11 Mistakes You're Making on Your E-Commerce Site That Are Killing Your Sales

eCommerce is a booming business opportunity. In fact, e-commerce sales are projected to reach $453 billion by 2021. And while this is great news for sellers, it also means competition is fierce. But that doesn’t mean you can’t stand out from the pack. You just need to know how to set yourself apart from your competitors and create a thriving online store. The tricky part is, there are so many common eCommerce mistakes that keep small businesses from reaching their potential in this profitable space. To avoid becoming one of those stagnant companies, here are some eCommerce tips you should know if you want to succeed in this competitive industry.

Not Truly Understanding Your Customers

One of the biggest mistakes new eCommerce businesses make is not taking the time to really get to know their target audience. Remember, the goal of your site is to convert visitors into customers. So, if you don’t know who your customers are, you won’t know what they want. This is true for both B2B and B2C e-commerce businesses. If you’re selling to people in various industries and professions, each group of potential customers will have different needs and desires. If you don’t know who you’re selling to, you can’t create a site that will meet their needs. You need to take the time to understand the unique characteristics of your target audience. What are their interests, demographics, and psychographics? What type of language do they use? Once you know your audience, you can create a site that speaks to them on a personal level. This will increase your conversion rates, which will, in turn, increase your sales.

Read More: TOP 7 ECOMMERCE METRICS YOU MUST KNOW TO MEASURE YOUR STORE'S PERFORMANCE

Focusing on Quantity over Quality

Another common e-commerce mistake is to try to sell everything under the sun. The more products you have listed on your site, the higher your sales are likely to be. Right? Wrong. While you might get a few sales here and there, you’ll also have a ton of return customers, who will be annoyed by the confusing experience of having a lot of products to sift through to find what they’re looking for. If you want to avoid this problem, it’s best to focus on quality over quantity. Focusing on a smaller number of items will give each item more attention. It can also help you create more innovative products that meet the needs of your target audience better. If you want to take this approach, don’t just focus on the items with the highest profit margin. Instead, focus on the items that will help you achieve your strategic business goals.

Recommended Reading: TOP 8 STRATEGIES TO OPTIMIZE YOUR STORE FOR BRANDED SEARCH

Lack of Mobile-friendliness

With mobile e-commerce now accounting for over 50% of all e-commerce purchases, it’s clear that people prefer shopping online while on the go. But while this is good news for online shoppers, it’s bad news for online businesses that haven’t kept up with the times. If your e-commerce site isn’t mobile-friendly, you’re losing out on a huge chunk of potential customers. If your site takes too long to load, has too many images, or doesn’t fit the screen of a mobile device, it won’t be usable on mobile devices. This means that anyone shopping from their phones will have to use their desktop computer, which is both inconvenient and impersonal. To prevent this, you need to make your site mobile-friendly. This includes optimizing your images, keeping the amount of text on each page to a minimum, and keeping the site clean and uncluttered. If you want to be really thorough, you can even test your site on various mobile devices to make sure it looks good on all devices.

Not Having a Shopping App

If a mobile-friendly site doesn’t cut it for you and you want to reach even more people, you can create a shopping app. While more and more people are shopping from their phones, only a small percentage of businesses have created shopping apps. This gives you a huge advantage over the competition. If you want to really stand out from your peers, you can create both a mobile-friendly site and a shopping app. This will put you above and beyond the competition, and you’ll be able to reach customers across all devices.

Before you dive into this project, make sure you have the resources to complete it. Creating a shopping app is a complicated task that most businesses don’t have the skill set to accomplish. But if you hire an expert e-commerce app developer, you can create an app that will take your sales to the next level.

Relevant Reading: CROSS-CHANNEL INSIGHTS IN MARKETING: 8 CRUCIAL STRATEGIES AND ADVANTAGES

Skipping Ad Spend & Marketing

Many e-commerce businesses are hesitant to invest in marketing. The thinking is that they should put their money towards creating a great product instead of marketing. But this is a terrible idea. If you want your eCommerce site to succeed, you need to be marketing it. If you don’t, you won’t be able to reach any customers. So, you need to put money into marketing your site, even if you aren’t yet making a profit. 

 The good news is that eCommerce ad spend is a great investment. It has the potential to multiply your sales by many times. But you have to invest in the right places. Focus your e-commerce ad spend on social media ads, paid search, and retargeting. These are some of the most cost-effective ways to get your e-commerce site in front of potential customers. You can also run paid ads through email marketing, but this tends to be more expensive and less effective.

Not Holding Regular Marketing Audits

As you work to build your e-commerce business, you should constantly be analyzing your marketing strategies. What's working? What isn't? What can you improve? What's the ROI on your marketing efforts? If you don't do this, you won't know what's working for your e-commerce business and what isn't. This is crucial because as trends and technology change, your marketing efforts need to change with them. For example, if you're only advertising on social media, you're missing out on sales. You should also be tracking the return on investment (ROI) of each of your marketing efforts. This will help you determine which marketing efforts are bringing in the most money, and which ones need to be adjusted. It will also help you keep track of your progress as your business grows.

Not Using Video Content in Your Marketing

If you want to boost your e-commerce sales, you may want to consider adding video content to your marketing strategy. In fact, video marketing is one of the most effective ways to drive sales for e-commerce businesses, regardless of industry. This is especially true if you’re in the B2C e-commerce space. Studies show that B2C e-commerce businesses that use video marketing see a 480% return on investment. If you want to see similar results for your e-commerce business, you need to start using video in your marketing strategy. There are so many ways to integrate video into your marketing campaigns. You can do product videos, explainer videos, testimonial videos, and even tutorial videos. The key is to make sure the videos are relevant and engaging. This way, they’ll draw people in and make them want to buy your products.

Find The Right Strategies to Boost Your eCommerce Store

When it comes to eCommerce, the online landscape is filled with challenges and competitors. But it doesn't have to be that way. By avoiding these common eCommerce mistakes and making sure your online store has what it takes to thrive online, you can set yourself apart from the pack. And while it's true that eCommerce is a booming industry, that doesn't mean you can't stand out from the pack. With proper marketing initiatives and assistance, you can stand out from the crowd. At eComIntegrate, we help eCommerce businesses optimize their stores for conversion through better digital strategies.