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7 Things That Will Kill Your eCommerce Business

No matter if you already have an online store or you’re planning to launch one in the near future while constantly daydreaming about spending your days drinking cocktails by the pool while the money rolls in, if you want that to happen, you need to know how to play the eCommerce game.

That means you have to avoid making the same business mistakes that drove millions of entrepreneurs around the world straight into the ground.
Here are the top 7 things you have to fix immediately.

Slow loading times

Customers have short attention spans, if your website takes more than two seconds to load, they will click away to a competitor’s website and you will probably lose them for good. Cutting loading times has to be your number one priority in order to have a chance of engaging the visitor and ultimately transform them into a paying customer.

You can decrease loading time by limiting the amount of elements displayed on the page. Divide your products into multiple pages and walk the fine line between image quality and size. Crop the photos and use web-friendly formats like “.png”.

Complicated design

There is nothing that can turn a customer off like a complicated website design. Not only is it annoying to look at, but complicated websites seem more untrustworthy and dodgy than sleek, transparent themes. If you want the customer to browse through your products, take an interest and actually make a purchase, you will have to make a simple and easy-to-navigate website.

Opt for a design that perfectly matches your brand personality in color, tone, content and simplicity. You can definitely have a minimalistic design with vibrant colors and images, and not only will you avoid confusing the customer but you will also portray a sense of trust and quality.

Weird payment system

You should have plenty of payment options for your customers to choose from. Some customers would rather use their credit or debit cards and others would rather use their preferred online payment system. You should never allow yourself to lose a potential sale simply because you only allow credit card transactions and not online balance payment, and vice versa.

You still don’t have free shipping

With the rise of the eCommerce market across the globe, companies are working hard on delivering the best possible experience to their customers, and one of the best ways to ensure customer loyalty and satisfaction is by offering free shipping.

Start small with and work out a deal with your local courier and offer free shipping to customers from your country and after a while, you will be able to secure free shipping worldwide.

You don’t advertise

If you don’t advertise, you are bound to fail at eCommerce. Advertising is one of the most, if not the most important aspect of audience attraction, retention and conversion. Where and how you place your ads will mean the difference between success and failure and if you want to succeed, you need to advertise on social media and influential websites alike.

Additionally, you can promote your brand through one of the most effective marketing strategies in the world – word of mouth. Start by ensuring people give you positive reviews and inspire them to share your products and website with promotions, deals and discounts after which you can begin to build up your network of brand ambassadors through social media.

You don’t use technology to your advantage

With an abundance of eCommerce solutions at your disposal, specifically designed to help you automate, structure and deliver the best possible experience to the modern-day consumer, it would be a very bad decision to try and do everything yourself.

You need to speed up every process, deliver and produce more, and always find new ways to reach new audiences and establish a relationship with them. These technologies will help you with everything from email campaigns to checkout and upselling optimization, all the way down to the best store design options, engaging product descriptions and photos.

You lack a strong value proposition

Value proposition is the number one thing that will determine whether a potential customer will stay and explore your website or leave to shop in a more familiar environment. Many websites fail to portray a strong and clear value proposition thus losing customers and revenue.

If you don’t want your site to meet the same fate, you need to use clear and engaging headlines, benefits such as free shipping and images that entice the customer to purchase the item by showcasing it being used.

Take heed, and avoid these common eCommerce mistakes and you will be well on your way to surpass the competition and establish a strong, successful online brand people will love and trust.

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Nate M. Vickery

Nate M. Vickery is a business consultant from Sydney, Australia. He has a degree in marketing and almost a decade of experience in company management through latest technology trends. Nate is the editor-in-chief at bizzmarkblog.com.

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