Running your online store gives you complete control over opening a shop on Amazon or eBay. You get to personalize your e-commerce shop in a way that speaks to your brand.
However, the internet is oversaturated with e-commerce shops. You have lots of competitors in your industry. How can it be possible to even make a sale? Should you take another approach, or are there still ways to turn the table around?
There are ways you can make your e-commerce business successful. You need to put in the effort to build your business. Even if there are a lot of competitors, you can always be one step ahead of them if you always keep updated on tips from experts.
How to Succeed in Your E-commerce Business
Think of Your Web Design
The first thing a consumer notices when entering a website is the layout and design. If you have cluttered and distracting web design, chances are, people leave your website immediately.
Visual appearance is an important factor, according to 93% of buyers. That’s a lot of people who put a value on the appearance of a website. So, you know that you have to make your web design something pleasing to your visitors.
You can hire a web designer or do the designing process yourself. There are ready-made templates you can customize or start from scratch using codes.
- Use simple themes
- Choose a colour that is not too loud
- Remove unnecessary clutter or banner
- Make the webpage look neat
- Simplify the menu and other buttons
- Make all things accessible
Add Necessary Pages
Some pages are crucial to your business. Visitors like to visit pages to learn more about products, services, and the business.
You can add an About Page to show your customers who and what your brand is. In addition, you can add testimonials, achievements, and other proof of your business.
A contact page is also important for an e-commerce business. You need to provide information that your customers can use in case they need your assistance.
As mentioned earlier, having a clean and friendly web design can help in defining the success of your business. So, part of a better web design is making elements accessible on your website.
Add a search bar for visitors to easily find what they need and avoid other content or distractions. Furthermore, simplifying your menu keeps things organized.
Add important menus. Don’t add too many so it won’t confuse your consumers.
You can try to categorize your products and content in a specific category. For example, t-shirts, long sleeves, sweaters, etc. can be categorized as tops.
Grow Your Audience
A passionate and enthusiastic audience that appreciates the unique or personalized goods you have to offer is one of the most important but often ignored components of a successful e-commerce business.
You need to find multiple marketing techniques that can help you approach your dedicated audiences. When you know who your customers are, you can build better relationships with them. Then the rest will follow.
Multiple Payment Options
Every customer has their preferred mode of payment. Some may be comfortable using a credit card, while others want to pay in an e-wallet. So, as a business, you need to give customers multiple options to pay for the product they purchase.
By providing what your customers need, you can build trust and a better customer experience. These elements are contributing factors if a customer will return or recommend your business to others.
Target Mobile Customers
There is a surge in mobile shoppers. Most people prefer shopping on their phones because it is convenient. So, if you want to meet your audience halfway, leverage a mobile-first website.
You have to use a web design that can fit your user’s screen, remove distractions like pop-ups, and make pages load faster. You can also create an app for your brand since people like using apps when shopping online.
Simplify the Checkout Process
Aside from simplifying your web design and making your website friendly, you also need to provide a better customer experience.
Part of a good customer experience is making every process accessible. One reason cart abandonment is common is due to the checkout process.
Eliminate additional steps when your customer is on the checkout page. You should never ask customers to create an account or fill out lengthy forms. Instead, keep the transaction simple and short.
Promote Business on Social Media
Almost everyone is on social media. Millions of daily active users spend hours scrolling or even shopping.
There are two ways you can promote your business on social media –organic or paid.
When using an organic method, you post valuable content, use hashtags, and write excellent captions for your customers to read. However, you need to know that it will take time before you get the right following.
Meanwhile, advertising on social media is a quick way to connect to customers. When you plan to advertise on social media, you first need to know about your traffic. You can use Google Analytics to study the traffic of your website. Here, you’ll know which social media platform your consumers often spend their time in.
Knowing the right platform will help you target the right audience, eliminate additional expenses, and have better success in advertising.
Create SEO-Driven Content
SEO marketing is another technique you can use to drive traffic to your e-commerce shop. Organic traffic is a valuable lead. They are consumers who are willing to buy your products.
Posts with SEO keywords and consumer-friendly content are more likely to rank well in search engines. People will visit your product pages and complete purchases if your blog entries rank well.
A blog can also be used to make deep connections with your readers. Observing how customers react to the content you create might help you develop methods for addressing buyers’ desires. Blog postings that provide value to the reader, such as expert advice on how to use your product or an industry-related issue, help to establish buyer trust.
Use SEO tools to search for keywords you need and track how your content is performing. In addition, these tools can check your competitors. It sees what keywords they are using or what they lack.
Aside from working on your keywords, make an effort to create valuable content. You can write compelling blog posts or create helpful videos.
Partner with Other Brands or Influencers
Collaboration can help drive traffic to your website. You can connect with other brands, which doesn’t necessarily mean a big household name. When you collaborate with a brand, you can drive traffic from the other brand to your e-commerce business.
In addition, collaborating with influencers can help. Again, you don’t have to hire a famous influencer to promote your product or shop. Micro-influencers are a better alternative. They have less following but most of the followers engage with the influencer’s content.
You can make a deal like giving them free products or paying them in cash.
Improve Online Support
Customer support plays an important role in keeping your customers and building brand awareness. If you offer efficient and stress-free support to your customers, they will appreciate it.
There are many ways you can help your customers when they visit your shop. You can use chat, email, or call support. The best option is to offer live chat support. By providing live chat support, you can attend to clients faster.
Installing chatbots can manage your support system when no one is available. This can allow you to run your business 24/7.
Add a Review Section
Your trustworthiness is greatly enhanced with product reviews and ratings. Online shoppers can’t meet sellers in person, they rely on reviews from other customers to evaluate retailers. Ratings on product pages save time for customers by instantly displaying what other customers have to say about the product.
People will trust what other people say rather than what the brand has to offer. So, by adding reviews, you can convince your potential customer to buy.
Encourage your buyers to leave a review on your page. Most customers who are satisfied don’t often leave a comment, so ask them to do so. You can give them incentives when they leave a review.
Optimize Your E-commerce Shop
Aside from writing SEO-friendly content, you have to work on your entire website. You have to use keywords on your products, fix the loading page, redirect 404 errors, etc. By optimizing your website, you can help it rank higher on the search engine.
The higher your e-commerce rank on Google, the more visible you are to your potential customers.
Keep Your E-commerce Secure
When it comes to maintaining an eCommerce website, security is paramount. Customers must submit sensitive information such as their address and credit/debit cards, and any exposure of this information might put them in serious trouble. It can destroy your company.
Buy an SSL certificate to secure your website’s server. So, when you collect personal information, no one can spy on the data. Furthermore, using an SSL certificate can reassure your customers since they will know just by looking at the URL (it has HTTPS).
Arrange and Provide Details on Products
Customers may view, touch, and try out things in a real store, as well as speak with specialists to obtain a better understanding. On an e-commerce site, this is not possible. As a result, it is your responsibility to ensure that customers have all of the information they require to develop an accurate mental image of the product.
You can help your customers visualize your products by doing the following.
- Use large and clear images
- Provide images of your product from different angles
- Make sure the image maintains the real colour of the object. If not, you can add a disclaimer like, “due to photographic lighting sources or monitor settings, product colour may vary.”
Another tip to showcase your products well is to add important details. Mention the qualities, use, tips to take care of, who can use it, warranty period, etc.
Offer Free Shipping
Shipping fees can sometimes make some customers cancel their orders. It is also why cart abandonment is prevalent. But if you can afford to shoulder the shipping fee of your customers, why not. You can set a limit of purchase before customers can avail of the free shipping promo.
Track Your Performance
Making a sale or driving traffic is not the end of a successful e-commerce website. You need to continually track how your campaign goes and the traffic on your website. In addition, checking your competitors can help in making effective campaigns or introducing a new one.
Google Analytics is a free tool you can use to check how your website is performing. You can see how many people visit your website, what pages have the most visits, bounce rate, etc.
Conclusion
The internet is oversaturated with e-commerce shops. You might be worried as to how to stand out from the competition. But there is always a way to do so. By following this article’s tips, you can help your e-commerce business gain more traffic, get more leads, and increase your revenue.
AUTHOR BIO
VANESSA VENUGOPAL
Vanessa Venugopal is a passionate content writer. With four years of experience, she mastered the art of writing in various styles and topics. She is currently writing for Softvire Australia – the leading software eCommerce company in Australia and Softvire New Zealand.
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