Building an E-commerce business is tough work. There’s a lot of competition in almost every field and you need to make the effort to anticipate the needs of the customers. It often happens (especially to those who already have actual physical stores) that e-commerce website becomes just an afterthought. The visitors will definitely notice if the site was just thrown together and the sales will suffer. Do your best to avoid these amateur mistakes and make your website into a powerful sale tool.
Not thinking about branding
The site should be an integral part of the business and that fact should be visible at all times. Start with the design – from the use of logos, fonts and color palette it should be clear that this e-commerce portal belongs to your company. Also, find a way to integrate physical store with the site. For instance, you can offer actual paper coupons with codes for discounts on the site. All of this takes a little extra effort, but it can be solved with a little bit of planning. Create a marketing plan with a clear role for the site in it and don’t start selling until you have advertising figured out.
Not providing incentives
Just having an e-commerce website isn’t enough. You need to actively incentives customers to use it. Think about it this way: answer the question why should the shoppers use your website and keep telling them the answer. Most common advantages are related to discounts, special offers or cutting the shipping costs. You don’t have to stop there – offering limited edition products that are available only online is also a great way to build a following and create a sense of exclusivity around your brand. The site should be designed in a way that underscores these offers and perks.
Not having a clear call to action
It should be easy and effortless to order a product. So-called call to action buttons, designed to order with just one click should be available on each product page. It can be pretty irritating if ordering a product takes too long or requires and additional password or giving up too much personal information. This could be avoided with ecommerce solutions from Shopify. Also, there’s a remarketing advantage to have in mind. It can be useful to send an e-mail to those visitors who decided to give up on a product on the last page. With a right offer they could be persuaded to come back, Shopify can customize and send these emails automatically.
Not displaying the product
It’s always a bit risky to buy things online because you can’t examine the product in a way you could in person. That’s why sites need to provide every bit of information about the products and display them with great detail. Invest some money in a professional photographer and take a picture of every product from every imaginable angle. If there are different colors available, make a note of it (and possibly provide some samples).Also, provide the information about the size and weight of the product, as well as instruction on how it can be recycled.
Not having a contact page
It may seem redundant to have a contact page when everything is done online, but there’s always a need to get something clarified. The page should also contain the information about the physical location of your business and the location from which the products are shipped. It’s important to state clearly when you can be reached and to have the phones stocked by pleasant and helpful personnel. It’s also might be a good idea to provide chat based consumer support, as well.
Good product and reliable service aren’t enough to have a successful e-commerce site. Put a little bit of effort into designing it and anticipate the needs of the users while you do it and difference and conversion rate will be significant.