21 mistakes online store owners should avoid

Ensure your online store doesn't annoy or frustrate potential customers. With these tips, you can avoid common mistakes.

Starting your own online store involves a lot of work, brainpower, and time. For example, you need to find the best shop system, define the implementation method, set up the technical infrastructure, and involve marketing from the beginning. Understandably, everyone involved is nervous about the launch.
But after the start is before the update! This means you should keep improving your online store and adding new features continuously. Unfortunately, many small errors and omissions can lead to a decline in conversion rates and other important metrics, which can jeopardize revenue and profit.
Therefore, make sure to avoid these common "FAILs" in the design and operation of your online store:

Problem: Complicated navigation and menu structures can deter new customers. They feel lost, confused, and possibly frustrated, significantly reducing the joy of shopping.

Solution: Use tracking tools and audience tests to determine how your customers actually use the navigation. Optimize it so that every visitor to your online store can reach their goal quickly and easily.

Problem: Customers are often skeptical of new or unknown online stores, suspecting they might be fake.

Solution: Improve your store's image and build trust by using trust elements like certificates and quality seals, for example from EHI, TÜV, or Trusted Shops.

Problem: An excess of options can overwhelm customers and make purchasing decisions difficult—keyword: Jam Paradox.

Solution: Reduce the selection and use personalized recommendations to encourage decision-making.

Problem: Many people want to know exactly what they are buying, especially with unknown or high-priced products. But your product information might be too "thin".

Solution: Provide detailed product information, supported by professional photos and complemented by videos or interactive 360-degree views.

Problem: Many online store operators copy their product texts 1:1 from producers or intermediaries. This results in product information without added value, which is bad for both your customers and your SEO efforts.

Solution: Create unique and outstanding product descriptions that specifically address your target audience and create a buying incentive.

Problem: Modern customers expect to be advised online as well. Is this missing from your store? Then you should change that!

Solution: Use up-selling and cross-selling options to actively offer customers suitable products. Integrate direct purchase advice, for example in the form of an intelligent chatbot.

Problem: Not providing concrete prices on your homepage or product pages? Missing price information can irritate your customers and harm your business.

Solution: Communicate prices clearly and transparently throughout your online store, and inform about possible volume discounts for bulk buyers.

Problem: Do you have hidden costs? Concealing the total cost of a product is misleading and rightfully annoys your customers.

Solution: Make your product costs transparent to gain customer trust and satisfaction.

Problem: Unclear price structures and surcharges can unsettle and anger your customers.

Solution: Avoid unexpected additional costs or offer discounts instead to motivate customers to use preferred services.

Problem: Although collecting customer data is sensible, mandatory registration can lead to the abandonment of the purchase process.

Solution: Enable a simple shopping experience with minimal data entry. Offer the option of a guest account.

Problem: A lengthy or complicated checkout process can cause potential customers to abandon their purchase even if the cart is full.

Solution: Optimize your online store for quick and easy payments to improve the conversion rate.

Problem: A limited range of payment methods can cause otherwise willing customers to leave your online store.

Solution: Offer the most common payment methods to appeal to a broad customer base. Also, find out if your target groups are open to unusual payment services.

Problem: After choosing a product, you direct users straight to the cart. This significantly disrupts the shopping experience.

Solution: Integrate a "Continue Shopping" button to make it easy to continue shopping.

Problem: A poorly displayed online store on smartphones deters customers. Websites that don't function well or at all on small browsers are a real "showstopper".

Solution: Optimize your store for mobile devices or offer an app for iOS and Android.

Problem: Many customers want to contact your company quickly and easily if they have questions. But this option is often forgotten.

Solution: Make contact options clearly visible and offer various communication channels. Work on making your web forms more customer-friendly.

Problem: A missing or hard-to-find legal notice can diminish customer trust.

Solution: Ensure your online store has a correct and easily accessible legal notice.

Problem: An online store that takes several seconds to load a page unnecessarily tests the patience of users.

Solution: Optimize your store's speed by cleaning up databases, switching hosts, and using a CDN.

Problem: If products are temporarily or permanently unavailable, it reflects poorly on your offerings.

Solution: Find a good way to manage this problem. This includes good planning for holidays and consistent "Out of stock" communication.

Problem: "This page is unfortunately not available": If your online store visitors frequently see this message, something is seriously wrong!

Solution: Regularly search for "dead ends" on your website and set up a convincing 404-error page. Ideally, one that boosts sales.

Problem: If your complaint rate is consistently high, something is wrong. Not finding a solution costs you customers and profit.

Solution: Take measures against the numerous complaints. This includes checking product texts (are false promises being made?) and adjusting the portfolio (are the products faulty?).

Problem: Keywords like "Eco", "Organic", and "Fair Trade" sound good but can be completely inappropriate.

Solution: Don't greenwash by making your online store seem "greener" than it is. Instead, focus on genuine sustainable commerce.

There are many levers you can and should turn to gradually improve your online store. Often, it is the details that turn a "pretty good" online presence into an excellent and standout one. So keep at it and eliminate the typical online store mistakes.