A roadblock in the world of ecommerce is basically anything that stands between your customers and your products. You probably know that online shoppers are like a flock of birds: the slightest little jolt and they are off up into the sky and away. They’re not like ants who will immediately try to find another route to their goal, they will not often back track and look for gaps and ways over, under or around an obstacle. No they know that they can just go back to the search results and start again with a fresh site that probably has what they are looking for and may well be easier for them to get to.
So we agree. Roadblock on websites are bad.
What is a road block exactly?
Well here are three prime and common examples of roadblocks that crop up in ecommerce websites all the time preventing users getting from landing page to payment processing:
Forcing Customers to Register
All too often ecommerce sites are so keen to gather the email addresses and other information about users that they do so before customers have even fully committed to buying a product. Being confronted by a message basically demanding that you create an account before you have permission to actually buy something is terribly off putting and indeed leads a large percentage of users who don’t want to or just can’t be bothered, to exit immediately.
Bad Search Results
Many people prefer to search ecommerce stores through the site search. There are some who are happy to use the normal navigation menus and such but a significant proportion who may be in a rush, may know precisely what they are looking for or who may just prefer it, will go directly to your search box. However, if they don’t get what they want quickly through your search box, they aren’t going to stick around to use your navigation, they’re going to leave and try another site.
External Credit Card Site
Another major roadblock is when customers are transported to another site altogether in order for them to put in their card details. They trusted your site this far and now you are suddenly asking them to trust someone else. No dice. This is a big turn off for lots of customers and will cause many of them to turn tail and leave. Having a payment service provider incorporate into the structure of your site is a better option that is widely provided.
Roadblocks are very serious but are in most cases, including those listed above, fixable. Think of each of these like placing a physical roadblock in front of a bricks and mortar version of your shop and you will appreciate just how important it is to remove them as soon as possible.
When a visitor or potential customer arrives at your website for the first time, they form an opinion of your site and your company as a whole in a few seconds. This means that you need to make sure that every element of your homepage (primarily) and all the deeper sections of your site are completely tailored to give your visitor the best emotional response and first impression. Think about the last time you arrived at a site that looked odd, was unappealing, and made you feel awkward in some way…did you stick around? I doubt it. You don’t want to be in their shoes.
Design is of course a major aspect of ecommerce as an attractive design can be as important as the function of the site. This is what initially draws potential clients into your site and someone can turn on a site in an instant if they don’t like the design. People are fickle like that. What you need to ensure is that your site is both well arranged and the colour scheme and design is attractive. Fortunately web designers aren’t left in the dark when it comes to development tools, and with the impending release of Adobe Creative Suite 5 things are about to get even better for them.
The first stage of creating an ecommerce website is of course coming up with a good idea. Whether you’re selling organic tomatoes or Toshiba televisions you have to have your ideas in place before you go on to the next stage. One area that must almost immediately be attended to is the site design. It has to be eye catching, organised and fit with the theme that the site is trying to create.
As any website guru will tell you, ‘content is king’. This applies as much to an ecommerce site as to any other. It is vital that the site provides something invaluable to potential customers. Of course no website will be perfect for everyone but it is vital that even in a niche market you are providing a very high standard. For an ecommerce site, content refers to products and services.
Aside from the obvious functional elements that a good ecommerce site needs it also has to be visually appealing. Furthermore, the visual and layout options of your products must be helpful and easy for your customers to use. If a site appears disorganised and provides too much information contrary to the sites purpose then it will bemuse customers and few will stick around to browse your site further or make a purchase.
