From a very young age, we are programmed to do everything in our power to separate ourselves from the notion of failing. And this fear of failure stays with us. That’s why when it comes to starting something such as a business, most people find it difficult to do it.
But here is the magic: Mistakes don’t stop your progress as long as you learn from them, in fact, they increase your momentum and help you figure out better ways to do things. Fortunately, in the world of entrepreneurship, great leaders and business people love mistakes. They are the best confidence boosters if you treat them as learning opportunities.
Here are some tips to plan better for the mistakes that could be avoided when starting an eCommerce business:
1. Choose The Right Ecommerce Platforms
The right eCommerce platform is vital to your business growth and selling to your customers. Not only this but it also plays a role in how you attract your customers and scale your business in the future. Whether you are a small startup selling t-shirts or a big brand wanting to go online, the right eCommerce platform will determine your place in the industry.
Getting some questions answered before choosing a platform will give you a headstart To choose a platform according to your needs following are some of the things you should consider:
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What are your products
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What are your plans for scaling
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How much control do you need on your website
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Do you want a template design or a custom design
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What tools do you need to integrate
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Your budget
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What kind of experience do you want to give your customers?
2. Know Your Target Audience
When it comes to doing research for your business, it is divided into two parts: Finding products and knowing who will buy them (target audience). Conventional entrepreneur business says to build a product and then look for customers but that can most of the time turn into a very costly mistake.
The critical part most new entrepreneurs miss is audience profiling, especially who is your ideal customer. When you know how your customers behave, what are their backgrounds, dreams, thoughts, goals, etc. that’s when you can fill in the market gap with your product.
To gather this data, you could look at analytics and numbers collected at the prototyping stage filled in by the customer. But to make it more effective, train your staff to gather as much data as they can about the customer. Other ways can include using eCommerce data collection platforms to help you know your ideal customer and build your actual product around them.
3. The Power Of A Great Ux Design
Great websites are a collaboration between aesthetic design and smooth functionality. Having great colors but confusing terms or having great content and navigation but poor looking design both can cause customers to run away. An average customer spends about 3 seconds to find the call to action button before they leave your website. The key is to make a sales funnel. The sales funnel maps out your customer’s journey from logging in to your website till checking out. You can also use tools such as Facebook pixel or other trackers on your website to help you know which page the customers are visiting more, what products they are clicking on, and how much time are they spending before they leave your eCommerce store.
4. Keep Your Website SEO Friendly
If your business relies on organic traffic, your content should be tailored to your customers and it should be search engine optimized. i.e. Google, bing, yahoo, etc. Most businesses treat their content as an afterthought but each of these words is an opportunity to get yet another loyal customer. The content should not only be SEO friendly but also entertain your visitors to buy and revisit too. If you are just starting out and short on funds, we would recommend going down the DIY SEO route via youtube or any other place that offers a course or simply hiring an agency to do it for you. Powerful word research and copy that sells is your key.
5. Keep The Checkout Process Simple
After the users have navigated through the initial phases of your sales funnel, its time to seal the deal. Abandoned carts can happen for a variety of reasons but to pick on one problem that could contribute is a messy check-out process.
If customers are confused as to where to click to check out or how to process their payments, they will abandon and look elsewhere without a second thought. In this day and age where consumers have a variety of choices, they usually switch at the first sign of inconvenience. To avoid this, first off avoid the cool copy such as “ pay up buddy”, don’t hit your customers with any hidden fees or any other obstacles to payments such as bank transfers, etc. Keep everything smooth and simple. Go with the usual check-out method used on every website.
Final thoughts:
Keep your eyes on the prize while making your own mistakes as well as learning from what fellow competitors made. Being aware of the most common mistakes such as the ones mentioned above you can get a kickstart in the industry. Avoiding every mistake would be unrealistic but better planning and preparation can help you navigate better. We hope these tips help you create some great loyal and happy customers. Happy selling!!
