As an entrepreneur, you want to maximize your revenues. In the ecommerce industry, this fact is even more important. Chances are, you’ve taken steps to avoid the obvious hits to your profitability. Unfortunately, that doesn’t guarantee that you are covered from all potential loss.
There are many ways that you could be losing revenue without even realizing it. That’s why you need to take a long, hard look at your startup to see if you are guilty of letting these 5 revenue killers slip through the cracks.
Complex Checkout Process
Everything that you want the customer to do should be as easy as possible. Ideally, this means that you’ve kept your forms as short as possible, and that you’ve made the process of answering your landing page calls-to-action as easy as you can.
Now, take a look at your checkout process. After all, it is the best way to cultivate purchases. In fact, take a walk through it yourself. If you’ve made in needlessly complex, you can be certain that you are losing money.
No Trust in Your Website
One time or another, you’ve probably come across a website that made you think, “I’m never going to buy from this company.” The reasons for this can vary. Maybe the advertisers on the site are more than a little sketchy. Poorly written website content can also be a contributing factor. Another issue that impacts trust are performance related elements such as slow loading pages and broken links.
Take a bit of time to ensure that your ecommerce site gives users a good impression the moment they arrive. You can accomplish this with good content, and proof of trustworthiness such as security certificates and trust badges.
Lack of Mobile Adaptability
Believe it or not, frustrating experiences still drive mobile consumers away from ecommerce sites in droves. What does this mean for you? Just because you believe that your site is mobile friendly, doesn’t mean that it is. Take a second or third look. Are you doing everything you can to make it easy for mobile consumers to navigate your website, and make purchases? It may be time to abandon responsiveness in favor of a mobile first solution.
Jim Howard of McLogan says:
“We’ve learned some painful, but important lessons when it comes to meeting the needs of our mobile customers. This is not an area where we ever assume that we are finished. Instead, we use analytics to track mobile user behavior. Then, we make adjustments to ensure that we keep this important customer base satisfied.”
Weak Product Descriptions
Writing effective product descriptions is a task that is deceptively complex. You may feel as if you can easily write these descriptions. After all, who knows your products better than you. Unfortunately, describing products as you see them, doesn’t always result in descriptions that convince customers to make purchases.
Instead, think from a consumer point of view. What do they want to know about your products, and how can you best demonstrate the value of your products to them.
Subpar Image Quality
With ecommerce, a picture is all you have. This means that your pictures must really shine. There is no room for mediocre images on your site. This is especially true when it comes to pictures of your products. Provide high quality images of each product from a variety of angles. This helps to ensure customers that they know exactly what they are looking at, and exactly what they are going to buy.