3 Main Reasons Why Your E-Commerce Site Won’t Convert

Your website is your lifeblood. It is no longer satisfactory to simply have one, it must attract leads and convert them into customers.

And if you are in the e-commerce business, your website is everything. The question is, does your website convert or is it killing your sales?

A recent survey showed that 70% of businesses have lost a deal because of an online ordering complaint. More astounding is that 31% admitted to losing at least $2 million in sales because customers had trouble placing an order.

You know that leads can be converted into sales. So why are people still struggling? According to some, it comes down to your website.

“It’s time B2B sellers recognize that our buyers expect convenient buying experiences, and you’re not delivering,” states Olin Hyde, founder and CEO of LeadCrunch. “If they ordered a gift for their spouse from Amazon while they drank their coffee that morning, and then they try to order a product for their business later in the day, it should be a similar experience. Your site shouldn’t make them jump through hoops. Let the people give you money!”

While there are many reasons a website may not convert, here are three of the most damning that you need to fix immediately.

People like to find things easily and faulty search functions are one of the main reasons leads don’t convert.

Too often, businesses think of their website’s search features as a pretty low priority, which is fine if you only sell one product. However, search functionality is important if you have multiple products. It’s important for visitors to easily navigate your site and find what they are looking for. If you don’t have a search bar, you might as well make your website a single landing page, because that’s as far as most of your visitors will go.

“Again, think about the consumer experience that your buyers have when they’re outside of work,” adds Hyde. “Their expectations around the online buying experience are being set by their personal experiences. Now combine those expectations with the feelings of frustration that comes with trying to search for a new solution to a problem.”

Keep in mind your website is the first impression many people have of your brand. If it’s out of date or difficult to navigate, they’ll assume your product or service is equally confounding. To really impress your buyers, include features on your search tool that can interpret long tail semantic searches and include product images. The easier it is for them to find the items they want, the more likely they will follow through with a purchase.

There are companies such as MindTouch that can transform all of your product help assets into searchable assets. This includes user manuals, help content, product documentation, service manuals, and brochures. This approach allows you to put thousands of pages of content so that people can easily find exactly what they want.

You know mobile is taking over. Consider this: You get frustrated when looking for something on your smartphone, only to find a website that is difficult to use because it is not optimized for mobile. Now, think how customers will react when they come to your website and it’s not optimized for mobile. Exactly!

If you’re not convinced, just keep in mind that 51% of website visitors are more prone to conduct business with an online retailer if they have a website that is mobile-friendly. That means you are missing out on a ton of traffic if you neglect mobile.

Not all pictures are worth a thousand words, but a bad one can make a horrible first impression and kill your sales. Think about what your online store would look like if it was a physical location. Few customers enjoy shops that have unlabeled items, disorganized shelves, dirty or damaged goods, or poor lighting.

When designing your website, ensure that your products are displayed properly and easy to find. If not, your visitors will leave as quickly as they came in.

If you know your leads are high quality and you are confident in the product that you’re selling, then you should enjoy plenty of conversions. However, if you are not seeing the rate of conversion you are hoping for, take a long hard look at your website.

If anything, implement the three strategies talked about herein. They are easy to do and will result in more conversions.

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