Getting Lots Of Visitors But No Sales?

We've identified 5 ecommerce killers that could be stopping you from converting more of your visitors into sales.

Killer #1
Your Product Images Are Poor

In a 'bricks and mortar' store your customers have the opportunity to pick up and examine the products you have for sale at any angle they choose. But obviously with an online store they can't.

That's why its important to have the best quality images you can. Not only that, its also good to have images of your products at different angles, and depending on your items, it is also good to have real people modelling them.

Solution - Improve Your Images

Improving your images is something that can be done inexpensively. There are many companies around that will be willing to help you, and you can consider hiring an offshore freelancer using a service like www.freelancer.co.uk

Just take a look at what can be achieved 

Expect to pay anywhere from £0.50 to £5 per image (depending on the company used and how much work is involved).

Killer #2
Your Product Descriptions Are Weak

Content is king (as they say). Product descriptions are not just for SEO they are for selling the product to your customer.

If your descriptions aren't properly describing your products or are written with poor and sloppy English and grammar, then you're going to give off the wrong impression to your customers about the quality of your products and the professionalism of your company.

Solution - Improve Your Content

Take a look at the description above, its simple and to the point.

This is just one example and won't fit for all shops, but its important to find the right formula for your store and apply it across all your products.

Take a look at our 5 top tips for product descriptions.

Killer #3
Poor Category Structure

Are you confused by your store's category structure? If you are then just imagine how your customers feel.

You haven't got long to grab your customers attention and help them to find the products they are looking for. Website visitors are increasingly becoming less patient and when your competing against big sites like Amazon who have teams of people working on their content, you have to be spot on.

Solution - Improve Your Store's Structure

Start from scratch.

Plan our your category structure on a spreadsheet or with a piece of paper and a pen. Refine it until your happy with it and then show it to family and friends and see what they think.

And don't make your customers scroll through tens of pages of products to find what they need.

Read our top tips on category structures.

Killer #4
You Haven't Established Trust

Visitors aren't going to buy from a store they don't trust.

Customers at the 'bricks and mortar' stores don't have to worry so much about trust. They get the goods at the same time they hand over the money.

Online shopping is an all together different experience, your customers have to give you money and then wait for you to send the goods to them. It can be a scary experience, particularly if large amounts of money are involved.

If you haven't gained a visitors trust, trust that you're ensuring their 'online safety', trust that their information is protected, trust that you will send the goods to them, then you have lost the sale. Visitors won't turn into customers unless they trust you.

Solution - Gain Their Trust

Its amazing what a few quick things can do to establish trust, check out the checklist below and if you're missing them then add them in:

i) About us page with a real photo of your business
ii) Provide a physical address and landline phone number
iii) Write a privacy policy
iv) Display any press coverage on a 'Press' page

Reviews

Finally, consider installing product reviews on your website so that your previous customers can review their purchases. Studies have shown that displaying positive and, surprisingly, negative reviews about a product can increase conversions by up to 38%.

Join a review site like trustpilot.co.uk or feefo.com and ask your customers to review their buying experience.

You can then display a feed of these reviews on your website.

Killer #5
You're Not Getting The Right Visitors

Getting website visitors isn't easy but it is easier than getting the right website visitors. By that, we mean getting visitors that actually are looking to buy your products.

If you aren't getting visitors that are looking to buy products like yours, then they aren't going to buy from you - its as simple as that.

Solution - Get The Right Visitors

Easiest said than done we know, but ensuring that you get the right visitors to your website is going to be essential to its success.

A good place to start is to see where your current visitors are coming from, you can do this by using a visitor tracking tool like Google Analytics. (If you are using Analytics make sure you setup tracking with UTM Parameters to track sources from outside of organic search).

Once you've collected your visitor data you should then be able to see where your visitors are coming from and what they are doing on your site. You should then be able to see if you are getting the right visitors.

If you're not, then its time to start - but that's a whole blog post of its own...