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Electronic Commerce – Seven Mistakes to Avoid

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It has happened to everyone who has ever experienced the e-commerce. We had everything ready to buy something, with our credit card in hand and, for one reason or another, the deal never closed.

Maybe you gave up after the third time you were asked for your card details. Or maybe it was the exorbitant shipping costs. Or the website gave an error that caused it to close. The truth is that there are at least seven issues that can cause potential customers to flee your website. If you want to attract customers, it is best to take note and avoid the most common pitfalls.

1. Your website is too slow

Every two seconds of loading time equates to an abandonment rate of 8% according to the Gomez from Compuware (link). If you can lower your loading time from eight seconds to two, your conversion rate will reach 74%. It's easy to see why: do you really want to waste your time waiting for some website to load?

Unfortunately, there are many reasons why yours might be taking so long to charge. Several experts claim that many websites e-commerce are overloaded with third-party plugins for Facebook, Twitter and other ad networks – which can often slow down a website. Another problem may arise from the Cloud: if you are using a CDN (Content Delivery Network), your website may be slower if your provider is having problems.

2. Your website is too complicated

If you ask your customers to take more than five steps to buy something on your website, then you're asking too much. We recommend the following sequence:

  • Welcome page / shopping cart contents
  • Billing section
  • Shipping section
  • Payment module
  • Confirmation/payment page

3. Your payment system is overwhelming

At this stage you may want to follow our advice on which fields to fill in. Is there anything more frustrating than entering your name, address, credit card number and three security digits and then entering it all again just because you forgot your zip code!? And yes, if the majority of your business is located in Portugal, it will be better to put it at the beginning, rather than forcing people to search for the country.

4. You are charging too much for deliveries

Experts say if you're charging more than ten percent of the item to ship it, then you're charging too much. If so, your potential customers will abandon your website as soon as they reach the checkout page, opting for a competitor that charges less shipping costs.

5. You're overselling your Tablet App

If a potential customer visits your website on their iPad, that doesn't necessarily mean they'll be willing to download your iPad app. Don't invest too much in customizing your mobile applications. Unless it adds significant value, most people will ask themselves “Why bother?”

An alternative is to optimize your website for the best possible experience on the tablet, something that, until now, very few are doing.

6. Does your website have a performance terrible in certain browsers

You might even be a fan of Google Chrome, but there is still a whole world full of people using old versions of Internet Explorer. Have you tested your website on all browsers? It is that, not infrequently, when websites do not display correctly in one or more browsers, their users tend to abandon them.

7. You are offering irrelevant offers to your customers

Okay, you've just made your sale. This person has indicated to you that they are interested in the items you sell, so it is natural to conclude that they may want to buy something else from you in the near future. So, why not propose a product that you might actually be interested in? An example: if someone buys you a bed, you should not suggest to your customer to buy more beds, but rather complementary products, such as pillows or sheets. This is because, as a rule, a bed is something we buy every five to ten years…

What worries you about the e-commerce it concerns? Let us know in the comments box.

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