Struggling to maintain a steady influx of new customers? Is your customer retention not what it should be? The internet brings tons of opportunities for online selling — but only when you understand how to best leverage your position.
Did you know that at least 87% of shopping starts online? By 2023, online shopping is expected to reach up to $6.5 trillion in sales.
The online market continues to expand, presenting businesses with nearly unlimited opportunities to grow their reach… But ecommerce is no rose garden. It’s a harshly competitive environment where common mistakes hinder sales and prevent growth.
Once you understand these mistakes, however, you can overcome the typical challenges and start making more sales online.
Below is a quick overview of common online selling mistakes…. You’ll find several online selling tips too.
Mistake #1 – Offering Your Best-Selling Products on Marketplaces
Nike is one of the most popular sports brands out there. For a while, many of its bestselling products were on Amazon. It made sense – at first – since the platform has a massive global audience.
So why did this partnership come to an end? It’s simple… Nike chose quality over quantity.
The company found that most of its customers on Amazon didn’t want quality. Customers used Amazon as a platform to find cheap offers and discounts, and in some cases, even pricing errors.
This didn’t sit well with Nike. After all, such a famous brand didn’t need Amazon’s help with advertising.
That’s when Nike decided to drop its foray into marketplace commissions and competitive pricing. It also stopped using marketplaces for its best products, which made conversions more profitable.
So, take a lesson from Nike and drive audiences to your own channels. This is a crucial online selling strategy if you want to control your pricing and brand image.
Mistake #2 – Not Knowing Who You’re Selling To
Another one of the top online selling mistakes is failing to understand your audience.
Do you know exactly who you’re selling to? Do you understand what your audience expects from your products?
It’s important to build a community when you sell online, but to create that community, you must understand your who you can help most with your products and services.
Breaking down the population by demographics is an easy way to find your ideal customers. You can then apply psychographics to categorize your audience by other traits.
Here are some examples of traits you can analyze to create a customer profile:
- Values
- Lifestyle
- Behavior
- Personality
- Hobbies
Of course, you’re not limited to just these five… What other traits do your ideal customers share? The more you understand who’s buying your products, the more effectively you’ll be able to communicate with them.
Mistake #3 – Overcomplicating the Checkout Process
Too many online sellers lose customers because of a poor checkout process. They overcomplicate the steps and, as a result, prevent purchases. Poor user interface, clunky site design, lack of mobile optimization, confusing instructions, and plenty of other factors can make people throw up their hands in frustration and decide that it’s just too inconvenient to make a purchase with you.
Keep your checkout process simple. Remove unnecessary steps. Make it easy for people to pay.
Mistake #4 – Using Off-Site Payment Methods
Related to Mistake #3, a big online selling mistake is forcing customers away from your website when it’s time to pay.
It’s easy to outsource payment processing to another party, but if customers leave your site, you lose opportunities to keep them engaged… And depending on the third party service, sending them elsewhere to submit sensitive payment information can erode the trust they have in your brand.
So, use in-house payment options whenever possible and take the time to setup secure merchant accounts on your own site. The trust you build and maintain is more than worth the extra effort.
Mistake #5 – Not Working on Your UX
You may have noticed by now that many of these online selling mistakes relate to a fundamental concept – the user experience. Bad UX drives people away from your website. This is an extension of #3, and the trouble caused by a poor user interface goes well beyond the checkout process.
A good UX helps with customer retention and acquisition. Here are a couple of online selling tips for improving your UX:
• Simplify your site navigation. This makes it easier for visitors to see your best-selling products and services.
• Drop unnecessary features. This speeds up your site and makes it easier to use… And in many situations, better functionality brings bigger benefits than fancy design features.
Avoid These Vital Mistakes and You’ll Sell More
To sell more, you have to please your customers at every stage of their shopping journey. Impress them not only with your offering, but also with the experience of doing business with you – especially online, where they have no shortage of options and it’s all too easy to navigate somewhere else.
For more online selling tips, expert advice, and marketing insights, sign up for business coaching lessons at predictableprofits.com. We’ll help provide the knowledge you need to effectively sell online and avoid the big mistakes that can hurt your business.
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