by The Computing Australia Group | Common E-Commerce
Website Mistakes to Avoid
Running an e-commerce business can feel like a rollercoaster. Sales spike one week, fall flat the next, and somewhere in between you’re trying to juggle platforms, plugins, ads, and customer emails.
A big part of smoothing out that ride is simply avoiding the most common website mistakes that quietly cost you traffic, sales and loyal customers.
In this guide, our e-commerce specialists in Perth break down the most frequent e-commerce website mistakes we see, why they hurt your results, and exactly how to fix them.
1. Choosing the Wrong E-Commerce Platform
Your e-commerce platform is the foundation of your entire online business. If it’s the wrong fit, everything else becomes harder: design, SEO, marketing, inventory, even customer service.
How this mistake shows up
- You outgrow your platform within a year or two.
- Customising the site requires constant developer help.
- Integrations with payment gateways, shipping or accounting tools are clunky or impossible.
- Performance is slow or buggy at peak times.
Many business owners pick the first platform they hear about, or go with whatever their developer prefers, without a clear requirements list.
Questions to ask before choosing a platform
Spend time on these questions:
- What products or services do you sell?
- Physical products, digital downloads, subscriptions, bookings, or a mix?
- How complex is your catalogue?
- Simple products only, or variations (sizes, colours), bundles, customisations, etc.?
- What features do you need now and in 2–3 years?
- Multi-currency? Multi-store? Wholesale pricing? Memberships?
- How much control do you want over design and code?
- Do you want a simple drag-and-drop builder, or full custom control?
- What do your customers expect from you?
- Payment options (Apple Pay, PayPal, BNPL), shipping methods, delivery tracking.
- What is your realistic budget for setup and ongoing maintenance?
How to fix it
If you’re already on a platform that’s limiting you:
-
Audit your current setup
List what’s working, what’s painful, and what’s missing. -
Compare platforms against a simple checklist
Include: features, ease of use, SEO capabilities, integrations, support, and total cost of ownership. -
Plan for migration
Work with an experienced e-commerce agency to move products, customers, and order history without losing SEO value or breaking URLs.
2. Not Understanding Your Audience
“If you build it, they will come” is one of the most expensive myths in e-commerce.
You can have a beautiful website and great products, but if you don’t deeply understand your ideal customer, your messaging, design and offers won’t land.
Signs you don’t know your audience well enough
- High traffic but low conversion rates.
- Lots of add-to-cart actions, but few completed purchases.
- Ads and social posts get impressions but almost no engagement.
- Product pages feel generic – your copy could belong on any competitor’s site.
How to get clear on your target audience
1. Start with real data, not guesses
- Look at your existing customers:
- Who buys most often?
- Who spends the most per order?
- Which products are frequently bought together?
2. Create simple buyer personas
You don’t need a 20-page document. For each key persona, note:
- Who they are (role, situation, context).
- Their main goal (why they’re shopping with you).
- Their main frustrations or risks.
- What matters most in their decision (price, quality, social proof, shipping speed, etc.).
3. Listen to customer language
- Read reviews (yours and competitors’).
-
Pay attention to words customers use in emails, chats or phone calls.
Use their language in your headlines, product descriptions and ads.
How to fix it
- Rewrite key pages (home, category, product pages) so they speak directly to your best customer personas.
- Segment your email marketing and personalise content where possible.
- Test offers and messages for each segment instead of running one generic campaign for everyone.
3. Weak or Inconsistent Brand Identity
Your products matter-but in a crowded market, your brand is what makes people remember and trust you.
If your logo, colours, tone of voice and promises change from page to page, customers will hesitate.
Symptoms of weak brand identity
- Inconsistent fonts, colours and layouts across pages.
- Product descriptions that sound like they were written by different people.
- No clear “why us?” message anywhere on the site.
- Confusing brand story or no story at all.
How to strengthen brand identity
1. Clarify your brand message
- What problem do you solve better than competitors?
- What do you stand for? (e.g., local, sustainable, premium, budget-friendly, fast delivery, expert support.)
- Why should someone buy from you instead of a big marketplace?
2. Create simple brand guidelines
- Approved logo versions and where to use them.
- Primary and secondary colours.
- Fonts for headings, body text and buttons.
- Rules for images (style, filters, background).
- Voice and tone guidelines (friendly and helpful, expert but approachable, etc.).
3. Apply consistently
- Use the same look and feel across your website, ads, email campaigns and social content.
- Ensure your brand promise is visible on key pages (home, about, checkout, footer).
4. Ignoring Testimonials and Reviews
Social proof is one of the strongest drivers of online sales. Yet many e-commerce sites hide reviews, don’t collect them at all, or only show a couple of generic testimonials.
According to recent statistics, more than half of customers say online reviews influence their buying decisions. Seeing happy customers builds trust-especially for first-time buyers.
Common mistakes with reviews and testimonials
- No review functionality at all.
- Only showing hand-picked testimonials on one page.
- Not replying to negative or neutral reviews.
- Making reviews hard to find (buried at the bottom or behind extra tabs).
How to fix it
-
Enable product reviews
Use your platform’s built-in review system or a reputable app/plugin. - Display reviews where they matter most
- Product pages (above the fold if possible).
- Category pages (average rating).
- Home page (short testimonial slider).
- Checkout (quote about delivery reliability, returns, or quality).
- Use reviews in your content
- Add short quotes in product descriptions.
- Use star ratings and snippets in email campaigns.
- Respond to reviews
- Thank people for positive reviews.
- Address negative feedback professionally and explain how you’ve improved.
5. Treating SEO as an Afterthought
“Build the site now, worry about SEO later” is another costly mistake.
If your website isn’t SEO-friendly, you’ll struggle to get found in search engines, no matter how good your products are.
SEO issues we commonly see
- Duplicate or manufacturer-supplied product descriptions used by countless other sites.
- No keyword research at all-titles and meta descriptions are generic.
- Poor site structure-no clear categories, messy URLs.
- Missing or incorrect alt text for images.
- No blog or content strategy to attract informational search traffic.
How to fix it
1. Do basic keyword research
- Identify your core product and category keywords.
- Look for long-tail phrases (e.g., “organic baby clothes Perth” vs just “baby clothes”).
2. Optimise key on-page elements
- Page titles and meta descriptions.
- H1/H2 headings that include relevant keywords naturally.
- Unique product descriptions that answer real questions.
- Descriptive URLs (e.g., /womens-running-shoes instead of /product123).
3. Improve technical SEO basics
- Make sure your site has an SSL certificate (HTTPS).
- Generate and submit XML sitemaps to search engines.
- Fix broken links and 404 pages.
4. Create helpful content
- Publish blog posts, buying guides and FAQs that answer common questions.
- Link from blog posts to relevant product and category pages.
6. Poor User Experience (UX)
A beautiful design is useless if visitors can’t quickly find what they want.
UX mistakes are one of the biggest silent killers of conversions. They frustrate users, increase bounce rates and send you fewer sales for the same amount of traffic.
UX red flags
- Confusing navigation; too many menu items or poor labels.
- No search bar (or a weak search that returns irrelevant results).
- No filters on category pages for larger catalogues.
- Important information (shipping costs, returns, contact details) hidden or missing.
- Buttons that don’t look clickable or are too small on mobile.
How to fix it
- Simplify your navigation
- Group products into logical categories and subcategories.
- Use clear, jargon-free labels.
- Improve on-site search and filters
- Add filters for size, colour, price, brand, etc. where relevant.
- Make sure search ignores typos and supports synonyms if possible.
- Make important info easy to find
- Add links to shipping, returns and FAQs in the main menu and footer.
- Show key policies directly on product and checkout pages.
- Test on real devices
- Don’t just rely on desktop previews.
- Ask people unfamiliar with your site to complete simple tasks and watch where they get stuck.
7. Forcing Account Registration
One of the quickest ways to lose a ready-to-buy customer is forcing them to create an account before checkout.
Studies show that a significant chunk of users abandon their cart when they’re forced to register. Many just want to buy once, or they don’t want to deal with yet another password.
How this hurts your sales
- Adds extra steps and friction to checkout.
- Creates anxiety around spam and email overload.
- Makes first-time buyers feel like they’re doing you a favour instead of the other way around.
How to fix it
-
Offer guest checkout by default
Let customers complete their order with only the information you truly need: name, shipping address, email (for confirmation) and payment details. - Invite account creation after the purchase
- On the order confirmation page, offer a one-click “Create an account with these details” option.
- Highlight the benefits clearly: order tracking, faster checkout next time, wishlists, member-only offers.
- Use account creation strategically
- For subscriptions or memberships, explain why an account is required (e.g., access to billing history, managing deliveries).
For more ideas, see our dedicated guide on improving your e-commerce checkout experience (internally link this from your site).
8. Slow, Unstable or Insecure Website
No matter how good your products are, customers won’t wait forever for pages to load. They also won’t trust a site that feels insecure or keeps crashing.
Performance and security issues to watch for
- Pages taking more than 3–4 seconds to load, especially on mobile.
- Frequent downtime or “500” error pages.
- No SSL certificate (URL shows as “Not secure”).
- Browser warnings about mixed content or unsafe scripts.
How to fix it
- Improve page speed
- Compress and properly size images.
- Remove unnecessary apps/plugins and scripts.
- Use caching and a content delivery network (CDN) where appropriate.
- Choose reliable hosting
- Avoid ultra-cheap hosting for serious e-commerce sites.
- Ensure hosting scales with traffic (especially during peak seasons or campaigns).
- Secure your site
- Install and maintain an SSL certificate (HTTPS).
- Keep your platform, themes and plugins updated.
- Use strong passwords and two-factor authentication for admin accounts.
- Show trust signals
- Display recognised payment and security badges.
- Provide clear company information and contact details.
9. Neglecting Mobile Shoppers
A large and growing share of online shopping happens on mobile devices. If your site only looks good on desktop, you’re leaving money on the table.
Symptoms of poor mobile experience
- Text that’s too small to read.
- Frequent downtime or “500” error pages.
- Pop-ups that are impossible to close on a phone.
- Checkout forms that are painful to complete on a small screen.
How to fix it
- Use responsive design
- Your site should automatically adapt to different screen sizes.
- Prioritise thumb-friendly navigation
- Large, clearly labelled buttons.
- Sticky “Add to cart” or “Checkout” buttons where appropriate.
- Streamline forms
- Reduce the number of fields wherever you can.
- Use appropriate mobile input types (number keypad for phone/postcode, email keyboard for email fields).
- Test payments on mobile
- Support mobile-friendly payment options (Apple Pay, Google Pay, PayPal, etc., where available).
- Ensure all payment steps are easy to complete without zooming or scrolling sideways.
10. Ignoring the Post-Purchase Experience
Many e-commerce sites treat the sale as the finish line. In reality, it’s the start of building a long-term customer relationship.
Common post-purchase mistakes
- No order confirmation page or poorly designed one.
- Vague or missing shipping and delivery updates.
- Difficult or unclear returns process.
- No follow-up emails, cross-sell or upsell sequences.
How to fix it
- Design a reassuring confirmation page
- Clearly show what was ordered, total cost, and expected delivery time.
- Include links to support and returns policies.
- Communicate proactively
- Send order confirmation emails instantly.
- Provide shipping confirmation and tracking details.
- Make returns simple and transparent
- Publish a clear returns and refunds policy (in plain English).
- Avoid hiding important terms in fine print.
- Encourage repeat business
- Follow up with a thank-you email.
- Ask for a review after they’ve received the product.
- Offer personalised recommendations or loyalty program invitations.
11. Not Using Data and Testing
Guesswork is expensive. Yet many e-commerce owners rarely look at analytics, and almost never test changes scientifically.
Signs you’re flying blind
- You don’t know your current conversion rate, average order value, or top traffic sources.
- You can’t say which marketing channel is most profitable.
- You make big design or copy changes based purely on opinion.
How to fix it
- Set up basic analytics properly
- Ensure e-commerce tracking is enabled.
- Track key events: add-to-cart, checkout started, purchase completed.
- Monitor a few core metrics
- Conversion rate by device and channel.
- Average order value.
- Cart abandonment rate.
- Run simple A/B tests
- Test one change at a time:
- Headline on a product page.
- Button text or placement.
- Free shipping threshold.
- Keep good tests running long enough to reach a meaningful sample size.
Data doesn’t have to be complicated-but it should inform your decisions.
12. Treating Customer Service as an Afterthought
In e-commerce, customer service is part of your product. Slow, unhelpful or rude support can undo all the good work you’ve done elsewhere.
- Customer service mistakes
- No visible contact details or only a generic form.
- Slow response times to emails and messages.
- Inconsistent answers from different staff.
- No clear process for handling complaints or damaged orders.
How to fix it
- Make contact easy
- Display contact options prominently (email, phone, chat, or helpdesk).
- Set expectations for response times.
- Create internal support guidelines
- Standard responses for common issues (late delivery, wrong product, returns, etc.).
- Clear escalation paths for more complex problems.
- Empower your team
- Give support staff the authority to offer refunds, replacements or discounts when appropriate.
- Train them on products so they can give accurate, helpful answers.
Customers are the core of your business’ success. Make everything about your e-commerce a remarkable but straightforward experience for your customers. Avoid these common e-commerce mistakes, and you’re already halfway there. Are you looking for a dependable company to help you boost your e-commerce numbers? Contact us or email us at sales@computingaustralia.group for efficient solutions for all your digital troubles.
Read our blog for more tips on improving your eCommerce checkout page.
