The Common Pitfalls to Owning a BigCommerce Business (And How to Avoid Them)

Now that you’re a BigCommerce store owner, you expect everything to fall into place. However, BigCommerce’s business model, pricing and plans are constantly changing. This factor has kept business owners busy between keeping their business afloat and figuring out the costs. 

Even some of the platform’s highly successful merchant owners were blindsided by upgrading to the BigCommerce enterprise plan to keep current features. With various changes come problems that could drive e-commerce owners out of business.

Here are the most common pitfalls BigCommerce store owners experience and how to avoid them. 

1. Budgeting

Many new BigCommerce business owners are unaware of or underestimate the expenses associated with this platform. BigCommerce — like most e-commerce platforms — requires a monthly subscription. Plus, there are additional costs to create a unique customer experience. 

For instance, BigCommerce has various themes with customizable styling options. While this platform has approximately a dozen free themes, the paid options range from $150 to $300.

Then, you have to consider other costs such as payment processing, security, insights, etc. 

Additionally, the more sophisticated your store becomes, the more it can inflate your budgeting. Therefore, identifying your overhead expenses from the beginning can help you move ahead with a realistic budget. 

2. Analytics and Forecasting

For new BigCommerce business owners, collecting real data is essential to keeping an eye on consumer trends and inventory management. Without it, you won’t be able to understand what’s working well and plan for a prosperous future. 

However, some may not bother adding analytics and reporting due to the additional costs or not knowing how to use them.

Many e-commerce platforms provide large amounts of data — giving you the potential to drive more sales. Yet, the lack of awareness on effectively leveraging it can lead you to oversell your products and fall behind on inventory management. 

Ensure you invest in BigCommerce’s analytics tools to capitalize on this information and make more informed decisions. 

3. Low Conversion Rates

Your online store may have a Contact Us and registration form to collect customer information and send email campaigns.

While this information is necessary to segment your customers for targeted campaigns, some issues may arise with spammers — clogging your inbox and disrupting your daily operations. 

As a result, you may integrate Captcha security to your forms with BigCommerce’s built-in captcha feature. However, this feature can slow down the checkout process since new customers must pass the captcha authentication.

Including this feature can create a negative experience for customers. Therefore, replacing the built-in captcha with Google’s invisible reCAPTCHA will help your conversion rates significantly.

4. No “Automated Category” Feature

BigCommerce business owners normally feature larger amounts of products using categories such as “On Sale” or “Best Sellers.” 

However, products can become misclassified when they don’t use automated categorization software. Often, your visitors will encounter and incorrect product type or expired item. In turn, your customers may become frustrated and leave because your store is not up to date.

To avoid this mistake, consider using smart categorization software to automate categorized items. This feature will make your operations much more efficient and help you prevent profit loss.

5. Blog Functionality Restrictions

BigCommerce has a built-in blog feature that allows you to connect your customers with items on your website seamlessly. The only downside to BigCommerce’s platform is that it lacks calls-to-action features.

Therefore, your visitors may be unable to locate your products listed in your online store more quickly. Since BigCommerce doesn’t feature this, you can avoid missing out on converting your inbound traffic by adding product recommendations manually.

Make Owning a BigCommerce Store Easy

BigCommerce is a great all-in-one e-commerce solution that features various built-in functions. While the platform has a few minor flaws, you still have many advantages to successfully owning an online store. 

Take these common pitfalls into consideration and use the tips above to maintain your profitability.