With more and more people shopping online these days we have seen a sharp increase in the number of e-commerce websites. It’s a great way for brick and mortar stores to reach a wider audience than just the local area, and frankly a lot of people are more comfortable shopping from the comfort of their own home. Think of the mall at Christmas time, would you rather do that or browse online from your couch with a glass of wine? I know which one I would prefer. What are some of the top mistakes that e-commerce websites make, and how can you avoid them?
Not using Promo Codes to save on Web Hosting
The first one starts right from the beginning, a lot of people go ahead and register a domain name and buy some web hosting for their website and pay full price. What they don’t realize is that there are a lot of great coupons and promotions out there, especially for new customers who are signing up for the first time. Take a look at go daddy coupon sites (click here to get deal) to see a few examples of discounts that they have available. Even better, if you purchase for multiple years at a time you lock in the savings for that whole time instead of just the first month or first year.
Out of Stock Items
Many e-commerce businesses have continually disadvantaged themselves and their customers because of including items on their website that are out of stock. Most shoppers tend to shift from one e-commerce website to another because the previous website did not offer them what they were looking for. Imagine this: you meticulously apply filters that are available in the online store to specifically purchase that product that you have been seeking for so long. Then when you finally find it, you click on the item and see the message, “Sorry, we are out of stock.” Not only is that incredibly disappointing, but you are going to remember that site as ‘the one that is always out of stock’ and you will be unlikely to visit again. If you don’t have something available you can always ‘hide’ or ‘unpublish’ it until you it comes back in. A service like Shopify makes running an online store and keeping on top of your inventory very easy.
Complicated Checkout Process
E-commerce websites have been known to experience a high percentage of shopping cart abandonment rates on average. The main reason behind this is that most of these websites make checkout too complicated to follow through with. First, the site requires the shopper to create an account. Secondly, after the account creation process, the shopper experiences high-level complications when checking out his or her products. And the one that make me abandon the cart most often: having too many upsells or automatically including upsell items in the cart and forcing the customer to have to remove them. It is essential for e-commerce websites to include guest options and simplify the checkout processes, and don’t ever put stuff into people’s carts. PC Magazine did a round-up of their favourite shopping cart programs for 2018.
Misinformed Product Descriptions
Besides this, another mistake that e-commerce websites make is providing misguided product descriptions. Product descriptions are of utmost importance and often, e-commerce business owners either remove or include them. Notably, the way a description is offered may either swing a consumer from buying the item to not. Adjusting product descriptions to suit the needs of the consumer will result in you having happy and informed shoppers.
Poor Quality Product Images
Most e-commerce website owners often think that the product image is not that important. They are wrong. The quality of the product image is of great importance to online shoppers, particularly when showing what color the item is. If you have low quality images, people are definitely less likely to buy.
Hidden Shipping Charges
Finally, the last thing that keeps online shoppers from purchasing your product is keeping shipping charges hidden until the very end of the shopping cart process, especially if they are high. To boost your sales and increase the level of customer satisfaction in your e-commerce business, it is essential to gain the trust and faith of the customer. You can do this by providing accurate shipping charges and making them both clear and visible to the customer.
Ultimately, if you avoid these top five mistakes in your e-commerce business then you’re on your way to having a successful online store. Put the customers first, and you will see results.