Shopify is an incredibly robust and customizable e-commerce platform, but there are some common mistakes that can hold you back. In this post, we’ll cover some of the most common Shopify problems and how to avoid them so that you can take full advantage of the platform’s capabilities and convert more customers on-site.
- Not Proactively Addressing Abandoned Shopping Carts
Abandoned shopping carts are an issue that many online retailers face, but they can be remedied with a few simple steps.
- Identify abandoned shopping carts:
Shopify provides you with a detailed account of what customers have added to their cart and what pages they’ve visited, making it easy to identify shoppers who have abandoned their purchases. You can view this information for any customer that has placed an order in the last three months.
- Fixing abandoned shopping carts:
If you find that there are customers who have left your store without buying anything because of issues like bad UX or high prices (or any other reason), then don’t give up! These customers may come back later if you take action now by following the Shopify eCommerce 101 which provided the basic guides and solutions on using Shopify for online business owners.
- Not Taking Advantage of Customer Reviews
When your customers leave reviews, it’s an opportunity to learn about them. A lot of people make the mistake of not taking advantage of customer reviews. They don’t track which ones come from a product page or a blog post, so if a customer leaves feedback on one of these two channels, they won’t know how many sales came from that traffic source. In addition, you can use the information in your product reviews (such as price and size) to better understand what leads are converting into purchases. So if you have a conversion funnel set up in your analytics software like Shopify or Google Analytics, it should be easy to see which pages on your site lead to sales with detailed reports showing exactly where each visitor came from—and when they converted into paying customers.
- Not Writing Compelling Product Descriptions
Product descriptions are those long, detailed blurbs about a product. For example, if you’re selling a watch, your product description might start with the basics—the type of metal and band material used, whether it’s waterproof or not, how many colours you offer it in—and then go in-depth by adding details on how the company’s years of experience helped them develop this particular watch design.
But unlike other elements on your shop page like images or tags that customers can see before they purchase something from you (and still be intrigued by), only shoppers who actually click on an individual listing and read its description can learn about what makes that specific item unique.
- Not Optimizing Your Site for Mobile.
If you are not optimizing your site for mobile, it’s likely that you will see a decrease in conversions and orders. A lot of people browse online on their phones and tablets, so if you don’t have a mobile-friendly website or app, these users might leave your site altogether. Another reason why it’s important to optimize your site is that mobile users tend to be more critical than desktop users when they’re browsing online.
- Not Offering Free Shipping or a Money-Back Guarantee
If you’re not offering free shipping, or a free return policy, on your store—you’re leaving money on the table.
Even if your main goal is getting sales, you should still offer these options:
- Free shipping – This is pretty much a no-brainer for any e-commerce business. If there’s anything that will increase customer loyalty and confidence in buying from your store over another one it’s knowing that they won’t have to pay for shipping. People love saving money! And this makes it easy for them to buy more with little worry about the cost.
- Money-back guarantee – Even if you have paid to ship (which I would never recommend), giving customers the option of returning something within a certain timeframe can build trust even further by letting them know they won’t get stuck with something they don’t like or can’t use after opening the package.
- Not Offering More Ways to Pay, like PayPal and Apple Pay
You should think about offering multiple ways to pay, like PayPal and Apple Pay. If you do, your customers will be able to use their preferred method without having to jump through hoops with each transaction. Plus, you’ll have an easier time with things when it comes time for refunds and chargebacks (a major headache).
You can set up these payment options using Stripe or Braintree—they offer both PayPal and Apple Pay integration in their services.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Shopify is an amazing platform that can help you run a successful online business. But if you don’t take the time to address these problems and make sure they don’t happen again in the future, then it won’t be worth your while.