Global eCommerce sales have surged due to pandemic-driven changes in consumer preferences and shopping behavior. While that’s great news for online retailers, it also translates into an increasingly competitive landscape.
As BigCommerce's blog highlights, launching an impressive online store offers several benefits to small businesses, including streamlined customer support and reduced operational costs. What’s more, you can collect a ton of data from your eCommerce website to get a glimpse of your customers’ purchase preferences and online behavior.
Moreover, you can reach out to a wider, global audience and deliver a seamless shopping experience.
However, this is all only possible if your audience trusts you, and as a smaller company that is newly opening up shop, trust can be elusive.
Small Business eCommerce: An Overview
It’s worth noting that nearly half of all eCommerce businesses shut their doors within the first five years. Also, more than 20% of small businesses fail within a year of their launch.
That’s understandable considering small businesses face a plethora of challenges while making their eCommerce debuts.
To begin with, they lack extensive marketing budgets and expertise to reach their potential customers at the right time. Also, they might struggle with the logistics, leading to delays and glitches in order deliveries.
However, one of the biggest challenges that small businesses face is earning the trust of their target consumers. In an increasingly competitive online world, customer trust has become integral to the success of every business. It’s particularly crucial for small businesses that don’t have an established brand reputation.
If you can’t convince a consumer about your brand’s credibility and trustworthiness, chances are they won’t purchase from you. So, how do you win the trust of your potential customers? The answer lies in your eCommerce site.
With a brick-and-mortar outlet, the physical storefront is instrumental in reassuring consumers that they’re buying from a legit business. A well-designed website serves the same purpose for an eCommerce business.
5 Reasons Why eCommerce Small Business Fail to Establish Trust
In this article, we’ll outline a few common reasons why eCommerce sites by small businesses fail to gain customer trust. Let’s get started.
1. Sketchy Product Descriptions
When consumers visit a brick-and-mortar store, they have the liberty to touch, feel, and examine a product. It helps them understand whether a product is a right fit for their needs.
An eCommerce store strips them of that experience. This makes people all the more skeptical about buying from an online store. That’s where product descriptions step into the picture.
The last thing you want to do is fill your product pages with incomplete, inaccurate, or poorly written descriptions. Make sure the content on these pages is detailed enough to mimic the experience of physically holding a product.
Enhance your product descriptions with high-quality images of the product taken from various angles. Include customer reviews, product dimensions, usage instructions, warranty information, and other details to build credibility and trust.
2. Poor Website Design
Nothing turns away online shoppers faster than a badly designed website. From slow speed and unresponsive themes to poor navigation - your website could be plagued by a plethora of design flaws.
The key is to use your eCommerce site to create a lasting impression on first-time visitors. Start by choosing a responsive website theme. Simplify the site architecture to make it easier for customers to find relevant products on your website.
Optimize the website code, images, videos, and other elements to enhance speed. Use large fonts, enable keyboard-friendly navigation, and maintain adequate color contrast to make your website accessible to users with disabilities.
3. Complicated Checkout
How many times have you exited an eCommerce site because you were asked to sign in before completing a purchase? Do you enjoy entering your personal information every time you buy from an online store?
If you want to establish trust and boost conversions, work on simplifying the checkout process. Eliminate friction by minimizing the number of steps and allowing guest checkout.
Also, give customers the option to decide whether they want to save their personal information on your website.
4. Non-Transparent Pricing
Are the prices listed on your product pages the same as those displayed on the cart? If that isn’t the case, it’s high time you review your eCommerce site’s pricing policies.
Here’s the thing - consumers are willing to pay additional fees to avail of faster shipping and other perks. That’s as long as you outline clear pricing on your product pages. Make sure the product prices are inclusive of shipping, packaging, taxes, etc.
It’ll save you the hassle of cart abandonment due to unexpected price changes during checkout.
5. Lack of Online Visibility
Small businesses have a tough time making a mark on search engines and social media platforms. Things become even more challenging when you have to compete against established eCommerce giants, such as Amazon. But if you want to attract modern tech-savvy consumers, there isn’t an alternative to improving online visibility.
Irrespective of how a consumer comes across your eCommerce site, chances are they’re going to research your brand before purchasing from you. They’ll explore social media platforms and online directories to learn more about your brand.
That emphasizes the importance of deploying a well-rounded digital marketing campaign that builds brand awareness on social media, search engines, and other online channels.
Conclusion:
Earning customer trust through an eCommerce site isn’t rocket science. You simply need a deep understanding of the struggles, preferences, and needs of your target consumers.
The idea is to create an online store with stellar UI/UX, seamless navigation, transparent pricing, and easy checkout. Also, use the right digital marketing tactics to boost your store’s online presence.
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