, keeping text simple in basic fonts, and making sure the visitor's experience is organised, without too many pop-ups, advertising banners, sidebars or links.

You should also make it a priority to show large images of the luxury items you want to sell, show plenty of detail of each gold, silver or diamond piece, and use only high-resolution photos. When a customer clicks through to a product or information page, the focus must always be on these details.

The features of the ring, bracelet or tiara, well-written text and buying options should always be available, but the photos must be the star of the show, as you can see on the Tiffany website.

2. Inspiring or motivating images and call to action buttons

Of course, the new website for your goldsmith's shop in Bragança or Viana do Castelo should not be made up of photos alone. Attractive call to action buttons are needed to move the customer's thinking from "this piece looks lovely" to "I want to buy this piece". One of the best ways to stand out is to use motivating images. Many websites do this with large banners or images on the homepage or landing page. These show happy couples after the wedding or during the proposal, a husband or wife receiving a gift, or even a model wearing a unique piece of jewellery, as in this example from Boutique dos Relógios.

Pair these strong images with a button that prompts a purchase (or a closer look at the details) and customers will not be able to resist. Call to action buttons should also appear on every product page, in the shopping basket and at other key points, such as the contact page. Instead of settling for the basic "contact us" or "buy now", try to inspire action: why not go for something like "find the perfect ring today" or "call to book a personal consultation"?

3. Mobile-friendly build

You probably know this already, but more and more people use their phones or tablets to buy products online, look up local shops or simply go online. This also applies to buying jewellery for any occasion: a growing number of customers research expensive products on their smartphones, often because they want to propose to their girlfriend with a solitaire or surprise their husband with luxury cufflinks and keep it all a secret.

Because of this growing trend, it is more and more important to design the website of your goldsmith's shop or jewellery boutique to work on screens of any size. If your website needs zooming, scrolling or special plugins to display properly, you will notice that few customers spend any time on it.

The best way to increase the number of mobile visitors to your jewellery shop's website is something called responsive design. This kind of web design scales content automatically so that it fits any screen. And because this only depends on building a new website or adapting the one you have, investing in a mobile-friendly design will keep your customers on the page for longer.

In other articles, we have also mentioned that Google promotes responsive websites, so this gives you another opportunity to rank higher in searches for fine jewellery or luxury watches.

4. Organisation and navigation options

Finally, your jewellery shop's website should have a structure and organisation that make sense to visitors. Whether it is an ecommerce website or just the online shop window for your shop in the Algarve or in Guarda, the menus and navigation options must be simple and easy to follow. If the page is confusing or has sections that are hard to find, you may be driving potential customers away.

The best websites are always very simple, with organised options at the top. For example, if you want to create a landing page for engagement rings, keep links to the homepage, where there will be more pieces to choose from (wedding bands, gemstone jewellery and more). But instead of showing all of this in the main menu, use subsections that appear as "drawers", or once someone clicks on the main topic.

Links to important information, such as phone number, address and opening hours, must be extremely easy to reach. If they are not visible, a visitor may leave the website without completing the purchase and without contacting you to buy that diamond brooch or that bracelet set with stones.

Is anything else needed?

The success of your brand does not depend only on how your website looks. In fact, most major jewellery brands, and even watchmakers, go much further, with solid Search Engine Optimisation, well-written content and other key elements. So if you are thinking about investing in a new design for your fine jewellery shop's website, you should also invest in these other ways to stand out: ahead of the competition, which gets left behind, and in the search engines, where you will rank higher.