Your ecommerce website has one primary purpose: to turn visitors into customers. Here are a few of the biggest mistakes retailers commonly make that cause visitors to just visit.
You’re doing a little online shopping. You found what you are looking for but you’re a little unsure that it’s exactly what you need because there’s only one picture to view. You try to check out anyway and then the shopping cart fails to show what you added to it. Combine that with the uncertainty and you’re done. Now it’s back to Google to find an online retailer website that can sell what you need on a site with a seamless shopping experience.
1. Your website is too slow.
Your site should be responsive. Seems simple enough, so why mention this? The amount of shopping done from a mobile device grows steadily each year and Google continues to rank responsive/mobile friendly sites higher in search results. When browsing the web on a mobile device, finding what you need is much easier on a responsive site vs. one that is not responsive. A retail site that is not responsive is flat out frustrating and going to lose sales.
2. Sketchy and cumbersome checkout.
As many as 19% of shoppers abandon their carts due to security concerns. Take every possible measure to not only assure shoppers that their data will be kept secure, but also every reasonable step you can to keep it safe. Work with the person in charge of maintaining your website to determine what those steps need to be. The easiest way to turn customers away is to have an unencrypted connection between you and your visitor.
If you are not a web security expert, it is a okay to rely on a third-party ecommerce platform with a proven track record. Shopify and BigCommerce are great examples. These platforms offer both a secure and uncomplicated checkout experience for your shoppers.
A frustrating checkout experience is the most common reason customers abandon their shopping carts. In fact, most shoppers give up during the first step of a cumbersome checkout process. Requiring a login, asking for shipping information at the appropriate time, and matching the look and feel of your site are recommended for a good checkout experience.
3. GPS required to navigate your website.
A hard to navigate website will result in visitors spending no more than a few seconds on your site. Users should be able to intuitively navigate the site. The same way you would want to shop online, the user should be able to find and buy what they need. Ecommerce Platforms has good tips and tricks for optimizing the layout of your site.
4. Product pics were taken on a digital camera from ‘03.
Online shopping is a purely visual experience. Shoppers cannot touch or inspect the product themselves, so great visuals are key. Food for thought: 92.6% of people surveyed said visuals were the top influential factor in the decision to purchase. Multiple images, preferably taken by a pro, should be included that show views of the front, back, top, bottom, left, and right of the product. The goal of this is to assure shoppers that the product is exactly what they are looking for and increase the likelihood that they will make a purchase. What would you want out of an online retailer’s product images? Yes, a lot of this is common sense but only because of how used to shopping online we all are these days. For your own site, be sure not to overlook the little details that you expect from online shopping.
A smooth shopping experience is imperative to converting visitors into customers. If you are unsure about your skill level in any of the areas mentioned, we are happy to chat about it. Your website only gets one chance to make first impressions with first-time visitors. Don’t waste that opportunity!