An Ecommerce website offers much more revenue. It gives the ability to be open 24/7 with traditionally fewer overheads when compared to bricks and mortar retailing. Yet, despite the fact that most of the consumers prefer to shop online, a huge number of ecommerce websites fail.
If you own an ecommerce store, or are planning on setting one, you are at the right place. Here we are 10 crucial items to be aware of that will have a significant impact on the success or failure of your ecommerce website.
Poor Quality Images and Product Description
Always offer photos that display the product from multiple views. Use only high quality images, include zoom in option, and be sure to include unique detailed descriptions. Avoid using generic product descriptions which you already have from the supplier. Don’t rely solely on price. Tempt visitors with great imagery and product detail.
Missing Contact Information
It seems like a small issue, doesn’t it? But if not displaying full contact information, or its lost somewhere deep in the site, it results in major trust barrier for potential customers. Before customer buy, they will look for this information. Because they want peace of mind and convince themselves that if they need to contact you, they can. If you refuse to show location and contact information, including a phone number. You are going to have a hard time establishing trust with potential customers.
Complicated Checkout
Avoid Ecommerce website frustration by offering a very short checkout process. Also, don’t require registration for check out or viewing your product. Let customers go through the process and choose the option to register and save their details at the end, in case they want to come back. Otherwise let them checkout as a guest, without the need to register as many potential customers prefer to keep their personal information safe and avoid to register for the same reason.
Hidden Fees of Your Cart
This is a big one. Cart abandonment is high as a result of this issue. Shipping rates should be shared upfront, at product selection. As customer selects the item keep showing them if they will be charged shipping, or on purchase of some more amount they will get free shipping. Hiding them until the very end is guaranteed to anger the buyer and ultimately lose them and never turn back. Provide your customers with a shipping calculator that works based on the items they’re interested in and their postal code. This is technically easy to achieve, and definitely you should offer this.
Big Screen, Small Screen
We’re a society moving more and more to mobile. And this is especially true for ecommerce. Get your ecommerce website responsive if it is not yet. If your online store hasn’t been properly designed for mobile, you will be offering clutter, poor navigation options and an incredibly difficult user experience for mobile users. Make sure your site is mobile responsive as most of the customers today use mobile to access internet and make purchases online.
Customers don’t know what to do
Even with an ecommerce website, you need to make it very clear what you want the customer to do on your site. Each and every thing should be cleared precisely to avoid confusions and best help your customer who is on your website to make the purchase. Non-product pages should direct the customer using a blatant and obvious call to action. The most successful ecommerce sites tell customers exactly what to do. Never leave customers to guess what the next step is be very clear with every next step. It is about guiding the user through your site, step by step, and ensuring they perform the actions you want them to as they might be not familiar with many things as you are, afterall its your store.
Online Marketing
Online Marketing comes with lot of challenges. In today’s internet world having an ecommerce store and selling online is dream of many people and why not? But having an store with all above points covered may also not be sufficient if end users don’t know about you. You might have an industry leading ecommerce store with an outstanding customer service However, without targeted traffic, you’ll not ever reach the heights you desire, or possibly not make enough sales to sustain the business.
You’re not Engaging Your Customers
Engage prospective and existing customers when and however possible. You can use social media to join the discussion, and keep your products and services in front of potential customers or those returning. If customer is not satisfied with any product and has returned it, connect with them. Talk to them, apologize if required. Try to understand what went wrong in the whole process and make sure its not repeated with another customers.
You’re targeting the Wrong Audience
Targeting the right audience is like achieving a milestone for an ecommerce store. You may have organic and paid search campaigns, along with comprehensive social media management. However, all this is wasted if the audience targeted is not right. Are you targeting generic terms that may not be appealing to people looking to purchase? Lot of research is needed here to select the right approach to generate sales. In addition, constant ongoing review and tweaking is required to make sure you are making the most of your budget.
Your Pricing is all Wrong
Pricing is a huge factor online and if not set properly, many ecommerce websites fail. Why to purchase from you when the customer is getting same thing, same brand from another store for lesser price. People can compare your pricing in seconds, instead of having to trudge around multiple physical stores. If your price is too low, customers might think your products are low quality. If price are too high, they’ll feel like you’re trying to rip them off and they will move on to another store.
The longer you wait to take action, the more you fall behind.
