Online businesses are growing and are becoming successful because these virtual stores can generate revenue round the clock. They usually don't have geographical boundaries, allowing you to reach out to a broader and limitless market. However, even e-commerce businesses can fail when you apply the wrong marketing tactics.
Launching and operating your e-commerce site isn’t enough to make it prosper and grow. You need to put enough effort and time into leveraging the right strategies. It's crucial to be on the lookout for common mistakes to avoid, so you won't set up your online business to fail.
Whether you work with a marketing agency with sortlist.co.uk or devise your own tactics and methods, it's paramount to avoid these marketing mistakes:
1. Disregarding Market Research
Inventing new items or applying new marketing tactics can be an exciting process. However, without enough market research, there's a big chance for your strategy or products to fail. eCommerce marketing research should be conducted before launching a new product. It’s possible to suffer serious financial losses by ignoring this step and failing to invest in reliable eCommerce software solutions.
The first thing in your market research is to understand who your target audience should be. Target audiences are defined as a group of people your business would like to reach through your marketing efforts. When you know who to target, you can devise better marketing campaigns and methods. By specifically targeting your niche market, you'll be able to focus on selling to these people more. Your ability to craft a message to appeal to your customer's specific needs will help you convince them to purchase the item once you know who they are.
Another critical component of your market research is to study your products, your strengths, and your weaknesses. No matter how great your products are, you should always be open to feedback and honest reviews. This allows you to improve and enhance your products and services. You can apply different means to acquire customer perception about your product. You can send out samples, surveys, and welcome testimonials and reviews on your website. With this newfound knowledge, you'll be able to modify your products and improve your brand even more.
2. Ineffective Product Descriptions
One of the common mistakes that online business owners make is ignoring the importance of product descriptions. These are usually short texts about the products or services they sell. Ensure your product description entices your customers to add the item to their shopping cart. When crafting the proper product descriptions, you shouldn't solely focus on explaining what the product does but also highlight why the buyer needs it.
The product description offers opportunities to convert visitors into customers on your website. With clear instructions on how to use the product, the options should help customers view the product as a valuable item in their life. An inadequate product description lists the product's features without emphasizing its benefits. Some sellers simply copy-paste them from their suppliers or manufacturers. The description of some e-commerce sites is even completely absent. Try not to copy these tactics, as this will only lead to your products generating zero sales.
When your product list comes with a bad product description, chances are they won't rank on SEO too. They won't appear when people search for the products that you sell. A well-optimized description has a higher chance of ranking on a search engine. Hence, to stand out to a customer on a search engine, your description content and headings must be unique.
3. Using The Wrong E-commerce Platform
With so many e-commerce stores sprouting here and there, many platforms are rising along with such trends and growth. However, one mistake is not carefully choosing the best e-commerce platform to use for your online site. Some platforms offer basic features but aren’t appealing to use among online shoppers.
And then there are fantastic selling platforms, but they’ll surprise you with hefty hidden charges, making it expensive to operate your business. The key here is to conduct enough research online and read blogs and forums about online selling. Find an e-commerce platform that is scalable as your business grows or expands.
They should provide features and functions that will help you as you grow. Choosing the best eCommerce platform should be your priority if you're just starting. Decide after consulting with other store owners and browsing online communities.
4. Bad Customer Service
Having a poor customer service team is another common mistake in online retail stores. In an era where customers are treated as kings and queens, your business can't stand a place in the market when your customer service is terrible. There’ll inevitably be a few people unhappy with your product or its delivery, no matter how well you’ve thought it out. It’d help to hire a customer service team who's great at assisting your customers and handling their concerns.
You can either outsource your customer service to a third-party service provider or designate a team internally if you can afford it. Whatever option you choose, make sure some real people can chat and communicate with your customers.
5. Not Being Mobile-Friendly
Upon launching your virtual business, it’s a must to ensure that your site works on mobile. People nowadays are constantly on their smartphones and are no longer using computers or laptops to shop. Your online platform needs to be mobile-friendly for these reasons. The design of your e-shop must be seamless and compatible with all mobile devices.
Potential shoppers who can’t use your website on their mobile devices will choose your competitor over you. If you're using third-party platforms, select the one that comes with a great user experience and navigation features. However, if you've created your own website, it should be optimized to a mobile-friendly online setting.
Even if you need to shell out additional investment for this additional feature, an optimized site typically provides a rapid return on investment (ROI). A winning strategy begins with meeting and exceeding the expectations of your potential customers. And this often starts by offering your website in a mobile-friendly setting.
6. Not Using Social Media Strategies
Not utilizing social media strategies is one of the common mistakes of online business owners. They fail to discover how powerful and influential social media is in growing their business. The fact is many customers are connected to brands through social media. E-commerce sales will suffer if you fail to market your products correctly or engage with customers via social media.
Your business can build its online presence through social media. Hence, it's crucial to link your website or online store to all of your social media accounts. Make it a habit to promote your online store on your social accounts and grow your social media presence. Don't forget to comment, reply, share, or like your followers' comments and messages. Customer interaction on social media platforms increases the chance of exposing your online business. To avoid losses on your website, you should ensure that your social media channels are professionally managed.
7. Poor Media Quality Posts
Ultimately, the goal of any online business is to generate sales. However, when you post bad quality media, this goal is going to be unachievable. The use of imagery and videos, combined with a persuasive message, can be very effective in attracting sales. However, it's crucial not to overdo your posts too.
When building an eCommerce site, you should always consider the user's experience first. Prioritize the quality of the content that you're posting. Whether you're using images, sounds, or videos, ensure they're all in their best quality formats.
Make sure your products look their best. If possible, use professional photography to give customers an idea of what to expect. However, be mindful of the gap between expectation versus reality, as some customers won't purchase again when this is the case for your products. When posting images or videos of your products, consider providing pictures of the details, such as the back, front, and zoomed-in photos. Only use high-resolution images, but be mindful of their crawl speeds too.
8. Failing To Keep In Touch With Customers
Lastly, many online businesses fail to keep in touch with their prospects and leads. You need to communicate and remind your customers about your brand, no matter how busy you can be. There are many ways to do this. You can utilize email marketing, SMS, or use social media platforms.
Despite the growing popularity of email marketing, most businesses don't seem to understand the power of SMS marketing. As a marketing channel, SMS is effective and incredibly responsive. It's relatively cheap compared to any other marketing strategies out there. The key here is to generate short messages that effectively evoke a call-to-action among your prospects. Whether it's a sale announcement, product launch, or a simple reminder, don't forget to remind them to check out your online store.
Conclusion
To create a successful eCommerce marketing strategy, avoid the marketing mistakes mentioned above. No matter how simple or complex your marketing ideas are, you must focus on delivering excellent quality products and services. Your brand's long-term goals should be at the core of any campaign you develop. Keep in mind the common pitfalls of eCommerce digital marketing and stay away from them.
