5 questions every e-commerce manager must ask himself!

E-commerce has become an extremely competitive industry , with thousands of online stores competing for attention. In this environment, the speed, functionality and visibility of your website are essential to achieving the desired success.

In this article, we will explore several key aspects that can help improve the performance of your e-commerce.

1. Is your e-commerce fast?

The speed of an e-commerce plays a fundamental role in several areas: studies show that a faster site leads to an increase in sales in the same conditions.

Slow site speed has a negative impact on both search engine rankings and advertising costs . In confirmation of this, a 2018 study by Google and SOASTA revealed that 53% of users abandon a mobile site if the loading time exceeds 3 seconds , and 89% of those who abandon a mobile site due to slow loading never return.

Another 2018 study by Radware found that 79% of users who experienced loading speed issues on a mobile site tried to access an alternative site, while only 16% tried to access the original site again.

2. Is the site working properly?

If some parts of your website don't work properly, it can be really frustrating for users and lead to them abandoning their cart .

When an online store has functionality issues or is too slow , it can be penalized by search engines and appear untrustworthy to visitors . An easy way to make sure there are no annoying issues is to personally test all the site's features on different devices.

Using data analysis tools like Google Analytics can help you spot any issues or errors by analyzing metrics. You can also install session recording services like Clarity or Hotjar to individually examine each session and find any bugs reported by users.

3. Is the site responsive?

To check the speed of your website, the most effective tool is Google's PageSpeed Insights . Running a test is very simple: just connect to the address pagespeed.web.dev and enter the URL of your site.

Alternatively, our website hoculus.com offers a dedicated section to calculate your score by offering some more details if the analyzed URL is that of a Shopify e-commerce.

4. Is the site optimized for search engines?

Search Engine Optimization ( SEO ) plays a crucial role in improving the visibility of an online store in search engine results, thus increasing the chances of attracting quality traffic and potential customers. There are several elements to consider to ensure that your site is optimized for search engines, and the following tips may be helpful:

Use SEO analysis tools like Google Search Console and Ahrefs to identify any issues or optimization opportunities.
Ensure you are using relevant meta tags : It is important that your meta tags are optimized for search engines and social media , so that they display correctly in search results and social shares.
Make sure your pages have Google's advanced search results snippets : These snippets organize specific information to display visually appealing and interactive results , such as images, carousels, information cards, and more.
Make sure your pages use relevant, targeted, and natural keywords related to your products.
Check if there is an adequate number of external inbound links to the site , as this aspect is of significant importance for positioning.
Pay attention to the quality of content : Search engines reward sites that offer original and high-quality content to users.

5. Are the changes tested?

Testing the changes made to your e-commerce, first manually and then possibly with A/B tests, is of fundamental importance (we talked about it in more depth in this article ) because it not only allows you to identify any problems or bugs before they negatively impact sales, but it also allows you to precisely measure whether and how much these changes impact the e-commerce KPIs .

Also learn more about KPIs in this article !

An A/B test essentially consists of comparing the effectiveness of two different versions of the same web page or application, called version A and version B, on a sample of users. Version A represents the control , or the current experience, while version B represents the variant , or the new experience that you want to test.

Users are randomly assigned to one of two versions , and the performance of the versions is compared based on one or more specific metrics, such as conversion rate or time on page. The goal is then to determine whether version B is better than version A in terms of results.

Considerations

Recent research highlights the importance of various aspects for the success of an e-commerce. The speed of the site is fundamental , since a slowness can lead to the loss of potential sales and 45% of visitors could abandon the purchase if they cannot easily find the desired information.

On the contrary, a great user experience can increase the propensity to purchase and 86% of people are willing to pay more. In addition, search engine optimization is crucial to increase the visibility of the online store and attract qualified traffic.

Testing changes you make to your site is essential to identify any issues and measure the impact on performance metrics.

By considering all these aspects and working to improve them, you can increase the success of your e-commerce and reach a wider audience of potential customers.

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We have created a vademecum that allows you to independently analyze your e-commerce through a series of questions and verify that the necessary elements are present to avoid losing turnover and get the most out of each individual visitor .