As the New Year approaches, many of us are looking for new methods or strategies to implement in our business or lives. As the digital world continues to grow, we must evolve with it and find successful tips for running an e-commerce business. Here are some ideas to spice up your business for the New Year.
Think Like Your Customer
“A great tip for e-commerce success is to understand how your customer thinks. In an online business, a customer cannot use first hand products before purchasing them. Making your eCommerce business easily accessible to customers will be beneficial in the long run. You want customers to feel like they are making the right decision about buying your product over the competition. You can try things like website accessibility optimization, product videos, or free trials and returns. Understanding your customer’s mindset will allow you to create an e-commerce business that resonates and keeps customers coming back for more.”
- Jeffrey Pietrek, Marketing & Account Manager, Transient Specialists
Be mobile
“Most customers today will search for your business online before shopping from you, whether you have a physical store or not. And of those people who search for your business online, most of them are most likely looking for it through their smartphones. This makes it absolutely essential to have a mobile-friendly, easy-to-navigate, and user-friendly site. A successful mobile site allows your potential customers to access your store from anywhere. Your site should also contain the basics; address (if applicable), phone number for product support/general inquiries, and your brand name. A mobile site is a source of income that needs to be taken seriously if you want to succeed in the e-commerce world.”
- Keith Lipman, Sales and Marketing Consultant at Embrace
Know when, where and how much to advertise
“The recent pandemic around the world has changed the e-commerce business game, mostly for the better of course! With private businesses closing and fluctuating COVID-19 cases occurring over the past two years, it’s no surprise that most businesses large and small alike have turned their attention to their social media pages, websites and online presence in in general. Online shopping is bigger and more popular today than ever before, so what can you do to boost your e-commerce business and stand out from your online competitors? Know when, where and how much to invest in advertising! The first step is to understand exactly what your business is, what you sell, what makes you unique, and who your target audience is.when you should be advertising. You then need to know where to carry out your advertising efforts and which platform will be most effective in promoting your name, brand and products (eg Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, web, etc.). The last step is just as important as the first two! Create a budget based on your tests and always know how much money and resources you should invest in each of your advertising campaigns.
- Alex Bell, PR Specialist at 1-800-Pack-Rat
Make shopping enjoyable
“The last thing you want as an eCommerce store is for shoppers to turn away from their buying experience, so checkout can be one of the most important points in the overall experience for your buyer. To be successful, you need to ensure that checkout is quick and easy, preventing customers from overthinking their purchase. There are several ways to speed up the checkout process. It can be as simple as connecting to a POS system and offering several different payment methods. Other tactics include allowing a direct purchase from the product page, refusing the “add to cart” option, or setting up a one-click system for customers to checkout quickly.”
- Brandon Hulme, Head of Product Management at Vice
Update your site regularly
“Keep your eCommerce site up to date with regular updates. Give your customers a reason to come back and check out new products, product updates, or new sales and deals on your site. Consider even offering a corporate blog or podcast so that your loyal customers can keep up to date with what’s happening in your organization. Blogs and podcasts can even prove valuable as shared sources of information can increase reach and traffic for your ecommerce business.”
— Jason Brandt, director of customer experience at Podopolo
Building a Community
“Sometimes, improving customer satisfaction is often associated with having a strong community rather than the product or service itself. People will want to join your community if they see value in it, so you need to offer a much better experience than what they are already used to. In addition, the sheer amount of feedback received from the community of interested customers directly contributes to the creation of a better product. When we implemented this in our company, we ended up with happier customers and happier employees overall. Having a space dedicated to your current customers lets them know they’re still on your mind even after the deal is closed, and it encourages them to choose you again and again.”
-Druv Sampat, Founder of Studypaq
Don’t Forget About Social Media
“Social media provides a great opportunity for your company to connect and interact with potential customers, and there are several new and emerging platforms for this. LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and even TikTok are great examples. Hence, this should be the heartbeat of your company, whether or not you are hiring a social media manager, it is still important for you to be involved in the process. Being able to communicate directly with your target audience without interruption is a very powerful thing, and social media allows you to do this.”
— Chris Hunter, Director of Customer Experience at ServiceTitan
Adding personalization to e-commerce
“E-commerce companies are growing and growing every year. Therefore, you must find a way to make your ecommerce business stand out from others as you enter 2022. One great way to make your business stand out from the rest is to add a personal touch to your consumers. To further explain, you can add a personal touch to your e-commerce using location, user behavior, and navigation on your web page. For starters, you can list your products or resources based on your consumer’s location so they can look for useful things to find in their area. You can then use consumer behavior to have your web page or ads promote products that are similar to the ones they viewed or bought. Another option is to add a personal experience when navigating through your web page. This can be used through a chatbot, dropdown menu, etc. After all, you want your consumers to feel valued, so adding these personalization tips will make them feel noticed and special. “
— Aaron McWilliams, Chief Marketing Officer, 1Dental.
Research Quality Keywords Before You Start SEO
“Before you start SEO, it is important to understand what keywords you want customers to search for your business for. You may have the most revolutionary product of our time, but if people don’t constantly look for the right words or phrases to match your product, no one will find it. Make sure your business is related to high quality keywords before you start any other SEO process. Starting SEO before you’re sure your product-related keywords are being searched can end up being a giant waste of your time.”
– Rich Rudzinski, founder and technical strategist at Oversight.co and Tragic Media.
Advertising mailing
“A key strategy for promoting your e-commerce business in the coming year is email marketing. It is a channel that you own, so it is much easier to manage and control it. There are many email marketing services that can make this process reliable and affordable. The more you know about your subscribers, the more you can send relevant email campaigns, which you can do with a CRM email tool. This will allow you to reach everyone at the right time with the right action. It is important to choose the right welcome email to encourage users to sign up, as well as choose the right email frequency. A balanced email frequency will show that you are always up to date with your subscribers, but don’t overdo it to the point where you annoy them. Always have a clear plan in order to be ready to get the best possible results.”
— Megan Jones, Public Relations Manager, NutraSweet Natural.
Have good customer service
“Everyone likes a brand that can support their products/services. Some of the ways to improve customer service are to reduce response time to 24 hours, offer multiple communication channels such as phone, email, or live chat, but most importantly, make sure your contact page is easily accessible. If it helps, you can start by adding chatbots to your site and have them answer your general FAQs. Then, if someone has a deeper question, they can be directed to the appropriate customer support person. You must have adequate training for your members on how to handle different types of questions. By having trained staff and improving customer service tools, your company will have ever better results.”
— Daniel Ward, editor of Invoice2go.
Try Facebook Messenger
“Companies should use Facebook messenger because it’s a great way to target potential customers who are already interested in your business. When people have questions or concerns about your products/services, Facebook Messenger is an easy and affordable way to contact the company directly. This gives your company the ability to generate leads via email, showcase their phenomenal customer service, and guide customers to purchase products right in the chat. You can allow transactions through Messenger, making it easy for your customers to shop on social media!”
— Himanshu Agarwal, Senior Vice President of Solutions at WorkBoard
Use Social Media Stores
“Social media platforms like Instagram and Facebook have introduced an in-app store feature that can be a great way for new customers to find and purchase products from your eCommerce business. Shop on Instagram and Facebook can often be a simple setup if you’re already using a social media account to promote your brand. There are many tools available to customize your social media store so that it also matches your website design.”
— Jacob Dayan, CEO and co-founder of Community Tax
Collect information
“One tip that can help increase your sales is information gathering. It’s very important to get the website visitor’s email address and build your database to help with future promotions! You should also collect site information, such as time on page, for different pages to see which ones perform well. Other metrics such as bounce rate (customers leaving the site after visiting only one page or cart abandonment) and link click rates are also critical.”
— Jonathan Feingold, Senior E-Commerce Manager at MedCline
In addition, there are many ways to strengthen your e-commerce business. By following one more of the tips above, the business will have optimal performance, growth and success. E-commerce is something that every business should strive to develop and improve in the new year.
