Common e-commerce pitfalls

First impressions are important. The quality of the content on your site can help create an immediate impression and also ensure that customers keep returning.

Ensure information is accurate

Avoid inaccurate information and broken links:

• Your customers will be put off by out-of-date or incorrect information.
• Make sure information is accurate, especially prices, and monitor the information regularly.
• Make sure that all images display properly, are accurate and show products in their best light.
• Put your contact details, including phone numbers, email and postal addresses, or a prominent link to them, on the home page.

Make the content easy to read

Ensure users can easily read your content:

• Ensure text is easy to read - use plain English that is easy to understand.
• Break text up with headings and bullet points. Remember also that English is a second language for many potential customers.
• Provide users with a clear description of the product. Ensure they have enough information to make an informed decision.

Keep content fresh and interesting

• People expect websites to be updated constantly. If your website remains static, there is little incentive for users to revisit it and any opportunity to promote new products or services may be lost. Think about how you can engage with your customers using new technology. See creating content for marketing campaigns.
• If you have a news section or announcements about new products then they should reflect the current situation. New content will also help your website with its search engine optimisation.
• Update the notice stating when the site was last updated, if you have one.
• Ask your web designer to incorporate a tool that will recognise newly added products and most popular products, and display them automatically on your homepage.

Check the links on your site

Make sure all your links work correctly:

• Regularly check internal links on your site. If they don't work, or a page has been removed, it reflects very poorly on your site.
• Users like links to other sites, so you should consider providing them. However, if there are too many links, or they appear too soon, you risk sending customers away from your website.