Ecommerce is pretty competitive these days. And as with most cutthroat industries, mistakes can be fatal to sales. Examples include lack of branding, clunky checkouts, no visibility into who you are, bad customer service, and lack of community engagement.

We like to refer to these ecommerce mistakes as stinkers and sinkers. Here are a few stinkers and sinkers to avoid in your ecommerce store.

A Lack of Branding

Marketing experts say that it’s not about what you sell, but rather how you sell it. Anybody can sell T-shirts and pants online, which for shoppers means they can shop anywhere for what they want. There’s no reason to choose Store-A over Store-B beyond pricing or convenience. If this is the case, the shopper will be more likely to buy from an ecommerce giant like Amazon than a small business.

Establishing a brand identity, on the other hand, gives consumers a reason to buy from your ecommerce store specifically. Rather than just selling T-shirts and pants, your store sells “apparel for anime enthusiasts” or “athleisure for the sporty fashionista.” Both of these examples describe a style of clothing specific to a certain audience.

To unlock the power of good branding, e-stores need a strong brand name, a tagline, an attractive logo, cohesive messaging, and an alluring design. If you don’t already have a logo – or just want to update it – consider using a logo maker from Hatchful or Shopify; then match that logo style with your website design to keep everything clean and professional.

A Clunky & Cumbersome Checkout Process

One surefire way to sink your ecommerce store is a slow, confusing, or broken checkout process. This is the last step a customer takes, and for e-sellers, it’s the most important because it leads to conversions. However, if your checkout process requires users to create an account or just doesn’t work, a shopper is more likely to abandon their cart at the last second.

To prevent this from happening to you, be sure to use a hearty ecommerce platform. These services work tirelessly to ensure e-stores have the processing power to handle hundreds, or even thousands of orders at once; without slowdowns. Similarly, they standardize checkout processes (more or less) to keep things from getting too clunky and cumbersome.

If you built your checkout pages yourself, doublecheck the processes to make sure everything is easy and painless. Keep the number of pages and entry forms as low as possible; only asking for the data you need to complete the order.

Missing Essential Pages

Another ecommerce stinker is foregoing the essential pages shoppers want to see. Examples include an About Us page, a contact page, FAQ pages, sizing guides; customer review sections, and the like. Shoppers visit these pages to inform their purchases as well as ensure your e-store and its products are legitimate. Therefore, nixing these pages is a bad idea.

Providing greater visibility into your ecommerce website is essential to establishing a good relationship with your shoppers.

Poor or Lethargic Customer Service

Another ecommerce killer is poor or lethargic customer service. The internet provides consumers a quick and easy way to satisfy their needs and desires. Of course, shoppers will have questions from time to time. If your staff doesn’t field those queries quickly and accurately, your e-store could lose out on essential sales.

In that same vein, disgruntled buyers reach out to your customer service team to make things right. If your staff slacks on these interactions or just plain misses them, you risk losing a customer for life.

No Community Engagement

Research shows today’s shoppers prefer to spend their dollars with brands that give back. Consider offering your time or money to causes matching your store’s offerings. As an example, if you sell pet supplies, you can offer five percent of your profits to local animal shelters.

Awareness of these ecommerce mistakes will help you avoid committing these sinkers and stinkers.