Today’s blog post is a guest post on the 16 Mistakes Online Merchants Make & How to Avoid Them. Happy reading and hope you find it useful 🙂
Introduction: With more and more consumers switching to online purchases only, there has been a huge boom in ecommerce platforms. With the various different resources online, you can learn any and everything you need to know about building your business online. Yet, this still takes time, research, hard work, and dedication to make your ecommerce store successful.
There is a significant difference between launching your online store to making a tremendous profit off your products or services. Learning how to market your brand, set up your website, create content, and everything else that impacts online sales can be a daunting task to undertake.
Did you know consumers judge your website in 0.05 seconds after landing on your platform? There are many other shocking truths to the success of ecommerce platforms and Fundera has compiled the most common mistakes online merchants make just for you.
Mistake #1: Poor Website Design
Compare platforms before choosing
There are many different website platforms out there, make sure you are doing your research and finding the right platform for you and your product or service. There is nothing worse than dealing with a broke site and having to make it work until you are able to redesign everything.
Create content that ranks
Do your research and find what your target audience is the most interested in. Utilize Google Keywords and Google Trends for a glimpse of what content is ranking in your desired industry.
Prioritize your branding
Your website design and branding is the first thing customers look at when landing on your page. It takes a matter of seconds for them to base an opinion on your offerings. Make sure your branding is consistent and eye-catching on your website and social media platforms to show credibility and professionalism.
Learn your customer persona
Put yourself in the shoes of those that may be searching for the product or service you are offering. What other things do they like? What would they value the most? What kind of lifestyle do they live? All these answers will help you focus in on those searching for your product or service online.
Mistake #2: Faulty Product Conversion
Test the product market
Hand out your product for free to see what consumers have to say about your product or service. Was it helpful? Is there anything else you could do better? This will help you see what changes need to be made before releasing online.
Create a foolproof business plan
Write down where you would like your business to be. From there, create strategic goals on how to get your business to that level. Check-in on those goals every week to make sure you stay on track to reaching success.
Focus on the important tasks
For most startup owners, their online platform is a “side-hustle.” If you are creating your online platform on top of having a different full-time job, make sure you are focusing on the important tasks of your business instead of the small administrative tasks that may not push your business enough.
Describe products in-depth
Make sure you are describing exactly what your product or service will look like, provide, or help out with. Include as many pictures as possible to paint a picture for consumers. There is nothing like landing sales that are shortly returned because it wasn’t what customers were expecting.
Mistake #3: Weak Sales & POS Systems
Overprice vs. underprice
There is always room to lower your price and apply discounts for your customers, but it is a little harder to raise prices (especially when it is by a lot). Research products and services that are the most similar to yours to correctly price your products.
Fast & easy checkouts
Amazon seems to have mastered this with the “one-click” buy button. If your checkouts are too intensive, customers will leave your website faster than you can say your name. Make them fast and easy for customers to checkout without having to think twice about it.
Schedule time for trail runs
Have your network, friends, and family run through your site to make sure aren’t any little hiccups releasing this new platform. Have them purchase “fake” product (or the real deal if you want) to double-check your platform is smoothe running.
Utilize support systems
If you have a small team, you will need to seek help from other sources to ensure your customers are being taken care of. Have a proper contact page for any questions or concerns that may arise, and easy return options for unhappy customers.
Mistake #4: Poor Customer Experience
Get a chatbot widget
Get chatbots that can answer repetitive questions fast and easy for your customers. Whether you decide to add a chatbot widget to your ecommerce platform or choose to optimize Facebook’s message feature, this will save you time in the long run.
Design it right the first time
Put the time into designing your platform the right the first time. I know, it gets hard as your excitement builds to your new product or service release date, but you won’t regret putting the time in.
Limit your opt-in usage
Don’t chase your customers away with sign-up pop-ups. Have one the second a customer visits your site or at checkout with a special discount code for new customers. Not only will this entice them to purchase from your site, but you will also gain a new email subscriber.
Offer many payment options
Have every payment option available—whether that is PayPal, various credit card companies, Apple Pay, or monthly payment options, make it easy to say “yes” to buying your product.
CONCLUSION: If you are starting your own online store, or upgrading your existing one, here are ways to avoid these mistakes check out our infographic below to learn how to avoid these mistakes.
Fundera has compiled 16 of the most common mistakes online merchants make and how to avoid them. Check out the infographic below to learn how you can create or redesign your ecommerce platform for success.
Name of the person who wrote this article on 16 Mistakes Online Merchants Make & How to Avoid Them: Meredith Wood
About the author
MeredithWood is the founding editor of the Fundera Ledger and a vice president at Fundera. She launched the Fundera Ledger in 2014 and has specialized in financial advice for small business owners for almost a decade. Meredith is frequently sought out for her expertise in small business lending. She is a monthly columnist for AllBusiness, and her advice has appeared in the SBA, SCORE, Yahoo, Amex OPEN Forum, Fox Business, American Banker, Small Business Trends, MyCorporation, Small Biz Daily, StartupNation, and more. Email: meredith@fundera.com.
Link to author website: https://www.fundera.com/blog/author/meredith
**”
This guest post was submitted by Kayla Montgomery
What do you think of today’s blog post on 16 Mistakes Online Merchants Make & How to Avoid Them? Please leave a comment below
