Okay, so your e-commerce store has been up and running for a while now. Going through your analytics, you’ve discovered your bounce rate is high, conversions are low, and your revenue projections are unmet. Meanwhile, your SEO is on point and your promotions are drawing a significant response. So, what’s going on? Absent other extenuating factors, these are among the signs it’s time to change your e-commerce theme.
Others include:
Platform Limitations
With mobile rapidly becoming the dominant force in online retailing, your site must employ responsive design so it looks good on desktop machines as well as mobile devices. It should also provide integration capabilities with online marketplaces like eBay, so you can choose to take advantage of the economies of scale you can derive from their gigantic customer bases and exceptionally high traffic. Similarly, you should be able to readily share and sell on social media outlets, as well as provide links from your site to social accounts. If your current theme is incapable of any of the above—it’s time for a change.
Payment Bottlenecks
If you’re locked into a specific method of accepting payments with little or no flexibility, your conversion rate is going to suffer. Imagine going through the entire shopping process, selecting a product and placing in your shopping cart, only to learn your preferred way to pay is unsupported. This can be an extremely frustrating experience. Your e-commerce theme should be fully PCI-DSS compliant so you can accept all major credit cards. Further, it should be capable of easy integration with major payment gateways and third-party processors like PayPal and AmazonPay.
Inventory Management Issues
The best e-commerce platforms offer integrated inventory management solutions. These enable you to optimize your ordering, keep track of the amount of product you have on hand and help you plan purchasing activities, so you don’t come up short on a hot item at a crucial time. Even better, this function should operate together with your sales, returns and customer service so you always have the most comprehensive and current data with which to make decisions.
You’re up to Your Neck in Plug-ins
When an e-commerce theme is well thought through, most of the functions you need to do business are baked right in. Yes, if you need to customize your site to accomplish something unique to your business, plug-ins can be a great way to get things done without a lot of coding. But if you find you’re needing more and more of them to keep up with the evolution and growth of your business, that’s a definite sign you need to start shopping for a better solution.
Blog Integration is Difficult
A solid organic content marketing program is crucial to doing e-commerce today. In addition to being extremely beneficial to your customers, it establishes you as an authority, as well as someone who is interested in giving just as much as you get. Having your blog set up as an integral aspect of your retail site allows customers to easily shop your goods after they’ve been attracted to an article containing the information they need.
If your current site is incapable of accomplishing all the above, those are signs it’s time to change your e-commerce theme. Your business will improve, the look of your site will be nicer, and the store will become easier to manage for you and navigate for your customers. Several of these factors will also serve to increase your search engine rankings, which will bring you more business and expanded conversion opportunities.
