Despite the number of resources and how-to articles out there, about 80% of eCommerce sites actually fail within the first six months. You can put the blame on a number of factors. A lack of vision or poor strategy for one, but inadequate planning can’t solely be to blame. There are dozens of little details that get looked over that lead to the failure of thousands of eCommerce sites. One of these issues affecting your site won’t shut you down. But they need to be addressed before they pull the entire site under. 

No Contact Information

Whether you have a brick-and-mortar storefront or are strictly an eCommerce website you need to provide customers with plenty of contact information. eCommerce sales take up 21.3% of retail sales. However, there is still an extremely high risk of fraud on any online site.  Without the proper contact information clearly displayed on your site, customers will not trust you with their credit card information. Be sure to display your contact information clearly on multiple pages on your site to help instill confidence in your digital customers. 

No Returns Information

While eCommerce sales are booming now more than ever there is still a 30% return rate on online purchases. The eCommerce industry is full of buyers looking for quick purchases with an easy return process. Without being able to do a further inspection in person it leaves customers second-guessing their choices when the item arrives. Customers want to know that you are confident enough in your product to accept it back if they are not satisfied with it. Online buyers are also more likely to buy from an eCommerce website that provides them with not only the return information but gives them a friendlier experience. This could mean ensuring a decent return window, free return shipping, and possible assistance with finding a replacement if need be. The limits are within what your business can manage. 

No Customer Support

Returns aren’t going to be the only negative your business will have to deal with. There are a number of elements that could go wrong between the product being shipped and being delivered. However you choose to handle your customers, you need to ensure procedures are in place to guarantee customer satisfaction. Don’t have a phone line they can call? Set up a live chat on your eCommerce website. Not enough in-store manpower for live chat? Stick with email communication. Just make sure there is something. Quality customer support is the best way to make sure you will have returning customers. 

Failure To Organize Products

You might think this point is obvious, but you’d be surprised. A number of online stores fail to organize the products on their shop page. You can’t just dump all your products onto a page and expect everything to work itself out. There is a category balance that needs to be found online. Too many categories can be too messy to navigate and too few can leave your customers lost. Be sure to give your customers a strong mega menu on your eCommerce website. This will help them navigate through your products as well as a search bar. The more filters you add to your site the better. Whether you are organizing your products by size, color, or brand it will all be for your customer’s benefit in the end. Make sure your customers have all the tools they need to find exactly what they are looking for when they are on your site. 

While there are many other factors that can attribute to the failure of a website these are the ones that are most overlooked. If you are new to the eCommerce industry be sure to build your website to be the champion of convenience and time-saving, but the best way for your site to thrive is to work with a skilled team. Cobalt Media Marketing is fully prepared to help your business with all your eCommerce needs to help you ensure your website’s success. Reach out to us and begin building your custom website design plan. 

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