Many people think that the point of having an ecommerce website is to make money, but this couldn’t be further from the truth. The goal should always be to help your customers and generate a profit at the same time. This can seem like a paradoxical statement, but it’s true! If you don’t do well in either one of these categories, then your business will fail.
In this blog post, we will talk about seven common mistakes that many ecommerce businesses are making and how to fix them, so you don’t have any more problems on your hands!
What are ecommerce mistakes?
Ecommerce mistakes are mistakes that are made in the course of setting up your ecommerce business or running it. These mistakes may be simple to fix, but they can cost you time and money in employing a web development company if you don’t take care of them right away!
Seven ecommerce mistakes
• Mistake 1 – Skipping Market Research
Many people think that just because there is a market for their product online, they should start selling it as soon as possible. This couldn’t be further from the truth! If you want to build an empire, then skipping market research will not help at all.
You need to do this first to know exactly what kind of products your audience wants and needs before investing any more money into development or marketing.
- What to do: Doing some keyword research and market research can tell you a lot about what your audience wants. You don’t have to spend too much time on this, just enough so that when creating the product description, you know how best to sell it!
• Mistake 2– Bad Navigation and Slow Loading Time
Online shoppers are impatient – they expect everything from fast page load times to easy navigation through pages without delay. If your site isn’t performing well, then people will leave immediately. Nobody likes waiting for something to load while watching the little wheel spin in circles … not precisely an appealing sight or experience!
What do we mean by bad navigation? Well, if your website is slow because of things like images taking forever to upload, poor hosting, slow DNS servers, or any number of other reasons, then it’s time to fix them! This will improve your user experience and increase sales.
- What to do: First off, test the speed of your website using a program like Pingdom Tools. For example, if you find issues with page load times for images, make sure they’re optimized by compressing their file size without compromising quality. You might also want to reduce how many items appear on one page (from 100 products per product category down to maybe 30).
• Mistake 3 – Poor Product Description
Consumers are becoming savvier and savvier when it comes to online shopping. It’s no longer enough to have good product images – you need compelling, informative descriptions too.
- What to do: Think about what your customers want in terms of information before putting up a new item for sale, so they don’t get disappointed with the lack thereof after clicking on your link. And remember, not all products can be well-described by bullet points alone!
• Mistake 4 – Complicated Checkout and Shopping Cart
In striving for a smooth and seamless payment process, many e-commerce businesses often overcomplicate the checkout pages. This is important to avoid as it can drive away customers.
- What to do: Make sure that all checkout steps are necessary – don’t have unnecessary ones or too many of them. Test your website with real users to see how long they take on each step in order not to overwhelm them!
• Mistake 5 – Hidden Shipping Costs and Aggressive Return Policies
This is a big and frequent mistake. Many e-commerce businesses hide shipping costs till the very last step in their decision-making process because they don’t want to scare shoppers away by disclosing too much information at once – even if it may result in higher sales!
- What to do: Be transparent about your policies. If you’re not sure which policy works best for your business, split test them against each other and see what results you get!
• Mistake 6 – Ignoring Customers after Sale
Another common mistake is to ignore your customers after-sales. It may sound like a small problem, but it’s imperative because you’re the only person who can maintain that relationship with them!
- What to do: Treat each customer as an individual. Talk to every one of them and find out their expectations so you can deliver on those requirements in future purchases.
• Mistake 7 – Considering making an app unnecessary
In the 21st century, people are using smartphones for just about everything. A lot of ecommerce businesses have started to use apps as a way to reach customers. Still, these days consumers expect every shopping experience they have with a business to be mobile-friendly!
- What to do: If a web design company is making an app for your shoppers, they should ensure that sure it’s easy and quick. Shopping from the palm of their hands should help them feel more secure that they’ll get their items quickly.
Conclusion
eCommerce mistakes can kill even the best online store if not dealt with properly – especially in today’s cutthroat environment where there is always someone out there ready and willing to take over your market share. Make sure you avoid these common pitfalls at all costs to stand the best possible chance of success.
If you need help with finding the right company to design your ecommerce, you can search online for a “website design company near me” or “website design companies for small business near me”.