E-commerce Platforms
Use a headless commerce platform for flexibility, not a monolithic platform like Shopify for complex businesses.
A fast-growing fashion brand was frustrated by the rigid templates of their monolithic e-commerce platform. They couldn’t create the unique, content-rich shopping experience they envisioned. They switched to a “headless” platform. This separated their back-end e-commerce engine from their front-end website. Now, their developers could build a completely custom front-end experience using modern web technologies, while still relying on the powerful commerce engine to handle the checkout and orders. This gave them the ultimate creative freedom and flexibility.
Stop choosing your e-commerce platform based on price alone. Do consider scalability and total cost of ownership instead.
A new online store chose the cheapest e-commerce platform they could find. The monthly fee was low. But as they grew, they were hit with high transaction fees, a lack of essential features that required expensive add-ons, and poor performance that cost them sales. They realized the “total cost of ownership” was much higher. A wiser entrepreneur chooses a platform that can scale with their business, even if the initial monthly fee is slightly higher. The cheapest option is rarely the best value in the long run.
The #1 secret for migrating your store to a new platform without losing SEO ranking.
The secret is to meticulously create 301 redirects for every single one of your old URLs. An online store migrated to a new platform. In the process, all of their product page URLs changed. They didn’t set up redirects. As a result, anyone who clicked an old link from Google got a “404 Not Found” error. Their search engine rankings plummeted. A careful migration involves mapping every old URL to its new equivalent and implementing a permanent 301 redirect. This tells search engines that the page has moved, preserving your hard-earned SEO authority.
The biggest lie you’ve been told about “one-click” e-commerce solutions.
The lie is that you can build a successful online business with just “one click.” A person saw an ad for a platform that promised to create a fully-stocked, automated dropshipping store instantly. He clicked the button and got a generic, low-quality store filled with random products. He made no sales. A successful e-commerce business requires a huge amount of work: finding a niche, sourcing good products, building a brand, marketing, and providing excellent customer service. The platform is just a tool; it’s not the business itself.
I wish I knew this about the hidden transaction fees of some e-commerce platforms when I started my first online store.
I chose an e-commerce platform that advertised a “zero monthly fee” plan. I thought it was a great deal. What I didn’t realize was that they charged a high percentage-based transaction fee on every single sale. As my store grew, these fees started to eat up a huge portion of my profits. I wish I had read the fine print and understood that a platform with a predictable monthly fee and lower transaction fees would have been a much more profitable choice in the long run.
I’m just going to say it: For most small businesses, Shopify is still the best choice, despite its limitations.
A new entrepreneur with a great product idea was paralyzed by choice, reading about all the different e-commerce platforms. Her friend gave her some simple advice: “Just use Shopify.” While it might not be the most flexible or cheapest platform for every single use case, it is incredibly easy to use, reliable, secure, and has a massive ecosystem of apps and support. For a small business owner who wants to focus on their product and marketing, not on technology, Shopify provides the fastest and easiest path to getting started and making sales.
99% of new e-commerce entrepreneurs make this one mistake when choosing a platform.
The most common mistake is choosing a platform that doesn’t have a strong app ecosystem. A business owner chose a niche e-commerce platform to save some money. When she wanted to add a specific feature, like a customer loyalty program or an integration with her accounting software, she found there were no apps available. She was stuck. Choosing a platform like Shopify or BigCommerce, which have large, vibrant app stores, gives you the flexibility to easily add new functionality to your store as your business grows and your needs change.
This one small action of choosing a platform with a strong API will change the way you integrate with other services forever.
A company was growing quickly, but their e-commerce platform had a very limited, poorly-documented API. This made it incredibly difficult to connect their store to their inventory management system and their marketing automation tools. They were constantly dealing with manual data entry and broken integrations. By choosing a platform with a robust and well-supported API from the start, they could have easily created a seamless flow of data between all the different parts of their business, saving countless hours of manual work.
The reason your e-commerce site is so slow is because of a bloated theme on your chosen platform.
A store owner was complaining that her Shopify site was incredibly slow. The reason wasn’t Shopify itself; it was the third-party theme she had purchased. The theme was packed with dozens of unnecessary features, large images, and poorly-written code that was slowing down her page load times. By switching to a lightweight, well-coded theme and only adding the apps she truly needed, she was able to dramatically improve her site’s performance, which led to a higher conversion rate.
If you’re still using a custom-coded e-commerce solution for your small business, you’re losing time and money on maintenance.
A small business owner had paid a developer to build a custom e-commerce website from scratch. She was now paying a huge monthly retainer for the developer to maintain the site, apply security patches, and fix bugs. Her competitor, who was using a SaaS platform like Shopify, paid a simple monthly fee and never had to worry about any of that. The platform handled all the security, maintenance, and updates automatically, allowing the business owner to focus on her business, not on managing software.
Payment Gateways
Use a modern payment gateway like Stripe or Adyen, not a legacy bank-provided gateway.
A business owner went with the payment gateway offered by his traditional bank. The integration process was a nightmare of faxes and outdated documentation, and the user interface was clunky. His competitor used Stripe. The developer-friendly API, clear documentation, and modern dashboard made it incredibly easy to set up and manage. The modern, tech-first approach of gateways like Stripe provides a far superior experience for both developers and business owners compared to the clunky, outdated systems offered by many legacy banks.
Stop relying on a single payment provider. Do offer multiple payment options, including digital wallets, instead.
A customer was trying to check out on an online store but had forgotten her credit card. The store only accepted credit cards. The customer abandoned her cart. A different store offered multiple ways to pay: credit card, PayPal, and Apple Pay. The customer was able to complete her purchase instantly using Apple Pay on her phone. By offering a variety of payment options, you cater to the different preferences of your customers and remove a major point of friction from the checkout process.
The #1 hack for reducing your credit card processing fees.
The secret is to actually pick up the phone and ask for a better rate. A business was processing a significant volume of sales every month but was still paying the standard, advertised credit card processing fee. The business owner called his payment provider’s sales department, explained his sales volume, and simply asked if they could offer him a lower rate. Because he was a valuable customer, they were able to offer him a significant discount on his processing fees, saving his business thousands of dollars a year.
The biggest lie you’ve been told about payment gateway security.
The lie is that by using a payment gateway, you are completely absolved of all security responsibility. While a good gateway will handle the secure transmission of credit card data, you are still responsible for the security of your own website. If your site is compromised and an attacker can inject malicious code, they could potentially steal your customers’ payment information before it ever gets to the payment gateway. Security is a shared responsibility.
I wish I knew this about the importance of PCI compliance when I started my online business.
When I started my first store, I didn’t know anything about PCI DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard). I was handling customer credit card data on my own server, thinking I was being clever. I didn’t realize that I was taking on a massive legal and financial liability. If my server had been breached, I would have been responsible for a major data breach. I learned that you should always use a payment gateway that handles the PCI compliance for you, so that sensitive card data never touches your servers.
I’m just going to say it: Your choice of payment gateway has a direct impact on your conversion rate.
A website was using a payment gateway that redirected the user to a separate, untrusted-looking payment page to enter their credit card information. This jarring experience made many users feel insecure, and they would abandon their purchase. The website switched to a modern gateway that allowed them to embed the payment form directly into their own checkout page. This seamless, trustworthy experience gave customers more confidence and led to a measurable increase in their conversion rate.
99% of online stores make this one mistake on their checkout page.
The most common mistake is forcing users to create an account before they can make a purchase. A customer has their credit card in hand, ready to give you money, and you put a registration form in their way. This is a major point of friction that causes a huge number of abandoned carts. Always offer a prominent “guest checkout” option. You can give users the option to create an account after the purchase has been completed, not before.
This one small action of enabling express checkout options like Apple Pay and Google Pay will change your mobile conversion rate forever.
A customer was trying to buy a product on her phone while on the bus. She got to the checkout and was faced with a long form where she had to manually type in her name, address, and credit card number. It was too much hassle. She gave up. If the store had enabled express checkout options like Apple Pay, she could have completed the entire purchase in five seconds with her fingerprint. For mobile shoppers, these one-click payment options are a game-changer for conversions.
The reason your customers are abandoning their carts at checkout is because of a long and complicated payment process.
A customer added an item to their cart. The checkout process involved five different pages, asking for a huge amount of unnecessary information. The customer got frustrated and left. The ideal checkout process is a single page with the absolute minimum number of fields required to complete the transaction. Every extra field you ask for, and every extra step you add, is another opportunity for the customer to get distracted or annoyed and abandon their purchase.
If you’re still not offering “Buy Now, Pay Later” options, you’re losing a growing segment of customers.
A young customer wanted to buy a moderately expensive item but didn’t want to put it on her credit card. The store offered a “Buy Now, Pay Later” (BNPL) option like Klarna or Afterpay at checkout. This allowed her to split the purchase into four interest-free installments. For many customers, especially younger ones, these flexible payment options make larger purchases more manageable and can significantly increase both conversion rates and average order value.
Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO)
Use A/B testing on your product pages, not just guessing what works.
A store owner thought that a green “Buy Now” button would convert better than a blue one. Her colleague thought the opposite. Instead of arguing, they ran an A/B test. They showed 50% of their visitors the blue button and 50% the green button. After a week, the data clearly showed that the green button resulted in a 10% higher conversion rate. They had replaced a subjective opinion with objective data, which is the foundation of successful CRO.
Stop cluttering your product pages with unnecessary information. Do focus on high-quality images and a clear call-to-action instead.
A product page was a wall of text, with long paragraphs describing every minor feature. It was overwhelming. A redesign of the page focused on the essentials. It featured large, high-quality images of the product from multiple angles, a series of clear, concise bullet points highlighting the key benefits, and a large, prominent “Add to Cart” button. By removing the clutter and focusing on what mattered most to the customer, the page’s conversion rate improved dramatically.
The #1 secret for writing product descriptions that sell.
The secret is to sell the benefit, not the feature. A bad product description for a drill says, “This drill has a 12-amp motor and a lithium-ion battery.” A good product description says, “This powerful, lightweight drill lets you finish your projects faster and with less fatigue. The long-lasting battery means you can work all day on a single charge.” The first description lists specs; the second one paints a picture of how the product will improve the customer’s life.
The biggest lie you’ve been told about CRO being just about changing button colors.
The lie is that conversion rate optimization is a series of simple tricks and hacks, like changing the color of a button. While these small changes can sometimes have an impact, true CRO is a much deeper, more scientific process. It’s about deeply understanding your users through research, forming a clear hypothesis about their needs and motivations, and then designing a test to validate that hypothesis. A major uplift is more likely to come from clarifying your value proposition than from changing a button’s color.
I wish I knew this about the power of social proof (reviews, testimonials) when I was trying to increase my store’s conversion rate.
My first online store was struggling to get sales. I had a great product, but customers were hesitant to buy from an unknown brand. I started actively encouraging my first few customers to leave reviews. I then prominently displayed these positive reviews and testimonials on my product pages. The impact was immediate. Seeing that other real people had purchased the product and were happy with it gave new customers the confidence and trust they needed to make a purchase. Social proof is one of the most powerful tools for conversion.
I’m just going to say it: The most important factor for conversion is trust.
You can have the most beautiful website and the best products in the world, but if a customer doesn’t trust you, they will not give you their credit card number. Trust is built through a combination of factors: a professional, error-free design; clear and honest product descriptions; social proof from other customers; and clear signals of security, like trust badges and an HTTPS connection. Every single element of your website should be designed to answer the user’s subconscious question: “Can I trust this business?”
99% of e-commerce sites make this one mistake that kills their conversion rate.
The most common mistake is having unexpected shipping costs. A customer will go through the entire process of finding a product and filling out their information. They get to the very final step of the checkout process and are suddenly hit with a high, unexpected shipping fee. This feels like a bait-and-switch and is the number one reason for cart abandonment. Being transparent about your shipping costs upfront, or better yet, offering free shipping, is critical for maintaining trust and maximizing conversions.
This one small action of adding a trust badge to your checkout page will change your conversion rate forever.
A customer was on the checkout page of a small, unknown online store. He was feeling a little hesitant about entering his credit card information. He then saw a series of familiar “trust badges” on the page, like logos for McAfee Secure and the Better Business Bureau. While these badges are simple images, they have a powerful psychological effect. They signal to the customer that the site is legitimate and secure, which can significantly reduce their anxiety and increase their likelihood of completing the purchase.
The reason you’re not getting more sales is because your website is not mobile-friendly.
An online store had a beautiful desktop website. But when a customer tried to access it on her phone, she had to constantly pinch and zoom to read the text, and the buttons were too small to tap accurately. It was a frustrating experience, and she left without buying anything. In today’s world, where a majority of e-commerce traffic comes from mobile devices, having a fast, responsive, and easy-to-use mobile experience is not optional; it’s a fundamental requirement for survival.
If you’re still not using exit-intent popups, you’re losing a last chance to convert abandoning visitors.
A visitor on an e-commerce site was about to leave without making a purchase. As his mouse moved towards the “close tab” button, an “exit-intent” popup appeared. It offered him a 10% discount on his first order if he completed his purchase now. This last-ditch offer was enough to convince him to stay and buy the product. While popups can be annoying if used incorrectly, a well-timed exit-intent popup is a powerful tool for capturing a sale that would have otherwise been lost forever.
Personalization Engines
Use an AI-powered personalization engine, not just showing “recently viewed items”.
A basic e-commerce site would just show a customer a list of the items they had recently viewed. This was not very helpful. A more advanced site used an AI-powered personalization engine. The engine analyzed the customer’s browsing behavior and compared it to millions of other users. It was able to recommend products that the customer had never seen before but was highly likely to be interested in. This “collaborative filtering” approach provided a much more valuable and discovery-oriented experience.
Stop showing the same content to every visitor. Do personalize the shopping experience based on user behavior instead.
Two customers visited the same online clothing store. The first was a man who had previously browsed for men’s jackets. The second was a woman who had been looking at dresses. A generic website would show both of them the same homepage. A personalized website would show the first customer a homepage featuring new arrivals in men’s outerwear, and the second a homepage featuring a sale on summer dresses. This personalized experience is more relevant and engaging, and it leads to higher sales.
The #1 tip for implementing personalization without being creepy.
The secret is to be transparent and to provide value. A website that uses your data to show you eerily specific ads can feel creepy. A website that uses your data to provide a genuinely helpful recommendation feels useful. For example, a travel site that says, “Because you previously booked a trip to a warm destination, you might be interested in these beach resorts,” is providing a helpful, transparent service. The key is to use the data to help the user, not just to target them.
The biggest lie you’ve been told about personalization being only for large enterprises.
The lie is that you need a huge budget and a team of data scientists to implement personalization. While large companies like Amazon have sophisticated, custom-built personalization engines, there are now many affordable, off-the-shelf personalization tools and apps that can be easily integrated into common e-commerce platforms like Shopify. These tools make it possible for even small businesses to leverage the power of AI to create a personalized shopping experience for their customers.
I wish I knew this about the importance of data quality for a successful personalization strategy.
I tried to implement a personalization engine for my online store. The recommendations it was making were terrible and irrelevant. The reason? My product data was a mess. Products were in the wrong categories, the descriptions were poor, and the images were inconsistent. The AI engine was “garbage in, garbage out.” I wish I had known that a successful personalization strategy is built on a foundation of clean, well-structured, and high-quality product and customer data.
I’m just going to say it: Bad personalization is worse than no personalization.
A person bought a new coffee machine from an online store. For the next month, the store’s website and emails were constantly recommending that he buy the exact same coffee machine that he had just purchased. This was a classic example of bad personalization. It showed the customer that the company wasn’t being smart, it was just being lazy with its data. This kind of irrelevant personalization is not helpful; it’s annoying, and it can damage the customer’s perception of the brand.
99% of e-commerce marketers make this one mistake with their product recommendations.
The most common mistake is only recommending similar items. A customer is looking at a specific camera. The recommendation engine only shows her other, similar cameras. A smarter recommendation engine understands the concept of “frequently bought together.” It would also recommend a camera bag, a memory card, and a tripod. This not only provides a more helpful experience for the customer but also significantly increases the average order value for the store.
This one small action of personalizing your email marketing campaigns will change your customer lifetime value forever.
A company used to send the same generic email newsletter to every single person on their list. The open rates were low. They took one small action: they started segmenting their list based on past purchase history. Now, a customer who had previously bought a certain brand of dog food would receive an email specifically about new products from that brand. This personalized, relevant content led to dramatically higher open rates, click-through rates, and repeat purchases.
The reason your personalization efforts are failing is because you’re not using the right data.
An e-commerce site was trying to personalize its homepage based only on a user’s demographic information, like their age and gender. The personalization was not very effective. The reason is that demographic data is a very weak signal of intent. A much more powerful approach is to use real-time behavioral data: what is the user searching for right now? What have they added to their cart in this session? This immediate, intent-driven data is far more effective for personalization than broad, static demographics.
If you’re still treating all your customers the same, you’re losing them to your competitors.
A customer who had spent thousands of dollars at an online store over many years was shown the same generic homepage as a first-time visitor. She felt like the store didn’t know or value her as a loyal customer. A competitor’s store, using personalization, would have welcomed her back by name and shown her recommendations based on her past purchases. In the modern e-commerce landscape, personalization is not a luxury; it’s a customer expectation.
Searchandising
Use a smart site search solution, not the default platform search.
A customer on an e-commerce site searched for “running shoes.” The default search function on the platform could only match the exact text, so it returned no results. The customer left. A different site, using a smart search solution, understood that “shoes” was a synonym for “sneakers” and that the user was looking for a specific category. It returned a page of relevant running shoes, and the customer made a purchase. The default search on most platforms is very basic; a smart search solution is a critical investment.
Stop returning “no results found”. Do provide alternative suggestions and popular products instead.
A user on a website misspelled a product name in the search bar. The site returned a blank page that just said, “No results found.” It was a dead end. A better website, even if it couldn’t find an exact match, would provide a helpful experience. It would say, “Did you mean [correct spelling]?” It would show a list of best-selling products. It would provide links to popular categories. A “no results” page should never be a dead end; it should be an opportunity to guide the user to a different path.
The #1 secret for optimizing your e-commerce site search for higher conversions.
The secret is to treat your search results page like a curated landing page. This is “searchandising.” A basic search just returns a list of products. A well-merchandised search results page, however, might feature a promotional banner at the top for a relevant sale, it might have filters that are specific to that search query, and it might boost certain high-margin or best-selling products to the top of the results. It’s the art of combining search with merchandising to guide the customer and drive sales.
The biggest lie you’ve been told about site search being a “solved” problem.
The lie is that because we have Google, search is an easy, “solved” problem. A developer thought that implementing site search would be simple. He quickly discovered the immense complexity. He had to deal with synonyms, misspellings, natural language queries, and the need to rank results by relevance and popularity. E-commerce site search is a highly specialized and difficult problem, which is why there is a whole industry of third-party tools dedicated to doing it well.
I wish I knew this about the power of search analytics to understand customer intent.
When I first launched my store, I didn’t pay any attention to my site search analytics. I wish I had known that this was a goldmine of customer intent data. By looking at what my customers were searching for, I could see what products were in high demand. By looking at the searches that returned “no results,” I could identify gaps in my product catalog. The site search data is like having a direct conversation with your customers about what they want to buy.
I’m just going to say it: Your site search is your most valuable salesperson.
A customer who walks into a physical store can ask a salesperson for help finding a product. In an online store, the search bar plays that role. A customer who uses your site search is a highly motivated buyer. They have a specific intent and they are telling you exactly what they want. If your search can quickly and easily guide them to the right product, you will make the sale. If your search is slow, inaccurate, or returns no results, you have just lost your most valuable customer.
99% of online stores make this one mistake with their search functionality.
The most common mistake is having a search function that doesn’t understand synonyms or common variations of a term. A customer searched for “sofa” on a furniture website. The search returned no results because all the products in the database were listed as “couch.” A good site search engine is configured with a dictionary of synonyms, ensuring that a search for “sofa,” “couch,” or “loveseat” will all return the same set of relevant products, providing a much more forgiving and user-friendly experience.
This one small action of implementing autocomplete in your search bar will change the user experience forever.
A customer started typing “blu” into the search bar of an electronics store. The search bar, using autocomplete, instantly suggested “blue headphones” and “bluetooth speakers,” along with small thumbnail images of the products. This one small feature did two things: it saved the customer from having to type out their full query, and it guided them towards popular and relevant products before they even finished typing. Autocomplete makes the search experience faster and more intelligent.
The reason your site search is not effective is because it doesn’t understand natural language.
A customer typed a full question into the search bar: “Do you have any red t-shirts in a size medium?” A basic site search would just look for the keywords and return a jumble of irrelevant results. A modern, AI-powered site search can understand the “natural language” of the query. It can parse that the user is looking for a specific product category (t-shirts), with specific attributes (color: red, size: medium), and return a perfectly filtered results page.
If you’re still not analyzing what your customers are searching for, you’re losing valuable insights into product demand.
The marketing team at a clothing store was planning their next season. They decided to analyze their site search data. They were shocked to find that hundreds of people every week were searching for “maternity jeans,” a product they didn’t even carry. This data provided a clear, undeniable signal of unmet customer demand. They quickly sourced and launched a line of maternity jeans, which became an instant bestseller. Your search logs are a direct line into the minds of your customers.
Logistics & Fulfillment Tech
Use a distributed fulfillment network (3PL), not just shipping from a single location.
An e-commerce brand based in California was shipping all of its orders from a single warehouse. For customers on the East Coast, shipping was slow and expensive. They switched to using a third-party logistics (3PL) provider that had a network of warehouses across the country. Now, when a customer in New York placed an order, it was shipped from a warehouse in New Jersey. This dramatically reduced their shipping times and costs, allowing them to compete with larger retailers on delivery speed.
Stop doing manual order processing. Do use an order management system (OMS) to automate your fulfillment instead.
A small business owner was manually copying and pasting customer order information from her e-commerce store into her shipping software. It was a slow, tedious process that was prone to errors. She implemented an Order Management System (OMS). The OMS automatically pulled in her orders from all of her sales channels, sent the information to her warehouse, and then sent the tracking information back to the customer. This automation saved her hours of manual work every day and eliminated costly shipping errors.
The #1 hack for reducing your shipping costs.
The secret is to take advantage of discounted shipping rates offered by fulfillment platforms or 3PLs. An individual seller shipping packages at the post office was paying the full, expensive retail rate for shipping. She then started using a fulfillment service. Because that service ships millions of packages a year, they are able to negotiate huge volume discounts with the major carriers. She was now able to print shipping labels through their platform at a rate that was 30-40% cheaper than what she could get on her own.
The biggest lie you’ve been told about “free shipping”.
The lie is that shipping is ever actually free. A customer was excited to see a store offering “free shipping.” She didn’t realize that the store had simply increased the price of all of its products to cover the shipping cost. Shipping is a real, significant cost for any e-commerce business. “Free shipping” is a powerful marketing tool, not a reflection of reality. The cost is either bundled into the product price or absorbed by the company’s profit margin.
I wish I knew this about the complexity of international shipping and customs when I started selling globally.
I was so excited when I got my first international order. I just put the item in a box and sent it. It got stuck in customs for a month because I hadn’t filled out the correct customs declaration forms. I wish I had known that every country has its own complex set of rules, taxes, and duties for imported goods. Using a fulfillment partner with international expertise or a shipping software that automatically generates the correct customs paperwork is essential for any business that wants to sell globally.
I’m just going to say it: The last mile of delivery is the most important part of the customer experience.
You can have the best website and the best products in the world, but if the final delivery experience is poor, that is what the customer will remember. A customer ordered a product that was delivered to the wrong address and arrived a week late. She didn’t blame the shipping carrier; she blamed the brand she bought it from. The “last mile”—the final journey from the local distribution center to the customer’s doorstep—is the only physical touchpoint in the e-commerce journey, and it has a massive impact on customer satisfaction and loyalty.
99% of direct-to-consumer brands make this one mistake with their shipping strategy.
The most common mistake is not offering a choice of shipping options at checkout. A brand only offered a single, slow, standard shipping option. Some customers were happy to wait to save money, but others were willing to pay a premium for express, two-day shipping for a last-minute gift. By not offering a faster shipping option, the brand was losing sales from customers who needed the product quickly. A good shipping strategy provides options and lets the customer choose the trade-off between speed and cost.
This one small action of providing real-time order tracking will change your customer satisfaction forever.
A customer placed an online order. She immediately received an email with a tracking number and a link to a branded tracking page that showed her the exact status of her order in real-time. This one small action of providing proactive, transparent tracking information significantly reduced her post-purchase anxiety. It prevented her from having to contact customer service to ask, “Where is my order?” and it created a much more professional and trustworthy customer experience.
The reason your customers are complaining about shipping is because your fulfillment process is too slow.
A customer placed an order on a Monday and chose two-day shipping. She didn’t receive the order until the following Monday. The reason? The company’s internal fulfillment process was so slow that it took them four days just to pick, pack, and ship the order from their warehouse. The “two-day shipping” only started after the package left their building. The customer doesn’t care about your internal processes; they only care about the total time from click to delivery. A slow fulfillment process makes fast shipping meaningless.
If you’re still not offering a clear and easy returns process, you’re losing customer loyalty.
A customer bought a shirt online that didn’t fit. She went to the store’s website to return it and was met with a complicated, multi-step process that required her to print a label and contact customer service. It was a huge hassle. A competitor’s store included a pre-paid return label in every single package. This easy, frictionless returns process gave customers the confidence to make a purchase, knowing that if it wasn’t right, they could easily send it back. A good returns policy is a powerful driver of customer loyalty.
Headless Commerce
Use a headless CMS to manage your content, not hardcoding it into your e-commerce theme.
A marketing team was frustrated because every time they wanted to change a headline on their website’s homepage, they had to ask a developer to edit the code in the e-commerce theme. It was a slow and inefficient process. By adopting a “headless” content management system (CMS), the marketing team could now manage all of the website’s content in a user-friendly interface. The developers could then pull this content into the website via an API. This decoupled the content from the code, empowering the marketing team to work independently.
Stop thinking of your e-commerce store as just a website. Do think of it as a collection of services that can power multiple front-ends instead.
A traditional e-commerce store is a monolith: the website is tightly coupled to the back-end commerce engine. A headless architecture breaks this apart. Your e-commerce platform becomes a “service” that just handles products, carts, and orders. You can then have multiple different “heads” or front-end experiences—a website, a mobile app, a smart mirror, an in-store kiosk—all powered by the same, single back-end. It’s a much more flexible and future-proof approach to commerce.
The #1 secret for a successful headless commerce implementation.
The secret is to have a strong and experienced development team. A monolithic platform like Shopify is designed for non-technical users. A headless architecture is a developer-centric approach. You are trading the out-of-the-box convenience of a monolith for the ultimate flexibility of building your own custom front-end. This requires a team that is proficient in modern front-end frameworks, APIs, and the complexities of building a distributed system. It is not a low-code or no-code solution.
The biggest lie you’ve been told about headless commerce being only for developers.
The lie is that headless is a purely technical decision that doesn’t benefit the business. A marketing team was able to launch a new, content-rich marketing campaign in a single day using their headless CMS, a task that would have taken weeks with their old, monolithic platform. A merchandising team was able to create highly custom product landing pages without needing a developer. While headless is implemented by developers, its primary benefit is the agility and freedom it gives to the non-technical business teams.
I wish I knew this about the increased complexity of a headless architecture when I first considered it.
I was so excited by the flexibility of headless commerce. I didn’t fully appreciate the increased complexity. With a monolithic platform, everything is in one place. With a headless architecture, I now had to manage multiple systems: a headless commerce platform, a headless CMS, a search provider, and a custom-built front-end. I was responsible for the integration, performance, and security of all these different pieces. I wish I had known that the flexibility of headless comes at the cost of a significant increase in architectural and operational complexity.
I’m just going to say it: Headless commerce is the future of e-commerce.
The way customers shop is constantly changing. They are discovering products on social media, on smart devices, and in the metaverse. A traditional, monolithic website is too rigid to adapt to this multi-channel reality. A headless architecture, which decouples the commerce engine from the presentation layer, is the only way to provide the flexibility needed to deliver a consistent shopping experience across all of these new and emerging customer touchpoints. It is the future because it is built for a world that is no longer just about the website.
99% of brands make this one mistake when going headless.
The most common mistake is underestimating the importance of the front-end. A brand will invest in a powerful headless commerce platform and then try to save money by building a cheap, poorly-performing front-end experience. The user only ever interacts with the front-end. If it is slow, buggy, or hard to use, they will leave, regardless of how powerful the back-end is. A successful headless strategy requires a significant investment in creating a world-class, custom front-end experience.
This one small action of choosing a PWA (Progressive Web App) for your front-end will change your mobile commerce experience forever.
A brand with a headless architecture needed to build a mobile experience. Instead of building a separate, expensive native app, they chose to build their front-end as a Progressive Web App (PWA). The PWA delivered an app-like experience directly in the mobile browser. It was fast, it could work offline, and it could even be “installed” on the user’s home screen. This one choice gave them a world-class mobile experience without the cost and friction of a traditional native app.
The reason your headless commerce project is failing is because of a lack of a clear strategy.
A company decided to “go headless” because it was the trendy thing to do. They didn’t have a clear reason why. The project was a technical success but a business failure because it didn’t solve a real problem. A successful headless project starts with a clear strategy. Are you going headless to improve site performance? To enable a better content-driven commerce experience? To power multiple international storefronts? A clear “why” is essential to guide the significant investment required.
If you’re still stuck with a monolithic e-commerce platform, you’re losing the flexibility to innovate.
A brand on a traditional platform wanted to create a highly custom, interactive “product builder” tool. The rigid templates of their platform made it impossible. Their competitor, using a headless architecture, was able to build and launch a similar innovative experience in a few weeks. The flexibility of being able to control their own front-end allowed the competitor to create unique and engaging shopping experiences that were simply not possible within the confines of a traditional, monolithic system.
Augmented Reality (AR) in E-commerce
Use AR to let customers “try before they buy,” not just as a gimmick.
A clothing brand created a gimmicky AR filter for social media that put a virtual hat on your head. It was fun for a few seconds. A furniture store, in contrast, created a genuinely useful AR feature. Using their app, a customer could place a true-to-scale, 3D model of a sofa directly in their own living room to see how it would look and fit. This use of AR wasn’t a toy; it was a powerful tool that helped the customer make a more confident purchasing decision.
Stop thinking of AR as a futuristic technology. Do implement it on your product pages today instead.
A business owner thought that augmented reality was a complex, futuristic technology that was years away from being practical. He didn’t realize that the modern smartphones that are already in his customers’ pockets have powerful AR capabilities built-in. With modern web-based AR technology, he could add a simple “View in your space” button to his product pages, allowing customers to instantly view his products in their own home, with no app download required. The technology is here today.
The #1 tip for creating realistic AR models of your products.
The secret is to focus on accurate scale and high-quality textures. A user tried an AR feature to view a chair in her room. The 3D model was the wrong size and had blurry, unrealistic textures. It was useless. A good AR experience starts with a photorealistic 3D model that is created at the exact, real-world scale of the physical product. When the customer places the virtual object in their room, it should look and feel like it’s really there. This realism is the key to building trust.
The biggest lie you’ve been told about the cost of implementing AR.
The lie is that you need a huge budget and a team of 3D artists to create AR experiences. While this was true in the past, there are now many platforms and services that have made AR much more accessible. There are services that can create high-quality 3D models of your products from a simple set of photos. There are also platforms that allow you to easily add AR viewing capabilities to your existing e-commerce site with just a few lines of code.
I wish I knew this about the power of AR to reduce product returns.
I was running an online art store, and my biggest problem was returns. Customers would buy a painting, and then return it because it was too large or too small for their wall. It was a huge cost for my business. I wish I had known about AR. By offering an AR feature that allowed customers to see a true-to-scale version of the painting on their own wall before they bought it, I could have eliminated this guesswork. This would have dramatically reduced my return rate and saved my business a lot of money.
I’m just going to say it: AR will become a standard feature for online shopping within the next five years.
Today, having high-quality images on your product page is a standard expectation. Within the next few years, having an AR “view in your space” feature will be just as standard, especially for categories like furniture, home decor, and fashion. The ability to visualize a product in your own context before you buy it is such a powerful and useful feature that customers will come to expect it. The retailers who adopt this technology early will have a significant competitive advantage.
99% of furniture and fashion retailers make this one mistake by not using AR.
The biggest mistake they make is failing to solve the customer’s biggest problem: uncertainty. A customer looking at a sofa online is asking themselves, “But how will it look in my living room, with my other furniture?” A customer looking at a pair of sneakers is asking, “But how will they look on my feet?” AR directly solves this problem of imagination. It removes the uncertainty and bridges the gap between the online and physical shopping experience, which is the key to unlocking the sale.
This one small action of adding a “View in your room” button to your product page will change your conversion rate forever.
A customer was hesitant to buy a large, expensive rug online. She was worried it wouldn’t match her decor. She then saw a button that said, “View in your room.” She tapped it, and through her phone’s camera, she saw the rug placed realistically on her living room floor. She could see exactly how it would look. This one small feature gave her the confidence she needed to click “Add to Cart.” For considered purchases, AR is a powerful conversion tool.
The reason your customers are hesitant to buy your products online is because they can’t visualize them in their space.
A customer is looking at two different online stores that sell the same lamp. The first store just has standard product photos. The second store has an AR feature that lets the customer see exactly how the lamp will look on her nightstand. Which store is she more likely to buy from? The one that has removed the guesswork and the risk from the purchasing decision. The inability to visualize a product is one of the biggest barriers to online conversion, and AR is the technology that solves it.
If you’re still not exploring AR for your e-commerce store, you’re losing a major competitive advantage.
Your competitor just launched an AR “virtual try-on” feature for their sunglasses. Customers love it, and their social media is buzzing. Your store just has static photos. In an increasingly competitive e-commerce landscape, the customer experience is a key differentiator. Augmented reality provides a novel, useful, and engaging experience that can capture customers’ attention and give them a compelling reason to buy from you instead of your competition. Ignoring this technology means you are willingly letting your competitors out-innovate you.
Customer Service Tech
Use an AI-powered chatbot for 24/7 support, not just a static FAQ page.
A customer had a simple question about her order at 10 PM. The company’s customer service was closed, and the FAQ page didn’t have the answer. She was frustrated. A different company had an AI-powered chatbot on their website. The customer was able to ask her question in natural language, and the chatbot instantly provided her with the correct answer by looking up her order details. This provided an immediate resolution and a much better customer experience than waiting for business hours.
Stop making your customers wait on hold. Do offer multiple channels for customer support, including live chat and social media.
A customer needed to contact a company and her only option was a phone number with a 45-minute wait time. It was a terrible experience. A modern company offers a multi-channel support strategy. A customer could choose to use a live chat on the website for a quick question, send an email for a less urgent issue, or even contact the company via a direct message on Twitter. By meeting the customers on the channels they already use, you can provide a more convenient and less frustrating support experience.
The #1 secret for providing proactive customer service.
The secret is to use technology to identify and solve a customer’s problem before they even have to contact you. A shipping company’s system detected that a customer’s package was going to be delayed due to a weather event. Instead of waiting for the customer to get angry and call them, the system automatically sent the customer a proactive email explaining the delay and providing a new estimated delivery date. This proactive communication turned a potentially negative experience into a positive, trust-building one.
The biggest lie you’ve been told about chatbots replacing human customer service agents.
The lie is that chatbots will completely eliminate the need for human agents. A customer had a simple, repetitive question, and a chatbot was able to answer it instantly. The customer was happy. Another customer had a complex, emotionally charged issue that the chatbot couldn’t understand. She became incredibly frustrated. The true role of a chatbot is to handle the high volume of simple, repetitive queries, which frees up the human agents to focus their time on solving the more complex and nuanced problems where a human touch is essential.
I wish I knew this about the importance of a CRM to provide personalized customer support.
When I first started my business, I managed customer support through my email inbox. A customer would contact me, and I had no idea who they were or what they had purchased in the past. It was an impersonal experience. I wish I had used a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system from the start. With a CRM, when a customer contacts you, you can instantly see their entire history with your business. This allows you to provide a much more personalized and efficient support experience.
I’m just going to say it: A great customer service experience is your best marketing.
A customer had a problem with a product she ordered. She contacted the company’s customer support, and the agent was friendly, empathetic, and resolved her issue quickly and with no hassle. She was so impressed by the experience that she went on social media and wrote a glowing review of the company. A single, positive customer service interaction can create a loyal customer and a powerful brand advocate. Conversely, a single bad experience can be shared just as widely.
99% of online stores make this one mistake with their customer service.
The most common mistake is making their contact information difficult to find. A frustrated customer has to hunt through the entire website just to find a phone number or an email address. This makes it seem like the company is actively trying to avoid talking to its customers. A trustworthy company makes its customer service channels prominent and easy to find on every single page of its website. It signals that they are open, accessible, and ready to help.
This one small action of empowering your customer service agents to solve problems without escalation will change your customer satisfaction forever.
A customer had a simple issue, but the support agent had to follow a rigid script and didn’t have the authority to issue a refund. The customer had to be transferred to a supervisor, wasting everyone’s time. A better company empowers its front-line agents. They give them the training and the authority to solve most common problems on the first contact, without needing to escalate to a manager. This empowerment leads to faster resolutions and much higher customer satisfaction.
The reason your customers are so frustrated is because they have to repeat their issue to multiple agents.
A customer explained her entire, complex problem to a support agent in a live chat. The agent then had to transfer her to a different department. The new agent asked, “So, how can I help you?” The customer had to explain her entire story all over again. This is incredibly frustrating. A good help desk software provides a unified view of the customer, so that any agent who interacts with them can see the entire history of the conversation, eliminating the need for the customer to repeat themselves.
If you’re still not using a help desk software, you’re losing track of your customer conversations.
A small business was trying to manage customer support through a shared email inbox. It was chaos. Two different people would accidentally reply to the same customer, emails would get lost, and nobody knew the status of an issue. They implemented a simple help desk software like Zendesk or Freshdesk. The software turned every customer email into a trackable “ticket.” This allowed them to assign issues to the right person, see the full conversation history, and ensure that no customer ever fell through the cracks.
Subscription Tech
Use a dedicated subscription management platform, not trying to build your own billing logic.
A startup tried to build their own recurring billing system from scratch. They quickly found themselves in a nightmare of complexity, dealing with failed payments, prorated charges, and different tax laws. They were spending more time on their billing code than on their actual product. They switched to a dedicated subscription management platform like Chargebee or Recurly. The platform handled all the billing complexity out-of-the-box, allowing them to launch and scale their subscription business quickly and reliably.
Stop thinking of subscriptions as just a way to get recurring revenue. Do focus on building a community around your subscription product instead.
A company launched a subscription box. They just sent the box out every month and didn’t interact with their customers. Their churn rate was high. A different company with a similar product also created an exclusive online community for their subscribers. They hosted events, shared behind-the-scenes content, and encouraged members to connect with each other. Their subscribers felt like they were part of a club, not just a customer. This sense of community was the key to their high retention.
The #1 secret for reducing churn in your subscription business.
The secret is to have a robust “dunning” management process. A huge percentage of customer churn is not because the customer actively chose to cancel, but because their credit card payment failed (e.g., the card expired). A good dunning management system will automatically retry the failed payment, send a series of polite emails to the customer asking them to update their payment information, and provide a simple, secure way for them to do so. This automated process can recover a significant amount of otherwise lost revenue.
The biggest lie you’ve been told about the “set it and forget it” nature of subscription businesses.
The lie is that once you get a subscriber, you can just sit back and collect the recurring revenue forever. A subscription business is like a leaky bucket. Every single month, a certain percentage of your customers will churn for various reasons. A successful subscription business is in a constant battle against churn. They are always working to provide more value, improve their product, and engage with their community to ensure that they are acquiring new subscribers faster than they are losing them.
I wish I knew this about the psychology of pricing for subscription products when I started.
When I launched my first subscription service, I just picked a random price. I wish I had known about the psychology of tiered pricing. By offering three different tiers—a basic, a pro, and a premium option—you can anchor the customer’s perception of value. Most customers will choose the middle “pro” option, which you can price as your target. The basic option makes the pro seem like a good value, and the expensive premium option makes it seem reasonable.
I’m just going to say it: The subscription economy is more about relationships than transactions.
The old, transactional model of business was about a one-time sale. The subscription model is about building a long-term, ongoing relationship with a customer. A customer who subscribes to your service is making a commitment. In return, they expect you to continuously provide value and to treat them like a member, not just a number. The companies that succeed in the subscription economy are the ones that are obsessed with customer success and building lasting relationships.
99% of subscription businesses make this one mistake with their onboarding process.
The most common mistake is having a poor or non-existent user onboarding process. A customer will sign up for a new software subscription and be dropped into a complex interface with no guidance. They quickly become confused and overwhelmed, and they churn within the first month. A good onboarding process guides the new user, helps them to achieve their first “aha!” moment, and demonstrates the value of the product as quickly as possible. A successful onboarding is critical for long-term retention.
This one small action of allowing your customers to easily pause or skip a delivery will change your retention rate forever.
A customer was going on vacation and didn’t need her monthly subscription box. The only option the company gave her was to cancel her subscription entirely. A different company allowed her to easily log into her account and “skip a month.” This one small, flexible option prevented a “pause” from becoming a permanent “cancel.” By giving customers more control and flexibility, you can significantly reduce voluntary churn.
The reason your subscription business is not growing is because you’re not providing enough value to your subscribers.
A company’s subscription service had a high churn rate. The reason was simple: the product wasn’t good enough. The content was stale, and there were no new features being added. Customers didn’t feel like they were getting their money’s worth, so they cancelled. A subscription is a promise of ongoing value. If you are not constantly improving your product and finding new ways to delight your members, they have no reason to continue paying you every month.
If you’re still making it difficult for customers to cancel their subscription, you’re losing their trust and goodwill.
A person wanted to cancel a subscription. He had to call a customer service number, wait on hold for 30 minutes, and then argue with a retention agent. It was a terrible experience. He vowed to never do business with that company again and told all of his friends about it. This “dark pattern” might prevent a few cancellations in the short term, but it destroys customer trust and generates a huge amount of negative word-of-mouth. A confident business makes it just as easy to cancel as it is to sign up.