7 Common E-Commerce Mistakes New Online Sellers Make

Let’s face it: running a business — online or offline — is challenging. There will be unavoidable obstacles, and likely you’ll make a few mistakes. But if you’re new to selling online, there are a few common e-commerce mistakes new business owners often make that can be avoided. Knowing what they are can help you dodge them or, at the very least, rectify them quickly.

7 Major E-Commerce Mistakes to Avoid

Whether you’re new to e-commerce or have been at the game for a while, some mistakes can derail your success. Take a look at the common errors online sellers make below.

1. You Rely on the Online Marketplace to Do Your Marketing

While one of the perks of selling your products through an established online marketplace is that you can attract more traffic than you would through your own website, you can’t be lazy when it comes to marketing your storefront.

Any business, whether it operates out of a physical store or a virtual one, needs marketing and promotion to effectively attract more customers. And even when you start attracting more customers than you can handle, don’t stop marketing. You have to market today for the customers you want tomorrow (or months from now).

If you don’t have a big budget, try inexpensive marketing ideas like adding your upcoming sales to receipts and invoices or offering customer appreciation discounts.

2. You Skimp on the Wrong Things

This is one of the major e-commerce mistakes online sellers make. You want to save money, but cutting corners on the wrong things could cost you more money. Consider your product photos. You might consider yourself an Instagram aficionado, but that does not qualify you as a professional photographer.

Your product photos are what a potential customer first sees, and will quickly help them make the decision on whether they want to buy from you or not. If the lighting is bad or the photo is blurry, you can bet they’ll go elsewhere. While smartphones can take excellent photos, a lot goes into a great product photo, from the background to the angles. If product photography isn’t your strong suit, consider hiring someone for this task and see if your sales increase.

3. Your Product Descriptions Lack Enthusiasm

You’re no writer, so why should your product descriptions need to be perfect? Second to your product photos, the product description is the next most important component of your online shop. A sentence or two isn’t going to cut it.

Because your customers can’t hold your product in their hands to see how they like it, they rely on the information you provide to make an informed decision. That means the more descriptive you can be, the better. Spend plenty of time detailing your product so your customer feels like they can actually experience it in person.

Depending on your product, this may include color, texture, taste, dimensions, how to use, expiration date, and so on. Paint a picture for your customer while including all of the details they might want to know to help them make an informed, on-the-spot decision.

4. You Try to Win the “Lowest Price” Game

Competing on price is never a good idea and is one of the most common classic e-commerce mistakes. The online marketplace space is a competitive one, but trying to be the rock-bottom pricing winner only slashes your profit margins and leaves you with customers who aren’t loyal and who just want the best deal.

Whether you sell handcrafted jewelry, organic granola, or custom dog collars, you need to differentiate yourself from the competition… and not on price. If your product is high quality, there will always be a market for it. It’s just a matter of you finding it.

5. You Don’t Use Targeted Keywords

Selling online is all about using the right keywords to attract the kinds of customers you want through search engine optimization. That means you need to use them in your product title, description, website, and blog posts.

While not optimizing your product titles and description is one of the more common e-commerce mistakes, it’s a bad one to make because you need your products to be searchable.

Not sure what keywords people are searching for? Do a little free research using Chrome’s free keyword tool, Keyword Surfer. Then search those keywords on Google to see who comes up in the results. If you feel like you’d fit in with the other companies using them, then start incorporating those keywords in your copy.

6. You Don’t Know Who Your Target Audience Is

It’s easy to assume you know who your customers are, but the truth is, it’s not always as straightforward as it seems. If you don’t know exactly who your customers are and what they want, it will be hard for you to build a successful business.

Here are some e-commerce mistakes related to not knowing your audience:

• Not defining your target audience
• Not knowing what they want
• Not knowing how they want to shop online
• Not having a clear idea of what kind of products will sell best in your e-commerce store
• Not understanding how they want to buy those products

You can define your target audience by going through the following steps:

1. Determine your goals.
2. Identify your competitors, customers, and other stakeholders.
3. Research your target audience demographics, psychographics, and behaviors.
4. Create buyer personas based on the information you gathered in step 3.

7. You Charge Too Much for Shipping

This is one of the more challenging e-commerce mistakes we see often. You want to ensure you make enough from each sale that you’re turning a profit, and it’s very tempting to do that by hiking up shipping fees. But if you’re selling a T-shirt for $25 and the shipping is $10.99, you will likely lose that sale.

Even if you can’t offer free shipping, which 66% of consumers expect, according to Shopify, ensure your costs are comparable with your competitors to remain competitive.

Give Your Online Store Its Best Shot at Success

When it comes to e-commerce, there are a lot of common mistakes that can make or break your business.

One of the most common e-commerce mistakes is not promoting your online shop. If you’re not actively promoting your online store, customers won’t know you’re there. You also need to promote your products and services in a way that resonates with your target audience.

Know what type of people are interested in your product or service — and figure out how to sell them on it. Conduct a little keyword research while you’re at it to improve your search engine optimization (SEO) results. All of these factors can add up to more sales — so give your online shop its best shot at success by avoiding the e-commerce challenges listed here.