Business Bullets - Marketing

Ecommerce is one of the most basic ways to generate revenue for your business but it is also one of the easiest things to get wrong. By seeing your website through a consumer's eyes you can avoid five of the most common ecommerce mistakes.

1 - Moving an important feature

Remember that with returning customers they are coming back for a reason. Now it's more likely that they have come back for your products rather than the position of your 'Products' link, but if they can't find your products because you decided its current position doesn't quite fit the new design you like – how do you expect them to buy with you?

At the end of the day you should remember to make ecommerce as easy as you can for your customers and this may mean sacrificing some design aspects, but what would you rather have; sales or a pretty website?

2 - Not focusing on the products

When customers are browsing your site for the product they need, the main thing they want is a preview. Shops on the high street all have products in their shop windows to entice customers in – why should it be any different online?

Instead of a lengthy paragraph introducing people to your business, get straight to the product and make your site easy to navigate around.

3 - Rushing your photography

Shopping online means heavily relying on visuals and intuition, so to make this easier for your visitors, ensure you are spending time on your photos and making everything as visually pleasing as possible. If you are advertising clothes ensure they are on a mannequin with images from all angles. Likewise for furniture, put it in a household setting so people may visualise it in their own homes.

4 - Insisting on users creating accounts

Selling your products should be the number one priority for any ecommerce site not collecting irrelevant information and there is nothing more annoying than filling your basket with products before being told to "Please log in to continue".

To combat this, ask if they'd like to create an account after they've completed to checkout process. Encourage the sign up by outlining the benefits of signing up with you e.g. email newsletter with exclusive offers, being able to track an order etc.

5 - Not utilising social media

Facebook and Twitter make for great marketing tools - and they're completely free. Although you may need to spend a few hours a week creating content for your social media channels, the benefits of sharing, liking and commenting are priceless.

Social media works particularly well with desirable products (clothing, jewellery etc.) and by adding Twitter links and a Facebook 'Like' button on your site your customers can share your products with their friends, generating traffic.