How to Fix a Non-Performing Online Store?

With several million eCommerce websites being functional globally, the competition in the eCommerce market is indeed extremely high. Every brand, from retail giants to small online stores, fights for visibility and conversions. The real challenge? Figuring out how to fix a non-performing online store that’s failing to convert visitors into buyers.

But here’s the hard truth: a large number of businesses struggle to make consistent sales because they run a non-performing online store. The reasons vary, slow site speed, poor user experience, confusing design, or weak marketing strategies. Yet, every problem has a fix if you know where to look.

Despite all this, the fact of the matter is that there are several eCommerce websites that do not get enough traffic, resulting in poor online sales. Dropshipping company Oberlo estimates that there will be 2.05 billion global online shoppers in 2020.

The figures for 2021 are even more awe-inspiring, and projections indicate that the world-wide retail eCommerce sales during 2021 could well exceed $4.8 trillion. While the total number of online shoppers was pegged at 1.66 billion in 2017, the figure is set to exceed a whopping 2.14 billion in 2021.

No wonder then that e-commerce companies across the globe are racking their brains to clock better sales by keenly watching and the emerging online sales trends.

Increasing ROI and sales are the major goals for every other eCommerce company, however small or large they may be. Regardless of whether you are an eCommerce giant like Amazon or a brick-and-mortar mom-and-dad store that has just ventured online, selling online can be a lot trickier than perceived.

So, how can you optimize your eCommerce website and improve your online business? In this article, we bring you some of the ultimate eCommerce solutions and eCommerce tips to enhance your website performance.

There are actually dozens of ways to increase online sales, and we are highlighting a few of the important ones, which may not take very long to implement.

Why Your Online Store Isn’t Performing

When sales slow down, most store owners immediately blame advertising. In reality, the problem often runs deeper. Let’s look at the most common reasons your store may not be performing:

Understanding Your Consumer

Perhaps one of the most important eCommerce solutions to adopt even before you create an eCommerce website is to understand the factors that may influence a consumer’s purchase behaviour. Here are the three main factors to consider:

Focus on Speed and Technical Performance

According to Radware, it takes only 3 seconds for a customer to move from one website to another if a page doesn’t load quickly. The split-second delay may not seem like a big deal, but it can mean the loss of hundreds of dollars for businesses. Speed is a major deciding factor when it comes to consumer retention.

Improve Product Strategy

Not every eCommerce website can have a large variety of collections like those found on eBay or Amazon, but if you’re catering to a certain kind of buyer market, then you need to ensure that you have a niche collection of products with reasonable pricing to improve your online business.

Checkout and Payments

Statistically, only 2.86% of eCommerce website visits convert into a purchase. It is important that your eCommerce website facilitates an accessible and reliable transaction experience to your consumers. Issues like not accepting all modes of payment, high shipping costs, and unnecessary user actions will definitely frustrate your users.

Improve User Experience

Another primary eCommerce tip is to have a user-friendly website which makes navigation for the user an extremely effortless and uncomplicated experience.

Build Strong Marketing and Brand Visibility

If customers can’t find your store, even the best UX won’t matter. Strengthen your marketing strategy by investing in SEO, paid ads, and social media campaigns. Focus on long-tail keywords and informative content that helps users solve real problems.

Email campaigns, retargeting ads, and influencer collaborations can also expand your reach. Brand consistency across channels keeps your store memorable and trustworthy.

Reduce Cart Abandonment

Cart abandonment is a silent revenue killer. Recovering even a small percentage can significantly lift profits. Offer free shipping thresholds, send automated cart recovery emails, and add exit-intent popups that include limited-time offers. Keep your checkout page distraction-free and clearly state return policies. Transparency and simplicity here can recover lost sales effectively.

Explore more in our post on Reducing Cart Abandonment in Magento 2.

Marketing & Branding

Nearly 52% of eCommerce businesses today have multiple channels for selling their products.

One of the best ways to promote and market your brand is by having a multichannel online presence. That is, you may have a website, Facebook account for your eCommerce store, and also an Instagram account for the same.

Because consumers today mostly use mobile devices and social media for online shopping, having omnichannel capabilities is a great way to promote and market your online business.

User-flow Psychology

According to Google, consumers that have had a negative user experience on a mobile website are 62% less likely to ever purchase anything on that website.

If you want to have a high conversion rate, then one of the first things that your eCommerce website must do is provide your users with a seamless experience of the website. You can always track the experience with conversion rate optimization for better results.. That means, lesser click-throughs, faster load time, easy navigation between pages, quick access to important information, and so on.

Build Trust and Loyalty Through Customer Psychology

This is achieved by accurately comprehending your user psychology, i.e., how and what the users would want when they get on your website. Keep in mind that customers appreciate you being honest and upfront, hence never promise something you cannot deliver.

Your ad copy has to be honest and to the point, which will help you build an enviable reputation and establish a trustworthy brand.

If you are a small company, you needn’t be ashamed of saying so instead of pretending to be a large corporation. Rather, you should be proud of being a small player because today’s customers expect personalized service, which they know a small company can easily render.

Once you have your customers’ loyalty, you can very well advertise it online. Customer testimonials are a big draw. Especially in social media, customer feedback and testimonials mean a lot for an online business. What was earlier word-of-mouth is the same as today’s customer testimonials. You can display your customer testimonials on your landing page itself, or on your home page or pricing page.

Offering handsome incentives also works. Only, try to create a sense of urgency by making the offers time-bound. Promoting limited-edition products also attracts buyers who want to be the first to get such unique products that won’t be available if they miss the opportunity.

Final Thoughts

Running a non-performing online store can be frustrating. But knowing how to fix a non-performing online store is what separates thriving brands from fading ones. By improving speed, streamlining user experience, and building stronger marketing strategies, you can turn things around quickly.

Start small, fix your non-performing online store one issue at a time, track performance, and stay consistent. Every optimization move, no matter how minor, adds up to long-term growth. The more you understand your customers and deliver value through every interaction, the faster your store will rise above the competition.