If you’re running an online store on Shopify, it’s important to make sure you implement proper techniques to improve your sales and customer experience to be able to build trust and retain them for a longer period. A simple common mistake can really hurt your store’s performance and reputation in many ways.
In this post, we will discuss 14 of the most common Shopify ecommerce store blunders and how to avoid them. Also, by following the tips mentioned here, you can keep your store running smoothly and generate more revenue.
So, let’s get started!
#1 Not Optimizing for Mobile
With over half of all web traffic now coming from mobile devices, it’s important to make sure your Shopify store is accessible and easy to use on a smartphone or tablet. If your store isn’t optimized to display products and descriptions on any screen size, you’re already missing out on a lot of customers who shop on mobile devices.
To avoid this, we recommend using a responsive Shopify theme that dynamically adjusts your store elements according to your customer’s screen size. This will also ensure that customers have a positive experience regardless of how they’re accessing your site.
#2 Not Offering Product Variants
It is always important to give your customers options to choose from different colors, sizes, and designs for your products. Having multiple product variants displayed in your store will help your customers shop for the perfect product for their needs. If they can’t find what they’re looking for on your site, they’ll likely go elsewhere.
To avoid this, we recommend offering a variety of product options for each listing. This will give customers more choice and increase the chances of them making a purchase.
#3 Not Creating High-Quality Product Photos
Product photos are the front face of your listed products on your Shopify store. The more enticing and high quality they are, the more likely your customers will buy your products. If your photos are blurry or poorly lit, customers will lose interest in your overall store and go to your competitors to make a purchase.
To avoid this, we recommend using a professional camera or hiring a photographer to take product photos for you. This will ensure that your photos are of the highest quality and help you make more sales.
#4 Not Writing compelling Product Descriptions
Your product descriptions play a vital role in convincing customers to buy from you, so it’s important to make sure they’re well-written and persuasive. If your descriptions are short and uninspired, customers will likely move on to another store.
To avoid this, we recommend taking the time to write compelling and detailed descriptions for each of your products. This will help you sell your products in a more efficient way.
#5 Not Offering Compelling Discounts
Whether you’re a B2C business or selling wholesale to B2B customers on Shopify, offering discounts is always a great way to encourage customers to buy from you, but only if they’re done right.
If your discounts are too low, customers will think that you’re selling low-quality products. On the other hand, if your discounts are too high, you’ll lose money on each sale.
To avoid this, we recommend creating discounts that strike a balance between being enticing and profitable. This will help you make more sales while still making a profit on each transaction.
#6 Not Offering Free Shipping
Another common blunder most e-commerce store owners make is not offering free shipping for local or international delivery.
While it may seem like a good idea to save on shipping costs, customers are often put off by having to pay for shipping. This can lead to abandoned carts and lower sales.
To avoid this, we recommend offering free shipping on all your products and including the shipping cost into your margins. You can also set the minimum order quantity, weight, or total order amount in order to provide the free shipping option to your customers.
#7 Not Offering Customer Support
If you don’t offer customer support, you could be losing out on a lot of potential sales. Especially the B2B buyers usually have a set of questions they ask whenever they want to procure products within their budget and specifications. If you don’t provide an option to your customers to ask such questions then they will most likely take their business elsewhere.
To avoid this, we recommend offering multiple channels of customer support, such as email, phone, and live chat. This will give customers peace of mind knowing that they can always reach you if they need assistance.
#8 Not Focusing on the Customer Journey
The customer journey is the path that customers take from awareness to purchase. If you’re not focused on this journey, you could be missing out on many sales opportunities.
To avoid this, we recommend mapping out the customer journey and making sure your marketing and sales efforts are aligned with it. This will ensure that you’re meeting customers’ needs at every stage of the process and making it more likely that they’ll make a purchase.
#9 Not Personalizing the Experience
Personalization is key to creating a successful ecommerce store. If you’re not personalizing the experience, your customers will not stay engaged with your brand.
For example, if you own a Shopify store that sells products in bulk to your B2B customers, you might want to consider having a quick order form added to your store or an option to order wholesale products with the net payment terms. This will help your B2B buyers make a quick decision to buy multiple products from your store and pay you with partial payments.
To avoid this, we recommend using data to segment your customers and tailor the experience to their individual needs. This will help in encouraging your customers to buy your products without thinking more.
#10 Not Investing in SEO
If you want to get more sales through search engines and paid ads and want to improve the overall structure of your Shopify store, doing on-page and off-page search engine optimization (SEO) activities is your best option. If you’re not investing in SEO and optimizing your store for search engines, you could be missing out on a lot of potential customers that are actually looking for the products your sell.
To avoid this, we recommend having an in-house SEO professional or hiring an experienced agency that will do this job for you and will help you get the most out of your SEO efforts and ensure that your store is visible to potential customers.
#11 Not Creating Great Content
If you want customers to buy from you, you need to create great content. This includes product descriptions, blog posts, and other forms of content. If you’re not writing informative and easy-to-understand content pieces, you’re not making any efforts to keep your customers engaged in your store.
You can fill this gap by hiring a professional writer or copywriter. This will help you create high-quality content that will persuade customers to buy from you.
#12 Not Building an Email List
An email list is one of the most powerful marketing tools at your disposal, but many businesses don’t take advantage of it. If you’re not building an email list, you’re missing out on a great opportunity to connect with your customers and promote your products.
Offering a discount or free shipping to customers who sign up for your email list will entice them to join and give you a way to stay in touch with them long after they make a purchase.
#13 Not Monitoring Your Traffic
If you’re not monitoring your Shopify store visitors on a daily or weekly basis then you don’t really know how your business is performing in terms of traffic and what types of customers are visiting your store and making purchases. Monitoring your store helps you decide what strategy is working for you and what isn’t.
To monitor your store periodically, you can set up an analytics tool like Google Analytics and HotJar. This will give you the ability to see how many customers are looking at your products, add to cart buttons, photos, etc. so that you can make required changes accordingly to improve the user experience.
#14 Not Building a Community
Not building a community is not a big mistake but it is always a good practice to build a platform where you can engage or communicate with your new and existing customers.
We recommend engaging with your target audience and fostering relationships with them through multiple channels such as social media, forums, support articles, blogs, and other online platforms.
Summing Up
We hope that this article helped you understand the common Shopify ecommerce store blunders store owners usually make. You can always improve your Shopify store by taking care of the preventative measures and common mistakes that may harm your business or make your store’s sales dormant after a specific period of time. We recommend you to follow the tips to avoid mentioned in this article.
Did we miss writing any other ‘mistake to avoid’ that you think is very common in most of the Shopify stores? Feel free to let us know in the comments below.
