With a new ecommerce site, you can’t afford to make mistakes. Before launching your new site and inviting customers to access it, be sure to check for these 10 mistakes you need to avoid. However, there are also a lot of opportunities to grab. You just have to know how to capture those opportunities the right way.
1. No About Page
Introducing yourself and letting the customers know more about you is crucial when you’re new to the market. Having a good About Us page is simply a must.
Don’t just write a short description about the business either. Add information about the people behind the business, why you established the ecommerce site, and personalised stories to get the customers interested.
2. Terms and Policies
Aside from a good About Us page, your ecommerce site also needs both the Terms and Conditions page and a clear privacy policy. Don’t just copy content for these two crucial pages from other sources. Personalise your terms and create a clear privacy policy that the customers can actually understand to boost credibility.
3. The Wrong Hosting
It is understandable that you want to keep overhead costs at minimum, especially since you’re launching a new ecommerce site. That said, accessibility and performance are crucial ingredients to success in this industry. Make sure you choose a suitable hosting plan that is not only capable, but also reliable in the long run.
4. Forgetting About Site Performance
Accessing the site from a local server is very different than accessing it from a live server. There are more parameters to worry about long the way. Neglecting performance testing before going live would be a big mistake.
Don’t hesitate to eliminate elements that hamper performance. Take the necessary steps to optimize the site for fast loading time and smooth user experience.
5. No SEO Optimization
Over 70% of today’s customers find the products and services they need through search engines. A site that isn’t optimised for search engines will miss out on that large sum of potential customers from the start.
6. Complicated Checkout Process
You want the checkout process to be as simple and straightforward as possible. Otherwise, you will end up with a lot of dropped carts and incomplete sales. Before launching the ecommerce site, take the necessary steps to shorten the checkout process and test the wizard thoroughly.
7. Broken Links
With the users’ attention span being as short as it is today, the last thing you want is for them to move to another ecommerce site due to inaccessible pages and broken links. These potential mistakes are easy to solve thanks to link checkers and other available tools.
8. Bad Mobile Experience
The goal of your ecommerce site is to deliver the best user experience, regardless of the device they use. Don’t just stop at checking the desktop site before going live. Try the site using different smartphones and mobile devices to spot potential mistakes.
A site that performs well on a flagship Android phone may not perform similarly well when accessed using a low-end phone. It’s problems like this that you need to anticipate before launching the site.
9. Bad Information Structure
An ecommerce site is easier to organize when you have a limited number of products. Add the number of items, and it is easy to lose track of the information structure. What you want to have is a clear set of categories and tags that will help customers find the products and services they need as quickly as possible.
10. Faulty Search Function
Of course, most customers will simply search for the products and services they need. When they do, they expect clear and accurate results. Check the search function of your ecommerce site and make sure search results are displayed correctly.
Avoid these 10 mistakes and you will have fewer things to worry about when launching the site. Now that you know you can deliver a smooth and pleasant user experience, you can focus on more important things, such as taking the new ecommerce site to success through digital marketing and future developments.