Most Common Ecommerce Mistakes That Should Be Avoided

Avoid these mistakes with ecommerce websites to have better chances at generating more sales online. Here are the most common ecommerce mistakes that should be avoided. These mistakes can cripple a brands ability to acquire customers and generate online sales. Not every ecommerce website is the same. They are also not developed with the same technology. Applications utilized with ecommerce websites vary drastically. Therefore, the quality of ecommerce website varies drastically as well.

Only seasonal ecommerce businesses and entrepreneurs understand that there are vast differences with websites. This is especially true for online stores and ecommerce sites. They differ industry by industry, as well as by quality, features, function, and level of detail. There are vast amounts of details that professional web developers take into consideration when creating the right ecommerce website for a client. Not every market is the same or type of business online. Understanding the differences is important for generating online sales.

Here are the most common ecommerce design and development mistakes that should be avoided for best results. These are not the only mistakes that can be made but are the most common mistakes found when reviewing professionally ecommerce websites. Often, these websites require lots of edits and adjustments to fix the mistakes or a complete redesign.

Ecommerce Mistakes To Avoid

Choosing the wrong software platform.

To operate an online store, a software platform has to be decided upon. The software platform is the content management system (CMS) of the online store and website. There are pros and cons with most of these ecommerce platforms. Furthermore, a company or entrepreneur has to decide if they want a leased (Shopify for example) or open-source (WordPress) solution. They are vastly different from each other. There is much to consider when choosing the ecommerce platform. Companies and individuals should educate themselves about the differences in features, management, and cost.

Unclear, confusing and poor website navigation.

The website navigation is always critical. This is especially true for ecommerce websites. Online shoppers do not like to be lost or confused. It is the quickest way to potentially lose a sale and customer. The site navigation must be user-friendly, simple, easy to use. Redundant navigation and hard to see sub-navigation should be avoided for better results. On shopping pages, the product navigation must be clearly created. This is especially true when many products are being sold.

Lack of product details and information.

There should be plenty of information and product details made available. For every product sold, details and information should be provided sufficiently. The information provided must be optimized for search engines as well. The details must be easy to understand and provide the necessary product information for consumers. Duplicating product details is not advised since it would be duplicate content and can harm site rankings and performance.

Poor quality of product photography.

Often ecommerce websites use stock photography of products or poorly taken photos. This simply does not produce good results. It is one of the most common ecommerce mistakes made. Also, not enough product photos tends to be a very common mistake as well. Each product should have multiple photos displaying all necessary details. These photos should be taken professionally and be quality driven.

Missing customer services features and options.

Even though it is ecommerce and online shopping, consumers want to have the ability to contact a representative if needed. An ecommerce website should incorporate multiple customer service features for best results. Most common ecommerce mistakes include the lack of such features. A toll-free phone number should be made available on top of each page, with the appropriate email address, and physical address if it applies. Chat features should be also provided for better performance.

Long loading time for website pages.

Slow loading pages and websites lose potential customers quickly. These websites also perform poorly in search results. There is much work that goes into improving loading speeds of pages and websites. Everything from improving server conditions, CMS systems, coding, application usage, and design. Optimizing an ecommerce website is a lot of work. When it is not done, it negatively impacts the website, rankings, and sales. It is best to get a professionally designed and developed ecommerce website. This ensures best performances. Experienced ecommerce design services should be utilized.