Which are the most common e-commerce website mistakes that prevent businesses from growing to their full potential? Almost everyone shops online nowadays. In 2018, the e-commerce giant Amazon made an $11.2bn profit. E-commerce is a lucrative niche, which is evident from the profits amassed by Amazon and other online retailers such as Alibaba. However, to be successful online, there’s more to do other than just launching a website. A design consultant will be able to advice you on your website.
Everyone is trying to show how their products are the best. Successful online stores with sizeable budgets are doing everything possible to ensure they attract more visitors which eventually translate to more sales.
Most online retailers aim to attract more customers. They want more page views and increased conversions, but that’s easier said than done. To stand out in the online market, you must have a really good website. If you want to win in this industry, you must avoid the common e-commerce website mistakes that cause many sites to fail.
To ensure your Singapore e-commerce site stays afloat and doesn’t drive away customers, you must know which mistakes to avoid.
Here are several e-commerce website mistakes you should avoid making:
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Slow loading speed
Slow websites tend to drive away users and they may never be back again.
Page loading one of the most significant aspects that contribute to a good user experience. Most times we assume that, if a page is aesthetically pleasing, by using a good mix of colors and typography, the user will like it.
But it does not matter how good your site looks, visitors care about loading speed more than anything else. In addition to that, Google also considers loading speed when ranking sites.
Users are only willing to wait for about 6-10 seconds. Anything above that, makes them abandon slow pages. When a customer visits your site, they probably want to select a product and buy. That’s your window. If you keep them waiting, they’ll look for another alternative.
Loading speed is one of the e-commerce website mistakes that people overlook. A website’s response speed is very critical to your success online. You can market your site all over social media and attract more customers, but if your page is slow, your efforts will have gone to waste.
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Lack of Unique Content
Investing time in quality content does pay off. Good content is as important in e-commerce as in every other site.
But sometimes, in the case of e-commerce, there can be redundant product information. Most online shops sell similar products, so duplicate content can be an issue.
Also, remember that Google punishes sites with duplicate content. Most stores use product descriptions from online manufacturers. Such duplicate content may lead to zero or very little engine traffic on your product pages since they’ll be indexed as duplicates of content that exists in other sites.
The best thing is to take time to create content that is more unique and catchier. Write better product descriptions that show you understand the buyer’s journey. It’s recommended that you create content that convinces the user to buy goods from your site rather than alternative online retailers.
Also, don’t ignore the power of images. Don’t rely on the manufacturer’s images. You can get your own, especially for product reviews. It’s a good way to earn the customer’s trust. It shows you’ve actually used the product. The image alt-texts should also have related keywords for higher ranking.
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Crawlability
Crawlability is the only way search engines index your content. If your site is not crawlable, you connect won’t appear anywhere in search engine results.
While most people think that more indexed pages are better for any site, that does not apply for e-commerce sites. This is one of commonly misunderstood e-commerce website mistakes. You will need to block search engines from crawling some parts of an e-commerce website.
A good example is sites that have content filters applied. If not handled properly, this may lead to duplicate content.
All internal search and filters should be blocked to ensure irrelevant pages are not indexed.
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Poor Security
We can all agree that e-commerce, feels like magic. You get orders online unlike the traditional models of business. Money goes straight to your company account, and products are shipped to your users wherever they are located in Singapore.
Every e-commerce site is responsible for the customer’s private information. Even the payment details. You want this information to remain secure at all times. If your safety is breached, you run the risk of losing your reputation.
You should ensure that your chosen CMS takes care of security breaches or any hacking attempts that may occur. To avoid this headache, consider an e-commerce-as-a-service platform. Make sure your site is https secured to earn customer trust. That’s usually a red-light for most customers. If you’re using any software, update it frequently.
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Compelling the User to Register
A first-time visitor should not be compelled to register. This is an e-commerce website mistake that most retailers continue to make. It does not make sense to make a customer register before they even view your product. They could as well prefer to make a purchase first and register at leisure.
Consider the user as a guest on your website. The best approach is to allow them to shop first and save items on their shopping cart. You can make them register at the checkout when they have finished shopping.
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Unresponsive designs
According to a recent survey, most internet traffic comes from mobile users. Your website has to be responsive to different devices and adjust accordingly. You need to give your users a good shopping experience.
A good minimalist intuitive interface, designed with easy navigation is the best way to please your users. Whether on small screens or large ones, they should be able to go through your catalog seamlessly.
There’s more earning potential from mobile users compared to desktop visitors.
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Confusing Domain Name
A good name should be memorable and short. Visitors shouldn’t experience any difficulty remembering your website’s URL. This, together with a good logo will give your website a unique identity.
Vulnerabilities In The Security System
Merchants often make the same mistakes that contribute to security vulnerabilities, such as a lack of system maintenance and delayed response times to breaches and events.
As technology improves, so do the tactics fraudsters employ to take advantage of organisations’ weaknesses. Criminals are turning to online shopping since traditional methods of stealing credit card information, such as POS breaches and card skimming, are on the decline. As a result of the flu pandemic, more firms are using internet sales channels than ever before.
As we’ve seen in high-profile breaches, no firm is exempt from the effects of fraud—even the world’s largest companies. Hackers were able to access Macy’s online payment and e-wallet services in 2019 after successfully gaining access to the systems.
Knowing what types of fraud are being perpetrated against organisations and which security flaws allow fraudsters to take advantage of is essential if you want to avoid being a victim. The most frequent eCommerce security concerns, as well as the most typical mistakes made by online merchants, will be discussed in this article. To put it another way,
The most prevalent e-commerce security risks are phishing and malware.
It’s critical to be aware of potential security dangers so that you can take precautions against them.
E-commerce security concerns can come in a variety of forms.
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When a card issuer refunds money to a consumer, it’s called a chargeback fraud.
However, chargebacks are meant to safeguard customers from scammers who want to get their hands on free items. It is possible for a consumer to commit chargeback fraud by disputing a transaction with their credit card company or bank on the basis of unfounded accusations. Aside from dealing with product and inventory losses, retailers may also be forced to pay expensive fees in these situations.
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Credit Card Testing
A bot or programmed script is used to test lists of unlawfully acquired credit card information collected from a merchant’s website for credit card testing, also known as authorisation testing. Because merchants must pay authorization fees provided by card organisations whether or not purchases are completed, these assaults may destroy retailers and, in some cases, ruin smaller enterprises.
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E-skimming
It occurs when a hacker takes control of a website’s checkout page in order to capture the personal and financial information of consumers as they input it. In order to achieve this, malicious code can be added to a website, or a compromised third party can be used to get access. We’ll talk about how to avoid being a victim of this and other types of scams in this blog.
The Most Common Mistakes Made By Merchants When It Comes To Security
Avoiding the most common security blunders made by merchants may go a long way toward keeping your business safe from credit card theft. Locking your doors is the bare minimum you can do to safeguard yourself and your residence.
Assuming your system is vulnerable to intrusion, you should take steps to guard against known points of entry. This way, you can concentrate your efforts on avoiding or reducing the unexpected.
A Failure To Perform Routine System Maintenance
Your B2B eCommerce website may be vulnerable to hackers if you are using out-of-date software. Any SaaS tools you use to handle e-commerce should have regular updates applied. Choosing an eCommerce platform should begin with this in mind.
Is this platform updating frequently, and what security mechanisms does it have?
These are two important things to ask. When it comes to eCommerce solutions, we tend to focus on aesthetics and usability, but security should not be overlooked.
The ideal practice is to supplement your security measures with a professional system that has more deep expertise for continually evaluating your site for any vulnerabilities in addition to the constructed monitoring skills your e-commerce platform may already have.
Detecting fraud before it’s too late requires the ability to get alerts when certain criteria are crossed. You’ll want to ensure that the proper person on your team receives these notifications so that if there are any problems, you can have them taken care of straight immediately.
When it comes to data management, there are two major issues:
This year, 37% of all data breaches investigated by Verizon involved stolen or weak credentials, according to the report. One of the simplest ways to ensure the safety of your company’s data and the data of your customers is to require all users to use complex passwords.
By saving just the information you require, you may further safeguard your clients’ privacy. Secure payment processors tokenize clients’ financial information, preventing your staff from seeing it ensuring compliance with PCI standards (requirements firms must follow when processing credit card transactions) and preventing sensitive information from being accessed by criminals.
Use the best practice:
Establish company-wide policies to enforce the use of long, difficult-to-guess passwords across all systems, as well as procedures for changing default passwords on hardware and software.
When constructing passwords, be sure to utilise a combination of letters, numbers, and special characters, and to employ different capitalization styles. The more one-of-a-kind your password is, the more protected it is.
In comparison, a password with six characters, no capitalization, no numerals and no special symbols would take just 0.077 seconds to break, according to the PCI Security Standards Council (PCI SSC).
A Lack Of Training For Employees
It’s essential to have security software in place, but if your staff don’t know how to follow the proper standards, it’s pointless.
Phishing attempts, which include sending emails that look to be from a legitimate sender in order to collect personal information, have improved over time, but according to Verizon, they still account for 22% of all security breaches.
The ideal method is to:
There are more sophisticated phishing attacks that use social engineering to fool unsuspecting victims. Ensuring that your workers are aware of the warning indications of a phishing attempt, such as misspelt words, erroneous URLs, and demands for money transfers, should be an integral part of your onboarding process.
Make sure your customer support staff has clear protocols in place to verify the legitimacy of consumer requests for account modifications.
The Vulnerability Of A Third-Party Service
Vulnerabilities might arise from any third party with access to your environment. Hackers gained access to Kroger’s sensitive documents in February of 2021 because of an unpatched security hole in a third-party cloud service the firm uses.
The best practice is to make sure that everybody who needs admission to your system has the proper credentials set up for them. Additionally, you should keep an eye on your plugins and third-party integrations to ensure they aren’t being misused.
The sooner you uninstall a service you no longer use from your system, the better. Your data will be more secure if you open a few doors as possible into your system.
The Vulnerabilities And Events Are Not Addressed Quickly Enough
Often, a flaw in a system has lasted for some time before it is exploited by an attacker. In 2020, IBM predicts that the average time to discover a breach will be 228 days.
When it comes to spotting possible security holes, every second matters. It’s critical to take action as soon as you become aware of a possible risk. Businesses who fail to quickly notify customers of a security breach might face large fines, as well as a bad image, as a result.
When it comes to privacy issues, it’s not a question of whether they’ll happen, but rather when they’ll happen. Preventing a possible fraud assault is your greatest hope of minimising its impact.
Set up tools to keep an eye on your systems at all times, and develop an incident response strategy that specifies who on your team needs to be involved in the event of an occurrence.
Choosing The Proper Payment Processor As A Business Partner
Because security breaches are so difficult to fix, it’s imperative that businesses take proactive steps to reduce their exposure. When merchants know what typical eCommerce security risks look like and how to prevent weaknesses, they can better safeguard their companies from fraudsters.
Consider a payment processor that will work with your company to put in place rules that will reduce the risk of fraudulent behaviour when selecting one.
Limiting the exposure of sensitive data by working with a payment gateway that is already integrated into your ERP system will help you meet your security goals.
Minor Mistakes In E-Commerce Have A Significant Impact On Conversion Rates
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Incorrect Spelling
If the spelling is excellent, no one will notice it. When it comes to creating an e-commerce website, grammatical errors can have a negative impact on sales. The initial point of contact between a buyer and a vendor is through a website.
It can’t afford to lose customers because of a lack of attention to detail. A company’s dependability and competency might be called into question if its communications contain errors in language and punctuation.
To avoid aggravating consumers and guarantee that no errors are made.
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Theme with a Dark Background
In the same way that language tells a narrative, colour does the same. It has the ability to arouse memories or a wide variety of emotions. Ecommerce retailers may overestimate the strength of their powerful instrument and make an eCommerce error.
The majority of web business owners choose a light-coloured backdrop. It makes it easy for people to read the content. Eye strain is minimised because of the customary use of black lettering on a white backdrop.
Furthermore, light colours don’t draw attention away from the content, allowing customers to concentrate on what they’re buying. If you’ve been thinking about making yourself stand out by creating a black background, pause for a moment.
Despite the fact that such a design makes an e-commerce website appear innovative, it may cause eye strain and impair the ability to absorb important information.
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Overwhelmed Website
“Take a look at these hot items! Isn’t this new collection amazing? First-time clients are in for a treat!”
This is what a visitor sees when a homepage is overburdened. Rather than pique customers’ attention and aid their shopping experience, it overburdens them with information and impedes their efforts to find what they’re looking for.
E-commerce is a convenient alternative to traditional brick-and-mortar retailers. People expect to be able to obtain information fast and easily on the internet.
A homepage for an e-commerce site doesn’t need to detail all of the information. Customers are enticed to browse the rest of the site by a less informational but visually appealing portion.
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Taxes On Goods And Services
Merchants’ hearts sink when they hear the words “sales tax.” For example, there are regions, counties and even specialized taxation districts to be considered. Customers who see a product’s price in a catalogue and then discover that it includes sales tax may become angry.
By putting this data on the Customer service page, merchants may notify consumers in advance. Customers are less likely to abandon their shopping basket because of pricing difficulties if they are made aware that prices presented on the website do not include local sales tax.
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Button for Purchasing Red
The colour of call-to-action buttons cannot be optimised in a single way. If you want to make an e-store seem and feel cohesive, you need to incorporate these essential features into the overall design.
Different colours can be tested to see how they affect conversions. Despite the fact that red is one of the most common colours for CTAs, it may really have the opposite impact.
Visitors may be deterred from hitting a button by the colour red, which is associated with stop and danger signs. Clearance sales may benefit from it, though, because it creates an air of urgency.
From an outside perspective, a website might be a headache to examine up close. Investing in e-commerce development and design may not only be a waste of time but might also reduce the conversion rate.
E-commerce blunders may help businesses better learn what customers anticipate from their web stores and enhance their own appropriately.
Final Remarks
These are the most common e-commerce website mistakes that drive away potential customers. If you notice these grey areas on your site, you make an effort to fix them. It could be the only thing preventing you from maximizing your profits as an online retailer.
Once you give your users a good experience on your site, you will get more traffic. Our website designers in Singapore will help you achieve these goals by optimising your e-commerce site accordingly. Contact us today for more details.
