You’ve dreamed, thought, and planned for months. You have designed a website, decided on products, and launched an e-commerce store, hoping to see the money start pouring in. But have things turned out as expected? If you’re like many online entrepreneurs, you may find you’re not receiving the visitor or order numbers you expected when developing your store.
If so, examine many areas of your operations to find the weaknesses to address to turn things around. There may be several reasons why your e-commerce site isn’t getting the traction you hoped for. Here are some of the common ones and ideas for addressing them.
People Don’t Know About the Business
You won’t be getting the sales you want if not enough consumers know your business exists. Have you been concentrating on marketing your site? You may need to invest more in this side of things to get more people buying. For example, create shareable blogs and newsletters, post engaging content on social media, work on your search engine optimization, and advertise your wares on sites like Google, Facebook, blogs, and magazines.
You could speak at events to get your brand name out there or create gift guides for key events during the year.
You might start a loyalty program and referral bonuses for shoppers who tell others about your store. Run joint venture promotions to generate more visitors to your site. You could also engage with influencers or organize letterbox drops to encourage shoppers in your local area.
Be creative and proactive to get people learning about your venture and what you sell, and you should soon start receiving more sales.
You’re Targeting Too Small a Niche
Another reason why people might not be buying from you in decent numbers is if you’re targeting too small a niche. While it’s wise to go after a specific target demographic or two instead of making your operation for anyone and everyone, be wary of being too limited in your scope.
There’s no point going after a certain market if it’s tiny and won’t bring you in enough potential buyers to break even, let alone make a profit. Do more research to learn how large the niche is that you’re currently targeting. If it’s too small, think about ways to expand into new, bigger markets.
Consumers Aren’t Interested in the Products
You could do the proper marketing and go after the best audience base, but if you’re not stocking products that hit the mark, you’re in trouble. You must sell items that either solve problems consumers have or bring some benefit to their lives. Examine the goods you’re stocking now to see if they’re the types of things people want or not.
Consider if what you have on offer is found in many places and at lower prices. If your competitors are selling the same gear at cheaper deals, you’re never going to gain any traction. Find ways to set your business apart with fresh, interesting, quality products that garner interest for the right reasons. Consider expanding your range in small quantities to test out new items to see what people are more intrigued by, run a stall at some markets, or do pop-up in-person events for consumer feedback.
The Site is Hard to Use
If your website isn’t user-friendly, you’ll never get the orders you need. Examine your e-commerce platform to see if it’s hard to use or confusing. Pay attention to the site navigation and the checkout. Can people easily find what they’re looking for, or do they spend time searching for what they’re interested in and then click away, frustrated? Does your site work on mobile gadgets, too?
Do shoppers add items to their cart but then get stuck with time-consuming login and checkout processes, or struggle to find the relevant information they need to proceed?
Do they try to get in touch with you but can’t locate handy contact details? Do they struggle to find enough product details, images, or videos to feel comfortable going ahead with an order?
You might utilize a quality website heatmap tool to see exactly how people behave when they’re on your site. Which pages do they look at, and which areas of each get their focus? How many products do they look at, and how long do they spend browsing? How far into the checkout process do they get before they leave their cart? Heatmap tools will help you see what isn’t working so you know where to make changes.
Other reasons customers aren’t buying may include inadequate customer service, too-high prices, lack of reviews, testimonials, and other trust markers, or a cluttered, unprofessional-looking site.
Get feedback as needed to help you spot issues and be open to what the data and responses tell you. There are reasons why people don’t want to buy, so find them and take steps to deal with issues ASAP.
