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Creating an eCommerce Website? 5 Mistakes You Cannot Afford to Make

admin : April 29, 2020

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Creating an eCommerce Website? 5 Mistakes You Cannot Afford to Make

Creating an eCommerce website is tricky business. From showcasing products to handling payments, eCommerce sites are often robust and prone to errors.

We’d like to help make sure that your next eCommerce project is successful. Let’s go through the common mistakes we see businesses make so that you can address these potential pitfalls before they even happen.

1. User-unfriendly checkout process

The checkout process for your eCommerce website should be clear and streamlined. Otherwise, customers will abandon their cart and go somewhere else. According to a survey by Baymard, customers often abandon their cart due to a lack of user-friendliness. Here are the most common reasons:

28% abandon because the site requires that the user create an account.
21% abandon because the checkout process is too long or complicated.
17% abandon because they don’t trust the site with their credit card information.

All of these major concerns come up when there is a lack of proper planning regarding the user experience. Every successful checkout process should be efficient and easy. You should also focus on user experience metrics, such as Google Analytics, so you can analyze where customers are dropping off.

If you’re looking for the anatomy of a great checkout process, get the low-down on our eCommerce Website Project Checklist.

2. Blind spots in site security

30,000 new websites are hacked every day, according to Forbes. Don’t let yours be one of them.

Site security with eCommerce transactions is essential because your company will be handling payments and facilitating the storage of customer information. You should always test your site for security before launch and then at least on a quarterly basis to ensure security certificates and patches are up-to-date.

For a list of the most common website security flaws, check out this article.

3. Lack of responsive design

In today’s economy, your eCommerce website must be rock solid on every single type of device, big and small. Just over half of internet users (53% according to Broadband Search) are using a mobile phone or tablet. Mobile is no longer a second thought; it is your primary thought.

In terms of eCommerce, it’s important to create an engaging experience for your customers coming to your site from a mobile device. For this, your website needs to display professionally and be easy to navigate. That’s where responsive design comes into play. With it, you can ensure that your site adapts to all devices, browsers and platforms.

Depending on your situation, you may also consider a mobile app. Check out our post about mobile responsive sites vs. mobile apps here.

4. Crawlability errors

The more your eCommerce products appear in Google searches, the better. People today perform long tail searches for the specific products and model numbers they are looking for, so you need to ensure your pages are optimized for those user search habits. Unfortunately, if your site has crawlability issues, your products will not get the visibility they deserve.

Crawable means search engines can index your content and serve it to interested users. There are certain technical parameters you must set up to make this happen. Some common crawlability errors include not having a properly set up robots.txt file, an updated sitemap or internal links. For a full list, take a look at our previously mentioned checklist.

5. No customer service chatbot

Users now expect to have online customer service available on-demand, especially on eCommerce sites. With 2.14 digital buyers anticipated worldwide in 2021, it’s essential to have a customer service plan for online sales, especially if you’re targeting international customers.

Customer service chatbots are a great way to handle users coming to your website with questions about your products, the checkout process, shipping details, and more. Besides the convenience of being 24/7, chatbots can be programmed to know how to respond to a host of common customer questions, allowing you to keep shoppers moving through the process and ultimately boosting sales. In one study, 37% of decision makers expected to see higher revenue because of their chatbots.

Chatbots are the future of intelligent and efficient customer service, a vital aspect of eCommerce. Read more about the future of chatbots from our friends at HubSpot.

Final Takeaway

The key to eCommerce success hinges on your ability to avoid these 5 common mistakes. As you embark on creating or redesigning your eCommerce website, be sure your marketing and technology teams are working hand in hand to address these common pitfalls. Walk through our eCommerce Website Project Checklist with them, or work with us directly to save yourself a headache.