The Cost of Doing Nothing in Ecommerce

While the classic adage “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” holds true for many things, ecommerce isn’t one of them. 

Even if your ecommerce store is already successful, if you aren’t regularly optimizing, analyzing, and updating your online store you are setting yourself up for failure. Too many online merchants rely on tried-and-true processes and shy away from innovation—on their website, with their marketing, in their operations, and even across their business objectives.

But what happens if your online business settles for just “good enough”? In this article, we discuss five critical things you could lose out on and how they can cost your business. 

1. You Lose Out on First-Time Orders 

Customer acquisition is a very costly and intensive process, requiring you to both capture the attention of visitors and convince them to buy from you. However, even with all the resources you put into getting customers through the door, a less than stellar website can derail your efforts. If you aren’t updating your site to compete with modern online experiences (fast load speeds, mobile responsiveness, and special features) visitors will find it easy to bounce off your site and turn to your competitors and Amazon. 

Even a small 1 percent improvement in customer acquisition has the potential to boost your revenue by 3.32 percent. This means it is crucial to continuously monitor your website metrics and optimize your customer acquisition funnel to keep your competitive edge. 

2. You Pass Up Valuable Product Reviews 

A lost sale also means a lost opportunity for a customer review. Customer reviews are valuable for brands because they help increase your website sales and boost your conversion rate. A single positive review alone can lift conversions by 10 percent. 

This impacts future visitors to your site, who won’t have the quality reviews they want to see to complete their purchase. Not innovating your website can create an ongoing domino effect wherein customers exit your site before posting a review, leaving your site without the social proof it needs to stand out and thrive. 

3. You Miss Out on Nurturing Lifetime Customers 

The lifetime spend of a customer is valuable for any ecommerce business. Retaining customers is a lot less costly than acquiring them. Repeat customers convert more, spend higher on purchases, are more loyal to your brand, and help provide accurate sales forecasts.  

Imagine losing a shopper that was going to buy a best-selling product on your site. This is not just a one-time purchase loss—that customer could have bought that product again and again.  

Successful online merchants give customers a reason to return to their site. Create a memorable online experience to cultivate your relationships with customers and offer features like a loyalty points program to increase their lifetime value. 

4. You Deprive Your Brand of Promoters 

Repeat, loyal visitors provide another source of value for your business: customer referrals. 

Every once in a while, you’ll get customers that will happily rave about your products (and your brand) to their close connections. Eighty-two percent of Americans say they seek product recommendations from their friends and family. The influence of your VIP customers means you can potentially increase your customer base at little to no cost. 

Inaction on your website prevents you from creating the kind of worthwhile experience that excites customers and gets them to convince their friends and family to do business with your brand. 

5. You Lose Your Website Visibility 

The lasting impact of “doing nothing” is that your business loses out on any momentum in site traffic. When your ecommerce website lacks the things mentioned above (positive reviews, social proof, word-of-mouth referrals), your competitors will have an easier time unseating your business’ organic position in the search results. 

A decrease in search traffic means you’ll need to invest more time and money into getting traffic to your online store. If visitors arrive at an outdated or forgettable website, you could lose the traffic you worked hard to get and put your business in a cycle of low sales and traction. 

How Inaction Hurts Your Business 

While it may sound like the easier option, playing it safe in ecommerce will hurt your bottom line.

In a world dominated by good-looking websites and innovative ecommerce trends, you risk the long-term viability of your business by not making efforts to grow, advance, and provide more value to your customers. A solid online experience gives you the foundation necessary to build up your ecommerce business and to future-proof it as your industry evolves.

If you’re ready to level up your ecommerce business, download our website assessment to see how your site measures up against the competition and diagnose areas in your website for improvement