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Running an eCommerce business is like climbing up a hill. Well, it’s not an impossible task but it isn’t piece of cake either. It requires the use of the right tools, your determination, and help from experts just like a rock climber. There are few things you need to get straight before you start your own eCommerce store or trying to revamp the existing one.
The common misconception most people have is that it’s easy to start and run an eCommerce store. While the people who have been in the business for a long will tell you it’s not an easy peasy job. First, you need to set a vision, goal, and aim for starting a business. Then, you need to create a business plan that acts as a catalyst for your digital success.
However, having a robust and workable business plan does not guarantee your eCommerce store will be a successful venture of yours. Why? Because in the starting phase, you are likely to make many easily avoidable mistakes. So, let’s checkout eCommerce mistakes that you should avoid.
Ecommerce Mistakes that You Should Avoid
There isn’t a finite number of mistakes eCommerce entrepreneurs make, however, we have tried to list down a few of them. And “Anything that’s bound to go wrong will go wrong,” says Murphy’s Law. We are not trying to discourage you but on the contrary, we want you to be prepared to face all the possible roadblocks.
1. Not Choosing the Right Ecommerce Platform:
The first and very common mistake that many new-age entrepreneurs make is not choosing the right platform for their eCommerce business. The platform you choose to bring your dream eCommerce store to life can make or break your business. Not sure how?
The eCommerce platforms play a vital role in the success of your online business. It not only can help you showcase & sell your products to your desired audience, but it can also determine how you attract them. Moreover, every eCommerce business thinks of scaling after a certain point and your chosen platform must support you when needs arrive.
To select the right platform, you must consider a few things. Things like products you plan to sell, your budget, your plan to scale up the business, tools to integrate, what experience your audience is looking for, etc. are essential when selecting the right eCommerce platform.
2. Not Defining & Interpreting Your Target Audience:
Not defining and understanding who your target audience is can be the biggest mistake entrepreneurs make. You may have awesome products, a robust business plan, and an appealing website – what more would you need, right? Unfortunately no.
Having a place where you could pitch your offering is not enough in any business be it eCommerce alone. Unless you know who your target audience is and what they need. Defining and understanding your target audience is important as it will help you to entice and make them stay loyal to your brand.
To understand your audience, consider the following things,
- Ensure that the target audience really needs your products
- Know their pain points
- Understand their language
- Know the content they engage online
- Address their problems with your products
3. Not Leveraging the Scalable Web Design:
Another common mistake that eCommerce store owners make is not utilizing the scalable design for their store. While selecting the right platform lays the groundwork, leveraging the website design is also of utmost importance to ensure your business’s success.
Don’t think small especially if your vision is quite big. Having a platform that offers scalable design for your need to expand into new regions, incorporate custom features, and support thousands of products can help you a lot in long run. One such scalable platform is Magento. Developing Website using Magento is a robust platform that can solidify your eCommerce journey.
Moreover, your site must not be designed to confuse the users. It must have intuitive navigation that helps users to find the right product as soon as possible.
4. Content is Not SEO or User-Oriented:
Not optimizing your website’s content for your users and SEO both can do so much harm. While SEO helps to bring in more organic traffic to your webstore, user-oriented content helps convert those traffic to your customers. Thus, your content must be written focusing SEO and user aspects both.
Each piece of content is an opportunity for you to attract and convert more users into your long-time customers. And for that to happen, you must offer to the point content starting from your Homepage to your product description. Moreover, ensure that your content is optimized for search engines as well as is enticing enough for your users.
5. Complex Checkout Process:
Having a complicated and lengthy checkout process is a big no. As per Baymard’s study, 18% of the users abandon carts due to the Too Long/Complicated Checkout Process. Checkout is where the real deal happens once customers have passed the initial steps of your sales funnel. Too long and messy checkout procedure will make your customers fumble and frustrated as well thus, increasing the abandoned cart rate.
What you should do here is keep your checkout as simple as possible. Eliminate obstacles like account creation and allow them to checkout as a guest. Make the procedure as clear and concise as possible with an outline detailing exact steps customers need to follow to complete the purchase.
Also, make sure that your customers aren’t hit by unexpected fees while paying. Paying requires a degree of trust so you must not give reasons to make them think you are spammy or sneaky.
Conclusion
Succeeding in the game of eCommerce is not that easy and not an impossible task too. Having the wrong approach will surely lead you to failure in your eCommerce business. That being said, knowing the secret to success is as important as knowing what mistakes you must avoid. Having a proper understanding of eCommerce mistakes that you should avoid is necessary for you to anticipate and avoid them.
Need help with your eCommerce store setup? M-Connect Media is here to help. Consult our eCommerce expert to get prolific solutions to all your eCommerce needs.
