10 eCommerce Mistakes You Want to Avoid
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Are you thinking of starting a new online eCommerce website? Have you ever wondered where most sites fall short and why many fail? I bet you’d like to avoid making as many mistakes as possible, right?
Let’s make it easier for you. Here are a few initial variables you need to consider and embrace to give your WordPress eCommerce website the best chance for success.
Mistakes to Avoid for New eCom WordPress Sites
10. Not Having a Plan or Doing the Due Diligence
How do you determine if your new eCommerce venture can compete with established sites already doing the same? First, do due diligence, then create a plan.
This includes finding a niche in which you can do better or differently. Without a niche, you are really nothing special.
Selling the same stuff that 1,000,00,000 sites are already selling makes it hard to stand out. Without offering something unique or of greater value (story, service, personality, freebies, member points, niche focus), it’s an uphill battle.
So, what makes YOU so special? That should be at the center of your marketing plan.
9. Your eCommerce Store’s Design is Home-brewed
If your initial impression is anything less than professional, this lends to a lack of credibility. Generally speaking, when I run into a home-brewed “look,” it is often due to the store owner cutting corners or modifying settings to their preference.
Perception is everything online. Many don’t realize that white space is good. Standard and customary font sizes are standard and customary for a reason. Or that their preferred color scheme may cheapen their presentation.
8. One Line Generic Product Descriptions
You need to include the essential information customers want to know to purchase, such as size, colors, dimensions, and other specifics. This data is critical to getting onliners to click that “Add to Cart” button. The more details, the better!
Proof your descriptions for typos and misspellings to avoid appearing to lack attention to detail—every little detail matters.
7. Not Having Any Location or Contact Information
This week, I was on a website with no contact information or form—nothing unless you were a customer. What about potential customers? Not having a way to ask pre-sale questions definitely created a negative impression.
Why would people order from someone they cannot contact or determine where they are located? Even if you are an online-only company, at least offer a mailing address to demonstrate your credibility further and show that you are established and have nothing to hide.
It can be very important to have a valid phone number for customers to call during business hours for inquiries. In addition, the full physical or mailing address, phone, and customer service email forms/addresses should be clearly displayed and easily found with a click or two.
6. No Privacy Page
You must be clear about what you will do with customer information. Being transparent and reassuring that you will protect and not disseminate store customers’ information goes a long way toward building confidence in doing business with you. So, be clear, be honest, and be sure to protect your customers’ data.
5. Poor Quality Graphics and Visuals
Low-quality graphics do not give the impression that you will provide a quality experience. Nor do they encourage visitors to buy what they can’t clearly see. You also risk leaving the impression that quality is not of concern. From logos to product graphics, low-quality images do not offer a presentation that makes visitors want to part with their hard-earned dollars.
Many site owners don’t know how to use their digital cameras or don’t want to pay a professional. Unfortunately, you can’t have it both ways. You must either learn how or hire someone to help you. This is an investment in your store’s success.
Your product photos are the primary selling visual for your products. Blurry or pixelated product photos do not encourage sales or confidence that you value quality.
4. Order Confirmation, Updates and Shipping Tracking Emails
These emails are critical to building confidence and ongoing relationships with your customers. Without the best customer service, the rest really doesn’t matter.
3. Not Providing the Most Commonly Asked for or Required Information
Don’t make potential customers fill out a contact form asking for everything but their shoe size to get basic information. Information on shipping, processes, returns, and policies should be provided without having to ask.
Operational and product FAQs should be provided with every question a customer has or may ask in the future. You know what those are — create a FAQ page with them.
Use my 3X rule — if you get asked anything 3 times — it goes into your site FAQ.
2. Not Establishing, Implementing, and Being Involved
You need to have an aggressive marketing campaign to get exposure for your new eCommerce project. You won’t make the top page rankings on Google simply by existing.
“It will happen some day, right?” Plan on maybe a couple years — if at all.
“Build it, and they will come” does not apply online, and it is nearly impossible to get top rankings at this point. Search for your product on any search engine and see the hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of established results competing for those terms.
New eCommerce store owners have to be rabidly committed to marketing their new website in every way possible. Naturally, therefore, you have to be prepared to participate in your own and other’s blogs, groups, and social media sites (yep — wherever your market hangs out).
If you want to stand any chance of visibility and mindshare, you need to run promotions, create newsletters, and get the word out about those, too—whatever it takes.
1. And, the #1 eCommerce Mistake that New Store Owners Make is…
Assuming you can minimize or piece-meal the importance or implementation of these issues and still be profitable. That you can do only what you are willing to do and will still experience success is a fallacy.
There are those I’ve worked with who disregard my advice as just one person’s opinion. Yes, it is my opinion—an opinion formed from successfully doing business online for over 29 years.
During that time, I’ve lost count of the number of folks I have watched try, fail, and then wonder why. In every case, if they were honest, they would admit they weren’t up to the challenge.
I get it. It’s hard work and a lot to embrace, but it is what it is. The folks who succeed work it — hard.
Many negate the above issues because it takes more effort than they imagined. Learning takes time, especially when learning new skills or ways of doing things.
If you aggressively apply all of the above, you exponentially increase your chances of online success. Wouldn’t you rather know the reality of what is required for you to succeed so you are armed for success?
I thought so. Now, get to work!
At your service,
