What are some common ecommerce mistakes that hinder conversion?

Our expert this week is Melanie Beam – Director, Business Development for Mountain Media: 

Requiring Login to Order: This is one of many e-tailers’ favorite usability mistakes. Requiring registration is a clear barrier to sales and a definite no no, especially when you have yet to establish a relationship with the customer. First-time shoppers aren’t sure that they’ll return and the feeling that some sort of commitment is required may turn them away from making even the first purchase.

Vague, Hard to Find Return Policies: Ecommerce is increasingly competitive, no matter what your industry is and often, the difference between a sale for you versus your competitor comes down to your return policy. Make the process as easy as possible. Don’t hide your return policy deep within your site or require your customers to jump through hoops to complete the process. Rarely do e- tailers make their return policy a selling point or competitive advantage and they should. Consider using the words, “No-Hassle Return Policy” to reassure the customer that the process is quick and easy.

Poor (or no) SEO: Often online retailers have a ‘Build it, and they will come’ attitude. This could not be more wrong (no matter how great your product is). Retailers tend to forget that search engines are the highways and byways of the Internet. An eCommerce site not optimized for search is equivalent to a brick and mortar store conveniently located underground. Let professionals who are trained and knowledgeable in the latest techniques perform optimization and Internet marketing services that will ensure that your site can be found.

Poor Product Descriptions: Product descriptions are the closest thing you have to a salesperson. Make them work for you. Improving your product descriptions is one of the easiest, yet most neglected ways to improve your online sales. If your product catalog is large enough to justify, hire a copy-writer. Also, you’ll want your description to be unique. So, if you’re using manufacturer’s descriptions, you’ll want to change them so that your descriptions aren’t the same as your competitors.

Poor Merchandising: If you owned a brick and mortar store, you would probably walk your aisles every day to ensure your products are merchandised properly. You’d also most likely have end-caps that feature certain products, signs or posters that call out relevant products and items that you place at the point-of-sale to encourage last minute purchases. Yet many website owners expect their online stores to run themselves, and rarely take time for this important implementation. You need to plan and implement merchandising techniques including upsells and cross-sells to help move your products. Lack of Strong, Clear Calls-to-Action: Make your call-to- action buttons big, bold, and unmistakably clear (but be careful not to make them ugly). Any messaging on the site should also be clear and strong. Every page of the conversion funnel (landing page to product page to checkout) should clearly define the next step in the process.

Lack of Search, Filtering and Sorting: Product search is a must if your catalog is anymore than a few products. Customers simply expect it and your site will look amateur without it. Customers also expect to be able to filter down by criteria such as colors, sizes, or brand. Also, let them sort the listings by price, newness, popularity, etc.

Hard to Find Checkout Button or Add to Cart Button: Many online stores assume shoppers know that the shopping cart is the first step of the checkout process. To prevent confusion of your customers, always have a clear “checkout” button visible on every page and keep your ‘Add to Cart’ buttons clearly visible next to or under every product.

Unreachable Customer Service: Online retailers are typically not famous for their customer service. Phone numbers and email addresses should be listed prominently on every page.