Ecommerce is filled with mythical tales of knights and princesses. OK, so maybe we exaggerate, but there are definitely a lot of ecommerce stories circulating out there in the world. You shouldn’t believe everything you read on the Internet (but surely we don’t have to tell you that).
Here are five common ecommerce myths that are wreaking havoc with people’s businesses.
Ecommerce stores don’t really need branding
Yes, ecommerce is about sales, but ecommerce isn’t about the ‘stack em high, sell em cheap’ sales anymore. You need to invest in your brand – it drives customer customer experience.
- Most ecommerce stores sell a lifestyle as well as products. What values and aspirations are you selling? Reflect them in your branding.
- You have to invest in something that looks good. After all, with all the options out there, why would people want to spend with you? Good branding creates differentiation.
- Don’t underestimate the importance of cohesion. Choose colours that match your products and niche. Here are 50 colour palettes to help you choose.
Ecommerce doesn’t need SEO
Ecommerce needs SEO – don’t let anyone convince you otherwise. The game of the SERPs (search engine page results) is brutal and you won’t be able to get there without someone who knows that they are doing.
- Get the basics right. Fix indexing issues and duplicate URLs in your online store. Make sure the project is led by a technical SEO (or someone who knows what they are doing). You don’t want to mess this up for your store.
- Bin any boring manufacturer’s copy for unique descriptions and optimise image alt tags for keywords.
- Here is a fuller guide to ecommerce SEO.
Ecommerce can’t be done on a budget
One of the biggest myths out there is that an ecommerce store is very expensive to set up and needs a lot of custom coding in order to succeed.
- The truth is, you can do a lot with the readymade packages out there. Tools to help you create an online store from scratch can have you up and running in a day.
- There are loads of free ecommerce templates out there and with a few simple tweaks you can get something completely unique.
- Even getting a good logo on somewhere like Fiverr isn’t hard.
- Manage a tight budget by careful tracking, planning and forecasting.
Loads of social proof is all you need
It’s totally reasonable to seek out testimonials and case studies for your products, but the issue is that social proof needs to be of a right kind to actually work.
- Too many ‘rave’ reviews can actually be a turn off – making you seem less real.
- You need social proof that hits the crucial relevancy mark for customers. They need to see their own problem solved in front of their eyes.
- Compelling social proof is real and and is in the right context.
Social media isn’t ‘the right’ place for ecommerce
Social media is about relationships, and selling is also about relationships.
- A lot of businesses know they need to ‘go social’, but they end up spending loads of money and wasting time churning out run-of-the-mill content with no user value. Social media is about the user – not you.
- Visual commerce is a growing arm of ecommerce promotion – use pictures to tell great product stories.
- You will need to successfully manage customer relationships and queries on social media.
- Use social media to reach out to influencers who may want to feature your products.
Hope we managed to demystify a few things. What myths do you think still surround ecommerce? Share your thoughts.
