Nowadays, there are many ecommerce stores and many more are being established every day. The main reason is that consumers find it more convenient to do their shopping online. However, not every ecommerce business is successful. The fact of the matter is that modern-day consumers have certain expectations when it comes to their online shopping.
Ecommerce stores that fail to meet those expectations or neglect to build their websites with their customers’ best interest in mind will only lose customers and eventually fail. After all, without customers, there are no sales, and thus no means of ever reaching business success. Here are a few things that turn ecommerce customers away.
Sluggish websites
There’s probably nothing that aggravates online consumers more than slow and sluggish websites. As a matter of fact, 47% of online customers expect for a website load in less than 2 seconds, while 64% of mobile users expect that your pages will load in less than 4 seconds. Moreover, a single second delay in page load time results in 16% decrease in customers’ satisfaction, 11% decrease in page views and 7% decrease in conversion rate. That means that you won’t just lose customers if your website is slow, but also lose a lot of profit in the long-run.
Poor navigation
Being unable to properly navigate your website is quite frustrating for your customers. This is especially true if you have a lot of various products on display. Customers browsing through your website expect a seamless experience and they want your products to be properly categorized and labeled. Moreover, running into duplicate content, missing pages, as well as being redirected to a page they don’t want to visit, will most definitely drive your customers away.
You should consider search engine optimization (SEO) for your website, in order to properly index your website and get rid of any issues. If you have difficulties managing on your own, you can always consult with this reputable company that specializes in SEO from Hong Kong. That way, you can manage any on-site and technical issues on your website.
Lack of mobile friendliness
If you want to lose a lot of customers, then make sure your website isn’t mobile-friendly. Nowadays, mobile online search traffic has surpassed that of desktop traffic. That means there are more people browsing the Internet using a mobile device.
You must ensure that mobile users also enjoy a seamless experience browsing through your ecommerce website. You don’t have to have or maintain two versions of your website, one for mobile one for desktop. It’s enough to implement a responsive design that can adapt to various screen sizes and devices.
Too many ads
Having banner ads, pop up ads and flashy advertisement on your website pages, is a deal breaker for many people. Ads are always too intrusive and oftentimes potentially harmful. No matter what the experts claim about ads being meant to support websites or promote various things, the majority of online consumers simply hate them. If your website is filled with these types of ads, there’s a good chance that most of your website visitors will simply leave. A well-designed ad here and there won’t bother customers too much. However, a clutter of various ads will surely drive them away.
Insufficient security measures
Nowadays, online consumers are much more informed and tech savvy. Cybersecurity is in fact one of their top priorities. After all, customers have to disclose their sensitive information, such as credit card information, email address, billing address and so on, on ecommerce websites. If your ecommerce store doesn’t have the means to adequately protect such information, customers will simply refuse to do business with you.
Moreover, customers will notice if you lack the proper security measures. For example, not having HTTPS protocol on your website is the first sign of poor security. You don’t have to have it on every page, although it’s recommended that you do. At least, make sure that the checkout process is properly secured.
Lack of additional information
It’s important to understand that customers these days prefer to know with whom they’re dealing with before they actually decide to make purchases. An ecommerce website should always provide customers with additional information they might find useful.
For example, disclose contact information, such as email, phone or address, so that customers can contact you for support if they have any issues or questions. Without a way to contact a business, customers will refuse to make purchases. What’s more, you have to disclose information about packaging, shipping costs, delivery and so on. There’s almost nothing better at driving away customers than hidden costs and inconveniences they weren’t aware of.
It’s much easier to lose customers than it is to attract them. Ecommerce stores cannot exist without customers who make purchases. That’s why it’s of the utmost importance to have their best interest in mind and make an effort to meet their expectations, needs and demands.
