The Ecommerce Expert

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Top 10 Ecommerce Mistakes

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Top 10 Ecommerce Mistakes

Here is a list of the top 10 mistakes (and myths) I see ecommerce stores fall into:

  1. Thinking that driving more traffic to your website will increase sales. (There are two types of traffic in general. Knowing which one to go after is the key to increased sales. More is not always better — that is, unless the right elements are in place to maximize sales from it.)
  2. Weak site design in relation to your target market. (i.e., Do you design for your market or do you just design a site thinking that alone will sell your product?)
  3. Not marketing enough or properly. (You can’t make sales if nobody knows you exist. Marketing is critical but it must be done correctly to gain the maximum benefit.)
  4. Try to sell the wrong product online. (Think that just because you have a product it’s going to sell? Think again. Unless you’ve done your homework first, you may be surprised to find that there isn’t a market for what you’re trying to sell online.)
  5. Not testing your site to find what really works. (If you ignore your site the results will show.)
  6. Not optimizing your product pages for increased conversion. (Your product page has a single overall objective with sub roles that help meet that objective. If you don’t know what this is, you have no chance of getting users into your checkout process at all.)
  7. Inadequate site usability. (There are a number of things that can help you determine if usability is a problem and then help you improve upon this. Usability is like the Yellow Brick Road to more sales.)
  8. No comprehensive marketing plan in place. (This is one of the number one reasons most ecommerce businesses are destined for failure before they even start.)
  9. Too many obstacles to shopping. (Adhering by the KISS [Keep It Simple Stupid] principle is crucial to helping customers do their job.)
  10. Poor customer service. (Do you answer your customers’ questions before they ask them? Knowing what they expect and at what moment will improve your customer service.)

If you make even just one of these mistakes, you are likely losing sales and hurting your ability to maximize your sales.

And please know, you are not alone in these mistakes. These are the top 10 mistakes I find most often, and I work with a lot of ecommerce entrepreneurs.

This is a perfect outline of the problems Ecommerce Amplifier fixes. The six-step tutorial will solve all of these problems and if you sign up for the Premium level, I’ll even provide you with my expert website review – pointing out exactly what you’re doing right and what you can improve.

4 Ways to Increase Average Order Value

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4 Ways to Increase Average Order Value

Here are 4 ways to increase your customers’ average order value:

1. Increase product price
To do this effectively you must understand what your market is willing to pay and be conscience how competitors price their products.

2. Cross sell similar products
This works when the products are related but often has the opposite effect when the products have little in common. The primary goal of a cross sell should be to increase the customer’s average order value by offering them a related item which they can add to their cart in addition to the item they are currently considering.

3. Offer free shipping offer with constraints
It’s no hidden secret that free shipping works. In fact the majority of Internet shoppers expect free shipping. You can take advantage of this and also increase your average order value by offering free shipping for orders that reach a certain minimum. If you want your average order value to be $45 for example then you may want to consider offering free shipping for all orders $45 and over.

4. Create product bundles
A great way to increase your average order value is to develop combinations of products that when bought separately would cost more. For example, let’s say you sell Apple iPods. You have an iPod Nano for $149.95 and a car adapter priced at $54.95 (a separate cross sell). These items are likely to be purchased together yet when purchased as individual items a customer would have to pay a total of $204.90. Bundle the two together and price it for less and your customer will see it as a deal that can’t be passed up.

These are just a few examples of the ways you can increase the average order value and increase the revenue your online store generates. Test a few and let me know your results.

 

The Most Important Pages to Increase Conversion

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The Most Important Pages to Increase Conversion

You can’t expect website traffic conversion to increase without first targeting the most important areas on your website. As the old saying goes, “you must crawl before you walk and walk before you run.”

For example, focusing on the checkout process to increase sales will yield nothing if your website analytics show the majority of your visitors never make it that far. Why? Because if your visitors are not even making it that deep into your site, then checkout is not the problem. The problem occurs on a page (or pages) earlier in the process.

You must use your analytics program to find where your customer is leaving the process, but I can certainly give you a starting point. You see, although each ecommerce business site is unique, the pages visitors encounter that influence them to make a successful purchase remain fairly consistent.

If you are wondering where to focus your improvement efforts, try adding these pages to the top of your list.

Home Page

The home page should, at the very least, give visitors multiple options for accessing the products on your site and should have some room reserved for the latest promotion. If your website has a high bounce rate from the home page, you need to first focus your efforts on that page with the single objective of getting deeper visitor penetration into the site, i.e., increased page views, longer time on site, etc.

Product Pages

Make sure your presentation, placement, wording, descriptions, photos and customer assurances are in the best location to persuade action. The goal of a product page should be to get the user to add the item to their cart. You can’t make a sale if the item is not in the cart!

Checkout Pages

Once an item has been added to a visitor’s cart, the only way they can get out of your store with that product is through the checkout. If your analytics show a high cart abandonment rate, then you must find the stumbling block for visitors.

There are an almost unlimited number of areas on a website which contribute to higher conversion. In reality, the entire customer experience must be considered if a sustainable and profitable ecommerce business is the goal. The list of pages I provided here is just a starting point for organizing your approach.

Although these pages are important (each serving its role in closing the sale) changing just one will not always guarantee increased sales. You will need to interpret what your analytics are telling you in order to determine which page(s) to devote attention to.

 

Know What to Change to Increase Conversion

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houseconstruction

When a user arrives at a website they follow what should be a pre-defined path based on their demographic profile. While traveling the path they go through a series of pages until they reach the end of their journey where they either make a decision to buy, or they leave. The path they travel should be well planted with information that enables them to complete what are called micro actions all leading up to the actual sale or macro action.

In working with store owners/operators, I teach them to think in terms of each page on a website having one primary job, yet multiple sub jobs—these are the micro actions of the page itself. It’s a lot like building a house in that each element has a job to perform which is dependent on another for the completed project to work as it was intended (the macro action is completed).

In other words, you don’t start building a house by working on the roof first. You need supporting structure to hold that roof if it is to perform its job as expected. Likewise you don’t begin building the walls without some type of support to put them on first, i.e., the cement foundation. Each portion of the house has its individual role (job) and they all perform together to accomplish the primary objective. But without these items all performed in the proper order, the entire structure is in jeopardy of failing.

Using the metaphor above, if visitors are not making it beyond your online store’s home page (foundation), then they aren’t even getting to the checkout process (roof), so focusing your efforts there first isn’t going to strengthen the ultimate outcome.

Likewise, making alterations to the product level page without consideration given to the category page will do you no good. You must first concentrate your efforts to those areas of the funnel that are preventing your visitors from completing the micro actions required to ultimately achieve the macro action.

Here is where your analytics are key in determining where to focus efforts at any given moment.

Success does not come from making random changes and taking estimated shots in the dark. Success comes from making incremental changes based on measurable and objective results then having the ability to weight the impact those changes have in reaching your goal.

Focus on the Ecommerce Website First to Increase Conversion

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Focus on the Ecommerce Website First to Increase Conversion

In ecommerce many stores adopt a “traffic,” “product,” “website” (TPW) mentality when setting up their online stores. But falling into this trap can often end up hurting your business before it ever has a chance.

Instead of TPW, I propose the following general approach as a starting point to turn an ecommerce store around: “website,” “product,” “traffic” or WPT. Notice that in my approach I target traffic last.

First you have to refine the look of the website, then the presentation of the product, and then you drive the traffic.

Here’s why.

The website is one of the main factors that will ultimately help the customer determine if they are going to buy your product or not, it’s not the product itself (this is especially true in competitive markets). Without the key elements that help the customer, it doesn’t matter what you sell, you’re going to have a hard time selling it.

After attention to the website is complete, the product focus comes next and this is because without a product you have nothing to market and no target to market to. You must understand how your customers use your product, how they interact with it, where they frequent, and what competitors also sell the same or similar product before you can accurately target them for marketing. A complete understanding of your product from all angles will help you speak to potential customers in your advertising, resulting in more qualified traffic, higher sales, and less expense.

The last focus in my approach is traffic. I never focus on traffic until all other elements are in place first—providing me the best opportunity at gaining the highest return on my advertising dollar (the investment needed to drive traffic to the site).

At this point, with all other elements present, driving traffic makes sense. With the website in “conversion ready” form, I now provide myself with the best opportunity at winning sales from my advertising efforts. Prior to this it wouldn’t have mattered if I drove “qualified” traffic to the site, the likelihood of it resulting in a sale was slim.

Yes, it takes more than just a few tweaks to really turn a business around, but starting with the right approach is often what is needed to jumpstart the process.

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The Ecommerce Expert offers products and services that help move ecommerce businesses toward growth and success. Our products and services help store owners maximize their ROI, decreasing expenses and increasing revenue. The net result is sustainable growth and stability with above average results.