Are you having trouble with sales in your ecommerce store? Or maybe you’re starting a brand new site and hoping to avoid the mistakes of your predecessors. Whatever your reasons for research, here are just seven pitfalls to avoid after your grand opening.
1. Low-Quality Images
All product images should be crystal clear and available at a variety of angles. Their colors should reflect reality; their size should be clearly measured; there shouldn’t be any pixelization or motion blurs.
2. Poor Product Descriptions
Try to avoid flowery product descriptions. Customers are looking for things like sizes, ingredients and thread counts, not purple prose about how great the item is or how nice it will look in their dining room. Let them decide that for themselves.
3. Complicated Carts
If it’s too much of a hassle for customers to check out, there’s a good chance that they won’t even bother. This is why it’s crucial that your checkout process is streamlined for speed and convenience. Get help from companies like 1 Shopping Cart if your checkout needs a change.
4. Not Enough Payment Options
More than 40 percent of online transactions are completed with “alternative” payment options like PayPal. The use of traditional credit cards is on the decline. You’ll need to accept this changing market if you want to stay ahead of the curve.
5. Shipping Confusion
How much will it cost to get their items to them? These prices should be clearly stated in several places, including the FAQ and the checkout page. If a customer goes to order and suddenly realizes that shipping is $50, you’ve just lost a sale.
6. Inadequate Customer Service
All questions should be answered within 24 hours. All returns should be processed within 3-4 business days. These are the standards of the industry, and it’s important that your business meets the mark; customers will expect it from you as a matter of course.
7. Forced Registration
This is the cardinal sin of ecommerce. It’s all right to encourage users to sign up for rewards and loyalty programs, but when you try to force them to register just to check out, they’ll get aggravated and take their business elsewhere.
These are just seven mistakes commonly made by ecommerce retailers. While you can’t guarantee profit in any industry, avoiding these errors will give you a much greater shot at success.