Modern-day consumers enjoy the perks of digital transformation—an intricate, multifaceted movement catering to the intense market commotion, booming consumer demands, and innovative technologies. Considering the exploding numbers of online shoppers, nearly all enterprises introduce their virtual retail outlets to reach more customers. Vendors sell competitive products, designers create online store app and websites to promote their idea. The brands lurch forward with makeovers and professional consultancies seek opportunities to launch them as the next big thing in the present times.
Regardless of the entire virtual world being absorbed in this ‘next-big-thingness’, confusion persists when businesses set out in the cyclopean industry where competition reigns. One just cannot follow every trend that crops up in the market, lest they can afford to make costly mistakes.
E-commerce businesses must tread cautiously because they are at the risk of making many mistakes. Here are the seven most detrimental ones that you must avoid!
Not Investing in a Competent Brand Strategy
It doesn’t matter if you are selling products through a personal website, social network or a giant eCommerce platform like Amazon. Online business is all about luring your customer and convincing them to buy from you. Many individuals or brands spend thousands of bucks on poorly-photographer products and cheap branding.
Virtual customers always judge books by their cover. Therefore, you ought to have an effective branding strategy to visually stimulate them. Your brand and website both must reflect your ideas and story. At least that’s what Tictail’s co-founder Carl Waldekranz feels.
Not Having a Mobile-Friendly Web Page
The results of an anonymous survey indicate,
“Around 80% of global shoppers use mobiles and tablets to shop online.”
Needless to say, you need an eCommerce site that is mobile optimized. Prefer a simple, intuitive and minimalist interface with swift tools for easy navigation. Nearly all big brands change their game plan by simplifying their web design.
The bottom line is that mobile users should be able to shop with ease. Create an online store mobile app, compatible with small screen devices and customized as per the public’s interest, so your customers can enjoy their shopping experience.
Too Many Hindrances in the Check Out Process
Did you wonder why big brands invest in shopping cart app development? A survey report says,
“Many retailers lose up to $18 billion annually by abandoning their shopping cart”.
The number of customers saving products in your shopping cart directly correlates with the conversion rate. Avoid using too many fields and too much information on the checkout page, especially if they are using an eCommerce mobile app for shopping. Display the ‘Coupon Code’ at the time of shopping. Make sure that they see order confirmation details and tracking updates, once they check out the products.
Not Having the Right Market Strategy
In eCommerce, your business depends upon connecting with people and converting traffic to sales. Spotting the right places, connecting with the right shoppers and choosing the right ads to display is the best way to boost sales.
Rather than putting money in marketing agencies, copywriters, and social media influencers, people end up pouring money into paid ads that cost them more than what they acquire. And that happens a lot!
There is a reason why big brands hire specialized online store builders, marketers and eCommerce mobile app builders. The specialists help you express yourself in a way your shoppers want! They choose the right concept, language, designs, and strategy for promotion—which brings in more traffic than you can anticipate.
Not Optimizing your Website for the Search Engines
For you to run a successful business, you must be able to differentiate between white hat and black hat SEO (search engine optimization). Many websites end up indulging in link farming, plagiarism and displaying a large catalog, which makes it difficult to achieve a higher search ranking. You need a mix of traditional and modern SEO techniques to please search engines. After all, how will you attract customers, unless you rank on the first page for top search results?
Not Measuring your Growth
People create online store apps and websites, launch elaborate marketing campaigns and operate the entire business without understanding what’s working and what’s not. Analyzing your business doesn’t mean refreshing the sales page to count bucks, but evaluating tools and tactic that drive sales.
Tools and apps are available for examining your web presence and social growth. You just need to use it to measure your market performance.
Poor Customer Service
Do you understand your customer’s questions before answering them? No? Then, how can you expect them to return? Knowing what your customers expect and improving your customer service by building up a solid customer service team to keep shoppers happy!
Conclusion
If your online outlet features any of the aforementioned grey areas or more, it is high time that you spot and sort them out before you lose customers and experience poor monthly sales. Always focus on giving your customers the best shopping experience, and you will witness a gradual improvement in your conversion ratios.
Audrey Zack is a Tech Geek and a passionate writer working with MobiCommerce, a platform to build mobile apps for Magento and PrestaShop store. She has a keen interest in writing about the ever-changing world of eCommerce business, mobile commerce technologies, and upcoming trends.