Many eCommerce businesses start as relatively small sites, often with do-it-yourself hosting services and templates that provide a good selection of options to set up a basic website. However, as the number of products on the site grows and the company expands, hiring a professional eCommerce website development and design company is often essential.
It is important to think about eCommerce website development and design as two different but related things. The design element includes the aesthetics and the look of the website while the website developers focus on performance and ensuring the site is functioning optimally.
There are several different development mistakes that are made by website companies without experience in ecommerce sites. They are also common mistakes used with do-it-yourself templates. To have the best website, be sure to avoid the following issues.
Lack of Security
Customers today want to see the iconic padlock or the all green search bar that is a sign of a website with a valid SSL certificated. Some websites just use the SSL on the checkout site of the page, particularly if several related websites all forward to one payment site.
While this may save a small amount in the individual SSL certificates, it can really decrease the number of savvy online shoppers that will even browse the site, much less make a purchase.
Poor Shopping Cart Design
If it is difficult to order online or difficult to make a payment through the shopping cart, the rate of abandoned shopping carts rises dramatically. Shopping carts that clearly display the number of items, the current total price and allows for easy editing of the order are always the best to include.
Limiting Payment Options
Any professional in ecommerce website development will tell you that the more payment options your site accepts, the more user-friendly the site will be for customers. In addition to major credit cards, consider PayPal and debit cards as well as alternative payment options as they become popular with online shoppers.
