8 Common Ecommerce Mistakes and What We Learned from Them
December 6, 2024
“As an e-commerce professional, what are your favorite OpenCart extensions, and why?” Here is what 6 thought leaders have to say.
As a seasoned entrepreneur in the e-commerce realm, I believe that OpenCart is a critical tool in my strategy. My personal favorites are SEO Pack Pro, NitroPack, and CustomerPhotos, each for unique reasons. SEO Pack Pro has been instrumental in boosting the visibility of my platform in the overcrowded e-commerce space by improving our search engine optimization.
NitroPack, on the other hand, dramatically boosts the website’s speed and overall performance, enhancing the user experience and potentially boosting conversion rates. CustomerPhotos is another gem; it encourages engagement as customers can share their photos of products, adding a level of authenticity and trust that most online shoppers appreciate.
In my experience, these extensions offer the perfect blend of improved site optimization, performance, and customer interaction—essential components in any successful e-commerce business.
Nick Drewe, Founder & CEO, Wethrift
As an e-commerce professional, I would like to mention a few OpenCart extensions that have helped improve the site performance and customer experience. One of my go-to’s is Journal. This theme and customization extension offers advanced design flexibility and a more modern look to many default themes. I’ve used it to build a visually effective storefront with friendly usability, lowering bounce rates and increasing the average time spent on site.
SEO Pack Pro is another essential. SEO can be challenging with OpenCart, and this extension makes it easier by automating meta tag generation, image alt tags, etc. Once I started implementing it, I noticed a 20% rise in organic traffic within 3 months, entirely due to good on-page SEO optimization.
Abandoned Cart Pro has been invaluable for boosting conversions. It has allowed me to set up automated emails that will recover abandoned carts, and I’ve been able to recover 10-12% of lost sales with minimal effort. It’s also fully customizable since I can tweak email timing and content for each campaign.
If you are using OpenCart, these extensions can help you save time and generate more traffic and more leads. When extending, I recommend giving priority not to quantity but quality—choose what you can about specific business needs and pay attention to the user experience, speed, and SEO.
Guy Sheetrit, Founder, OTT Inc
Our favorite extension for OpenCart is Lightning. Because speed is such an issue with OpenCart and Google does prefer faster websites, this was one of the first extensions we installed. With over 5,000 products, we needed something to help us speed up each page. After installing it and running some tests, our Core Web Vitals score increased 15 points on desktop and 12 points on mobile, which was huge just from installing this extension.
Jeff Michael, Ecommerce Business Owner, Supplement Warehouse
My favorite OpenCart extensions include Journal Theme for its versatile, customizable design options, making the storefront look modern and professional, and SEO Pack Pro for enhancing on-page SEO and improving search engine visibility. I also recommend AbandonedCarts to recover lost sales by sending automated follow-up emails to customers who left items in their carts.
Madison T, Ecommerce Manager, My Supplement Store
For OpenCart stores, a few top extensions can make a real difference in performance and customer experience. One of the most essential is SEO Pack PRO, which covers SEO needs not handled by OpenCart’s native tools. It optimizes keywords, URLs, and meta tags, helping to boost search rankings. NitroPack is another favorite, focusing on site speed by compressing files and caching pages. A faster site not only improves user experience but also boosts SEO, keeping visitors happy and engaged.
For customer interactions, live chat options like Tawk.to or LiveChat are invaluable for quick support and building trust with shoppers. The Abandoned Cart Recovery extension is great for boosting sales by sending reminders to customers who left items in their cart, making it an easy win for conversions.
Lastly, Total Import PRO simplifies bulk-product management, saving time on large data uploads, and Multi-Vendor/DropShipper modules are perfect for stores working with various suppliers or creating a marketplace setup. Together, these extensions help streamline operations, drive traffic, and make customer interactions smoother and more efficient.
Dan Taylor, Partner, SALT.agency
Three of my favorite OpenCart extensions that have significantly catalyzed the success of my sustainable-luxury and artisanal e-commerce brand are SEO Backpack, PopupUpsell, and MultiMerch Marketplace.
SEO Backpack, first and foremost, has been instrumental in optimizing our online visibility. It simplifies handling meta tags, keywords, and URLs, which significantly improves our SEO performance. PopupUpsell, on the other hand, allows us to make the most of the customer’s browsing session by offering relevant product recommendations in a non-intrusive way, hence increasing our sales.
Lastly, MultiMerch Marketplace allowed us to transform our online store into a marketplace, which was crucial in facilitating direct sourcing from global artisans. It streamlined our back-end processes and enhanced our ability to support independent designers and makers.
Each of these extensions has added unique value, ensuring we effectively meet our customer needs while preserving the elegance and quality of our handcrafted offerings.
Guillaume Drew, Founder & CEO, Or & Zon
© 2024 eCommerce Manager. All rights reserved
