6 Ways Your E-commerce Site Is Sucking The Life Out Of Your Brand and What You Can Do About It
Your brand is essential. You've worked hard to build a good one, so it's safe to say you're serious about your business. What better way to cement your brand in your customers' eyes than having an e-commerce site?
It's a logical step for most companies and can be an excellent decision when done right. But with all the options out there and the potential for costly pricing mistakes, picking one that works for you and your business can be tricky.
You have a generic site.
Most people first notice when they visit an e-commerce site is the design. Remember, the more your site looks like everyone else’s, the more likely potential customers will move on to something more unique. As a result, you miss out on sales from customers who prefer customized experiences and a company that stands out from the crowd.
The best way to solve this problem? Get creative! If you already have an established brand identity for your products, then use that as inspiration for unique concepts and designs on your website.
No one can find you online.
The first step to fixing your e-commerce site is to make sure your target audience can find your store. Luckily, Google provides tools that can help you do just that. Check your listings in Google Search, either via desktop or mobile, by searching for your business name in a browser like Brave, DuckDuckGo, Chrome, or Safari (or whatever browser you prefer).
What can you do?
First, open up a new tab (or window) and type “site:yourwebsiteurl.com” into the search bar at the top of your screen. Then press Enter! That will reveal how well optimized your page is for search engines and display it on a list of results from top to bottom based on relevance. If there are any problems here—and chances are there will be—address them now while they're still easy fixes before they get more challenging down the road!
Your site’s user experience is lacking.
Your site’s user experience (UX) is crucial to your success. Your customers need to be able to find products and complete purchases easily. Still, they also need some feedback on their orders.
If there are problems with an order or if a customer isn’t satisfied with their purchase, they should be able to contact customer support promptly. UX doesn’t have to be complicated—it just needs to work well!
Here are some things you can do:
Make it easy for your customers to find products on the site by using filters or search functionality. If there are too many options, people will give up looking for what they want because there are too many choices based on category or brand name alone.
Make it easy for shoppers who want product reviews from other customers who have purchased similar items.
Make it easy for your visitors who want information about shipping costs before making purchases online.
Ensure that all relevant links are working correctly so visitors won't get stuck while trying out different features such as product details/reviews/etc.
Your brand/logo doesn't align with your e-commerce site design.
Your brand is everything. It's how your customers perceive your business, setting you apart from the competition. Your brand includes things like:
Your logo
Your website design
Your marketing materials (print, TV, radio)
If these three things don't align with each other, you have poor branding. If they do align—bam! You're on track to success! And if they don't? Well, then there may be some severe problems in store for your e-commerce site that could negatively affect sales and even lead to a failed business venture.
Your site isn't optimized for mobile devices and tablets.
Your e-commerce site is designed to be viewed on a desktop, but that's not where prospects visit most of the time. The number of users visiting websites from mobile devices has grown incredibly. It now accounts for more than 50% of all online activity in North America alone. If your website isn't optimized for mobile, you can expect to lose out on sales and your brand reputation.
Fortunately, Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test will let you know if your site is ready for mobile users—and what changes you need to make to ensure it shows up as high in search results as possible when people are searching with their phones in hand (or using other kinds of handheld devices).
You don't have enough content on your website.
A common standard is that five or 10 pages of content are the minimum you need to keep visitors coming back.
But how many pages are enough?
It depends on:
How much information is available about your specific brand and product
How much content people want about those things
Whether or not there's much competition in your market
Suppose you're selling organic dog treats in Portland, Oregon (where almost everything is organic). In that case, you might not need as many pages of information as someone who sells industrial-grade machine parts in Houston, Texas (where no one cares).
Content should be: Original (not copied from other sources), factually correct, relevant to the subject matter, and valuable for shoppers who visit your site.
You can have a fantastic product, but if your e-commerce or digital experience is disappointing, then you're only hurting your brand in the long run. Take steps to correct these issues to build a solid and recognizable brand online.
Focus on the user experience. If customers don't find what they need quickly and easily, they won't return to your site. Try creating a flowchart that outlines how people use its features, such as product pages and shopping carts (and maybe even provide links to other parts of the site). This will help you see where there could be any problems with navigation or functionality.
Don't be afraid to ask for feedback from customers who've had a negative experience on your site. Getting their input can help lead you towards making improvements in areas where they felt frustrated while browsing around online shopping carts or completing checkout forms.
To summarize
The bottom line is that e-commerce sites are excellent tools for growing your business's reach. However, designing a site should be about selling what you have to sell. It should also be about putting your best foot forward as a business and building trust with potential fans and customers.
If you're not careful, launching a generic e-commerce store can damage both your brand and your reputation. Nonetheless, you can avoid common pitfalls and get your brand back on track by following the tips I’ve listed above.