The 7 Most Common Ecommerce Bloopers of 2019 and What You Can Do to Eliminate Them in 2020

Ecommerce has winners and losers, every year. The barrier to setting up an Ecommerce business is low, but competition is stiff. Everything has to be right, otherwise every online initiative will die of SIDS. However, web shops still make many 'mistakes'. The most basic mistake is that insufficient attention is paid to optimizing the customer journey. We list the 7 most common Ecommerce bloopers.

Using a smart site auditing tool, an English researcher examined the past 1,300 for more and less serious flaws. As many as 80 Ecommerce Bloopers exposed. The scans focused mainly on structural defects. Many missed opportunities in the SEO field were identified, both in the content and in meta descriptions and title tags. There also appear to be many technical errors in sites, bots often function poorly and the routing is not always logical.

Ecommerce bloopers? You'd better avoid them in 2020

Apart from SEO and technology, there are still many Ecommerce bloopers that deal with the most basic laws of entrepreneurship: insufficient use of data, poor product information and insufficient attention to the customer journey. We have selected 7 common mistakes and explained how you can prevent them.

  1. Outdated Ecommerce platform

Ecommerce business is changing at the speed of light. Frequently used platforms still date from the 'pioneering days' and offer insufficient speed and features to cope with the competition. It's not an easy step, but you'd better delve into it: replatforming.

  1. Insufficient knowledge of your potential customers

Physical store or online platform, the core is: know your customers. The most dramatic failure of 2019 is Hudson's Bay. The Canadian department store did not understand the Dutch consumer at all, so that both the physical and online adventure ended in a pinch. If you want to prevent this, it is advisable to continue to delve into the customer and make optimal use of the data that customers generate both offline and online.

  1. Complicated navigation

Online shoppers want to find their way quickly and easily. If you send them into a maze, you will lose them forever. Put yourself in the customer's seat and critically examine the journey you offer them. Seek advice if necessary. Again, analyze the data.

  1. Second-rate content

Among the common Ecommerce bloopers, the term 'content' often comes up. Many webshops do not score well on this. The content does not match the perception of the target group and is hardly geared to findability and conversion optimization. Advice: compile a content calendar for the new year and hire professional support if desired.

  1. Unclear ordering and payment procedures

It is still common for customers to lose their way just before the moment supreme, at the end of the sales funnel. There is no clarity about ordering and delivery procedures, for example, or nothing can be found about guarantees or customer service. Pay maximum attention to this last phase of the customer journey and make sure everything is correct. Support your customers with understandable buttons and do not bother them with the obligatory creation of an account. Do not allow any doubts about the reliability of your business.

  1. Hidden costs and unfriendly return conditions

It is still very common: when completing his order, the customer is unexpectedly confronted with hidden delivery costs and non-customer-friendly conditions for returning purchased items. If you prefer to see your customers go to the competitor, you should continue to do so. Better is: honest and consistent information and 100% transparency about delivery costs and warranty and return conditions.

  1. Incomplete and / or incorrect product information

Perfect product information optimizes the customer journey and increases the conversion rate. In addition, product information helps to reduce costly returns. However, many webshops did not have this essential part of the customer experience in order in the past year. Many deviations are also noted in the product information of omnichannel players. This costs customers. A shame, because there is an effective solution for: the implementation of an appropriate one Product Information System (PIM).

If it's up to EcommerceResult, 2020 will be a year without Ecommerce bloopers for you!

So far for the 7 most common Ecommerce bloopers of 2019. Moral of the story: the competition is too great to afford one of these bloopers and the solution is often less complicated than you think. Get ready in the new year. Fancy a kickstart? Make an appointment.