This year’s Christmas eCommerce sales are expected to total $206.88 billion. That’s an astounding sum, and with so much opportunity, your e-commerce company can benefit from the buying frenzy.
Despite this possibility, there are a few areas where eCommerce sales shops can make mistakes and damage their revenue. Three digital Grinches may destroy your holiday by hurting your sales volume if you are not vigilant. Cybersecurity threats, slow websites, and generic content will all have an influence on your eCommerce sales. But don’t worry,
we’ll teach you just how to get rid of these Grinches and experience great sales this holiday season in our guide
Threat 1- Cybersecurity Risks
Cyberattacks pose a significant risk to e-commerce firms. According to IBM, the average cost of a data breach in 2021 will be $4.24 million. Most organizations lack the financial resources to deal with such a severe loss.
But it’s not simply money that’s causing problems. A cyberattack that breaches the data of your clients can ruin your reputation. After working hard to develop a solid relationship with your clients, a single assault or breach may undo years of hard work. Customers will no longer trust you or be eager to buy with you, perhaps reducing your ecommerce sales.
And the worst part? Cybersecurity threats are becoming more common. Over 30,000 websites are hacked every day across the world. Companies’ security became far more challenging as the epidemic compelled millions of employees to work from home. Securing your workplace is one thing, but how can you maintain the security of your network and client data when employees use their own devices or insecure WiFi?
The majority of online sellers are unprepared for cyberattacks. They lack a strategy for preventing, mitigating, or recovering from cybersecurity hazards. If you aren’t prepared, you may find yourself in the middle of the fourth quarter and the holiday season with a crashed website and poor ecommerce sales.
#1 Solution- Invest in Cybersecurity Training and Protocols.
In the world of cybersecurity, your system is only as powerful as its weakest link. And we are generally the weak link. We’re all fallible, and we all make errors. Training your workers in best practices for avoiding and recognizing possible attacks or breaches is the finest line of defense you can take against cyberattacks.
To begin, teach workers who work from home (WFH) how to safeguard their home network. You may need to invest in extra technologies and services to guarantee that your network is secure at all times, even at workers’ residences. Educate employees on why combining work and personal devices is a terrible idea, and offer suggestions for how you’d like them to utilize their allowed devices.
Protocols
Cybersecurity protocols are rules established by professionals, governments, or supervising agencies to aid in the prevention of cyberattacks. Following these measures will reduce the chances of your ecommerce sales and business being compromised.
SSL and TLS
TLS (Transport Layer Security) and SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) are protocols that safeguard encrypted data as it travels across networks. You may obtain an SSL certificate for your e-commerce business to reassure customers that their information is secure.
Restricted Access
Monitor who has access to your network, website, and customer data at all times. Former workers, contractors, and customers may have more access than you think. Audit your user list on a regular basis to verify that only authorized individuals have access to critical data. Don’t stop with your website. Applications can be used to commit intrusions.
Threat 2: Slow Page Load Times
Slow websites hurt your user experience, SEO, and ecommerce sales.
Customers leave when websites take too long to load. According to Unbounce, over 70% of buyers say page load speed influences their propensity to buy from online retailers. If potential consumers can’t even see the items or services you’re selling, they won’t buy and are unlikely to return. Even a quarter of a second can make a difference. According to Google, when webpage load time grows from one second to three seconds, the likelihood of users bouncing (immediately abandoning a page) increases by 32%.
Moreover, slow load times will undermine your SEO efforts in Q4. Pages with low bounce rates and quick load times are prioritized by Google and other search engines. If your site isn’t running well, you won’t be able to get the SEO rankings you desire.
These two causes combine to produce a single outcome: decreased e-commerce sales for your company. Here are some tips for increasing page speed for improved SEO and customer experience.
#2 Solution- Improve Site Speed
Image Compression
Images are frequently a hidden source of website load time delay. Download times will be greatly slowed by larger, clearer photos. Images may be compressed by lowering file size, dimensions, and resolution. You may also optimize photographs for the devices on which they will be shown.
Those on a mobile site, for example, may be substantially smaller than images on a full-size site.
Delay Page Loading
When you visit a website, the page either loads all at once or as you scroll. Loading a page all at once takes longer, however postponing the page load as the user scrolls help you reduce page performance. By deferring or delaying page load, visitors to your site will experience a considerably speedier site. When you prioritize above-the-fold material, your site visitors will view the most important stuff first.
Audit Extenders
There are several reasons why you would want to add extensions and add-ons to your e-commerce sales site. You can, for example, utilize SEO tools, CMS extensions, and other tools. However, each of these extensions might be consuming important load time and slowing down your site. Audit your extensions on a regular basis to verify they’re doing their job and not bloating your site.
Minify Code
Every webpage is developed with some form of code. HTML, CSS, and JavaScript are the most often used forms of code. There are frequently needless spaces, formatting, and unneeded code inside that code, which slows things down. By minifying your code, you remove dead space and optimize it for quicker loading times.
Avoid Page Redirects
A page redirect can be used for a variety of purposes. You may wish to redirect traffic to a more recent, updated version of a page or repair a broken link. Page redirection, on the other hand, slows down load times. Reduce the number of page redirects you utilize to remedy this issue.
Threat 3- Universal Content
Knowing your audience is one of the most basic laws of digital marketing. Even if you have the finest product or service in the world, if you don’t know who you’re talking to or how to contact them, your e-commerce sales will suffer. Almost one-third of consumers demand more customized purchasing experiences, and generic material will not do.
Marketers address this issue by building focused audience groups for their content and marketing activities. Each segment consists of very particular individuals who all fit the same criteria, such as demographics, interests, requirements, and so on.
#3 Solution- Segment Your Audience
Create Your Segments
To begin, you must identify and define your audience groups. There are several approaches to this, but the most important thing to remember is data. You can’t rely on your audience segments on gut instinct or intuition. That might be a nice place to start, but you’ll need to backup everything.
Make a Customer Journey Map
Each consumer follows a unique path to acquire a product, and this customer journey has an influence on your e-commerce sales. In the case of the protein shake firm, the parent segment may hear your commercials on the radio on their way to work. Lifters may notice your advertisements when viewing weightlifting videos on YouTube, whereas college students may see an advertisement while scrolling through social media. These are three distinct marketing channels, each with its own set of formats, expenses, and best practices.
You can’t successfully develop content for your segments if you don’t know where and how they consume material and subsequently make a buy. Create a customer journey map for each target category to better understand the best methods to engage them.
Get Rid of These 3 Digital Grinches
Make sure your online business is ready to go this Christmas season. Avoid these three frequent digital blunders by safeguarding your site from cyberattacks, increasing page load speed, and developing effective, segmented marketing material. You’ll keep everything operating smoothly and watch your Christmas e-commerce sales rise if you follow these best practices.
Do you want to learn more about e-commerce and digital marketing?
Kreationsites offers metric-driven marketing services to assist your e-commerce business in driving traffic, converting leads, and increasing revenue.
