You’ve got a great product, a solid business model, and your website is up and running, and yet… the sales aren’t coming in. What gives? In this article we take a look at some of the most common issues that can torpedo your e-commerce site.
1) No clear focus for your store:
Can you describe in 5 seconds or less what it i
s you’re selling? Whether it’s a product, a group of products, or a curated experience, it’s vital to have a clear focus for your store. Having a good sense about what makes your online store unique helps to inform your branding, identity, design, and overall strategy. Without it, your store runs the risk of fading into the background of the tens of thousands of e-commerce sites in the US alone.
2) Your checkout process takes too long:
A study from the Bayard Institute found that nearly 70% of online orders are abandoned before checkout. While this is for a variety of reasons, data shows consistently that the more steps it takes to check out, the higher the likelihood that someone is going to decide against making that purchase – this is why Amazon poured a lot of time and money into creating and patenting their 1-click checkout process. If you’re getting a decent number of visits but not as many orders as you’d like, take a look at exactly how long it takes to go from adding something to a cart to finally completing check-out.
3) You’re not optimized for SEO:
You might have a wonderfully organized site full of interesting and valuable items for sale and a quick and painless checkout process, but none of that amounts to much if no one can find your site online. Committing some time and energy to search engine optimization helps to make sure your site and its products are easy for shoppers to find.
4) Your site isn’t secure:
Reports of major hacks and data breaches have become a near-daily occurrence and it’s starting to take a sizeable bite out of e-commerce. In a recent study, the US National Telecommunications and Information Administration found that 26% of the people surveyed won’t shop online due to security fears. While cybersecurity can be a complex and expensive investment, there are a few things you can do to keep your customers minds at ease, including PCI compliance (the core set of security expectations established by the Payment Card Industry), using SSL to encrypt any information coming into your site, keeping your site’s plugins and core files updated, and making sure you’ve installed security software.
5) You’re not paying enough attention to your data:
While turning a profit is the simplest metric of whether or not an e-commerce site is successful, there are several other factors that you can and should track to see where there’s room for improvement, including how long people spend on your site, by what means they’re getting there, what specific items have the highest rate of cart abandonment, etc. Tracking software like Google Analytics is free, easy to use, and can help shed light on the biggest areas for improvement on your site.
Running an e-commerce site is a rewarding process, but it can often be an overwhelming one. If you’d like assistance with either building a new site or enhancing an existing one, feel free to contact us at Watermelon Web Works to help make sure your site is achieving its full potential.