Whether you’re turning over millions a month or establishing your first e-commerce store, the website people arrive at is one of the most critical steps on a customer journey! As an agency we have audited 100s of businesses - from the Davids to the Goliaths - and trust me, everyone makes mistakes. 

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Why do you need to audit your website?

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The main purpose is to improve the quality of the customer journey. Presume that every customer is cautious, fickle and inspecting every detail closely. From unconvincing social proof to sloppy copy, each page on the website will be scrutinised with no stone left unturned. Each aspect has an opportunity for improvement, the sooner you take action the sooner conversions will improve. 

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Obviously conversion is the name of the game. In order to keep customers hooked, focussed and ready to splash the cash their journey needs to be as seamless as possible. Better website, better conversions, better revenue. Simple. 

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So, let’s get down to business. Here are the most common mistakes when making a website…

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Website Essentials

Mobile View

- Did you know that 69% of UK traffic to e-commerce is via mobile? Well now you do. Don’t be a fool, optimise your site for both desktop and mobile or expect to lose out. Nothing makes me want to split the scene like a janky website that clearly doesn’t function on mobile. 

Social Proof

- reviews lift conversions by 52.2%! Eureka! So, what’s the sensible thing to do? Lock in the performance by featuring the very best reviews! Seeing fellow shoppers' post-purchase satisfaction is always gonna be a strong factor in customers’ decision making. And don’t you forget it. Us reviews.io to collect, and display reviews on your site.

Home Page 

Identifying information

- First thing’s first, what do you actually do? Make it clear from the landing page, ideally without customers needing to scroll to read it. Similarly, do not forget the USPs. Don’t make it a puzzle to find them, people are impatient and anything delaying their journey is a red flag. Bounce rate is the enemy, beware! 20% is the goal, so make sure people know what you are about, or else.

Pop-ups

- Newsletter, sign-ups and discounts. Helpful or harassing? There’s no denying their use, but please for the love of god make sure they’re not dominating the experience. Customers should be able to close a pop-ups if they want, obviously. Make sure any pop-ups are legible on both mobile and desktop - this is a particularly recurring mistake, don’t be like that. The below pop-up is a great example as the offer is too good to miss out on, clear, there's no ambiguity and it gives you the option to click away.

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Collection Page

Organisation

- So many pages are poorly set out. Why? Why I ask you? The horrors these eyes have seen… Products in the wrong sections, 100s of jumbled items, even 0 on some pages. Don’t succumb to this mindless chaos. Choose organisation, choose sanity, choose conversions. 

Detail

- Make sure to add enough detail, a lot of traffic ends up on these pages so if the Home page is bypassed make sure your collection page covers the essentials. A small bit of text goes a long way. But be sensible, don’t include any information you don’t have to.  

Imagery

- Should be consistent throughout, simple as that. Using a product shot? Make sure every product is positioned the same way. Have a toggle for the second image (a model shot perhaps)? Make sure each image has a clear or consistent background. Uniformity looks clean, tidy and reliable. Here's a great example of an organised collection page.

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Product Page

Product Descriptions

- It should be obvious that you need to help customers know what the product is. And yet, sometimes these essentials evade people’s radar. A common one for fashion brands is the size guide; everyone knows sizes vary between brands so make sure people don’t need to click off the page to find out. 

Product Images

- A lot of images are poorly sized, uninformative, in short supply or even repetitive… As with your collection page, keep things uniform and user friendly. Remember, these images are often the initial indication a customer will get of your product’s perceived value. Will an image annoy, confuse or distract your customer from their journey? If so, then change it. Here's a great example of a really well laid out product page from Miracle.

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Cart and Checkout

It’s worth pointing out that the top 10% of Shopify stores convert at over 5.2%, while the average is 1.8%. If you’re not reaching these lofty heights, it’s often the final step where Shopify Stores fall short.

Information

- Find the balance… Don’t overcomplicate things! Here’s an example; added tax. Obviously make sure it’s included with the copy, say “Tax Included” instead of surprising people with extra fees, or over-explaining it pre-purchase (especially common in USA audiences).

Colour scheme

- Why would you go so far with branding yet give your checkout a bland appearance? Make it make sense! Ensure your purchase button stands out and the checkout matches the brand guidelines.

Payment Options

- Klarna averages 30% in cart conversion boost, nothing to be missed out on! Giving people more payment options is a proven win and can seriously help reduce drop-off at this stage in the customer’s journey.

Cross Sell

- Why let the initial purchase be all you make? They’re willing to buy, why not persuade them to buy more? It may not increase conversions on the store but it does increase the Average Order Value! One thing that makes cross-selling so effective is the many ways it can be done; for example 35% of Amazon Sales are through cross-selling. 

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What now?

This is only scratching the surface here, from home page to checkout there are so many common mistakes that can be easily remedied. The last thing your product needs is a poor website, ensure that all the aspects that push people away are dealt with and conversions will soar. 

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When we look into accounts every single one has these issues but we need to see these eradicated.

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‍Book a free call with Joe or Freddie today to learn more about how we can help you today.

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