6 eCommerce Mistakes You Might Be Making

Without a doubt, eCommerce has evolved a lot in the past one decade and is standing tall as a profitable industry. Yet, selling products online is not an easy job. The primary goal of every such website is to attract a maximum number of customers and increase sales but that is not going to happen any time soon if the site has flaws that are upsetting patrons. There’s tremendous competition out there that’s true but your website should be really good in order to make a difference.

A non- responsive website or complicated checkout procedure; there are many reasons why products on your website are not selling fast as you expected. Such mistakes are chasing customers away and costing you a huge amount of money. Go through the list of 6 common eCommerce mistakes that websites tend to make and understand how they can be avoided.

A Non-Responsive Website

When business owners work on creating their eCommerce site, their focus is just on the web. What they don’t think that now people are more hooked to their phones and tablets than computer screens. Consumers are always on the go and love to excess eCommerce websites through their smartphones. So, the business owners need to be smart too and create a website that is responsive. Failure to do so will make your website less reachable and customers are not ready to wait for anything. They will easily hop on to the next website who is offering them a mobile friendly service.

If we look at statistics, 40% of consumers head over to another eCommerce website the moment they have a bad mobile experience with one website. Even search engines like Google also penalizes those websites that are not optimized.

Go ahead and search your company’s URL on your smartphone and see how it works. If you are struggling, so will your customers. Get hold of a web designer to optimize your ecommerce website and payment portal.

Didn’t Think Of Adding A Search Box?

Working so hard to turn visitors into customers? You have also created a responsive eCommerce website to pull customers from all walks of life. Still, the outcome is not what you expected? Go back a little and thoroughly go through your website. If you have missed adding a search option in it, that’s what has put you at a disadvantage.

Let us make you familiar with a fact and that is when a visitor searches a particular product or service they are interested in on your eCommerce website through search box they are more likely to convert into a customer, especially when you compare them with those who don’t search for anything at all. This is why it is crucial to add a search tool so that all that hard work of yours doesn’t go waste.

Another benefit search box will give you is that it will keep a record of all the things that visitors have searched for. It will give you an insight and knowledge of what exactly the potential customers want. If you are offering the same, that’s great but in case you don’t have that product but can add it that would be even better. This way, next time a visitor comes searching for that product, they won’t have to leave disappointed and empty hand.

The search box is relatively easy to plug into an already running website, so there isn’t any excuse of not having it. Also, it is important that your eCommerce website is equally user-friendly when compared to its counterparts. Convenient user experience will work to your advantage.

Low-Resolution Images And Poor Description

Would you ever like to go to a place that is dark and gloomy? Apparently, your answer will be no. Same is with your customer too. They will never stay on a website for more than 2 minutes if the images are bad or in low resolution, they will be out before you even know it. While operating an eCommerce website, your main motive should be that the feel of your products should be real because your customers can’t inspect the product personally. That’s why it essential that not only product images but the description should be such that they can actually feel what they will get.

Start by uploading the highest quality images in a variety of angles along with a crisp but detailed description. If the product photos are not clear or not available in different angles, the customer will most likely change their mind and will not purchase the product. If you look at another well-known eCommerce website, you will notice how clean and professionally photographed the pictures are. So go the extra mile and get the product clicked by the professionals. It might look like an additional expense but it would be worth it.

For product description, remember to keep it detailed, informative, engaging yet professional. Another thing that you need to keep in mind is that the content should never be copy-pasted from the manufacturer’s description. Plagiarism of content is not taken lightly by Google. Your choice of word and writing style will help distinguish your business from the competition.

Missing Essential Information

Many times it happens that business do not inform many details to the customer but once they head towards the checkout or try to exchange/return the product they get a shock when important information is revealed. For example, many eCommerce websites do not inform the customers of added shipping charges or delivery cost while purchasing. This is one reason why customers abandon their cart because when they are about to pay, they see such details and it instantly puts them off.

Make a difference and reveal such information to the patrons beforehand, especially on the product page. Also include information like whether the product is returnable or not, exchange policies, customer care number etc. This will save them from upsetting surprises later. You can either put such information at the end of the product page or under FAQs.

Checkout: A Puzzle For Customer?

Are your customers getting confused while checking out? Your website, be how amazing with navigation bars, search tool, professional photographs, attracting product description and even a secure payment platform but it will not do any good if the customers look at checkout as a puzzle. As a result, you will be left with a lot of empty carts and customers who never want to return.

The first step to fix this is by making the checkout procedure as simple as possible and streamlined. No customer will be delighted with a cumbersome ordering system. They are looking convenience and that one of the reasons for their online order but when you are making it a task, why would they shop with you? On the other hand, when the website offers an easy way of ordering their favorite merchandise, they will complete their order and also return, giving a boost to the business.

Don’t force your customers to do something that you will never do. Make their experience pleasurable so that they won’t need to hop onto the next user-friendly eCommerce website.

Your Ecommerce Store Is Not Secure

Building trust and keeping customer’s information safe is essential when running an eCommerce business. If your customers don’t feel secure, they would not trust you with their personal information and you might lose them along with a sale. Why would they type in their card details if they have even slightest inkling of suspicion that the site is not secure?

Many potential customers thoroughly go through a website before complete their purchase to ensure and satisfy their security concern. While doing so, a slight diversion or a long hectic process can easily put them off. Instead of clicking on “complete purchase”, they will tap on the back button. If we see statistics, studies have shown that 25% of customers stop their online purchase in track due to website security concerns.

As the owner of the website, you are left with two options. Either you fix this issue and prove to your customers that their information is secure and protected or you can just simply ignore their concern and continue to lose customers. We know that you are smart enough to take the former decision.

In case you want this fact to be more evident on your website, including digital certificates and encrypted connection to protect confidential information. These are the best way to let your customers know that they can trust your website. Only when you are able to provide them with a secure online portal, they will come back.

Conclusion

Such grey areas are not something to let customers deal with. Above mentioned mistakes when made by eCommerce businesses just annoy the online shopper. Your job as a business is to give people an experience that will make them recurring customers, not just one time visitors. Eliminate such issues and soon you will see an improvement in customer’s behavior and increased conversions.

What do you think? Customers’ convenience is worth fixing such issues on your website? If yes, let’s get the work started.

Do you know about any other mistakes that might be turning away those precious patrons? Share them with us.