eCommerce Audit: The Reality Check Every Online Business Needs

eCommerce audit: Around 2.14 billion people bought goods or services online in 2021 (Statista). This amounts to about a third of the global population. In fact, it is estimated that about 95% of all purchases will be made online by 2040 (Nasdaq). “That’s a massive opportunity” would be a fair assessment of the future of eCommerce in a very digital future.

But is it enough to merely have an online presence to make the most of this opportunity?

The increasing influence of the next generation, or Gen-Z, has made it amply clear that merely taking a business online doesn’t guarantee success. Yes, there is the scope for increased reach and wider geographical appeal, but these advantages quickly wither away if businesses don’t offer a great online experience to online shoppers.

With so many variables at play, it is integral for businesses to get a realistic, objective, quantifiable assessment of their eCommerce website. And this is exactly what an eCommerce experience (PXM) audit delivers. eCommerce audits give an objective assessment of different aspects of your website, whether it’s SEO, website navigation, content or conversion.

If conducted correctly, an eCommerce product experience audit doesn’t just tell you what’s wrong/not working with your website, it also gives you the right levers to create a comprehensive roadmap to improvement and success.

Why get an eCommerce Product Experience Audit

Apart from getting a high-level understanding of where your website stands, an eCommerce audit can impact your business in more ways than one. Here’s a low-down on some of the leading reasons to go for an audit:

Enhanced Product Experience At the top of the value chain is the prospect of improving the online product experience with an eCommerce website and marketplace product page audit. The design and functionality of your website are limited by your and your team’s imagination. As much as you do to make the website ideal for end-users, it’s value in terms of usability and experience can only be gauged correctly from an outsider’s perspective.

There are many ways in which your website can make visitors feel welcome and confident of finding what they’re looking for. Easy discovery of products through search or navigation, product details, images and reviews make for a great online shopping experience. If this element is lacking, they are bound to bounce off to other pages, with the possibility of them never returning. A website audit can help you identify areas of improvement and play a vital role in improving customer experience (CX).  Share this as a Tweet

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Better Content A technical audit of your website will give you visibility of various parameters including page views, time on site, bounce rates, etc. This plays a vital role in SEO performance. However, more importantly, whether its search engines or people, the true value of your website is built on the value of your content. This entails everything from descriptions, images and videos to taxonomy and attribution. With a comprehensive product information audit, you can get a clearer understanding of which content works, and which doesn’t. A PIM audit can help you chart data-driven content strategy, which will turn to better search engine performance and happier customers.

• Improved SEO SEO has changed drastically over the past few years. Search engines keep updating their search algorithms and this makes it imperative for websites to adapt to these changes as well. While an SEO strategy may be great at a point in time, it is bound to be rendered obsolete after a few years. However, as an eCommerce audit will tell you, a website can’t be all about pleasing the search engine. A search engine rates websites higher when they serve audiences better. A thorough audit of your website will, therefore, give you insights into elements of your website that impact SEO, but from the user-friendliness point of view. And this should, at all times, be the key driver of your SEO efforts.
• Boost in Sales/Conversion The bottom line is what matters the most to any business, and this is probably why you’re considering an eCommerce audit in the first place. It is therefore integral for the audit to include all the above-mentioned steps (SEO, content and UX audits), and put them in perspective to ensure that your top pages have the right mix of these elements. This, obviously, should be done from the lens of improving ROI, apart from improving customer experience and increasing brand value. This could take months of testing and analysis to get right, but once you crack it, the juice is most certainly worth the squeeze.

eCommerce Audit: The Reality Check Every Online Business Needs

Running a successful online business involves more than just having a website and hoping customers will flock to it. With the rising competition in the digital marketplace, a thorough and comprehensive eCommerce audit is a crucial step for businesses looking to scale and sustain long-term growth. Whether you are an emerging brand or an established enterprise, auditing your eCommerce platform can help you identify weaknesses, fix issues, and leverage new opportunities to boost performance and conversions.

This blog will walk you through the most critical types of eCommerce audits, explaining how each one plays a pivotal role in ensuring that your online business is on the right track. We’ll also highlight the importance of conducting an audit with the help of external experts to ensure objectivity and effectiveness.

What Kind of eCommerce Audit Does Your Website Need?

The term “audit” is broad, and eCommerce audits come in many forms depending on your business needs. While some businesses prefer a 360-degree approach to cover all areas, others focus on targeted audits for specific purposes. Below are some of the most effective types of eCommerce audits every online business should consider:

1. Platform Audit: Evaluating the Foundation of Your Online Business

Your eCommerce platform serves as the backbone of your business, but its performance can often go unchecked. A platform audit is a deep dive into the technical aspects of your eCommerce solution to ensure it supports the scalability and efficiency you need.

Common issues that arise during platform audits include:

• Poor Integration Capabilities: Inefficient platform integration can lead to inconsistencies in content quality and a slow time-to-market.
• Missing or Redundant Features: Are you paying for features you don’t use, or is your platform missing key capabilities you actually need?
• Functional Limitations: Some platforms may lack advanced functionality that could hinder the user experience and ultimately affect your sales performance.

By auditing your eCommerce platform, you can identify these issues and make more informed decisions about whether to optimize your current platform or switch to a more robust alternative. This audit ensures that your platform aligns with your growth strategy, helping you avoid pitfalls and wasted resources.

2. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Audit: Boosting Your Visibility and Rankings

Being visible on search engines is essential for eCommerce success. Most customers never go beyond the first few results on the search engine results page (SERP), so a well-executed SEO audit is crucial for staying competitive. This type of audit digs into key areas of your website’s performance on search engines, ensuring that your site follows best practices for higher rankings and organic traffic.

Some of the critical factors an SEO audit covers include:

• Keyword Optimization: Are you using relevant keywords strategically, without overstuffing?
• Content Quality: Is your website content high-quality, relevant, and valuable to the target audience?
• Internal Linking and Site Structure: Does your website have an intuitive and user-friendly internal linking structure?
• Mobile Optimization: Is your website mobile-friendly, considering that mobile traffic now surpasses desktop?
• Website Security: Is your website secure, with an SSL certificate in place?
• Duplicate Content: Are there instances of duplicate content that might be hurting your rankings?

SEO audits can significantly boost your website’s authority and ranking, making it easier for potential customers to find your business.

3. Content Audit: Ensuring Your Content Speaks to Your Audience

The saying “content is king” holds true, especially in eCommerce, where website content serves multiple functions—from informing customers to driving conversions. A content audit is necessary to ensure that your website’s content is optimized, relevant, and appealing to your audience.

A comprehensive content audit includes evaluating both the technical and stylistic aspects of your website’s content. Some areas you’ll want to examine include:

• Tone and Voice: Does your content resonate with your target audience and reflect your brand values?
• Product Descriptions: Are your product descriptions clear, accurate, and persuasive?
• User-Generated Content: Do customer reviews, testimonials, and FAQs play an active role on your site?
• Media Optimization: Are images and videos fully optimized for SEO and user engagement?

Content that is well-written and technically sound ensures that your website attracts the right audience while providing valuable information to potential customers.

4. User Experience (UX) Audit: Improving Visitor Satisfaction and Retention

A great user experience is paramount to keeping visitors on your site and encouraging them to convert. If your website has poor navigation or is difficult to use, it can cause frustration, resulting in high bounce rates and lost revenue. A UX audit examines how intuitive and smooth your website is for users.

Key areas to assess in a UX audit include:

• Ease of Navigation: Can users easily find what they are looking for?
• Product Page Organization: Are products presented in a way that makes sense to the customer?
• Clear Calls-to-Action (CTAs): Are CTAs visible and logically placed on the page?
• Mobile Accessibility: Is the user experience seamless across all devices?

A successful UX audit helps in identifying pain points in the user journey and creating a roadmap to improve customer satisfaction and increase conversions.

5. Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) Audit: Turning Visitors into Customers

Ultimately, all eCommerce audits aim to improve one thing—conversion rates. A CRO audit focuses specifically on optimizing elements of your website that impact conversions. This audit helps identify key drivers of conversion and barriers that may be preventing visitors from making a purchase.

Areas a CRO audit may focus on include:

• Personalization Features: Are personalized product recommendations being utilized to drive engagement?
• Call-to-Action Optimization: Are CTA buttons compelling, visible, and effective?
• Checkout Process: Does the checkout process feel secure and professional? Are progress bars and error prompts in place?
• Mobile Conversion: Are mobile users converting at the same rate as desktop users?

With insights from a CRO audit, you can refine your website to maximize conversions, leading to a direct impact on your bottom line.

Who Should You Trust with an eCommerce Audit?

Given the complexity and intricacy of eCommerce audits, it’s essential to enlist the help of third-party experts who can provide a bird’s-eye view. While in-house audits may seem cost-effective, they often lack the objectivity needed to identify and solve hidden problems.

When choosing a third-party service provider, look for:

• Industry-Specific Knowledge: They should understand the nuances of your industry.
• Proven Track Record: Ensure they have a history of successfully conducting eCommerce audits for businesses similar to yours.
• Comprehensive Approach: A good audit provider should offer a wide-ranging service that covers all aspects, from SEO and UX to platform performance and conversion rate optimization.

If you’re looking for such an expert team, consider partnering with Bluemeteor. Our seasoned eCommerce professionals can provide an audit tailored to your needs, offering the insights you need to optimize your online business.