There are two major Web design errors that can cost you up to 70% of your conversions. I am dead serious and not exaggerating. I have personally seen an immediate decline of 70% in both sales quantity and dollar amount that stayed at that level. The cause was a site redesign that included these two common mistakes. Imagine having an existing business suddenly lose 70% of their sales!
So what are the two worst ecommerce Web Design mistakes you can make? Here they are:
- Requiring your buyers to “register” before they can shop. Big mistake. Imagine walking into a store and being asked for ID before they will let you in. Once someone decides they want to buy from you they’ll gladly give you their personal information – and not a minute before. They just “met” you and don’t know whether they trust you yet. Don’t bar the door – there are plenty of open doors waiting elsewhere.
- Not providing easy access to shipping costs – and the earlier in the shopping process the better. Infomercials and some eBay sellers have been sucking buyers in with cheap prices and then gouging them with high “shipping and handling” charges for decades. Shipping costs have been the number one complaint of online shoppers in every ecommerce survey I’ve ever seen. Make sure your potential buyers can determine their total price – do it for them if you can. Better that they know how much they’ll have to pay for shipping and get used to the idea while they’re still shopping than have them get sticker shock just before they checkout!
If you are making either of these two mistakes correct them quickly and then read on for many more suggestions on increasing conversion rates through improving the usability of your site. If you are using a store solution that won’t allow you to eliminate these two issues I strongly advise you move your site to a solution that will. I highly recommend Volusion for their dependability, pricing, ease of use and more.
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Gail Gardner
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I’m having trouble finding an answer to my question: Is it better to have a website lead to a blog and store and should the websites be www. blog.website.com and www. store.website.com? Or do you recommend the store have a dedicated domain name and completely separate content site, and how should one choose the content sites domain name? I know the big companies have dedicated domain names, but I’ve heard small businesses can’t really pull that off…I’m planning to start with content, then open a store.
Ahhh yes, how many times I’ve abandoned making a purchase because the shipping was nearly as much as the product itself. What do you recommend for increasing conversion rates on lead generation/service business websites?
Hi Deepak,
Every site should be doing landing page optimization and conversion rate testing. We have put together a private group specifically to share what we know about increasing conversion rates.
We have our own private forum where we discuss our use of Conversion Doubler to measure what works so that we can teach others how to use that particular tool because it is among the easiest to understand and use and suitable for even the smallest business.
The biggest mistake I believe any ecommerce business that has any kind of cashflow or budget at all is making is not hiring an expert to increase their conversions. The average conversion rate is a paltry 1-2% and that can usually be at least doubled.
Those who can afford it should be hiring someone like Bryan Eisenberg because with his intelligence and vast experience he can increase conversions by far more than anyone new to testing possibly could.
A business that has money is making a serious mistake wanting to do everything themselves because of all the lost opportunity occurring while they’re learning by trial and error.
Anyone wanting to increase conversions and especially generate more leads should look into the Lead Generation solutions, especially what they call Lead Nurturing.
They should also read blogs specific to generating leads and increasing conversions including these:
Those are the ones that come to mind right off.
Gail Gardner would love you to read ..Every worthwhile Small Business IS doing important work – How YOURS could go viral #smbiz
Very true! That is probably why you barely ever see sites where you have to register before you can shop anymore. At least I don’t see them that often.
Stating the shipping costs clearly is important.
But the shipping costs are also one of the many advantages of big companies who can send packages for a lower cost than small companies.
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Hi Danny,
The cost of shipping is the number one complaint received by every ecommerce store I ever worked with – and finding a way to offer free shipping is the best way to increase sales. Obviously that cost has to be somewhere – usually in the product price instead of separately.
growmap would love you to read ..Are YOUR 2012 Small Business Goals All Wrong?
Another spot on article! I have been gone for a few weeks, but I have come back and rolled up my sleeves and I am ready to dig in and read, read, read anything you post that can help me out. As I said before, I am totally new to the online business so I am learning. I have managed to surpass my realistic expectations with my sales(because I hadn’t set any, might be bad, but this started as a hobby and is starting to thrive)!
Now that I am ready to get serious, as I see the HUGE potential due to the absolutely HORRIBLE conversion rate I have, I would love it if anyone has some suggestions on shipping. I truly believe people are getting to the cart, which actually calculates the shipping cost for them, but are deciding that shipping might be high. What is some experience of others in setting shipping fees?
I have wrestled with including shipping in the price, but that is too hard to communicate when someone is just reading a title on Google… it also creates a problem for International buyers. I am currently leaning toward charging like 10% of the order amount for shipping fees and then obviously having a separate shipping option for International Orders, because those buyers are expecting a little extra work… I could let everyone know up front that shipping fees equal 10% of the sale.. Any opinions as to if the intial reaction of people is that 10% is too high or anything? I honestly do not believe 10% would even cover the total shipping cost at this time due to my size, but I understand I have to eat a little bit to establish my web presence and grow my business… Anyone have any thoughts or suggestions on this whole shipping conundrum I am currently experiencing?
As I has often mentioned, you have run into THE biggest challenge in ecommerce. The best solution is usually to integrate UPS into your site and make it VERY clear that there is NO UPLIFT on shipping costs.
One reason why everyone complains about shipping is sellers (on eBay for example) who under-price products and then hammer buyers with ridiculous shipping and/or handling fees.
That has long been a ploy of television infomercials and direct catalog sales so people – especially older people – are wary of being taken that way. You want your buyers to understand that YOU don’t set the shipping – the shipping company does.
growmap would love you to read ..Improving Content and Increasing Conversions Through Simplifying: YOUR Feedback Requested
That is some really good common sense, especially for mistake #1
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Mike I have to agree with you all business owners should take note and read these vital points.
Hi Ryan,
I wish more Web designers would read these points. And if businesses think using a Web design company that caters to Fortune 500 companies will save them they are mistaken. Much of what I know came from watching one of them destroy a business that we grew to $1.1 million in sales in only eight months.
These are the two mistakes they made that almost put that very strong business OUT of business. Even though these are two very well known issues and the company involved was extremely well-known they not only made these mistakes – they took so long to finally correct them that a business that was supporting 4-5 employees laid them all off and the owner had to take paid work elsewhere to keep her site online.
Every time a business suffers and I know the fix but they won’t listen it makes me so sad. I hope anyone reading this will not dismiss what I say. Get a second opinion or even a third if need be – preferably from an ecommerce site that has a conversion rate of much higher than 2%.
It still amazes me that more online stores are not hiring an ecommerce optimization expert to increase conversions. < << That link is the best place to read more and find the most talented optimization experts. growmap would love you to read ..Best of GrowMap – Our Most Important Posts All in One Place
Some seriously good points on here, I think all business owners should read your blog very well written and informative too. Thanks for the tips and the info.
Thank you Mike. I do my best to share what I’ve learned over the years so that more small businesses will prosper.
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@Linda Thank you. Have you seen our post about free ads? That may be of special interest to you. I will use the CommentLuv featured post to make it easy for you to locate it.
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Great informative post, your now in my bookmarked sites list.