4 Reasons That Can Stall B2B Ecommerce Order Conversions On Your Webstore
What happens when you run into obstacles?
No one wants to think about negative things; the focus always tends to be on the positive. But if you don’t fix the negative, you will never move forward. Bad things do happen to many e-Commerce websites and companies. Instead of being a downer, we view this is an opportunity to be even more prepared and aware, which can save you a lot of trouble down the road. Impressions online can be made in an instant and it can be difficult to change from negative to positive, especially with no salesperson there to answer questions for them. In the age of e-Commerce, we must be ready and always put our best foot forward. 1. It’s Too Complicated
A webshop has many components and features, but more doesn’t always mean complicated.
What can be considered too complicated in a webshop? This can range from: browsing experience, clumsy search functions, too broad categories, too many categories without discernible structure, long checkout process, complex ordering systems, or your whole website in general. If there are too many physical barriers, it gets complicated. If customers cannot find what they are looking for, stumble through the process, get fed up, cannot make sense of your content, there’s a problem that needs to be addressed. This stalls customer conversions.
This is where you need to take a hard look at your e-Commerce solution and instead of trying to find fixes and workarounds. Sometimes it’s less work, less time, and early win to get a new e-Commerce solution, feature-rich and integrated with ERP (MS Dynamics NAV Business Central in this case). For example, Nav-to-Net™ has parametric search and multi-dimensional product variants that make things as simple and streamlined as possible for browsing customers. Easily managed in Dynamics NAV ERP, it limits complications in your webshop. When something is complicated to manage, that kind of negative energy can seep into your website. You will not enjoy updating your website because of all the issues and your business will be negatively affected.
It also helps to have someone with fresh eyes look over your site, go through the process, study the user experience. If you are too familiar with how things work and the content, you may be unintentionally filling in the gaps in your head. Test and adjust your webshop accordingly. If customers cannot understand your site or navigate it successfully, they will not be giving you their business. In fact, they might just give up and go elsewhere.
2. Too Many Steps
Different than being complex or difficult, this is just overwhelming for your customers; there are just too many steps. It may all make sense and the information required is there, but there’s just too much to go through for a simple purchase. Customers can be lazy and in this day and age, they demand and expect convenience. E-Commerce is meant to make things easier and faster.
For a webshop, this can mean too many security checks, check out steps, and many hoops to jump through. This is especially true when working with your more familiar and regular customers. This is concerning because your loyal customers aren’t being given any VIP treatment. You don’t want your customers to give up halfway, and thus abandoning their purchase, especially if they have good intentions. Customers can get annoyed by extra steps required simply to check out. Do you require everyone to have an account before they can purchase something? In some cases, depending on your business, this is the only way that makes sense. However, if your business allows it, consider guest checkouts to simplify the process.
Nav-to-Net™ has several ways to make this process easier for customers. One Step Checkout minimizes the number of steps. There are also re-order options, easy to manage wish lists, and more with the Customer Account Portal.
Configurator streamlines shopping
An integrated product configurator is another way e-Commerce merchants can better interact with customers and create a more efficient shopping process. A configurator can help limit the number of steps by guiding them through it in a logical way. Limits the amount of clicking back and forth, streamlining the process so it’s all in one cohesive environment. Customers will be able to pick attributes and multiple products and services in one go.
And while we’re on the topic of getting faster checkout processes, what encourages customers to go ahead with the purchase is trust. Make security badges prominent and clearly outline what payment methods you accept. Include all the things that make customers feel more comfortable about moving forward with their purchase (Like Hassle Free Returns).
3. Something Crashed
Uh oh! This is a troubling factor that can cause those conversions. It’s frustrating for the customer and for the business because this is a technical issue. While sometimes bad things happen, there are ways to make sure you’re running optimal performance and to have back up plans in case something does happen to go awry.
Always Take Orders™ and SmartPush Technology™, features exclusive to Nav-to-Net™, mean no lost orders, ever. Your customers will never know that there was a disconnect because the order is safe and will be resubmitted once the connection is re-established. This gives you confidence when managing your NAV webshop.
Reliable integration to your ERP system (like Microsoft Dynamics NAV) also means that product information and pricing and availability are updated in real-time, so customers never get the wrong information. What stalls conversions is if customers get the wrong information at the wrong time – this misrepresentation can mean the difference between a sale or not. Does it say out of stock when you do in fact just updated your stock? Are the pricing changes reflected immediately or are customers seeing the old pricing and made the decision to not act? These are the situations that proper seamless integration to Dynamics NAV can help prevent.
Having a quick help support team also helps. Digital Vantage Point offers on-going support for your webshop for any updates, change requests, or fixes to ensure a pleasant shopping experience for your customers always.
4. Customer Changed Their Mind
Sometimes customers just change their mind. When they’re having second thoughts, it stalls conversions. This is generally the most frustrating because only the customer can explain what’s really going on. While the situation seems hopeless, you can still continue to do what you do best. Try your best to persuade them without being overly pushy. You want customers to feel confident in their purchases. You achieve this with good buying incentives like coupons and promotions instead of aggressive sales tactics. Provide all the necessary content, reviews so they can see what other customers are saying, and relevant images, videos, and any applicable instruction/assemble/warranty/maintenance guides. This can be easily managed with the Unified Content Manager in Nav-to-Net eCommerce. Even if they don’t buy today, they may keep you in mind for the next time.
In the meantime, usability is incredibly important. Nav-to-Net™ has features that will take care of issues and uncertainty.
Capitalize on your Microsoft Dynamics NAV investment for B2B e-Commerce: Watch a quick 4-min demo video
You may also want to read these Whitepapers:
E-Commerce Integration Is Not Always Built Equally
5 Reasons Dynamics NAV Should be the Master Copy of Your eCommerce
10 Point Checklist for B2B NAV E-Commerce
Request a demo on Nav-to-Net™ today to see what an integrated e-Commerce solution can do for you.