Glitches can negatively impact even the most well-researched and supported eCommerce business launches. Whether unwittingly missing critical aspects of website navigation, or not being able to finalize communication designed for visitors and potential customers, glitches can damage the positive work done in building the business. For a startup business, or a business that is making a come-back after surviving a crisis, this can be a setback.
1. Customer experience: Navigational glitches
Navigational glitches that can negatively affect business prospects include not being able to reach the eCommerce website itself, or the website taking a long time to open. Getting error messages can immediately put off visitors and hinder any chances of conversion. Speed is of the essence when it comes to website navigation. An article by Muck Rack says the average attention span of a human being in 2000 was 12 seconds. It has dropped to 8 seconds today. Catching and retaining your visitor’s attention is central to any efforts at conversion.
One of the ways to ensure smooth navigation and a seamless user experience is to ensure professional website development. Using a professional will help to weed out problems in loading speeds or search functionality. Relevant research, industry trends, and best practices can be accessed to support your eCommerce business development efforts.
Critical components of website development, such as testing, can be undertaken by professionals while business owners focus on the more important aspects of business building, ensuring supply and logistics for the products and services deliveries.
2. Customer experience: Inability to access selected product/services details
Before choosing to make a purchase, most visitors prefer to navigate the website, similar to looking around a store. On the other hand, someone totally focused on a particular purchase will like to access the product details immediately. Not meeting this expectation can turn the visitor off browsing. It can also make visitors question the security of the website, in turn putting them off making a purchase, especially since sharing of bank and card details is involved in payment.
Ensuring listed product and service descriptions are present on the website, with functioning links for accessing more details on the product— including description, reviews and testimonials where possible — are critical to eCommerce websites. Supporting these with visuals and pictures can help add to a positive experience and the final purchase decision by the customer.
3. Shopping cart abandonment
According to a Statista report, in March 2020, nearly 88% of online shopping orders were abandoned or not converted into a purchase. The automotive industry had the highest cart abandonment rates out of all measured categories at 96.88%. In an earlier report, 63% of shoppers cited high shipping costs as the reason for abandoning their purchases.
Some other common reasons for cart abandonment include being asked to open and account or register information, website crashes, or lack of visibility of the total cost of purchasing.
For an eCommerce business that is looking to establish a firm foothold, it is vital to address technical issues such as repetition of information or questions, eliminating unnecessary form filling that could put off potential customers, and other technical matters such as keeping website crashes away. Website crashes may also be caused by security lapses. Leveraging professional web development assistance can help your business ensure a safer checkout experience for visitors.
4. Lack of reliable analytics
Website analytics are useful pointers or guides for businesses to troubleshoot or improve or enhance certain features for the visitors. Analytics also drive marketing efforts, promotional activities, and pretty much all strategic planning. Not having a system for analytics or having business analytics that are not dependable can harm your business-building efforts.
An article in Forbes refers to statistics that provide critical information which help underline the importance of analytics in eCommerce business building. This information can guide business decisions. For example, shoppers who are targeted with both emails and ads for recovering abandoned carts are two times more likely to convert than shoppers who see ads alone. In addition, for certain brands shoppers abandon the website before proceeding to checkout are twice as many as those who abandon the checkout process after entering their information.
Choosing professional support can help your eCommerce business efforts with a strong system that is backed by relevant analytics and data interpretation. These analytics can then shape your business plan for short-term as well as long-term goals.
5. Competitor analysis
The lack of reliable analytics also extends to data and inputs on competitors of your business. A careful analysis of competitor operations can help you understand how they appeal to their customers, attract, and engage visitors, and eventually, thrive.
Competitor analysis does not mean a blind copy-pasting of their strategy onto yours. It is more like an informed understanding of strengths and weaknesses in the business of eCommerce, especially the marketplace you operate in, the best practices employed, and a better understanding of what will appeal to the customer and what may put them off or invite distrust.
Competitor analysis can help you prepare an effective strategy and one that will help you prepare better to handle customer expectations at all fronts ranging from website experience to demand and supply and delivery management.
6. Online identity verification
Identity verification is a first step towards fraud prevention and ensuring a more secure web experience. Online identity verification is a process to validate identity of a person with the use of technology.
The process of identity verification is vital to preventing identity theft and protecting financial transactions such as banking and credit and debit card related purchases and transactions.
Entrusting your eCommerce website online identity verification to professionals provides your customers and website visitors with an additional layer of security. Whether it is by automating review processes, or compliance with laws that regulate sharing of sensitive information, professionals have the experience and the expertise to guide businesses correctly on this vital subject. In turn, ensuring online identity verification works both ways: it provides security to visitors and customers who complete their purchases while also protecting the eCommerce business and its database that carries personal customer information.
Your eCommerce business depends on multiple factors: dependability of the website and website performance, security, ease of payment, and efficiency of SEO aspects to help the business feature higher in searches. If yours is a traditional brick-and-mortar business adding an eCommerce functionality, adequate testing, including performance testing, can help ensure a smooth transition to online shopping for existing customers, while helping attract new visitors and lead generation. For businesses that are eCommerce alone, focusing on reducing glitches as much as possible is essential to attract and retain customers.
Choosing consistent growth for your business
Successful eCommerce businesses operate on both technology as well as the efforts to drive visitor and customer trust. Customer trust can be fragile. Something as simple as slow loading pages or a product description that is incomplete or visually imperfect can turn off visitors. There is always a worry that the website is hacked or that there are hackers out there targeting personal and financial information.
Choosing an experienced provider or partnering with a professional services provider for eCommerce web development can be invaluable in supporting your business. Doing so can enable you to focus on building a competitive presence instead of losing customers to the competition.
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