Mistakes You Should Avoid When Starting Your Online Store
In e-commerce there are very small mistakes that can lead to a huge loss, so it is important that you know them in order to avoid them.
Simple things and details that may seem trivial have a very big impact in determining whether your online store will succeed and generate profits for you or, God forbid, it will fail.
In this article, we will talk about the most important set of mistakes that you should avoid when starting your online store, but because they are a bit too many, we have divided them into 5 basic categories:
- Not doing the necessary research before starting your online store.
- Making special technical mistakes when building your store.
- Focusing on selling only and not striving to gain the trust of customers.
- Neglecting marketing and its impact on your customers.
- Don’t put yourself in the shoes of your customers and only think as an online store owner.
Yes, these addresses may seem a bit general, but you will find a lot of important information in them, and the most important mistakes that you should avoid when starting your online store.
In order to prepare and write this article, we reviewed many online stores, in addition to reading many articles that talk about trials and errors.
We also reviewed and analyzed dozens of reviews about some online stores, and after all this research we focused on the common and common problems and errors in the Arab e-commerce world.
Our goal in this article is for you to avoid these errors when starting your online store, or even to recognize them after you launch your store and fix them.
We are at your service and our goal is to help you increase your sales and profits, come on, what are you waiting for? Grab a pen and paper, grab a cup of coffee and start reading this important article.
Mistake #1: Not doing the necessary research before starting your online store
Some people rush and launch their online store before they even have the necessary experience or know what they are offering, and this rush can sometimes cause many big mistakes.
Especially in the big important stages that determine a lot of things after that, for example, many people make serious mistakes about understanding the market and identifying the segment or category of customers they target.
You find many complaints on the Internet that electronic stores suffer from a lack of sales despite the quality of the store and the products sold on it. If you search well, you will find that the store does not have a specific category to target, and if it does, it does not target it correctly.
This mistake is very fatal, and it can fail your business before it even starts, so study the market thoroughly and understand the ideal customer for you.
You can also create a buyer persona for the category you target, in order to get to know them and their problems well so that you can convince them and push them later to buy your products.
Another mistake that you should avoid when starting your online store is not understanding your products properly, is that even possible? Yes, this is possible and happens a lot of times.
Many online sellers do not offer a unique selling point (USP) for their products, or in the simplest sense, the reason why customers buy from them and not from other competitors on the Internet.
In order to reach this unique selling point, you must understand your product well, and combine this understanding with the understanding of the customer you are targeting and persuading him to buy from you, or in other words, make him an offer he cannot refuse.
By understanding your target customer and the product you are selling, you will be able to determine some other details, such as: the appropriate pricing strategy and the ideal marketing plan for your online store.
And now with another mistake of this nature, which is in fact the biggest mistake that you should avoid when starting your online store, because it can simply kill your business completely in the bud, which is choosing the wrong or inappropriate e-commerce platform .
This error may seem insignificant, but in reality it is one of the most common reasons why online stores fail.
Whether you are going to use WooCommerce shopify or any other platform, or even going to WordPress.
You will have to do a long research about the advantages and disadvantages of each of these options, with further research on the competitors and what they use, and finally you will need a long session to think about which of these options is right for you.
The choice you make will not only determine how your products will be presented or sold to your customers, but will also have a huge role in attracting your customers, expanding your business, and increasing your sales and profits.
That is why you should not only rely on the popularity of the platform only in the process of choosing it, but you should know if it:
- Will your plan and project serve in the long term?
- Suitable with your current budget?
- Contains the tools and add-ons you need to make your e-commerce successful?
- Suitable with your technical expertise in dealing with it?
- Provide the user experience you plan or not?
This article explains to you the different types of e-commerce platforms, in addition to providing a review of the most important of these platforms, and provides you with useful tips that will help you choose the right platform for you.
Mistake 2: Making technical mistakes when building your store
Technical errors are another type of error that you should avoid when starting your online store, which despite their simplicity and ease of fixing, have devastating effects.
The first and most important mistake is not to make your store compatible with mobile devices, many beginners or new to e-commerce neglect this point.
Of course this is not true because most of your browsing and buying now is through mobile phones, and I can say with confidence that at least 65% of your store sales will be made through mobile phones.
So when choosing a template for your store, make sure that it is highly compatible with mobile phones, and that it is also fast and interactive to suit different screen sizes and dimensions.
This point brings us to another general point, which is choosing the right template for your online store, and the proportion I am talking about here is its ability to give customers a good user experience.
A bad user experience can cause customers to leave your store without completing a purchase, and as a result, you will lose a lot of your potential sales.
You can choose it simply by knowing your perception of your store and understanding the characteristics or features that will help you achieve your vision or imagination.
This pre-visualization will help you choose a template that is more flexible and has the optimization or modification options that you want for your store.
Another technical mistake that many people make is not protecting your store and providing adequate cyber security for it, and this is very important because cyber attacks will have an undesirable impact on your project and the trust of your customers in your brand.
At least use an SSL certificate and antivirus software, and if you want to learn more about how to secure your store write this to us in the comments, and we will write a comprehensive guide for you.
The last technical error , which we will talk about in this article is not to use practices suy in order to improve export your site for search engines.
SEO is an investment for your store, and it is capable of generating incredible sales for you, and this is just by a few simple things.
We are thinking in the coming period to publish SEO practices for online stores as well as a guide to SEO for Shopify stores, if you are interested in reading such articles let us know in the comments below.
Mistake #3: Focusing on selling only and not striving to gain the trust of customers
It is easy to avoid most of the mistakes we mentioned earlier, they are somewhat common mistakes, and with the help of specialists you will be able to avoid them, or even you will fix them if you have already fallen into them.
But the mistakes we’re going to talk about now are about how you manage your store and e-commerce and the methodology you use to showcase and market your products and engage with customers.
For this reason, they are fundamental mistakes that you should avoid when starting your online store, because they will make you lose a lot of time, money and most importantly customers.
Take it from me as a rule: To succeed in e-commerce, focus on winning customers and not winning sales, one customer may earn you a hundred sales, while perhaps if you focus on sales wrongly, one sale may lose you a hundred customers.
The secret is not to make the customer buy a product from you, but to make him keep buying from your store and be a reason to bring new customers to your store, whether through his nomination or reviews of your products or any other way.
Here, I will present the most important customer acquisition sub-mistakes that you should avoid when starting your online store:
a. Using poor quality images for your products
Many Arab stores post bad pictures of their products. Pictures do not highlight their features and do not even present a real perception to the customer about this product, and this unfortunately causes them to lose a lot of potential sales.
According to global statistics, 61% of shoppers consider that not using high-quality images is reason enough to make them stop buying the product, and we definitely don’t want that.
Unfortunately, the worst case scenario here is not that the customer does not buy the product, but rather that he buys it, and then finds that it is not as he imagined and wanted, and as a result puts a bad review about your product and your store or warns others not to buy from you.
So you have to pay attention to the quality of your product images, and turn them from a weakness to a point of distinction for your brand, your products, and your online store.
To do this, you have to understand that the customer through their screen cannot hold your product and inspect it, so try to fill this gap using images.
Photograph the product from several angles and try to highlight the material of the product. Try to put pictures or even videos of it while using it in practical life. This may be a little cumbersome at first, but believe me, it will return to you with great results.
B. Not seeking reviews and social proof
I won’t talk too much about the importance of reviews, but I’ll let the stats speak for me: 76% of shoppers say the lack of product reviews makes them less desirable and likely to buy.
Imagine if you were the customer and were confused about buying the product from two different stores, wouldn’t you buy the product that had positive reviews from previous buyers?
So invest to get these positive reviews, try to encourage different buyers whether through coupons, through emails, or even by showing you how important these reviews are to you.
Once your products get some positive reviews, you’ll see a huge increase in sales, and that’s no wonder because 80% of people who buy online treat product reviews as recommendations from people they know.
And this thing we’re talking about is called collective proof or collective recognition, and you have to treat it from now on as the hen that lays the golden egg.
c. Do not write a detailed description of your products on your store
Despite the importance of high-quality images, as mentioned above, images alone will not do all the work, and you must use the magic tool called product description with them.
The task of describing the products is to tell the customer the features of the product, how he can use it, why he should buy it, and most importantly why he buys it from you without all the competitors. In short, the product description is your way to convince the customer to buy.
The idea here is the same in using high-quality images of your products, that the customer is not able to touch or hold and try the product.
A detailed description will make the customer more confident in your products, their quality and suitability, and will make them more likely to buy from you.
Dr.. Neglecting to communicate with customers and provide after-sales services
The last mistake is a very common and frequent mistake, and many fall into it because they think that communication with customers and after-sales services is only for large stores.
However, in reality anyone can do it, the smallest seller or store you deal with in fact does this to you spontaneously.
So, try to provide effective and fast ways for your customers to reach you and communicate with you, and also try to ask them about their opinion of your products, and whether they liked it and met their expectations.
This simple command will greatly benefit you in increasing positive reviews on your products, as well as helping you to solve the problems of your customers and increase your sales in the long run.
Mistake 4: Neglecting Marketing and Its Impact on Your Customers
Products do not sell themselves and customers do not follow your products, but the opposite is true, so you need to let them know that you exist and convince them to buy the products they need from you and not from a competitor.
For this reason, marketing and I focus here on e-marketing is very important, and even if you make reasonable profits and have a satisfactory customer base, marketing is able to double your profits and attract a lot of new customers to your store.
By optimizing the SEO of your online store, you will be able to ensure that there are new customers on a regular basis, and what any store owner would want but this.
Therefore, you have to have a marketing strategy from the first day of your online store, and in general, the practices of improving your store’s ranking will also help you with your customers, including detailed descriptions, high-quality images, the appropriateness of your mobile store, and other things that we already mentioned earlier.
You should also take advantage of social media. Through Facebook, Pinterest, or other appropriate platforms, you can communicate with your customers and target them in different ways, and you will certainly be able to attract many new customers to your store.
So this platform may move your online store to another place in the coming months and years, and you will know why and how when you read the article.
Before we move on to the fifth and final mistake that you should avoid when starting your online store, I should draw your attention to the possibility of creating a blog for your online store.
Yes, a blog is not surprising, according to e-commerce experts; Blogging helps with SEO as well as helping to increase the loyalty of your existing customers and get you new ones.
It is a great way for content marketing whether by highlighting the features of your products or teaching your customers about your store’s niche, and in all cases, you will be the winner.
Mistake #5: Not putting yourself in the shoes of your customers and only thinking like an online store owner
And now with the last mistake that you must avoid when starting your online store, which is not trying your store as a customer instead of being its owner.
Whether this is in terms of the user experience or the payment options that it provides, or buying without registering in the store, or other things that we will talk about now.
The most important way to obtain customer satisfaction is to pay attention to these details, which may be forgotten by the store owner over time or preoccupied with them.
Unfortunately, the risk of these errors is stronger in the beginning, because you may alienate customers who are coming to buy from you, and therefore you will get very little and unsatisfactory profits.
For example, if the navigation on your site is difficult or the user experience is poor, the customer will feel annoyed and immediately leave your store and buy from another place, there are dozens of alternatives for them.
Or if you provide limited payment options that are not suitable with your customers, they will not be able to buy from you, and therefore you will lose a number of sales that you would have achieved, so you should try to provide as many payment methods as possible that suit your customers and their needs.
You also have to save your customers time and allow quick purchase without registering in your store, as some customers may be annoyed at the idea of forcing them to register on your site and entering a lot of information about themselves.
And this is not my words, according to many statistics, the length or complexity of the payment and purchase processes is the third most common reason why customers leave online stores without completing their purchases.
So try to make it a few simple steps or if you force them to register in your store make the registration process in a few minutes, and take only the basic information.
Also, try to provide good customer service to your customers, respond quickly to them, and always put their happiness and satisfaction as a goal for you, even if this will make you lose money in the short term in order to satisfy your customers – of course, this is in certain circumstances and not in all circumstances.
Conclusion
The five mistakes that we mentioned in this article are mistakes that you should avoid when starting your online store, in order to achieve the sales and profits you want.
As you have noticed, the number of errors is much greater than five, but we have seen that it is better to divide them into general errors to increase the interest for you, dear reader.
And I want to assure you that even if you do make these mistakes, you still have the chance to make things right and make your dream sales.
I hope you enjoyed this article, and I would like if you share your opinion with us in the comments below, and ask us if something is on your mind about e-commerce, and we will get back to you as soon as possible.
Also, share with us your experience with these errors as a shopper, or if you are the owner of a website, your experience in solving one of these errors, and if there are other errors that deserve to be added to the article