10 biggest ecommerce mistakes

Ecommerce isn’t easy and there’s a lot to learn, but being new to the world of commerce doesn’t mean you should make silly mistakes. These simple mistakes can cost you customers, so lets have a look at 10 of the biggest ecommerce mistakes that are made and how you can avoid them.

1. Hard to navigate

Nobody wants to spend hours trying to navigate around an overly complicated website, your customers included, by making your website clean and easy to understand your customers aren’t going to be tempted to go elsewhere.

2. Low quality images

Make sure to use high quality images, not only do they look more professional, but more importantly it gives customers a realistic view of the product they are buying.

3. Complicated checkout process

There’s nothing worse than finding the product you want, getting to the checkout and having to deal with a complicated or confusing checkout process. You wouldn’t go into a shop and then decide to leave at the checkout so don’t have your customers do that to you online.

4. Insisting on creating accounts

Most people don’t want to be forced to create an account just to buy an item, so make sure not to insist that your customers make an account as it may force them to leave.

5. Not making the site secure

According to studies, up to 30% of people will leave a website at the checkout because they have concerns over security. It is important for all websites to be secure, however especially so for startup sites to have clear indications that they are secure and safe to buy from.

6. No mobile friendly website

It’s 2016 and more people are now making purchases through their smartphones and tablets, so it is vital that you have a mobile optimised website, but don’t make it too complicated as this too can drive customers away.

7. Not utilising social media

Social media websites such as Facebook and twitter are great marketing tools and you should make the most of them. Feature the links on your website for customers to follow for a look at offers and the latest news from your business.

8. Poor search options

If you don’t offer a search option on a website then customers aren’t going to quickly and easily find what they want and many won’t want to spend hours looking for something if it isn’t there, therefore moving onto your competitors website.

9. Bad customer service

If a customer needs any help with their purchase they should be able to get in touch with you as soon as possible to offer them the full support they need. If you aren’t there to help with any issues, then they’re not going to come back to your site and will probably shop elsewhere next time.

10. A slow website

If your website is too slow when loading then it’s unlikely that people will want to hang around for it to load. One of the main reasons people will leave a website is if it’s slow, so try and make sure your website is up to speed.