Avoiding the obvious online store launch mistakes

5 common failings for a small business Ecommerce store launch

Launching an online store usually requires plenty of effort and initial expense. Often small business owners and developers make the same mistakes which arise since the ecommerce development process is not yet effective. Ignoring these inefficiencies can be detrimental to the business and result in spending on fixing related issues. .

For success, a web store owner needs to define a project launch plan with a clear marketing strategy. Remember, you create a website not for yourself, but for prospective customers, so take into consideration all of their preferences. Many customers don’t want to spend their precious time on understanding how to use a website, and they will probably go elsewhere - so your ecommerce functionality is crucial!

Here are some critical online business mistakes to avoid:

• 1. Poor design and functionality

The importance of a memorable and modern design is a significant element of any online store, as customers can make aesthetic judgements about the company itself from the very first glance. Given first impressions count the main aspect is your website layout with a good balance of relevant text and graphics which do not take priority over usability/functionality.  With a responsive or adaptive design, you can be sure your pages will load quickly and it's optimized for all devices, so your customers are not waiting or abandoning your site.

First of all, it's essential to offer your buyers an effective and reliable on-site search since this is a core behaviour on Ecommerce sites. The lack of speed and poor search results can frustrate people. For ease of convenience, don't forget to consider a drop-down menu for ease of choice product selection.  Also providing your visitors with an opportunity to navigate back to previous pages which have been viewed.

•  2. Stale Content

The other common mistake is using standard content without regular updates. A website shouldn’t represent a desolate house with no valuable and unique information (online value propositions).

Many online stores omit adequate product information; so as a rule you can find product descriptions taken from manufacturer websites, like thousands of competitor projects. Saying they don't provide too much information, as people can go direct to the manufacturer?  Use all possible and impossible descriptive methods to outline product features and specifications in your own way to attract prospective clients.

Online store owners add extensive volume of information. Don't overload your customers with the large articles to read or long video data to review. A lot of vendors think that most of their customers know what they actually want, but this is a substantial mistake: only well-structured and inducing descriptions can sometimes stimulate prospects to make a purchase.

• 3. Poor payment and shipping information

One of the most important questions for any customer is the product’s complete price and delivery costs. This information should be given to customers as soon as possible,  as no one likes surprises with their final invoice (provide more specific options including  free delivery, for example).  It also applies to delivery terms and options, so consumers know delivery lead times and shipping services.

Make your customer shopping experience more pleasing with options including a one-click checkout, helping them to make purchases on the go, without complex registration forms and advanced verification. Furthermore, different customers have different payment preferences; using their bank account or electronic transfers such as paypal or credit payment.

• 4. Complex checkout

Many customers are tired or even hate filling in long online application forms. Provide options for modifying orders rather than starting the process from the beginning. Consider an easy checkout process, which is not divided into many steps as it can cause confusion as well as cause shopping card abandonment.

Try to avoid mandatory registration. Remember, customers came to you for an easy and hassle-free shopping experience, so asking for an account creation to submit an order can cause consumers to switch to your competitor. Provide choices for fast purchases and special deals for returning and registered users.

• 5. Insufficient photo and video reviews

With online stores, customers can't touch or try products compared to a brick-and-mortar retail store, so they need at least to know how these items look like before making a purchasing decision. For example, tiny, poor quality images will never convince customers of buying something in your web store.  Consider larger professional photos from different perspectives to help conversion.

Video content should now be considered essential for an engaging ecommerce store. Using product review videos of your own production will help your grab prospect’s attention and allow them making the most deliberate choice. I personally upload them to Youtube for easy and the SEO.

Did you face some other critical mistakes while launching your brand new web project? Glad to hear about your personal experience in the comments below.