Terri Ramsey Beavers Most people have long since given up on the magical, easy, too-good-to-be-true promises of dropshipping. Still in search of a flexible way to earn a living, many have turned their sights to the far more sustainable and realistic eCommerce business model.
While it comes with far more upfront costs and logistics to deal with than dropshipping, an eCommerce store could be just the ticket for building your empire in our increasingly digitized world. Just make sure you avoid the following five points of failure:
Mistake 1. Trying to do everything yourself
Creative design studios and eCommerce fulfillment companies exist for a reason – to help business owners like you shine above the competition. While you certainly could design your website yourself, store stock in your garage, and use the boring packaging available at your local post office, this is hardly the way to get ahead in the competitive world of eCommerce.
Not only can an eCommerce fulfillment company take care of all the order processing legwork for you, but they can usually also get you a better deal on shipping costs due to their size and the sheer volume of shipments they handle.
Mistake 2. Not investing in your online store
Many business owners are prepared to spend a great deal of time and money getting a physical store to look snazzy and inviting to customers. However, when it comes to their online presence, they seem to think customers just stop caring about the look and feel of their shop.
Make your website a joy to explore and a breeze to navigate, and you’ll soon see your traffic (and the amount of time people spend on your site) increase dramatically. If you’re not skilled in web design, get ahead of your competition in this respect by working with a reputable creative design studio.
Mistake 3. Thinking the details don’t matter
Receiving a package in the mail is so exciting that researchers have even studied the phenomenon. You can leverage this to your advantage by ensuring every detail involved in the delivery and presentation of your products is perfect.
This means ensuring your packages always arrive on or ahead of time, and nestling them in packaging that’s pleasing to the eye and secure, but also easy to open. These small details will add to the joy of the experience for your customers, making them far more likely to shop with you again, both for themselves and when they’re on the lookout for gifts.
Mistake 4. Poorly displayed products
While the words that describe your products are crucial, it’s also important to provide detailed and accurate pictures. Customers will quickly bounce from a product page that has poor-quality images, so make sure yours are of the highest quality possible.
Bonus tip: While pictures are crucial, you can truly wow customers and increase conversions by providing video demonstrations of your products in action. When people can see someone using the product, it satisfies many of the questions and hesitations they would otherwise have.
Mistake 5. Failing to work on SEO
There is currently so much content on the internet, and it is growing at such a rapid rate, that no one even knows how to measure it. This means that if you’re not actively working on search engine optimization, your store will be perpetually stuck in the dark and dusty backrooms of the internet. So, either start researching best practices, or find a reputable SEO expert to help you boost yourself to the top of Google’s rankings.
Avoid these five fatal errors, and you’ll be a few steps closer to the flourishing eCommerce business of your dreams.