Have you got your e-commerce site up and running? Great! But if you’re not careful, even minor missteps can have a major impact on your success and cost you sales. Issues like slow load times and confusing checkouts are two mistakes that can quickly turn potential buyers into missed opportunities. Unfortunately, there are more mistakes you must avoid.
We’ve rounded up ten critical e-commerce website mistakes you should steer clear of when building your online store. Want to ensure your online store succeeds? We also give you practical tips to handle those pitfalls.
1. Poor Mobile Optimization
Mobile devices (smartphones and tablets) are handy tools that often belong in our pockets and bags every day. People use these devices daily, and, in fact, 91% of online purchases are made through mobile devices.
If your e-commerce site isn’t optimized for smaller screens, users may find it difficult to navigate, zoom in, or complete purchases. This issue leads to frustration and bounce rates, where users quickly leave your site after a bad experience. The ultimate impact is you lose opportunities and sales.
Tips: Utilize a responsive design that automatically adjusts to different screen sizes. Test your site across various mobile devices and make sure the navigation, buttons, and images are user-friendly. Tools like Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test can help you assess performance.
2. Slow Website Load Times
You must understand that waiting for loading times is frustrating. If you notice this on your e-commerce website, you should address it immediately by finding possible causes that slow down your site.
Common causes of slow load times include big files, poor server performance and a lack of caching mechanisms. If this happens in the long term, it will negatively impact traffic, user experience, and conversions.
Tips: Check your site speed using tools like Google PageSpeed Insights or GTmetrix to find the core causes of slow loading times. You can incorporate a content delivery network (CDN) to make it faster in different locations and compress files to improve speed.
3. Lack of Clear Product Descriptions
When shopping online, one thing that customers can’t do is touch the product they want to buy. They rely on pictures, product videos, motion graphics, and detailed descriptions. Vague or incomplete product descriptions can confuse customers.
You should provide clear and detailed descriptions. to encourage people to buy. Information like sizes, colors, functions, and other specifications should be proposed cohesively with easy-to-understand languages. Multimo also experienced firsthand how poor product descriptions can affect sales. “We noticed a drop in sales when our product descriptions lacked important details. We knew this after conducting a survey of our customers. Once we started providing more detailed descriptions, our sales gradually improved,” said the team.
Tips: You can also write compelling, detailed product descriptions focusing on benefits, features, and uses. To help customers better understand, add high-quality images and product videos.
4. Complicated Checkout Process
Do you know why many people abandon their shopping carts? 18% of customers say that the complicated checkout process causes them to do so. If customers have to jump through too many hoops, they might decide it’s not worth the effort.
This can lead to a big problem. High cart abandonment rates reduce sales and revenue. Moreover, a frustrating checkout experience can also damage customer loyalty, making shoppers less likely to return.
Tips: You should simplify the checkout process by minimizing the required steps and fields. Offer guest checkout options so users don’t have to create an account. Include autofill options and clear progress indicators to keep customers informed.
5. Hidden or Expensive Shipping Costs
Another main reason online buyers don’t finish their checkout process is the extra cost. Additional costs like shipping, taxes, service and packing can break customer trust and lead to cart abandonment.
30% of customers decide not to hit that final “order” button due to unexpected costs at checkout. Even if your product prices are competitive, high shipping fees can make customers feel they’re not getting a good deal.
Tips: Display shipping costs upfront early in the shopping process. If possible, offer free shipping for orders above a certain amount or flat-rate shipping to keep things predictable.
6. Poor Search and Navigation Features
What would you feel if you couldn’t find what you’re looking for? It’s frustrating, right? The same happens when customers can’t quickly locate products on your e-commerce site. They become frustrated and leave, often heading straight to a competitor.
MGK Asia faced similar challenges in their offline-to-online transition. They explain, “We saw customers leaving our site because they couldn’t find the products they wanted. Our navigation was too complicated, and the search feature didn’t deliver relevant results.” A lack of intuitive navigation and ineffective search functionality not only hurts sales but also leads to poor customer retention and a subpar user experience.
Tips: You can design a simple and logical menu structure with clear categories and subcategories. Add accurate filters to help users narrow down their search results (e.g., by price, size, color, etc.)
7. Lack of Customer Reviews or Testimonials
If you want to build trust and credibility, social proof is the key. Lacking customer reviews or testimonials on your site can make potential buyers hesitate to make purchases as they have no way of verifying the product’s quality. What happens next is that they will leave your e-commerce and move to your competitors, who display many positive reviews. Moreover, reviews also provide valuable feedback for improving your products and customer service.
Tips: You can provide review sections on every product page to encourage satisfied customers to leave reviews. Send follow-up emails after purchases. Offer incentives like discounts on future orders in exchange for honest feedback, including photos and videos.
8. Weak Security Features
Today’s customers are more aware of cybercrime and more sensitive about their personal and payment information security. If your website lacks visible security features, such as SSL certificates or trust badges, it can damage your brand image. In the worst-case scenario, a security breach could result in legal and financial repercussions.
Tips: A must-employ strategy is installing an SSL certificate to secure your website and encrypt data. Also, prominently display trust badges and security logos (like Norton or McAfee) throughout your site. If you want to add another layer of security, use two-factor authentication.
9. No Clear Return Policy
You can’t satisfy all customers, but a clear return policy can make them feel at ease. A lack of a return policy – or one that’s difficult to find or understand – makes customers hesitant to buy. An unclear return policy can lead to lower conversion rates. Worse, it can result in unhappy customers if they later encounter difficulties with returns, leading to bad reviews and damaged customer loyalty.
Tips: Create a simple, easy-to-find return and refund policy page. Clearly outline the return window, any conditions (e.g., items must be unworn or unused), and steps for processing returns. Offer a hassle-free return process, ideally with prepaid shipping labels.
10. Ignoring SEO Best Practices
Search engine optimization (SEO) is a way potential customers discover your e-commerce website. Without proper SEO, your website becomes virtually invisible in search results. You won’t drive traffic when your site ranks poorly on search engines like Google. This issue limits your reach and negatively impacts your overall sales.
Tips: You should learn SEO practices for e-commerce websites. Here are some common practices you can employ.
- Optimize your product pages with keywords in product titles, descriptions, and meta tags.
- Add alt text for images and make sure your URLs are clean and descriptive.
- Create valuable content, such as blog posts or guides, to attract backlinks and improve your search ranking.
Wrapping Up
A successful e-commerce website goes beyond showcasing great products. Strategies like delivering a seamless, trustworthy, and enjoyable shopping experience are highly essential to stay competitive.
Another important aspect is ongoing maintenance and updates. The e-commerce market is constantly evolving, and so are customer expectations. Update your site’s design, features, and content to offer the latest user experience.
