8 Reasons Self-Build Ecommerce Websites might be Costing you Sales[ 2 min read ]

If you’re not getting the sales you’re expecting, it could be your website – shaping up your Ecommerce websites

by Suzi Zobair
I recently read on a business forum that a lady quit her monthly-subscribed template e-commerce shop because she wasn’t making any sales. This lady might have thought this was down to her products but more likely, it would have been down to using a template site.
Now I’m all for self-builds if you have the design skills, content marketing skills, technical skills and e-commerce knowledge (or the time/inclination to learn all of the above) and I’ve seen some fantastic examples of self-builds over the years. BUT, here are some reasons why you might not be getting the sales you wanted or were expecting from your self-build:

1. Your website quality doesn’t match your product quality

   Customer’s will view your website as an extension of your product and brand. If your website has a lot of pixelated images, spelling, grammatical errors and dubious branding it will reflect badly on your reputation and your product.

2. Your customers doubt you are trustworthy and don’t feel safe buying from you

   If there are problems with your website, or it’s visibly not a standard e-commerce site, they may feel unsafe parting with their cash online.

3. Your contact email doesn’t match your website

   The contact email is not you@yoursite.com, if your email is a yahoo or gmail account, it adds to the insecurities about your company. Whilst mapping your domain is relatively easy with some self-build sites, email is often forgotten.

4. Your website is not easy to navigate

   If your navigation isn’t what the customer expects and they have trouble finding what they need, they may just click off and go elsewhere. It needs to be quick and easy for customers to find what they’re looking for and complete that sale.

5. Links or processes don’t work

   If parts of your website don’t work it could scare customers away or they get frustrated and just give up.

6. You don’t comply to regulations

   Distance selling regulations changed recently and whilst not every shopper is savvy enough to have read them, they know what to expect when buying online.

7. Your sales aren’t encrypted

   Many buyers won’t shop without encrypted checkouts – sites with encryption have the padlock icon in the address bar. This ensures their personal and payment details are safe from hackers.

8. Search Engine Optimisation

   Customers might not even get to your website without a bit of optimisation or a lot of hard work on social media

A professionally designed website is an investment BUT it will help you get more organic traffic to your site, ensure you are complying to regulations AND will help your potential clients feel they can trust buying from your website. And best of all? it will give you more time to concentrate on what you do best- your products.