Since the network constitutes the new communication mechanism, every time an entrepreneur decides to enter the cyber world, they must go through a period of learning. Today, many entrepreneurs have leaped, so we present information about what works and what should be avoided in eCommerce. Since any mistake can be costly, it makes sense to learn from experience and avoid the most common mistakes.
According to PTI WebTech, these seven common mistakes that people make more frequent, and that can have severe consequences for their E-commerce business are:
1. Lack of coordination within the business.
It is necessary to designate a person or a team within the company that is in charge of coordinating the process of development and administration of the web page. Even when an external provider is hired to design, develop, and manage the page, there must be a person within the company in charge of supervising the supplier. If nobody fulfills this function, problems can be generated, including common ignorance about the final purpose of the page, duplication of tasks and lack of responsibility.
2. Lack of market studies.
It is essential to know what competitors are doing on the network. If a competitor is offering a similar product or service, it is necessary to rethink the idea to provide it with certain unique and distinctive features that will ensure higher chances of success.
3. Lack of planning in the promotion of the page.
There is no point in designing a formidable advertisement if it is going to be put in the inappropriate magazine, nor put up a spectacular poster that is obstructed by trees. Similarly, a page without a promotion plan is a waste of resources. The existence of an idea that defines the promotion of the page is essential to ensure that the people you want to attract will access the information you want to promote. The plan to generate traffic must incorporate elements as simple as the address of the electronic page in all the printed material of the company (business cards, stationery, and receipts, etc.). Other more technical and sophisticated elements have to do with the development of the page itself. Here are some tips in this category:
- List your page with the most popular search engines, such as Adnet, Starmedia, Infoseek, Yahoo !, Excite and Lycos.
- Include in the introductory paragraph of your page the keywords that identify your business, so that the search engines show your information when someone is using these words in your search parameter. Use distinctive and particular terms that call attention to the type of customer you intend to attract.
- Use links to other web pages. This system allows access to several references included in other pages that will enable automatic access to them with the simple click of the mouse. Although this increases the cost of maintaining the page as it is continually necessary to ensure that the links are still valid, customers who are looking for information related to their business are attracted.
4. Lack of clear objectives.
It is essential to understand the reason why the cyber world is penetrating. For example, do you want to increase sales, decrease costs, or promote your business? The answer will define how much you have to invest on the page. You might simply want to provide information about your business, or your goals go further, and you intend to create automatic email replies or even receive orders by this means. Whatever the objective, it is important to decide from the beginning to be able to develop the necessary tools to measure whether that objective is being met or not. Defining the company’s aim in penetrating the world of e-commerce involves strategic points of great importance, such as the following:
- Seek specialization, that is, offer a unique product or service to a specific and well-defined market segment.
- Answer all your email. Also, do it soon, in an organized manner and reflecting the professionalism of your company. Needless to say, successful entrepreneurs in the network generally spend several hours a day merely answering their email.
- Try to create repeated traffic, which helps build a relationship and credibility with the customer.
5. Bad allocation of resources.
Building and maintaining a page can be expensive both financially and in terms of time. When the network began to be used for real-commerce, many businesses invested heavily in the development of large, sophisticated pages and then claimed that the number of orders received through their site did not pay production costs. Do not fall for this error; carry out a cost-benefit analysis from the beginning, building different response scenarios, to ensure that the initial investment is worth it. Also, remember that if you don’t, you will need to pay someone to oversee the maintenance of the page.
6. Improper design of the screens.
The cyber-world is a visual space, so images are vital. These images must be professional and reflect the vision of the company, but at the same time, they are simple enough to take little time to be loaded and seen by the client. If you sell products, images are even more critical, as most customers do not buy tangible goods without seeing them before. Remember that first impressions are always the most lasting; In the case of e-commerce, the client is going to form an opinion of his business based on the perception derived from those first ten seconds of contact with his page. To build a friendly, attractive, professional page with several menu options relevant to your business.
7. Lack of planning to respond to an international market.
People tend to forget that e-commerce is a worldwide market and that as such, problems associated with business abroad may arise, even if the seller is not trying to attract customers from other latitudes specifically. It is necessary to be prepared for this contingency (or this opportunity), so try to investigate (with enough time to make a right decision), among others, if there are laws against the export of your products, if there are applicable export tariffs, which companies could transport their products and where you will find translators that answer email in other languages.
Businessman, who has made the big leap to Web commerce, has learned through trial and error. You will probably do the same, but you already have a tremendous advanced stretch if you focus your resources and energy on avoiding these seven mistakes, which are usually the most common and, above all, the most expensive.