Mistakes That Kill Your E-Shop (part-1)

When I look online stores, there are still e-shops among them, which even in the 21st century resemble more a warehouse than a store for a customer. Pages with a lot of products loaded head-to-head, products with minimal descriptions, small low-quality photos, meaningless categories, and product names. Small font, exclamation marks in business conditions. Introductory, non-verbal page. The list of diseases that some e-shops suffer from is long.

When talking to clients and surfing the Internet, I encounter the same mistakes that e-shop owners make. In today’s article, I will focus on those that are often repeated e-shops. I wrote the list of errors without specifying any order or importance. But be aware that even 1 item from this list deprives you of customers and orders.

What are the most common mistakes on an e-shop page that cause customers to leave your site and may never return?

E-shop without innovations

There are still a lot of people who think that the work on the website ended with its commissioning. Old design, slow loading, cumbersome ordering system. Even in 2016, there are many e-shops that have slept soundly for 10 years or more.

If you no longer want to lose customers, orders and profits, it’s high time to update your e-shop. Realize that technology is moving forward with huge steps. Veterans also include a website that you made to measure 2 years ago.

The number of customers who use mobile devices, tablets, and smartphones when shopping is growing every day. If your e-shop does not have a responsive design, you lose orders and at the same time lose your position in the Google search engine.

If you want to stay in the 1st line, you have to keep up with the times. Follow the latest online technologies, trends, and requirements for a quality e-shop with a modern design. Upgrade the design, make sure the page loads quickly, switch to a platform with a responsive design. With each adjustment, you move forward and increase the likelihood of your revenue growing.

Clutter and a lot of information on the home page

Some e-shop owners are afraid that if the customer does not see all the information about discounts, promotions, news on the home page, they will place literally everything on the home page. The customer who comes to the e-shop for the first time does not know where to look first. He stays confused by the amount of information, banners, and pop-up ads and leaves the site.

Present important information located on the main page of the e-shop in a thoughtful and appropriately chosen form. Don’t put too much text. A suitable solution is to alternate large images in which you state what you sell and what benefits the customer will get from your purchase, such as free shipping, personal collection, delivery within 24 hours, and the like.

No contact details

You managed to attract an e-shop visitor. The potential customer wants to place the order by phone or e-mail, but your contact details are buried in an unknown place. The absence of contact information on the home page gives the KO a new order.

Contact details must not be missing on any of the subpages of your e-shop. Place them in a place that is always visible to the customer, preferably in the top bar. One of the solutions is the “Contact us” button, where the customer finds out your telephone number and e-mail address

Unclear categories

One of the biggest sins in online sales is vaguely defined categories. The arrangement of categories should be clear to the customer. The naming of categories should be concise and understandable for the visitor.

The category name is an instruction for the Internet user when searching for a product. For example, when choosing a cap – the customer’s name “AJS spring-autumn will not say anything, does not know if there are caps for children, teenagers, sports caps, or hats. Help the categories with well-known large e-shops and keyword analysis. Nevertheless, people have become accustomed to a system while shopping online.

If you have very few products in a category, do not create a separate category. Simply place them in another, related category.

Your e-shop lacks a pro-customer orientation

Nowadays, it is difficult to get a customer with a Baťa statement written somewhere in the Eshop bookmark “Our customer our master!”

The customer needs proof that his well-being and satisfaction are most important to you. Learn to predict what customers will be interested in, what they have a problem with, what they can complain about. Add a counseling center to the e-shop page, for example with the title Your questions, our answers. In the 2nd tab, you can address questions related to transport, complaints, return of goods, for example, entitled Answers to your questions about delivery, complaints, return of goods.

Stop assuming that customers understand everything in your e-shop that is understandable and clear. Describe their problem, question, and solve it – with answers, infographics, video.

There is a place-up on the Internet, so use it to your advantage in your e-shop.

Unjustifiable errors in the Terms and Conditions

The e-shops pages often contain Terms and Conditions or Complaints Rules with formulations that contravene the law. Possibility to cancel the order only within 24 hours, wording about the customer’s obligation to pay a contractual penalty, return of unused goods, and the like.

Do you think that customers do not read the Terms and Conditions? The mistake, nowadays, the customer controlling his rights wants to know before buying whether he is dealing with a serious trader.

Put the business conditions in your e-shop in order. Avoid “customer must” wording, omit exclamation points, and red lettering. You will kill “2 flies with one blow”. You will act seriously towards the customer and you do not have to worry about inspections and fines from SOI for incorrectly formulated Business account Terms.

Small and low-quality photos

Consumers love online shopping for its convenience, but on the other hand, they are hampered by the feeling that they can’t grab and try the product. This is one of the reasons why photo quality affects your sales. With the right photos, you can “break” a customer to buy a product.

Using a small photo is one of the main reasons for a potential customer to leave. Through photos, try to make your customers “feel” the product across the screen and get a good feeling that the product will meet their expectations.

Show customers the product from different angles. An excellent solution is to show the product “in action”. For example, if you sell clothes, shoes, or accessories, show the product on the model. Describe such photos to the customer, state the size, dimensions of the product. The customer will get a better idea of ​​the product.

Use clear, large, and professional-looking photos of the items you offer. Finally, a small note, the watermark on the photo is a distraction for the customer.

No or small stocks for your e-shop

Inventory is a fatal mistake that deprives you of customers. If you follow the procedure “I will order the goods from the supplier only when the customer orders it from me”, then you tighten the loop around your neck. Last but not least, the father of a daughter’s classmate described the thinking of customers when shopping online: “Nowadays, I am not willing to wait for goods from the e-shop for more than 5 days. If I order something online, I want it at home within 3 days, even if I don’t need the goods right away. “

You have a store, and just as a classic store cannot operate without goods on the shelves, you cannot expect high sales if you do not have goods for the customer in stock. Try to keep at least the best-selling items from your offer in stock and keep the time of sending goods that you do not have in stock to a minimum.

I believe that your goal is to increase the number of orders, so if you found even 1 small shortcoming in the first part of the list, eliminate it. Do you want to know other shortcomings that are depriving you of money? Follow us and you will read more in a week.

Also read: Does Your Site’s IP Address Affect SEO And Google Rankings?