6 Common Mistakes eCommerce Sellers Make [and How to Avoid It]

Many businesses are taking a plunge for digital, and that’s a great start! 27.2 percent of the total population will be shopping digitally in 2021. In other words, eCommerce is taking up, and businesses should shift themselves towards digitalization. However, like the other Magento eCommerce sellers, you and others overlook the common mistakes that can impede your ability to be a profitable business in haste to grab more opportunities.

It’s unlikely that you will be 100 percent successful the moment you go live. There will be some shortcomings based on changing users’ preferences and the latest trends. You can utilize this time to learn, grow, and work on mistakes and customer experiences.

But as Eleanor Roosevelt said, “Learn from others’ mistakes. You can’t live long enough to make them all yourself.” See what mistakes other businesses have made and learn about them beforehand to avoid spending more time fixing them.

In this article, we will highlight the six biggest mistakes that Magento store owners make. We will also provide you with solutions or ways to avoid them. This way, you will be ready from the beginning.

On that note, here’s a piece of advice: Make sure your delivery is smooth and efficient, as free delivery is the number one reason why people shop online. Bringing in Magento 2 Delivery Date extension is a good strategy.

Alright! Back to Other Mistakes.

The 6 Most Common Mistakes Magento Sellers Need to Avoid

Choosing the wrong eCommerce platform would be on the top list if you weren’t a Magento store owner. Here are the six common issues and the tactics you can use to fix them once and for all:

1. Complicated Checkout Process

According to research, 75% of eCommerce sales drop due to sales abandonment carts—the top reason is confusing checkout. Long checkout processes, unnecessary forms cause unease, resulting in poor customer experience and increased cart abandonment. Mandatory log-in to proceed with the checkout, inadequate payment methods, no sign of delivery status are the factors that frustrate customers and make them leave without a purchase.

Solution: Keep it simple

Avoid asking them to set up an account before checkout. Offer guest checkout options. Make it easy and clear for them to buy a product. Eliminate all the obstacles as this will help increase conversions. Apart from removing unnecessary fields, provide multiple payments and checkout options. Ensure they know about shipping and delivery. Don’t charge them unnecessarily. Instead, bifurcate the total amount and clearly explain the tax, shipping charges, etc. Use Magento 2 order delivery date extension for multiple shipping methods and delivery ease.

Outline every step they need to take to make a purchase. Purchasing requires a level of trust, and you don’t want your customers to think you’re sneaky.

2. Poor Customer Service

1 in 3 customers leaves the brand after one bad experience. It depends on how they feel when they are on the website. If navigation is not smooth, you don’t address customers’ complaints and provide solutions, response time is longer, and there are delays in deliveries and returns, it can be difficult for you to acquire new customers.

These common mistakes can hinder your business growth.

Solution: Be there when they need you. Provide what they require.

You should be accessible to your customers at every stage – from acquiring information to making a purchase, checking out, and follow-up. This will ensure that they don’t have any issues, and if they have – you’re able to resolve them.

Don’t take forever to respond to their complaints. Address their concerns and issue refunds without dragging them into a battle. Let them take the reins by adding Magento 2 delivery date to checkout. Allow them to choose the date and time for delivery or when not to deliver. This will increase transparency and customer satisfaction.

3. Outdated Delivery Process

When buyers reach the shipping section on the checkout process, they expect the shipping dates, total shipping cost, and the delivery date displayed. They also like to know beforehand if the delivery will be available on holidays like Mother’s Day, Veteran’s Day, Halloween, Christmas, etc. Lastly, they need an accurate delivery date and not an estimation.

However, many businesses fail to do so. Either they provide inadequate delivery information or end up offering multiple shipping options. This confuses customers whether they should buy from you or your competitors.

Solution: Use a modern solution

Don’t stress your customers. Integrate Magento 2 delivery date extension and provide customers with accurate shipping dates. It ensures that deliveries are on time and there are no delays. A few dates that you should mention are order date, shipping date, delivery date, and return date. A track of these dates keeps customers informed.

You can learn all about various shipping dates here – 6 Shipping Dates to Track

4. Handling Orders Manually

Handling orders manually is one of the common mistakes that many businesses make. They don’t realize that it will include updating inventory all the time, which is challenging. Say a customer ordered five t-shirts, and you updated it in your system manually. The next day, you receive five more orders but the human calculator, i.e., your mind missed checking the in-stock availability. The order is received, and later you have to update customers about the unavailability. Not only this, but manual handling also causes errors in delivery. What if you mixed up two orders and the one that was supposed to be ordered the next day got delayed? Sellers forget that these little things of accountability help build a brand.

Solution: Automate the process

Use Magento 2 order delivery date extension. Configure the backend and set the date and time formats. Manage delivery time and slots, predefine the holidays and undeliverable dates, and configure the order processing time and intervals between processing and shipping. Set per-day order limits and restrict delivery options based on cart amount. Besides, provide customers with options to select their preferred delivery date and time, add options like ‘call me before delivery,’ etc.

5. Lack of Communication

Do you know what frustrates customers the most? It’s inadequate communication. For example, if the order is to be delivered today, they expect businesses to notify them beforehand with a way to contact the delivery person. In case if they are unavailable, they could inform the delivery person about the same. The same goes for the delivery person. Many of the returned orders are due to customer unavailability, and since they can’t contact the delivery person or the store owner beforehand, the delivery person returns with orders. Businesses fail to understand that they don’t have to sell. They have to provide value.

Solution: Hear them out

Of course, you can’t keep calling each and every customer asking them about their preferred delivery date and time. But you can provide them with options like ‘call before delivery,’ add delivery date and time slots during checkout. These options will ensure that customers know about their order delivery and can update the delivery person about their availability/unavailability. Allow customers even to edit their time slots before the order is out for delivery. Once updated, it should notify customers and the delivery person so that they can skip that delivery.

6. No Target Audience

Many Magento store owners spend a lot of time and money developing products and websites, whereas they don’t even spend one-tenth of their time understanding their customers. They think they know their customers inside out. However, the truth is they know them only via created personas and not on a deeper level. The customer behavior, their likes, and dislikes keep changing. They may not prefer self-service today, but they might, the next day.

Knowing your customers helps you in your marketing strategies and providing value rather than selling the products.

Solution: Take the initiative

Conduct surveys; ask customers about what kind of service they expect. Interact with them on social media, see the actions they perform. This will help you figure out the words and expressions to use for descriptions and the social channels you should maintain. Add a feature and take a survey while notifying them about the same. Allow customers to share their feedback with you. Let them rate and review your products and services. Maintain transparency – this is the easiest way to attract the right audience.

Final Thoughts

The list of mistakes is never-ending. Security, responsiveness, poor images, wrong pricing methods, poor design, navigation, and it goes on. The only thing you need to make sure of is to avoid making as many mistakes as possible. eCommerce space is becoming more competitive, and the more you learn from other’s mistakes, the better it will be for you and your business.

Apart from this, embrace technology. Automate your business operations and deliveries with Magento 2 delivery date extension. Create a better shopping experience by giving customers the freedom to decide their order’s delivery date and time. Allow them to add notes, send them notifications about their deliveries, and don’t forget to hear them out. This way, you will have eliminated most of the eCommerce mistakes that other Magento 2 store owners make.

 
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