8 Common Errors to Avoid in eCommerce Data Entry

Why one should outsource ecommerce data entry services to avoid these mistakes.

Product data is one of the most crucial aspects in the successful running of any ecommerce stores. The way products are entered and the level of precision and perfection matters a lot. To ensure that your online store serves as a sales generating tool, there are some serious mistakes you should avoid when it comes to product data entry.

Overlooking the importance of Data:

Google always recommend uniquely written product description and this is imperative for getting SEO favours as well. But creating original content without even slightest traces of plagiarism is quite a difficult task; it is also very expensive. So, the best thing to do is to research your competitor’s product details and finalizing a different but more effective strategy to list your products. Therefore employees need to be provided with adequate training that enables them to understand the value of data and instructions regarding how the data has to be entered according to the online store strategy. They must understand the negative effects imposed by inaccurate entries and how they can hamper growth of the business.

For Example: If you are a lighting retailers or furniture retailers, most of the online retailers may be using the same data from the manufacturer. Based on the research done on your competitor’s retailer store, include as much as installation pdfs, spec pdfs, installing videos, tables and diagrams. Arrange them attractivelyin the product description. One important thing to try is to include 5-6 unique features with the help of outsourcing partners. If you write something about these products, it would be great. You may include blog as reviews or any other relevant information.

Insufficient Product Images:

A consumer can comprehend the nature of the product they’re purchasing online only by means of images being displayed on the web. One cannot pick the object and test it like in physical stores. Images should serve as references to help users understand if the product fits their need or not.

Hence it is advisable to apply the following conditions

1. The product image should be shot from more than one angle so as to ensure better and detailed view for the customer.
2. For a product available in more than one colour, one must include images of all possible colours available, or have an option for the customer to switch colour of current images.
3. Try to use at least your main product image background as white. If your product colour is same as that of the room, seek assistance of an expert graphic or web designer to create clearer and whiter background forthe main product image.
4. If the manufacturer do not provide all colour images of a product but if you can take photos, unhesitatingly create product images for your customers

We will explain further in our next blog about how much care should we take if we want to prepare a product image with detailed image samples

Insufficient Product Descriptions:

This is a normal scenario that we see: The customer sells a particular product and since the parent company has already invested in writing a description and details about the product, the immediate thought popping up in mind is - why not copy the same from their website. Well! What’s the harm in that? Wait and read ahead.

Search engines value only new and unique content; copying your product descriptions from the parent website makes you a victim of non-unique plagiarized content. You can definitely get inspired from the content provided in parent website but feel free to make some amendments to it like features, specification, tables, include options information in description, SKU, warrantyetc. so that it becomes unique to your website.

Always create unique content for your website.

Poor inventory management

Inventory management is one of the most important parts of an ecommerce business and this fact can’t be overlooked. There should be proper techniques for measuring performance and you should hire skilled and trained people to manage inventory.

Please use the following techniques for better inventory management

1. Hire qualified ecommerce employees to manage inventory.
2. If the first suggestion is too much expensive, why you don’t use ecommerce service provider. You can hire exclusive product inventory management staff; this is quite a cheaper and more effective option.
3. Give proper training to inventory managing staffs
4. Don’t waste your time and money by relying on Excel or other manual processes for tracking your stock. Even an expert data entry operator can’t assure absolute precision and research proves the said.

Hence try to leverage the expertise of professional ecommerce service providers for your inventory projects and check their work procedure continually

Lack of communication or ineffective communication channels

Communication gaps or inefficiencies can pose serious threat for your business. The Project Manager and Team Leader must be well connected and the PM should stay accountable and accessible to the client. Team leaders should comprehensively describe the idea regarding what employees would be listing with respect to Layout navigation, attributes, options, tags, collection, etc. The assigned team should be trained to provide proper assistance to the customers.

Overloading the workforce:

The manager must ensure that there is no pressure on the team to achieve unrealistic targets; a person can only do a limited amount of ecommerce data entry work in a given time. In case of over burdening the staff responsible for data entry, they become exhausted and are more prone to errors. In case of more work, it should be delegated uniformly among the people assigned to work on it.

Most of the online retailers are too curious to know how many products can be completed within 1 hour or 1 day. Is it possible to complete 5000 or 10000 products within one month?

We admit these question and all your questions are very relevant. No doubts. But it will affect the quality and accuracy of the product data of your online store and this may even lead to irreversible damage to your online store. Rushing leads to inefficiency and all the investments made in the building and running of online store may turn out to be futile.

Therefore, if you would like to save money, you can hire outsourcing team for ecommerce store. We know to do things in the right way and you can save enough money. Don’t waste your office space and enjoy the luxury of having more time to focus on other aspects of your business while keeping your online store dignity elevating.

Expenses beyond Control:

More flaws are bound to incur more costs. To track consolidated data and to check running modules is a processing that is extremely long and time consuming. It is expensive to spend money on extracting software and tools. So, proper plans should be in place to effectively manage the expenses.

In case of an in-house team encountering inaccurate entries, the core competencies must be kept aside. The infrastructure and labour costs should be borne as well. Only then, can there be focus on the accuracy of data entries. Outsourcing however can tackle this problem with ease. Data outsourcing companies in the lead are armed with all measures in order to deliver entries that are seamless and in limited time frame.