Common Mistakes in E-Commerce: A Three-Part Series
By Sam PascuaDeveloping and operating an e-commerce site opens your business to millions of prospective customers and a potentially unlimited stream of income. But simply adding a product catalogue and a shopping cart to your website won’t guarantee that viewers will actually click the “checkout” button.
To be successful, an online store needs to be a professional, functional and trustworthy website while providing great service and products. Think of brick-and-mortar stores: if you dislike the service or staff, or feel that you got a bad deal, then you probably won’t be spending your hard-earned money there. E-commerce works in the same way. Customers need confidence in your company, site, service and products in order to make a purchase and, ultimately, become repeat customers.
This three-part series explores the most common mistakes made today in e-commerce. Readers will learn about creating a proper store/site design, evaluating the customers’ experience and ensuring good customer relationships, and managing promotions and marketing campaigns. By avoiding these common mistakes and pitfalls, you’ll be on your way to a successful and profitable e-commerce site.
Common Mistakes in E-Commerce:
Part 1 of 3: Store & Site Design
There’s more to designing your e-commerce site than just uploading a few product photos and asking for credit card information. A successful online store incorporates detailed product information, logical organisation, easy checkout features, and functional pages and links.
Mistake #1: Lack of Product Information
The advantages of shopping in a physical store are that customers can touch and feel products. They can see products from multiple angles, inspect items for flaws, and evaluate quality. An e-commerce site needs to overcome these virtual challenges by providing detailed product information. Show products from multiple views, or better yet, offer rotating images. Let users enlarge images and/or zoom in on specific areas to view product details. Be sure to list simple yet thorough descriptions of the product, and include each product’s size, colour, weight, dimensions, and packaging information. If applicable, provide positive reviews from past buyers.
Mistake #2: Confusing Navigation and Design
Chances are, you’re selling more than one product on your e-commerce site. Simplifying navigation between products and product categories invites your customers to view your entire product selection, encouraging them to increase their order size. Separate your merchandise by organising it into logical categories, and be sure each category has at least a few products in it. If you have complementary categories, consider including a link to related products. For example, customers who look at raincoats may be interested in galoshes as well.
Use graphics and organisation to maintain a consistent look and feel from page to page. Consider using drop-down menus within categories to organise subcategories. Design your site so that customers can easily return to the home page at any point, and considering offering a “search” function within your site so customers can find the specific products they’re looking for as quickly as possible.
Mistake #3: Confusing Checkout Process
A confusing checkout process practically guarantees poor online sales. If your customers become frustrated with the checkout process, or cannot easily complete their transaction, they’ll be headed for your competitors’ site in no time. Keep your “checkout” or “buy now” button clear and consistent on each page. When customers click “buy now,” be sure they can easily return to the previous page to continue shopping if they want to add more items to their shopping cart. Or, better yet, allow them to add items to their shopping cart without leaving the page they’re on.
When a customer is ready to check out, provide a single page where they can review their order and enter all of their shipping and billing details. Have a second page that confirms the order. Additional pages are time-consuming, frustrating, and unnecessary.
Mistake #4: Requiring an Account to Order
If you sell products that are likely to generate repeat sales, then offering account setup is an obvious benefit for your customers. However, on most sites, account setup is a tedious process that customers are forced to complete without deriving any benefit. Being forced to establish passwords and security questions for a one-time sale may drive your customers away to competitors’ sites. Avoid the urge to collect your customers’ identifying information, or at least wait until after the sale to make the potentially aggravating request for them to set up an account.
Mistake #5: Broken Links and Slow-Loading Pages
This may seem obvious, but ongoing maintenance on your e-commerce site is an absolute necessity. Be sure all links function correctly at all times. Consider designing your site with static photos and navigation tools for each page, so that only product information has to be loaded on each new page. This will improve your site’s functionality and improve your customers’ experience on your site.
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