The 3 Mistakes To Avoid When
Running An E-commerce Store
Running an e-commerce store is a great business and becoming more popular every year. People that used to be afraid to be in competition with Amazon now realize that it isn’t the case and small stores can thrive. The problem with running an e-commerce store is that it isn’t easy to know when you are making mistakes.
Many new owners make a series of common mistakes that end up derailing the business. Sometimes the mistakes are serious enough that they have to close up shop. When you are running an e-commerce business it is important to understand the pitfalls you could face so you can avoid them. In this article, we will go over several mistakes that e-commerce owners make.
1. You Don’t Have a Niche
There is an e-commerce store out there where you can buy every conceivable product on the market. It’s called Amazon and they know how to sell. This is why you shouldn’t try to be a general store and should instead be a specialized or boutique store that sells a certain kind of product.
It will be especially successful if you are already an expert on the type of product. You can sell many variations, but they should all fit the theme. For instance, there are nuns called the Sisters of Carmel that sell many different religious items such as these St Michael medals.
Take a page out of their book and find a topic or niche that you know a lot about and sell those types of products.
2. Poor Customer Service
Mistakes happen and people understand that, but they will give you another chance or never buy from you again depending on how you handle the mistakes that get made. If your customer service is poor, then you lose a customer and possibly others if they spread the word about their bad experience.
Working on your customer service means that you need to have a detailed and clear policy that customers understand when it comes to returns and refunds, for example. It also means that you have to be quick with solutions for their problems.
Make sure that questions are answered quickly and that returns are sent out as soon as possible so they are satisfied with the solution.
3. You Don’t Have an Email List
An email list is essentially a list of people who have volunteered to be marketed to. They love what you are doing and want to be in the loop. This means that you have a list of motivated buyers that will love to get emails from you. You can increase your revenue when you have a list.
Not having a list means you don’t have a way to reach out to customers to let them know that there is a sale going on or that you have added new products to the store. They may be social media followers, but they don’t always see your posts. When it comes to email, they get them in their inbox and can see them no matter what.
