4 Reasons Your Ecommerce Website Is Holding Your Business Back
Your e-commerce website may be up and running, but generating profits from it is a different story altogether. The task is challenging and time-consuming. Most e-commerce stores succumb to the challenge or can barely remain afloat.
According to a study, the total eCommerce sales in the US reached $787.9 billion in 2020, a 32.3% YoY increase from 2019. The figure is expected to surge further this year.
However, not every e-commerce store succeeds in capturing a decent market share.
If you’re witnessing minimal sales from your e-commerce store despite continual efforts, chances are something is amiss. This post sheds light on four reasons your e-commerce website is not generating profits and holding you back in the game.
1. Your Store Isn’t Scalable
Scalability refers to the ability of your website to grow while catering to the increased visits that come along with a growing customer base. Scaling your online store is necessary if you want to serve more customers and generate higher profits.
To scale your e-commerce website, you need increased computing power from web servers. Once you have upgraded the servers, you can expect your website to stay stable even during spikes in visits, with a drastic boost in performance.
The idea behind going for web scaling is to ensure that your online store functions optimally even with a large visitor count. Without scalability, you will likely miss out on opportunities to sell.
Turning your balance sheet from red to green can be quite challenging with a web store that isn’t scalable. The key to avoiding issues related to scalability is to sign up for a hosting plan that will allow you to scale your store vertically and horizontally.
A. Vertical Scaling:
Vertical scaling refers to improving the bandwidth, storage, and visitor quantity limits of your e-store. This can be done by increasing the server resources. Vertical scaling can be a great option if your online store experiences high traffic daily.
B. Horizontal Scaling:
Horizontal scaling refers to assigning more servers to a website for handling increased traffic. It helps scale up a website for meeting its back-end requirements.
Depending on your needs, you can scale your online store vertically or horizontally, or both. To avoid complications, you can sign up with a hosting partner that offers both options.
2. You Don’t Have Tech Support
Tech support can play a defining role in helping you improve your online business. Your site may be suffering from login errors, compromised security protocols, or lackluster performance. Eventually, all these factors lead to a decrease in dwell time and an increase in bounce rate.
To beat these technical hurdles, you should hire tech experts rather than follow a DIY approach. They have the skills and expertise needed to anticipate and troubleshoot issues and can ensure the security of your customers’ data.
A managed IT services provider plays a crucial role in monitoring the different networks your customers use to access your site. They can also help you integrate firewall solutions on both hardware and software, ensuring fool-proof protection from malicious web traffic.
A managed services provider also ensures constant monitoring and deployment of cloud-based solutions. From keeping your critical data safe to secure your customer’s transactions, they can help you transform the way you do business online
3. You’re Missing Out on Content
Content marketing is one of the most effective strategies for establishing trust among the target audience. Creating high-quality content that answers the queries of your target audience will help drive search traffic and strengthen the position of your website on the search engine results page.
A study conducted by DemandMetric revealed that content marketing costs 62% less than traditional marketing and generates about three times as many leads.
As a rule of thumb, conduct a detailed content analysis from consumers’ points of view. You can try using Ahrefs or SEMrush content analysis tool to determine whether the content is compelling enough to drive profitable customer actions.
In your content, you should highlight the product(s)/service(s) you have on offer, their USPs, and why customers should purchase them. The idea is to publish well-researched, relevant, and informative content. If your content doesn’t meet these goals, your customers will not take you seriously.
The images should also be well-designed to grab the attention of visitors. If your product images aren’t clear, you’ll end up losing sales. Undeniably, compelling content helps build a positive brand reputation and goes a long way in convincing customers to buy from you.
4. Your Mobile Design Stinks
With rapid digitization, consumers prefer transacting through their hand-held devices rather than desktop/laptop. A bad mobile experience can leave your customers frustrated and they may defect to your competitors.
Your online store should be able to provide a seamless and safe user experience across all hand-held devices. The high rate of mobile adoption and the increasing dependence on mobile platforms has set the stage for mobile-responsive e-commerce websites. These sites are optimized for speed, ease of use, and mobile browsing behavior.
When designing your online store, you need to ensure your website automatically adjusts itself to your viewer’s screens, no matter the size and type of their device. This will allow your visitors to browse the product(s)/service(s) across all mobile devices and make payments securely and effortlessly. Moreover, your website can also reap SEO benefits.
Conclusion
The e-commerce market in the United States is growing at a rapid pace. If your e-commerce website isn’t generating profits, you should try to identify the issues that are holding it back. This will provide you with an insight into why you may not be generating the volume of sales you expect. The points listed above are the most common issues that are often overlooked. The sooner you take steps to fix these issues, the faster you will see results. Best of luck!
