A bad website will make customers run!
I spend an inordinate amount of time scouring the web for the best online boutiques and I’m invariably shocked at some of the glaring errors or absence of best practices I see on websites.
These days, with a deluge of new online ventures starting up every day, it’s more important than ever to stand out with a well-edited, easy-to-navigate site that informs and eases the user into purchasing your products and, ultimately, become a loyal customer.
Online shoppers can be as picky as ever and even the most minor of errors can turn people off.
If you manage or own an online boutique, take a few moments out of your busy day to check if the following errors are present on your own site. These tiny tweaks can very well stretch your marketing dollars:
Writing “Compliment” Instead Of “Complement” and Other Spelling Errors
Chances are, a small portion of your shoppers will be nitpicky spellers and if they’re supremely bothered by a typo, they may very well leave your site, I kid you not!
One of the most frequently misused words is “complement,” an e-boutique favorite to describe how great a product fits well with the consumer’s existing possessions and lifestyle. However, people oftentimes spell it with an “i” instead of the “e.”
This is an easy fix that will make you look more professional and polished. Use your Ctrl+F and search for it. Or better yet, copy and paste your web copy into Word and run a spell check! Finally, I’m sure there’s a spelling addict somewhere in your network that will gladly do it for free.
Super Blurry and/or Dark Pictures
Whenever I’m inside an especially dark restaurant, I can’t help but joke that they limit light exposure to my food so I don’t see the pockets of grease or stray hairs. The thing is, there’s probably truth to that suspicion.
It’s not too much different on e-commerce sites. When I see photos of products that are blurry or dark, I hesitate because I know the item I’ll receive in the mail won’t look like what I think it would. These days, high-quality cameras are relatively affordable and accessible, and it’s definitely a top-priority investment that can attract more customers and appease their eyes. There are also a ton of resources that guide camera novices on how to take good pictures and optimize their photographing environment. Photojojo has a useful guide for beginners.
Burying Your Contact Information and Other Key Pieces of Information
Once in a while, I have trouble locating the best contact method to access a customer service representative. Shockingly, I’ve seen e-boutiques that don’t have this information easily accessible and it makes me wonder what kinds of missed opportunities that’s entailed. What if a writer for Lucky Magazine is looking for your phone number and can’t find it?! I would hate for this to happen to anyone.
All your contact information should be one click away if not already on the homepage. This includes social networks like Facebook and Twitter. I’ve been on sites where I had to go through numerous sub-menus akin to a convoluted government phone tree just to find a contact number or email address. Don’t make the customer dig. People have short attention spans, busy schedules and little patience. Make things easy for them — especially the person who’s engaging in a brief retail therapy session during their lunch break.
On a side note, I personally feel more comfortable using an online contact form or a generic email address if the site estimates a response time or guarantees a response. That’s because a lot of stores fail to get back to customers.
Conclusion
I know I’m pointing out the obvious, but I think it’s worth highlighting because I see these errors all too frequently. I would recommend asking a friend who has nothing to do with your site to look it over — the less familiar and involved that person is, the better. Sometimes, it’s easy to gloss over your own mistakes after you’ve pored over the same materials for hours on end. We’re all human after all.
What other common mistakes to you see on websites?
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