The main reason to have an online presence for most businesses is to be visible on the Internet, and to hopefully lead potential customers to your physical place of business. If you happen to be an online only business, then it is even more important. In either case, the purpose of a website is conversion, which simply means getting people that go to your site to do a desired action. It could be to register on the site, click on a link, call a number, or buy something.
In an eCommerce website, that means a sale, and anyone who has had an eCommerce site for any time will know how hard it is to get people onsite. Once you get them there, you want to make sure they convert. However, there is many a slip between cup and lip. You want to identify and close any conversion loopholes through which a potential customer might fall through. Here are some of them to chew on
Cart abandonment
Have you ever abandoned a shopping cart at the grocery because the line was too long, or you suddenly decided you didn’t need what was in it. Shopping cart abandonment probably happens more often in eCommerce sites than a physical store because it takes more effort to go to a physical store, so you don’t want to leave without something. Online is different, as you might imagine. The rate of abandonment for online shopping carts in 2015 is 68%, and 46% of that is at the payment stage. In 4 of the 5 scenarios (payment, checkout login, entry of billing address, and entry of shipping address) where a customer abandons a shopping cart is due to the complexity of following through to the end of the process. Only one, shipping fees, is due to cost. Based on facts, you can probably minimize cart abandonment by addressing these issues.
Single product image
You might be concerned about loading speeds, and with so many products, you might think you can make do with just one image. However, that is a thought that could cost you sales. People that buy online have no opportunity to inspect the merchandise, so you need to show them the merchandise from different angles. If you only have one image photo, your customers may decide not to buy,
Low quality images
It is not just quantity that’s important when it comes to product images, however, it is also quality. Low quality images reflect the level of professionalism of your business, which can also affect the level of trust your potential customers may have for your business. People are more likely to buy if they see high quality images on your site.
Lack of organic social proof
You should never underestimate the tendency of people to look to others to help make buying decisions. Social proof such as rating and reviews (the most popular) as well statistics (McDonald’s billions served), expert mentions, and followers all contribute to how a potential customer perceives the desirability of a product. They figure that if a lot of people seem to like them, it should be good. Whether this is true or not is moot. You need to show some type of social proof on your eCommerce website. A simple visitor count or sales count can do the trick. If you have sold some products, maybe you can ask your clients to post a review.
Limited payment methods
People favor one type of payment over others when buying stuff online. Many favor PayPal because they feel more secure about not typing in their credit card information on a site, especially if it is their first purchase. On the other hand, some people have no problems using credit cards and may not have a PayPal account. If your site does not offer a reasonable range of payment method choices, your customer may decide not to buy after all. You should provide as many options as you can to help conversion.
Poor search function
Unless you only have one page on your website, and all your products are on that one page, you need a good site search function on your website so that your customers can find what they are looking for. It should have enough filters and refinements to give you a reasonable number of accurate choices. If your site search sucks and your customers can’t find what they’re looking for in the first pass, there is a good chance they will simply go away.
Comparing poorly to competitors
All browsers today make it easy for online shoppers to comparison shop with the use of tabs. If your competitor has better pictures, slightly lower prices, better copy, or more enticing promotions, it is likely you will lose a sale. You need to pay attention to what your competitors are doing to stay ahead of the game. You want the customer to choose your tab.
Not doing enough marketing
Many eCommerce website owners tend to stick to one or two marketing channels, thinking that it should draw in enough traffic to count. This may be true, but then again you may be missing on making it big time as an online seller if you don’t consider more marketing channels. It requires some time and effort, and maybe even cost, but if you are serious about your business, you need to make sure you are exploring all avenues for generating leads and sales.
Conclusion
They say you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink. You can though, if you make it thirsty enough, and make your particular trough easy to reach. You need to make every effort to close up any conversion loopholes in your eCommerce website to make the most of your business. Do you know of any loophole our readers should know about? Leave us a comment.
