The single biggest mistake is treating customers like entries on a spreadsheet to be optimized, not people to build a relationship with. Chasing short-term conversion metrics at all costs can strip the soul from a brand, leaving a generic and forgettable website that wins a transaction but loses the customer. You end up with a site that works but doesn’t delight, and a business that’s efficient but not durable.
One common pitfall is sacrificing your brand story for the sake of ad volume. We fall into this trap because platforms like Meta reward a constant stream of new creative, pushing us to test endless variations. The Ecommerce Playbook podcast has a great episode on this, framing it as a conflict between story and volume. The cost is a fractured, inconsistent brand message that fails to create an emotional connection. Instead of pumping out forgettable ads, the fix is to establish a core brand narrative first, then find a production rhythm that allows you to tell that story in different ways, balancing powerful creative with performance marketing needs.
Another mistake is obsessing over site features instead of simplifying the user experience. Brands often think more options, more pop-ups, and more information will lead to more sales. Shaun Brandt, co-founder of Oddit, made the point on The eCom Ops Podcast that the opposite is true. He argues for a
