It’s a drag when you’ve got the traffic but it’s not converting. But for a marketer, it’s a blessing in disguise because your visitors are telling you something is wrong with your site. A few easy tweaks and that traffic will be converting. Here are some common mistakes you might be making.

You’re Making It Difficult

If it’s too difficult for people to make a simple purchase from you, they’ll head somewhere else to buy. If they have to register before purchasing or go through a bunch of different pages, they’ll head to another site where they can simply click a ‘buy now’ button.

It’s the same if your purchase process confuses them. Look at how slick, easy and clear the Amazon sales process is – after your purchase; it gives you a printable receipt and sends a confirmation email. People have anxiety when they’re shopping online. Make your sales process as clear as possible to quell this anxiety.

Lack of Customer Service

Lots of ecommerce sites fail when it comes to customer service and this is a terrible shame because you need it even more when you’re online than off. In a brick and mortar store, customers have face-to-face contact with your sales staff. This is not so online.

When there’s a problem with an order, the customer shoots an email off into the vastness of the internet and that’s scary. What if nobody responds? If you’re there for them when they need you, you’ll make their day and they’ll come back to buy from you again (and tell their friends).

 No Relationships

It’s very important for online marketers to build relationships with their customers. When you do this, it’s only natural that when they want your products or services, they’ll buy from you. If you have a simple landing page and you’re driving web traffic to it, you’re doing alright but you’re not really building that kind of relationship.

On the other hand, if you’re in touch with your market through your blog, social media profiles, email list and so on, they’re much more likely to buy from you. When you’ve been giving them steady content that’s valuable and helpful, they see you as an expert and the go-to for whatever they need – including the products and services you offer.

Too Much Flash

It could be something as simple as your web design. Your site may have fancy Flash videos and other add-ons that slow down their computer’s load time. They probably won’t wait around until it loads to start shopping. Or your site could have bold red lettering and other design features that hurt your credibility.

Your site should have a simple, tasteful design. If you’re clueless on this, look at some popular sites in your niche and see how they’re designed. Steal some ideas from them and your visitors will like it a lot more.

The Wrong Traffic

Finally, you may be using the wrong traffic sources. Even if you get a great deal of traffic but they’re not qualified buyers, you won’t make a sale. Think of the links leading to your site as a sales funnel. Those links should be on sites where visitors are already primed to buy what you’re offering. If you’re targeting the wrong traffic, your sales message will be lost on them.

Tony