Everyone makes mistakes, but when it impacts your online business, mistakes can be heavy for your sales. Your e-commerce solution is customized or turnkey, problems will occur at one time or another.
Here are 8 common mistakes on an online store, and our advice to avoid them.
1. The choice of the host of your online store
The host is responsible for the accessibility and security of your e-commerce site. So take into consideration the quality of the accommodation for your online store. Shared hosting is a commonly used entry-level solution, but as the name suggests, you have to share server resources with other guests. It may be tempting to choose this economical, however quickly you risk being disappointed if sales do not follow.
Recommended Solution: The choice of accommodation is a decision that requires thinking. A preset solution can be achieved around 3 parameters: E-commerce platform used, the amount of information contained and the expected number of daily connections (while maintaining a margin for peak periods). However, it is preferable at this stage, to call an expert to guide you to the service to remember.
Here are 8 common mistakes on an online store, and our advice to avoid them.
1. The choice of the host of your online store
The host is responsible for the accessibility and security of your e-commerce site. So take into consideration the quality of the accommodation for your online store. Shared hosting is a commonly used entry-level solution, but as the name suggests, you have to share server resources with other guests. It may be tempting to choose this economical, however quickly you risk being disappointed if sales do not follow.
Recommended Solution: The choice of accommodation is a decision that requires thinking. A preset solution can be achieved around 3 parameters: E-commerce platform used, the amount of information contained and the expected number of daily connections (while maintaining a margin for peak periods). However, it is preferable at this stage, to call an expert to guide you to the service to remember.
2. The pages and images loading time
There is nothing more frustrating for a user to navigate on a slow site. Your site will be the most beautiful and most comprehensive aesthetic, the fact remains that the patience of your users will reach its limits faster than you think. The user wants to be in control of their experience. However, a page that loads slowly is exactly what does not undergo a surfer!
A study during the summer 2014, shows that only 14% of the 100 largest e-commerce sites offer their users an optimal user experience (less than 3 seconds of loading time). A charging time of between 3 to 5 seconds remaining tolerable but beyond attention to the damage.
The weight of the pages is often pointed. Indeed, technological developments bring their batches of new features which causes the pages to be more severe.
This same study shows that the median weight of the pages of the 100 largest e-commerce sites increased 67% in just one year! It also shows that the images represent on average 49% of the total weight of a web page. Therefore, if you were to start by asking a class of elements of your page, it may greatly whether the images.
Recommended Solution: The images are not optimized by default and are a drag on the speed of your site. Two good practice to compress your images and load them gradually. Image compression minimizes the size (in bytes) of a graphics file without affecting the quality of the image. Whereas progressive loading of images under the waterline can load images of the site only if the user scrolls the page to their site.
Therefore, it is possible to obtain a high-performance e-commerce site while displaying a hundred products on the same page. There are many automated solutions saving you hours of work to optimize your images. Check the charging status of your pages using any of these tools or services: The YSlow plugin for your browser or the online tool Pingdom.
3. The presentation of the product catalog
Browsing through the catalog should be a pleasant experience for the user. The presentation of the product catalog is sometimes set aside. I target the views here from August to September products in a catalog.
Avoid unnecessary your visitor clicks once he navigates through your catalog. This presentation should be banned as soon as the number of reference products is high. Your user will be quickly discouraged when he has posted 5 pages of products and discover that he still has another 20 others. In addition, you complicate his task if he wants to return to a previous product or compare.
Recommended Solution: Prefer views at 24, 48 and 96 products on the same page. Also offer the ability to view all products. If your product catalog also offers many models, avoid overloading the better showing all the colors associated with the same model. Too much choice can actually slow down the decision making of your visitors.
4. The content of the product page
The difficulty for an online store is to compete with the physical stores. Certainly, the price and choice of incentive items for a customer to buy online. However, traditional sales companies allow customers to own the product, to consult all angles to assess the texture of the product, or to try it. Also, for more information you can rely on the packaging or appeal directly to one of the store sellers. E-commerce sites do not allow this kind of direct interaction. The problem is more when you offer the public know little products. It is then necessary for an E-commerce site to seek to improve the shopping experience.
The problem arises when the user views a product and wishes to obtain additional information. However, it is very common that this description is incomplete for the user to have the conviction to make the right choice of product. Consequently, it will tend to seek another site for more details, and unless your prices are not competitive, he will buy his product elsewhere.
The more your product has a high purchase price and it will be in your interest to develop your product page. Stand out from the competition by avoiding the easy and incomplete solution to take the manufacturer's description.
Recommended Solution: Start by describing the value of the product, do it live through descriptive words rather than technical terms. This could have a very positive impact on your visitors will not see you as a single retailer, but as a specialist in his field. In addition, you will avoid the same time to duplicate content which would complicate the SEO of your site.
Further down the page, add the items that you consider more secondary product: height, weight, features, product composition, maintenance instructions and other information you have judged relevant to the product.
5. The images of goods or services
As mentioned above, it is not possible for the user to own the product. Therefore, it is necessary to propose a different experience through the product images. All too often, the picture quality is poor or too small which prevents the user to notice the details and finishes associated with your product.
Recommended Solution: Submit multiple images from different angles in order to highlight the features of each product. Large images or zoom function will allow your users to see more detail your articles. Depending on the product category, 4-5 images may be necessary for a consumer to make it comfortable with the product.
6. The requirement to have an account to order
Some sites are forcing users to create an account so they can place an order. It is certainly highly recommended to capture information about your users to continue communication offsite (newsletter and retargeting), but this is a practice to be avoided. On the one hand, no one likes being forced to do something, the other seeks your user simplicity and speed first. But this is additional procedures from burdening their checkout. In addition, if the estimated delivery charge functionality is not available in the summary of shopping cart, then it is most likely that your user wants to discover the costs inherent in the delivery from the ordering process. Avoid impact the dropout rate shopping carts.
Recommended Solution: Give your users an alternative input in the control process as a visitor (ie without using a user account). To capture emails and obtaining the acquiescence of your visitor to contact him outside of your web platform, offer her during the ordering process to register for your newsletter through a box.
7. No internal search engine
The motivations of your visitors are very diverse. Some of your users know exactly the product or service they are looking for on your site. These sometimes favor the search engine to get faster results instead of browsing through the catalog and filters. It is strongly recommended to ensure that your site E-commerce comprises an effective search functionality.
Recommended Solution: Offer an internal search engine improves nearly three times the conversion of users that have used. The results should be displayed quickly and be relevant. If you have a large inventory and that the search function returns to a hundred products it would be preferable to add filters classes or product characteristics to move as quickly as possible the user to the desired article and improve their online experience.
An internal search engine allows to analyze the top search queries which has a significant interest in order to optimize your SEO. The current market offers many solutions to integrate plug-in on your platform e-commerce at a relatively low cost.
8. Customer service
Last but not least, is a crucial point often neglected to preserve the reputation of your site and the loyalty of your users. A site that does not come in contact with the customer service can be seen as a nebulous site. This lack of transparency or communication might adversely prejudice quickly. Buyers need to verify the identity and credibility of a site as they prepare to disclose sensitive information (bank details or personal information). Also, they want to ensure that a representative will be available for complications with their control (return of products, delivery, wrong product or delivery address, etc.). The more your product has a high price or technical characteristics and your visitors may contact you.
Recommended Solution: Display clearly your contact information in order to strengthen the trust of your users. A phone number must be accessible on all pages, usually located in the top or bottom of page. Submit a contact form with predefined objects to segment your users' queries and thus facilitate the procedures for customer service. In addition, the form will be a great way for your visitors to contact you outside of opening hours. Finally, expand a section for frequently asked questions to ease your customer service. Depending on the size of your shop, you could also offer a live chat feature to accompany your visitors.
There is nothing more frustrating for a user to navigate on a slow site. Your site will be the most beautiful and most comprehensive aesthetic, the fact remains that the patience of your users will reach its limits faster than you think. The user wants to be in control of their experience. However, a page that loads slowly is exactly what does not undergo a surfer!
A study during the summer 2014, shows that only 14% of the 100 largest e-commerce sites offer their users an optimal user experience (less than 3 seconds of loading time). A charging time of between 3 to 5 seconds remaining tolerable but beyond attention to the damage.
The weight of the pages is often pointed. Indeed, technological developments bring their batches of new features which causes the pages to be more severe.
This same study shows that the median weight of the pages of the 100 largest e-commerce sites increased 67% in just one year! It also shows that the images represent on average 49% of the total weight of a web page. Therefore, if you were to start by asking a class of elements of your page, it may greatly whether the images.
Recommended Solution: The images are not optimized by default and are a drag on the speed of your site. Two good practice to compress your images and load them gradually. Image compression minimizes the size (in bytes) of a graphics file without affecting the quality of the image. Whereas progressive loading of images under the waterline can load images of the site only if the user scrolls the page to their site.
Therefore, it is possible to obtain a high-performance e-commerce site while displaying a hundred products on the same page. There are many automated solutions saving you hours of work to optimize your images. Check the charging status of your pages using any of these tools or services: The YSlow plugin for your browser or the online tool Pingdom.
3. The presentation of the product catalog
Browsing through the catalog should be a pleasant experience for the user. The presentation of the product catalog is sometimes set aside. I target the views here from August to September products in a catalog.
Avoid unnecessary your visitor clicks once he navigates through your catalog. This presentation should be banned as soon as the number of reference products is high. Your user will be quickly discouraged when he has posted 5 pages of products and discover that he still has another 20 others. In addition, you complicate his task if he wants to return to a previous product or compare.
Recommended Solution: Prefer views at 24, 48 and 96 products on the same page. Also offer the ability to view all products. If your product catalog also offers many models, avoid overloading the better showing all the colors associated with the same model. Too much choice can actually slow down the decision making of your visitors.
4. The content of the product page
The difficulty for an online store is to compete with the physical stores. Certainly, the price and choice of incentive items for a customer to buy online. However, traditional sales companies allow customers to own the product, to consult all angles to assess the texture of the product, or to try it. Also, for more information you can rely on the packaging or appeal directly to one of the store sellers. E-commerce sites do not allow this kind of direct interaction. The problem is more when you offer the public know little products. It is then necessary for an E-commerce site to seek to improve the shopping experience.
The problem arises when the user views a product and wishes to obtain additional information. However, it is very common that this description is incomplete for the user to have the conviction to make the right choice of product. Consequently, it will tend to seek another site for more details, and unless your prices are not competitive, he will buy his product elsewhere.
The more your product has a high purchase price and it will be in your interest to develop your product page. Stand out from the competition by avoiding the easy and incomplete solution to take the manufacturer's description.
Recommended Solution: Start by describing the value of the product, do it live through descriptive words rather than technical terms. This could have a very positive impact on your visitors will not see you as a single retailer, but as a specialist in his field. In addition, you will avoid the same time to duplicate content which would complicate the SEO of your site.
Further down the page, add the items that you consider more secondary product: height, weight, features, product composition, maintenance instructions and other information you have judged relevant to the product.
5. The images of goods or services
As mentioned above, it is not possible for the user to own the product. Therefore, it is necessary to propose a different experience through the product images. All too often, the picture quality is poor or too small which prevents the user to notice the details and finishes associated with your product.
Recommended Solution: Submit multiple images from different angles in order to highlight the features of each product. Large images or zoom function will allow your users to see more detail your articles. Depending on the product category, 4-5 images may be necessary for a consumer to make it comfortable with the product.
6. The requirement to have an account to order
Some sites are forcing users to create an account so they can place an order. It is certainly highly recommended to capture information about your users to continue communication offsite (newsletter and retargeting), but this is a practice to be avoided. On the one hand, no one likes being forced to do something, the other seeks your user simplicity and speed first. But this is additional procedures from burdening their checkout. In addition, if the estimated delivery charge functionality is not available in the summary of shopping cart, then it is most likely that your user wants to discover the costs inherent in the delivery from the ordering process. Avoid impact the dropout rate shopping carts.
Recommended Solution: Give your users an alternative input in the control process as a visitor (ie without using a user account). To capture emails and obtaining the acquiescence of your visitor to contact him outside of your web platform, offer her during the ordering process to register for your newsletter through a box.
7. No internal search engine
The motivations of your visitors are very diverse. Some of your users know exactly the product or service they are looking for on your site. These sometimes favor the search engine to get faster results instead of browsing through the catalog and filters. It is strongly recommended to ensure that your site E-commerce comprises an effective search functionality.
Recommended Solution: Offer an internal search engine improves nearly three times the conversion of users that have used. The results should be displayed quickly and be relevant. If you have a large inventory and that the search function returns to a hundred products it would be preferable to add filters classes or product characteristics to move as quickly as possible the user to the desired article and improve their online experience.
An internal search engine allows to analyze the top search queries which has a significant interest in order to optimize your SEO. The current market offers many solutions to integrate plug-in on your platform e-commerce at a relatively low cost.
8. Customer service
Last but not least, is a crucial point often neglected to preserve the reputation of your site and the loyalty of your users. A site that does not come in contact with the customer service can be seen as a nebulous site. This lack of transparency or communication might adversely prejudice quickly. Buyers need to verify the identity and credibility of a site as they prepare to disclose sensitive information (bank details or personal information). Also, they want to ensure that a representative will be available for complications with their control (return of products, delivery, wrong product or delivery address, etc.). The more your product has a high price or technical characteristics and your visitors may contact you.
Recommended Solution: Display clearly your contact information in order to strengthen the trust of your users. A phone number must be accessible on all pages, usually located in the top or bottom of page. Submit a contact form with predefined objects to segment your users' queries and thus facilitate the procedures for customer service. In addition, the form will be a great way for your visitors to contact you outside of opening hours. Finally, expand a section for frequently asked questions to ease your customer service. Depending on the size of your shop, you could also offer a live chat feature to accompany your visitors.