Top 5 Common Mistakes You Should Avoid in Your E-Commerce Website

Running your business is similar to climbing a mountain. There are days when it seems like an easy climb, and other days, you hit challenges that can hinder your progress. But, just like a rock climber, you need the expertise, tools, and motivation to reach the top and stay there. By preparing yourself and avoiding the common mistakes entrepreneurs make in their e-commerce journey, your climb can be smooth and successful. eCommerce is an online store for your business wherein you target customers online and remotely sell to them.

When you avoid costly mistakes and take the time to understand your ideal customer, you prepare your business for a steady climb ahead!

Ingredients of a Successful eCommerce Website

• Responsive Design – Ready to adapt to the user’s device, especially smartphones
• Easy Navigation – Convenient navigation for users without much effort or hassles
• High-Quality Images – Original, superior images that show off your products beautifully
• Consistent Design – Simplicity with consistency for a higher brand recall and trust factor
• Many CTAs – Call to Action helps customers take action like buy now or subscribe

While these are the essentials in your eCommerce website, it’s equally important to minimise mistakes to realise your brand’s full potential.

We bring you the top 5 Common Mistakes to Avoid when you’re Selling Online:

1. Not Defining and Understanding your Target Customer 

You have great products, a unique website, and a business plan. What more do you need, right? Unfortunately, you need also to have the right customers for your business to become successful in a vastly competitive eCommerce space. Dive deep into market research and take the time to understand your ideal customer. Not doing market research and failing to define your target audience will drastically impact your sales. Make sure your audience needs your product and learns their pain points. By knowing what values are essential for them, you can define your eCommerce strategy accordingly.

2. Choosing Complex Navigation and Poor UI/UX

The best eCommerce websites have a great collaboration between design and functionality. However, if your users have trouble navigating through the website or can’t find the right buttons, they often get frustrated and leave before purchasing. For instance, if there are no categories for products, no guest checkout, poor navigation, and poor UX, your competitors will surely do better business than you. Your website should look good, but it should also work better for your users to convert prospects to customers.

3. Not Investing in SEO

Many businesses rely on organic traffic for their growth. If your website is not SEO-friendly, no matter how good your products or services are, they won’t reach your TG. Unfortunately, several businesses mistake treating their content as an afterthought. But every piece of content on your website is an opportunity to target customers and entice users to buy your products or services. 

4. Over-Complicating the Checkout Process

The internet is all about convenience, and at any stage, if your brand is not offering that convenience factor to your customers, it takes away the joy of online shopping. Once your customers have made it through the initial stages of your sales funnel, it’s essential to help them close the deal. If you have a lack of payment options, a lack of shipping options or a complicated checkout that customers fail to understand, there are chances of abandoned carts. Retargeting these customers and getting them to come back can be super expensive. So, avoid costly mistakes like a complicated checkout to ensure every customer completes the purchase.

5. Lack of Customer Reviews

Users always rely on genuine and authentic customer reviews from your previous shoppers regardless of how excellent your marketing is. Customers are a form of social proof, and not using them can hamper your sales in the long run. Therefore, encourage your customers to leave feedback on your website – inspire them with a discount code or a coupon for their next purchase if they write a review! Also, showcase the customer reviews directly below the products for potential customers to make the right choices.

A few other mistakes that companies starting with eCommerce tend to make include not investing in security, trying to create your own eCommerce CMS and poor customer service. At SenseBite, we have seen many good eCommerce websites shutting down because they didn’t avoid these costly mistakes. We are a full-fledged eCommerce website design and development company specialising in end-to-end support for your business. Our in-house brand CraftsBite has flourished due to the ability of our digital marketers and eCommerce experts, and it is now a recognised brand!

If you want to experience the same success story, contact us today, and we will help you ensure minimum mistakes in your eCommerce journey.

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