5 eCommerce Mistakes To Avoid

Making the most of every invested dollar is among the most important aims of every online business. This is why it’s twice as wise to learn from the mistakes of others instead of harming your own eCommerce site. In our latest blog, we’ll be discussing the facts of eCommerce mistakes to avoid for the betterment of your online business. 

On this page, we’ll go over the 5 most common eCommerce mistakes that negatively influence conversions. The cost you lost revenues, and that you shouldn’t repeat. Furthermore, we’ll give recommendations on what to and what not to do, as well as provide examples of how things should be done. Let’s get rolling!

1. Don’t Ignore That Your Site Is Unoptimized & Sluggish

The first and perhaps the most unforgivable “don’t” is to not improve your website continuously. Ideally, for an eCommerce site to perform well, it needs to be very speedy and optimized for mobile devices. And considering how many people tend to give preference to using their smartphones and tablets versus desktop computers, this is a good reason to think about getting a progressive web application for your store.

The same goes for accelerating site speed and getting rid of things that slow it down. If you think that only Google cares about how fast your site is, this isn’t true. In fact, speeding up your website just by several seconds can already be a huge game-changer. According to the data provided by Search Engine Journal:

“70% of consumers say a website’s loading time affects their willingness to buy. 81% of marketers are aware that page speed impacts their conversions, but the majority aren’t making it a priority.”

Therefore, in order to stop more of your potential customers from running off your site, prioritize the matter of website improvement. Otherwise, you’ll be losing traffic, clients who are impatient with pages that take long to open, wasting marketing budgets, and missing out on the revenues that you could have obtained.

2. Don’t Overlook Client Feedback & Social Media Blocks

If your product pages are missing client reviews, this is a huge drawback. Shopping behaviors change and the opinions of other users who already have the item matter a lot. They influence the decisions of those who are browsing the store. And are a lot more convincing than what you “promise” or “promote” the item to be. Thus, such user-generated content must be present on each page by all means.

Take a look at the screenshot of a product page on the official Converse website. On the right, there’s a star rating of the item that’s based on the customer reviews. The actual “Ratings and reviews” area is made up of separate reviews and a summary block that collects the common information (this is done for simplifying perception and giving the general opinion of all those who left reviews).

Screenshot taken on the official Converse website

Continuing the user-generated content question, not using posts and other content that your customers place on their own social media is a big misstep.

By linking a social media widget to your site that’ll pull tagged posts from socials, you can gain a lot. This can build credibility, give an extra “push” to buy the item, not to mention the fact that your brand gets so much free exposure on the web. Similarly, you can give users the chance to add their pictures of them with your product to user photo galleries that are also very convenient.

Here’s an awesome example of a social media block on the official Reebok website. It also highlights the points of eCommerce mistakes to avoid for the betterment of online success. The “Share How You Wear It” collects those Instagram posts that have the Reebok Instagram account mentioned. The section enhances the product page and makes those who put up the posts happier too.

Screenshot taken on the official Reebok website

3. Don’t Miss Out on Customer Retention “Hooks”

One of the worst eCommerce mistakes that can be made is to focus on one-time sales. It is well known that it’ll be harder to sell something to a new customer than to do business with an existing one. Actually, returning customers can bring you a lion’s share of your profit.

Having this in mind, make sure to have loyalty programs and other variations of clubs that’ll provide perks for your acquired clients. Think about the discounts and other privileges to offer that can serve as motivation to return and buy additional things in your store. This can be early access to new arrivals, free shipping terms, coupons, etc.

For instance, this is how the official Adidas website suggests to sign up and join the loyalty program called “Creators Club”. The membership gives the chance to obtain a 15% discount as a reward for signing up.

Screenshot taken on the official Adidas website

4. Don’t Forget to Make a Gift Finder Section

It’ll also be an online retail mistake to not have pages or blocks that contain gift ideas. Because shopping for others can be quite frustrating and stressful, you can both assist your users and enhance your sales. Consider this, Zoovu suggests that:

“The interactive, conversational approach of gift guides is proven to increase conversion (+253%), engagement (+76%), and customer satisfaction.” 

As a store owner, you know your products inside and out. And if your products can be given to someone, it is your duty to consult the shoppers even if it isn’t too obvious. It makes sense to organize such advice on presents into separate tabs or pages. It can inspire your shoppers, overcome doubts, and help them make up their minds faster. This is especially relevant a month before the holiday season begins.

Below you can see that the official Fendi website has a separate “Gift Ideas” tab. Right within the main navigation menu. The collections with suitable items are then broken down by recipient and product categories.

Screenshot taken on the official Fendi website

5. Don’t Allow Your Store’s Checkout to Be Lengthy

Bringing up more eCommerce fails, we cannot but mention the often occurring roadblock that’s constantly holding customers back from making purchases. Remember the following: your store’s checkout must be very easy, intuitive, and convenient, as based on the data collected by the Baymard Institute:

“An average large-sized e-commerce site can gain a 35.26% increase in conversion rate through better checkout design.”

Let’s put it this way, no one likes queueing in physical stores, right? So why suppose that users will enjoy spending their time filling out dozens of fields, and as they make their way through multiple never-ending steps of your online store’s checkout? By rethinking this vital section of your eCommerce store, you can improve your conversions.

The bottom line here is that you must do everything you can to shorten the checkout procedure as much as possible so that your users spend as little time as they can and put in minimal effort to buy something from you.

It makes sense to offer the opportunity to checkout products as a guest as opposed to only forcing people to sign up or get an account on the store just to pay for the order (people usually don’t like this). And if the latter data is highly important for your business. Provide an alternative opportunity to create an account using Google or other social media.

Next, do your best to minimize the number of tabs and obligatory fields. Opt for autocomplete solutions, pickers, droplists, checkboxes, and any other elements that’ll allow for reducing the time spent on the page. Payment options are another thing to note. It is wise to expand the possible payment variations. Thus, do your best to provide more methods that’ll cover most of the client’s needs and preferences in this vein.

To provide you with a nice example, this is what the guest checkout looks like on the official NYX Cosmetics website. There are no excessive fields, only the required minimum. Plus, there’s a handy “Order Summary” section that carefully explains what the price is made up of.

Screenshot taken on the official NYX Cosmetics website

Over to You

Without a doubt, many things can go wrong as you run an eCommerce business. Yet with a future-oriented approach, a keen eye on the trends. And the desire to improve your website can surely help a lot. Hopefully, you’ll avoid the mistakes covered in this post and use the recommendations to your advantage!