Posted by Elizabeth Hughes on September 28, 2010 1:25 pm      0 Comments

Many of our ecommerce blog posts provide information on various ecommerce "dos". To make a welcome change, here are 5 common ecommerce "don'ts" which all ecommerce website owners and e-retailers need to be aware of.

When visitors reach your site they need to be able to find the goods and services that they want to buy instantly. Regardless of how well laid out your product pages are, you need to provide your potential customers with search facilities so that they can find exactly what it is that they need. Ecommerce search functions need to be fast and produce relevant results, they should also take into account spelling errors and run searches on incomplete words. As an e-retailer you should be committed to maintaining the highest standards for your internal search functions

Nothing can instil confidence in new site visitors more than SSL (Secure Socket Layer) protection. When you direct your new customers to SSL protected pages, you actively show them that your business is responsible and trustworthy, and that you care about the safety of their sensitive information. Sending site visitors to error messages which inform them of problems with your security certificates effectively destroys the trustworthy image that you may well deserve. To prevent this from happening make sure that your ecommerce web designer or developer is able to properly encrypt your ecommerce site pages

There is a reason why ecommerce is a popular way to purchase goods and services online - it's convenient! Theoretically ecommerce customers are able to purchase the goods and services that they need instantly, however if you hide away details of your accepted payment methods it is highly unlikely that they will be able to complete their transactions. Don't bury your vital payment and shipping information in FAQ pages; display your accepted payment methods on every page and make sure that your shipping information is easily accessible from the shopping cart pages of your ecommerce site

The internet is dynamic, and to keep it on your side you need to constantly feed it relevant and current information. The same rule applies to your potential customers and site visitors. Feeding site visitors out of date information is an easy way to destroy your business development efforts. To trust your ecommerce company, site visitors need to know that you are a) actually still in business and b)that the goods and services sold on your website are relevant and current. Publishing out of date information on your ecommerce website raises all manner of questions about the authenticity and efficacy of the products and services that you are selling

There is no easier way to create a bad first impression than to publish content which is full of spelling and grammatical errors! While it may sound a simple thing to remember, proof-reading their written content is often overlooked by many e-retailers and ecommerce website owners. Even if you have hired a professional copywriter to create your written content, you still need to proof-read it to ensure that it conveys the impression that you need to convey to your site visitors

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