Are you investing your limited time and money on various AdWords, SEO or marketing campaigns in an effort to drive more visitors to your e-commerce website?! Well sadly, all those efforts could be going to complete waste if visitors are clicking and are not simply buying anything from it.
Inside our latest web grower article, join our Cheshire web agency as we take a step back from reviewing marketing driven strategies and review other implications that could be affecting your website’s performance in our post – 5 reasons why people don’t buy from my e-commerce website.
#1 Web Design
Regardless of your website layout, structure, colours or content used – poor visuals can instantly create a very poor impression of your website. As a Cheshire based web design agency, we have encountered thousands of websites which have had so much potential but have been let down by the visuals. Look to show-off your website! Instead of using stock photography, use real time photo’s to showcase your products and services.
The design of your website plays such a critical role in overall first impressions and is usually the difference in converting a user into a customer. Consider the navigation of your website within the design. Can users easily access the main product categories within the menu? Are they one step away from your intended call to action?
#2 Lack of Trust Signals
Regardless of dining at a local restaurant or booking a hotel, we are all guilty of casting our eyes on review websites such as Google reviews or booking.com. Using this behaviour, would you trust a website more if they include testimonials and/or reviews or products and services you were selling? I certainly would. Honesty is always the best policy so if somebody leaves a bad review, don’t panic – if offers your website more legitimacy and trust.
As covered in our HTTPS blog, search engines – google in particular – have really stepped up implementing security for e-commerce driven websites. By obtaining a valid SSL certificate, users will be notified that the website when on sensitive pages such as logging in or providing credit card details. You can easily spot a website with a valid SSL certificate as the address bar will usually tell you if the website is secure or not. If you need to purchase a SSL certificate, our Cheshire web agency can sell and licence a certificate on your behalf.
Although it may sound simple, adding Verisign and visa signs along with other credit cards you accept is a huge trust signal in prominent places such as on the landing page and checkout.
#3 Checkout
Simple question, have you ever tried to personally buy something from your website?! If not, try it out now. How many steps are involved in the checkout process? If it’s more than one then it’s already to many. According to statistics, the average documented online shopping cart abandonment rate is 69.23% with a completed checkout procedure contributing over 27%.
Although a complicated shopping cart can be addressed, other reasons are largely unavoidable as users will tend to browse e-commerce websites for a variety of different reasons such as window shopping, price comparisons or calculating shipping costs.
As a web design agency, although we can’t provide a magic to stop all shopping cart abandonment, there are ways to help supersede visitors to stay. Requiring guests to sign up is major frustration for most users, so facilitating a one-stop checkout option for guests will remove any barriers from impulsive shopping purchasing.
#4 Not Mobile Friendly
The fastest path to capturing mobile-based customers is through a mobile-friendly site. Although it sounds simplistic, if your website offers a great mobile experience, users are far more likely to purchase. If a site isn’t optimized for mobile through responsive design it’s extremely difficult to take advantage of a site’s functions and the statistics don’t lie
- 52% of users said that a bad mobile experience made them less likely to engage with a company
- When they visited a mobile-friendly site, 74% of people say they’re more likely to return to that site in the future
- 67% of mobile users say that when they visit a mobile-friendly site, they’re more likely to buy a site’s product or service
#5 Are you encouraging your visitors to return?
With the ease and flexibility to shop around for price comparisons, most visitors rarely buy on their first visit – the question is, how do you make sure they come back to your website instead of the competition? Instead of wanting to convert users straight away, the main goal is to provide a positive user experience which is a combination of design and trust to cover just a few.
With a positive user experience, you don’t want your visitors to leave your website without doing anything. Look to capture their basic information by offering a free consultation or exclusive promotional offers/discount if they sign-up.
Much like the checkout, encouraging users to sign up to your website should be one easy transaction. Sending out promotional content such as offers, blogs or newsletters are just a few reasons why your email distribution list should be a major priority. Make your subscribe button prominent and visible across all landing and major pages on your website.
So What Next!?
I’m not preaching that these are the definitive answers but I hope you have any of the points raised here as eye opening when it comes to reviewing your website. If you would like to discuss anything from this article, why not get in touch with your local Cheshire web design agency.