Running an ecommerce business is not a walk in the park – you are bound to run into bumps in the road to your success. But wouldn’t it be nice to be able to identify the mistakes you are making and correct them? Our partner Logicbroker understands this and has written the below article on the 5 most common ecommerce business mistakes and how to fix them.
Are you struggling to convert visitors to paying customers? Is your website’s traffic lower than you expected? Do you find yourself wondering what’s holding you back from ecommerce success?
We have compiled the top 5 ecommerce business mistakes and the ways to correct them.
1. Ignoring Website Traffic
Low site traffic can be attributed to numerous causes including a lack of/poor social media presence, neglecting SEO and Google Adwords, and a lack of brand identity. If customers cannot find your store, they will not purchase from you. So, how can you resolve this?
SEO is a key component to being found online. While hiring an SEO guru may be out of your budget, there are plenty of tools that can help you get started. You can use Google’s Keyword Planner to identify the keywords you believe your customers would use to find you. However, you’ll want to avoid keywords that are too general and/or have a lot of competition as it will take a long time for you to achieve high rankings. Google Adwords can also help boost your rankings, but it can be costly if you are in a very competitive market.
2. Not Focusing on Consumer Trust
In the wake of numerous security breaches, online shoppers have become wary of sharing their credit card information. If your site is not conveying trust, it is costing you sales.
Product reviews have a huge effect on a shopper’s decision to purchase and trust an online business. If a product has received high reviews and has positive comments to accompany it, there is a sense of security. Also, it is reassuring for a first time buyer to see the success stories of other shoppers.
Encourage your customers to leave reviews by sending a follow up email shortly after their order has been delivered. If merely asking for reviews isn’t working for you, incentivize your customers with coupons or a free gift with next purchase.
3. Having a Forgettable Brand
With new shops opening daily and the domination of marketplaces, if your site lacks a story, it is blending in with the masses. There is definitely a movement of people buying into brands with key differentiators (i.e. selling unique artisan goods, partnerships with charities, etc.).
So tell your story. Utilize your “About Us” page to state what your company stands for and how you began. This makes your shop relatable to people and can influence their emotions so they are more likely to buy.
4. Writing Lackluster Product Descriptions
Do your pages have a high bounce rate? You may be losing potential sales because your product description and imagery devalues your product.
You’ll want to use high quality, clean, and simple photos that highlight the product. Avoid clutter as it will come off as distracting and sloppy. It is also beneficial to provide multiple pictures to show different views of your product.
If you are selling apparel/accessories, including an image of the product being worn is encouraged. As for descriptions, you’ll want to include measurements and highlight the material(s) used and key features.
Your product descriptions fill in for the fact that your shopper has most likely not seen the product in person. By providing images and descriptions as attractive as your products, you should notice a positive impact on conversion.
5. Complicating the Checkout Process
If shopping cart abandonment is significantly higher on your site than the industry average of 68.07 percent, there are two likely reasons: non-competitive prices or poor checkout process.
To this second point, if online checkout is too long, would-be customers will not complete it. Your checkout process should be one page. To consolidate, remove any unnecessary fields.
If you would like to capture a customer’s information for a loyalty program, give them the option to sign up at the beginning or end of checkout. If you decide to have a multiple page checkout process, you’ll want to include a progress bar so that your customers can have an idea of how long the process will take. By limiting checkout to one page though, you’ll save on load time since only one page will need to load as opposed to 3 or 4.
Take a good look at your data, scrutinize your conversion and abandoned cart rates. Look at your site with fresh eyes, imagine yourself as a customer visiting your store for the first time. Take the time to identify your site’s strengths and weaknesses and then set out to work on the areas that need improvement. By taking the time to identify and amend your site’s weak points, you will generate the traffic and conversions you deserve.