Running an online store is better and more affordable than a physical store as you do not have to invest in a physical space. An ecommerce store becomes successful when you constantly put effort into marketing.
It is really a backbreaking job to get your site ranking in the top search results. You will need to frame a complete and robust marketing strategy. “It is also important to provide your users with the best experience.”
Otherwise, they will leave you for your competitors. Getting the desired traffic and generating revenues take a lot of time. In the meantime, you will rely on your savings to keep the ball rolling.
If you have taken out start-up business loans with bad credit, make sure you will be able to manage payments from your own savings. Running an ecommerce business requires great insight into your business. “Unfortunately, many of you do not realise the kinds of mistakes you are making.” Here are the common mistakes that you might be making.
Failing to identify your audience
“It is not surprising that many entrepreneurs become elated when they see a large number of traffic coming to their websites, but unfortunately, it is a red flag if it is not relevant.”
Getting a high amount of traffic to your website is one thing, and getting the traffic of your target audience to your website that helps generate genuine leads is another. Only if the traffic is relevant will you be able to generate revenues.
Identify your target audience. It can be young kids, women, men, and senior citizens. Make sure that you are visible to your target audience only, not to others. As an ecommerce storekeeper, you will be responsible for delivering products within your country.
Make sure people from your target location can only access your website. Getting traffic from across borders will take you nowhere. It will rather increase your bounce rate. At the same time, you must carefully analyse that your product is in demand.
If your product does not have demand, people will not buy it. You will have to do proper research to identify the market. Understand the types of products already available and how they are lacking to solve the current problems of your users. You can come up with a new idea for your business.
Pricing products with no research
Setting the wrong prices for your products is the big mistake that entrepreneurs make while running ecommerce stores. “It is a common practice that you set the prices for your products based on what your competitors are charging.”
Setting higher than competitors’ prices will put your customers off, and you will lose revenues. But this scenario does not exist all the time. “If your customers are unhappy about the market product your competitors are providing and you are willing to provide a better product, they will be willing to pay higher prices.”
Do not forget to consider the manufacturing cost of your product. What if the manufacturing cost is higher than the users are willing to pay?
“You will need to do extensive research about the product, its manufacturing cost, competition prices, and above all, how much people are willing to pay.” Without market research, you will never be able to set the right prices for your products.
Not investing in security
“It is crucial to choose the right ecommerce platform, but at the same time, you should ensure that it is protected and secure.” Users will see this before they decide to explore products on your website.
Never forget that scammers have endless ways to attack and steal your data. Even if you have tight security, they can break into and access confidential data. Therefore, you should always try to keep your sites secure from fishing and cyber attacks.
“Not having the right security will be damaging to your users as well as your business.” There are some ways to improve the security of your ecommerce store.
You should have SSL certificates and antivirus software to ensure smooth and safe transactions. Use HTTPS to protect the data of users. They will be more comfortable while visiting your website if it is secured.
Not using social proof
“You might be underestimating the importance of using social proof, but research has shown that people are reluctant to buy goods from ecommerce stores that do not have reviews at all.” You should reach out to your users and ask them to write a review on your product or service. Offer them an incentive for it.
If it is not possible, you can share the Google reviews or social media reviews. You will likely find some negative reviews as well. But remember that your reviews should be balanced, authentic and actually written by users.
Either you can take a screenshot of a few reviews to place them on your website, or you can directly add a link to the review website, like TrustPilot, so people can get to know about their business. However, this will help you add only if the average rating is not in the poor category.
The design is not user-friendly
The design of your ecommerce site should be absolutely user-friendly. “If you have multiple products, make sure that people can navigate from one page to another without any hassle.”
Try to list your products in different categories. This will make your website more organised and less messy. Make sure your users find all relevant information related to your product straight away.
With a short description, you should mention benefits or features in bullet points and then the price and the delivery date. Design is important, but the description is also essential. You should be able to clearly tell what your product can do and how it can ameliorate the lives of your users.
Many people fail to pay special attention to the description part. A length can never bind a clear and brief description. Even if it is a bit long, you need to provide all the essential details. Unless you provide all information, no user will be able to make a buying decision.
The bottom line
It is crucial to avoid all these mistakes to run your ecommerce store smoothly. Understand your target audience, their needs, and their competition.
It takes a bit of time to make an ecommerce store successful. You will have to depend on your savings. Make sure you do not take out any other personal loans for your own needs.
For instance, having car finance for self-employed with bad credit unless your business crosses the breakeven point can be harmful.
You will need a lot of patience to run your ecommerce store. Keep monitoring your competition level and the user behaviour when they land on your website. You will get to know what is working and what is not. Constant tracking will help you reform your strategy to take your business a level up.
