Since the dawn of the internet, ecommerce business has been booming and it shows no signs of slowing down any time soon. Today, there are hundreds of thousands of shops that are completely web based, with the UK ecommerce market expected to grow by 34.5 percent by 2023.
The Coronavirus pandemic has added to this growth, with many people using the lockdown period as an opportunity to start up their own businesses; from selling home-baked goods to delivering pattered protective masks.
Although the digital era has opened many doors for any budding entrepreneur armed with a good business idea, this does not mean to say that everyone is doing this successfully. It’s an extremely overcrowded market, and with consumer trust generally low, only those businesses who have a strong strategy will stand out amongst the sea of competition.
There are some key mistakes commonly made those in the ecommerce industry which can really impact conversions and act as a barrier to success.
If you’re an ecommerce business who is struggling at the moment, read on to understand these common mistakes and consider if you are guilty of them. Fixing them is likely to help you rapidly increase sales.
Mistake One: Not defining & Understanding your target audience
So, you have a solid business plan, you have the products, and you’ve chosen a good ecommerce platform in which to sales these. All set to go, right?
…Wrong. Unfortunately, simply having a product and a place to sell it isn’t the magic equation for ecommerce success. Perhaps one of the biggest mistakes made from businesses is not clearly defining who their target audience is and taking the time to really get to know them. It’s doing this that will give you the valuable understanding of how to turn this target audience into loyal customers.
Ensure you spend a considerable amount of time on market research for whatever your product niche is. Through this research, you will be able to:
Understand how best to communicate to your audience: Which platform should you promote your products on and what kind of language should you be using?
Ensure your audience will want your product: Is there a need for it? What is your unique selling point? How are you different to competitors?
Mistake Two: Investing in the wrong Ecommerce Platform
Next up is the unfortunate (and costly) mistake of investing in an ecommerce platform that doesn’t work for your brand. Simply put, your ecommerce platforms will play a vital role in converting customers and so it can really make or break your business.
You must take time to really do your research to find out which platform can give you what you need. The last thing you want is to get your website all set up and ready to welcome customers only to realise the platform is missing a feature essential to your operations.
You’ll save a whole ton of money, time, and hours if you spend time really understanding all the features you need and investing in the correct platform from the get-go. There are many comparison sites such as this one that review ecommerce platforms and go through in detail the features they offer.
Mistake Three: Poor quality website content
Many ecommerce businesses make the common mistake of treating content as an afterthought, when in today’s hypercompetitive marketplace, good content is what will truly drive traffic to your website.
There is so much content to consider. From product descriptions to page copy to video and photography. All of this is what truly engages your target audience and drives them to make a purchase. Copy should be written with SEO in mind to boost organic website traffic, and product imagery should be beautifully captured to turn website visitors into customers.
According to BigCommerce, 67 percent of consumers consider image quality “very important” when making a purchase online. Investing in great content can truly be the reason someone chooses your brand over a competitor.
Mistake Four: A Complicated Checkout Process
So, you’ve enticed visitors onto your website with beautiful content and captivating copy, they’ve seen something they’d like to purchase and have added it to their basket. Done deal, right?!
…wrong.
In fact, it’s at this very point where many ecommerce businesses experience a magnitude of abandoned carts. And this is where having a complicated checkout process is to blame.
You want to make the checkout process as seamless as possible for your busy customers. Leaving them frustrated due to confusion over how to pay or making them fill out forms with unnecessary information will lead to abandoned carts.
Furthermore, you should ensure you are offering customers with flexible options to pay. Invest in trusted and reliable payment solutions such as those from UTP Group, who provide many small-to-medium sized businesses with ecommerce payment gateways. This is necessary in order to take online payments from customers all over the globe, enabling you to increase the geographical reach of your customer base.
There really is little room for error when it comes to running an ecommerce business. Today’s savvy consumers are quick to make judgements and even quicker to check out your competitors if they’re offering a better shopping experience. But by avoiding the common mistakes mentioned, you can truly be on your way to business success.