E-Commerce Mistakes and Bad Practices to Avoid

No matter what kind of online business you run, market monitoring and building brand awareness should be an absolute must for you. You can do business in e-commerce through an online store, various platforms, advertising portals, or even forums or social networks.

Whatever you choose to accelerate and increase the volume of sales of your products, do not forget a few basic rules. We have created a list of the 16 most common mistakes to avoid to increase sales and work efficiency.

So, where to start?

1. Complicated purchase process

Customers are dissatisfied with complex rules and, at the same time, do not want to spend more time than is appropriate for shopping. Therefore, make sure that the checkout process is adequately organized. When the shopping cart is complete, and the customer is ready to order, but first has to register to complete the purchase, in most cases, laboriously, they leave the site with the idea that they will not come back and buy on another site easier and faster.

With the complicated checkout process, the customer’s joy from the purchase decreases in direct proportion, so you should also offer payment options like guest checkout and multiple payment options and ensure that the payment gateway is seamless. Let customers decide, and keep registration optional with purchases without registration for the first purchases. Remember that customers do not necessarily need an account to send marketing content. It is enough if you add the option of consent to sending marketing information to the entered e-mail address or phone number.

A smooth checkout experience and optimized payment gateway can be the difference between a conversion and abandoning a cart.

2. You don’t motivate customers to make a purchase

The primary task is to motivate customers to buy. There are many psychological techniques to encourage customers to buy faster. What are the options?

• Countdown in the cart – if customers know that the products will automatically disappear from their shopping cart after a specific time, they will have to make a decision faster.
• Buy today for delivery tomorrow – information about the exact delivery time directly under the product motivates the purchase because the customer is sure that he will receive the product on time. It is also worth adding information about how many people have already bought the given product.
• Emails – subject lines like “last chance,” “last opportunity to buy,” or “don’t miss this offer” are effective in creating a sense of urgency and driving sales. Another key component of an email content marketing strategy is newsletters, which provide a quick and effective way to connect with your audience. By sending out regular updates about new products and discounts, you can help customers remember your brand and increase the chances that they’ll visit your online shop.

3. You don’t test or measure your data

Pay attention to correct data evaluation. Monitor, for example, session duration, abandoned carts, bounce rates, page views per session, average cart value, or the number of products per transaction. Thanks to this, you will learn, for example:

• At what times do customers shop most often – you can later plan your newsletter sending based on these times
• How many products do they usually put in the basket – you can evaluate what your customers buy the most and, conversely, what sells the least, what to recommend, etc.

Strong analytics help prevent poor decision-making and offer insights into potential improvements to avoid neglecting important features of your online shop.

4. You’re not sufficiently segmenting your audience

Remember that not every customer wants to buy every product. Therefore, you should customize certain categories for specific customer groups. You can segment them according to different parameters such as gender, age, geographical, psychological, or socio-economic parameters to avoid fundamental misunderstandings and inappropriate product recommendations.

It would help if you used a suitable tool for automatic product recommendations in your online store. The content should be adapted to the needs and expectations of the clients. Luigi’s Box’s Recommender feature can help you with appropriate recommendations, ensuring that product recommendations are tailored to each user and increasing conversions.

Relevant products are recommended based on client preferences or previously viewed items. Similar alternatives will be displayed if a product is sold out, increasing the chance that the customer will buy anyway. There is also an option to recommend best-selling or best-rated products. In addition, Recommender will not slow down your websites at all. It will continue to load quickly and without problems.

Using insights from marketing research and analytics can improve audience segmentation and lead to a more targeted marketing strategy.

5. There is too much clutter on your website

Who would want to shop on a site that’s full of chaos? The website design should be clean, so organize cards, contact information, shopping cart, and directions so the customer can easily find everything. Be aware of the ads that may appear on the page and place them so that they do not cover important places and do not attract all the attention.

All content should be large enough and visible so customers do not strain their eyes. This also applies to the division of the menu – the appearance and the correct division of products into individual categories so that customers can easily find them.

A well-structured responsive website can dramatically improve the user experience and reduce bounce rates, which directly drives sales.

6. You don’t have a well-optimized search bar

Advanced product search should be among the priorities of an online store because customers are more likely to buy a product if they can find it. Luigi’s Box is a tool to help you determine what your customers need and make it easier for them to find those products on your site.

Luigi’s Box offers automatic feedback on any query and displays the results before the search is confirmed. Moreover, it can distinguish synonyms, thanks to capturing more keywords. In addition, it is equipped with features such as ranking according to the quality of the match or business indicators. It is a search engine based on artificial intelligence that will teach how customers behave, help clients reduce shopping time, and increase their satisfaction. It provides a dashboard with an overview of statistics that will allow you to quickly analyze missing results or the most frequently searched terms.

You can learn more about trends and findings about the search for 2022 in our e-book.

7. You don’t rely on personalization

Personalization is crucial if you want clients to come back and buy more products. Offer them what they might like based on their activity or customer reviews with tools such as e-commerce personalization software. Make them feel special and provide discounts on their first purchases as a welcome invitation to new customers and build trust.

If you serve a regular customer, you can match recommendations to those they have previously purchased. Again, there is mutual assistance here, as the client adds additional sales and receives a customized product.

According to research from Gartner, the use of personalization, just in the case of using online support for purchases, can increase the conversion rate by 20 percent, and on the contrary, the loss of up to 38% of customers due to weak marketing efforts on personalization.

8. You don’t have a clear CTA

The CTA button is the most important button on your website, newsletters, and other marketing tools. It is used to achieve the expected customer action, and the intention is to convince the customer to click the button without worrying about clickbait. Therefore, the CTA button should be clear, suitable for the desired action, and prompt to click like. It should be visible immediately after opening the page, not too big and flashy so as not to be distracting, but on the contrary, not too small and should be of a different color to stand out from the crowd. Use simple and short keywords, like “Add to cart” or “Proceed to checkout,”.

CTA buttons are used to sign up for newsletters, make purchases or visit a product page. These buttons effectively improve the conversion rate, which translates into higher sales. Don’t forget that you can place CTAs on different platforms without restrictions.

A strong CTA builds trust, improves user experience, and ultimately drives sales.

9. SEO is not your top priority

Keep in mind that running a store is quite a challenge. The competition does not sleep, and sales are made all the time. So how can you be even more successful? One of the answers is search engine optimization (SEO). What to focus on?

• Finding suitable keywords will help determine which relevant keywords and phrases customers use most often. Tools such as Ahrefs, Marketing miner, or Google search whisperer can help you find appropriate keywords, or you can choose keywords from the results that Google recommends at the end of the search.
• Focus on graphics – most users want to see the product to ensure it’s precisely what they’re looking for. Do not forget about high-quality product images and illustrations. Do not forget about ALT labels, i.e., images on the page displayed when the main image is not loaded. It is a mandatory attribute of a great online store.
• Get rid of duplicate content – make sure the content you’re displaying isn’t on other stores’ websites. The Google algorithm can penalize the same content and promote more relevant pages for it, causing your store to fall very low in search results.
• The readability of product URLs should be short and provide information about what is on the address. For example, if the product belongs to the “premises rental” category, the URL address should also contain these words. Example of the correct URL address: www.site.sk/services/premises-lease/ – the address starts with the domain and has product categories and subcategories.
• Meta description – Meta descriptions or metadata are short texts that search engines will display under your link. Include keywords to make it more attractive to readers and more relevant to Google.
• Product filter – every customer has individual requirements, so filters are essential when searching for product description, olor, height, or size.
• Opinions and Comments – Product reviews from real customers inspire confidence and customer trust. Especially with new leads, ratings are critical. They also connect you with existing customers who can express their opinions through them.

10. Your page loads too slowly

Page speed affects SEO and user experience. Slow sites increase cart abandonment. Get the correct server and domain, and use web development best practices to improve performance. The less patient the client is, the less likely they are to wait for the page to load.

Remove inadequate plugins, optimize images, and regularly check site performance to prevent poor user experience.

The reason for long website loading times can be unoptimized images or plugins that slow it down. Test your site’s speed with PageSpeed Insights, and don’t forget to test it for mobile users.

11. Your site is not optimized for mobile devices

You’ve probably already opened an online store on your phone, but the page wasn’t customized enough and “scattered” on your mobile. When creating or editing a website, always pay attention to details that could affect browsing on mobile devices. Why?

Mobile phones are a major part of how people shop today. We use them all the time, on the go, at home, even while multitasking.

Luigi’s Box data shows that while desktop still leads in search usage for most product categories, mobile use is also high and growing.

Therefore, mobile-first design and optimization isn’t just a nice-to-have anymore. It’s vital to give users a smooth experience and ensure they stick around to make a purchase. If your site isn’t responsive, you will likely lose conversions.

12. You don’t offer a variety of payment methods

We all prefer different payment options depending on where we live, age, and many other factors. That is why offering customers several service options, including payment by card or cash on delivery, e.g., PayPal, is essential. However, new payment methods are also coming to the fore, such as GooglePay or ApplePay, to think about.

The lack of payment options increases the risk that customers will leave your site and buy from another merchant instead. Therefore, do not forget about flexibility and versatility if you want to avoid cart abandonment.

13. You don’t pay attention to design and visuals

Appropriate colors, design, product images, and layout of individual parts of your website affect how customers perceive you and the user experience. So, consider neutral colors or evoke positive emotions when creating a website.

Your website design can significantly impact building brand awareness and affect the credibility of an e-commerce website. Visual effects are pleasing to the eye and attractive, making it easier for customers to remember your site.

14. Your website is not consistent with your brand

Remember that your brand should deliver a consistent message and tailored projects across all managed platforms. In addition, all statements, notes, and elements should be compatible with the theme of your brand. This also includes its mission, style, and values that guide it.

Thanks to this, you will gain the trust and loyalty of customers. So what is brand consistency good for? First, you will be recognizable; customers will associate you with something specific. They will thus develop a relationship with your style and attitude. They will then be happier to come back and buy again. However, this task is not as simple as it may sound at first glance. It requires consistency and creativity across all available platforms and accounts you manage.

To do this, prepare a strategy and define your brand’s different aspects. Based on these starting points, creating a consistent image will be easier.

15. You don’t offer multiple contact methods

Customer service is essential. When customers feel confident, they are more likely to be satisfied. Allow your audience to connect with you in multiple ways, such as live chat, email, or a solid business phone system. This will dispel doubts about your brand. This is especially useful if one of the possible methods fails. For example, customers can still contact you via email when a server goes down and online chat stops working for a while.

Sometimes it is difficult for customers to find their way around the online store and the documentation. It certainly sometimes helps if they have the opportunity to reach customer service and ask questions. Constant communication and mutual feedback will also help you improve the quality of service.

16. You don’t improve your website on an ongoing basis

You must constantly move forward when building and maintaining a brand on the market. Customers love new products and the introduction of more and more innovations, so make your moves more creative.

Try running limited-time promo contests. Limited time to shop will also affect customer motivation and increase sales. When managing multiple platforms and accounts, you have unlimited options – an automated tool will help you improve the quality of your work and organization. Today, various online tools such as Smartlook and Hotjar can help you track customer behavior and make subsequent improvements.

Constant improvements based on competitor analysis and analytics are necessary. Avoid neglecting updates, as outdated features can result in poor engagement and high cart abandonment rates

Eliminate errors before customers discover them, and an awkward confrontation ensues. There is nothing worse than a dissatisfied customer.

Conclusion

People in today’s advanced times, especially after the pandemic, use more and more advantages of online shopping. As the offer is vast, online business owners must develop original ways to sell their products online. Whether clothes, airline tickets, musical instruments, etc., they are connected by competition for customers, which takes place constantly. Through strong marketing research, optimized content, clear CTAs, detailed product pages, and excellent customer services, you can sell products effectively and create unforgettable user experiences. We believe that the information in this article will help you avoid the most common mistakes that could deprive you of customers and profit.