8 errors you need to avoid to succeed with your e-commerce

Creating and maintaining a successful e-commerce is not an easy task. The Internet is an ocean full of sharks and your shop can be easily eaten alive, before you even get a chance to get up. While it is difficult to predict the problems that arise at any time, there are some common mistakes made by large and small e-commerce companies.

I believe that one of the most important things in life is to learn from the experiences of other people or companies and above all to share, this is the main objective of the article: avoid making the same mistakes and correct existing problems that your online sales site may have.

Before we go any further, it's good to highlight:

E-commerce or e-commerce has become increasingly favored by experienced retailers and wholesalers or novices. Selling products online is currently considered more efficient than selling them in a physical store. 

Instead of paying rent and hiring employees, simply buy a domain name or use the online markets available to sell your products anywhere in the world. But even if it is easy to start an e-commerce it does not necessarily guarantee certain or immediate profits. 

Selling online also promises constant challenges and learning. Here at National Vox, we've been serving e-commerce customers for many years and we've been testing and improving strategies to achieve good practical results. 

That's why I listed 8 errors you need to avoid to succeed with your e-commerce:

Contents

• Platform choice
• Neglecting your phone
• Insufficient product descriptions and images
• Low quality images or videos
• Mistaken checkout
• Forget about inbound marketing
• Customer service
• Conclusion

To have an efficient online store the first investment to be considered is the site to expose products and services, right? One of the most common mistakes made when managing an e-commerce business is choosing the wrong platform. Just because “such system” has many users or is very popular, does not mean it is the ideal tool for your business model. 

Before choosing a market to act, you must first understand your requirements, as well as the needs of your customers, discover the pros and cons of the platform you will choose. Try the popular or more-sold platform and make sure your target audience there will be!

To reach more potential customers and increase sales, consider selling your products in multiple markets at the same time. Marketplaces spread across the network are solutions that meet certain niches and it is good to understand if they serve their goals. 

In this article we explain why the National Vox uses with its customers and recommends the Shopify platform to get your professional online store in operation as quickly as possible and without complications.

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In the mobile and connectivity-based society, customers expect an online store to be mobile compatible so they can buy whenever and wherever they want. 

Having a mobile device-compatible presence allows easier customer convenience and navigation. If that is not reason enough, Google search results give priority to mobile sites, which means that if your brand is not adapted to mobile screens or tablets, you will be run over by competitors and lose a large amount of potential traffic. 

When Google did this update, non-mobile sites suffered a significant traffic loss. It is no surprise that many of these sites have made the necessary changes in mobile compatibility.

According to Google, 50% of searches are made on mobile devices and 65% of e-commerce traffic comes from mobile systems such as Android and iPhone. The goal is to have a responsive site that is still beautiful and easy to navigate on a small screen.

Lack of security

When you are selling products to people and requesting personal information (credit card/debit numbers, addresses, etc.), you need above all to ensure that your website is secure. Customers need to establish trust to do business with you; if your site appears with a message saying that the connection is unreliable, your potential consumers are certainly going in the opposite direction. Studies show that up to 25% of users stopped an online purchase due to security concerns. 

Remember to renew your SSL certificate to keep the site safe and so your customers know that your information is also safe. 

Smaller e-commerce companies are more likely to forget to renew their SSL certificate. This is unacceptable, as the execution of a website without an updated SSL puts all transactions, credit card information and contact information in simple, unencrypted and easy to obtain text. 

Remember that your customers cannot touch or experience the products or services, so the only way to convince them to make a purchase is to provide enough and attractive descriptions and images. 

Show the images of your product from different angles. If a product comes in various colors, make sure to display them too or at least explain in the product description. 

Product descriptions are no less important than product images. Include how the product works, materials, warranty, nutritional information (if it's food) and any other relevant information. Full product descriptions will avoid irrational customer expectations, avoiding cancellations and returns. 

Online shopping has everything to do with the look. Customers want to see, with as much detail as possible, what they will receive if they buy their products. Blurred or very small images will not encourage customers to make a purchase. Low-quality videos harm even more, serious with good equipment. 

As customers or interested parties cannot physically take an item to inspect it, high resolution professional photos with the option of zooming and viewing from different angles are mandatory. 

For videos, there are many creative ideas that can be copied and adapted, such as the famous YouTube “unboxing” or planned campaigns with agencies. 

Here in this article we talked a lot about the experience of offering a good design to the e-commerce store. 

A complicated checkout process (end of purchase) prevents your customers from paying immediately. To avoid this, you should be able to make the checkout process faster and simpler. Make sure your customers don't have to find too many pages to get to the payment process. 

Avoid sending confirmation emails to registration, everything must be happening in the same environment to avoid withdrawals. I've seen cases of people canceling large purchases because they can't use the pix in payment 

Give them social login or guest check-out options so they don't need to create an account or registration that takes too long. At this point in closing the sale, agility is everything. Also provide some payment options to speed up the payment process, for example virtual accounts, whatsapp or as quoted earlier, the pix. 

Your digital presence to reach market authority should be complete, so marketing channels are key in the application of sales campaigns or strategies. 

Not taking advantage of social media when selling online is one of the biggest mistakes of e-commerce. Facebook and Instagram can help you attract more leads, perhaps more than you expect. So make sure your online store is always connected to social media.

Use the networks to bring interested parties to the site, with creative campaigns and that always have a clear goal. 

You should also use marketing automation tools to optimize your marketing efforts towards products. This system will facilitate the creation of marketing automation flows, so you can build a good relationship with leads for sales qualification. 

I left this crucial error last, because it is always controversial and many companies still do not strive to obtain and maintain customers in a sustainable way, usually sinning in the service. Never underestimate that important part of the business. 

Even if you are not in direct contact with your customers, providing excellent service is still an obligation. Make it easy for your customers to ask questions related to your products or send complaints. 

Simplify payment (provide multiple payment options!), return of products and refund processes to your customers. You can manage interactions between companies and customers using a good CRM system. By using appropriate tools, you can serve customers with valuable and better service.

It could still highlight many errors that should be avoided, but I chose those that can make the most difference in the search for direct sales results. It is also ideal to be aware of issues such as SEO errors on the site pages and bad browsing that affects the usability part of the site. 

And, as we learn in life that repeating the same mistakes always takes no one forward, understanding and improving their e-commerce process must be at the top of the list!

I hope you enjoyed it. See you next time!