Dipping your toes into digital commerce? These 10 e-commerce tips cover the essentials, from SEO to customer service, to get you up and running.
In the business environment of today, in order for small business owners to survive, they must not only integrate e-commerce strategies but also ensure such are implemented well. Today, no matter your field of business, e-commerce is vital to keeping your business afloat and the revenue streams flowing.
These days, e-commerce is the only way to ensure your business’ longevity, especially if you are a new entry or small retailer. We appreciate that business success doesn’t happen overnight.
Businesses are no longer limited by location or geographical borders but more by your level of creativity and willingness to adopt new strategies and technologies. Here are several e-commerce tips for small business that may contribute to success.
First Impressions Can Create Good Relations
In business, you only get a small window to make a lasting first impression, so make it count! Online visitors need to feel comfortable with your site’s features and functionality. Your business needs to invest in a website design that is catchy to facilitate conversions and sales. Your site must also deliver a visually comfortable user experience.
Be Customer-Centric
Customer or user experience carries a domino effect. Done well, it can greatly boost brand awareness, online traffic, and help you retain loyal customers. One of the biggest drawbacks of online businesses is the inability to allow people to see, touch, smell, and feel the products before making a purchase decision.
While there’s not much you can do to solve this challenge, you can, at least, compensate for this deficiency in other business areas. Some of the most innovative ways of doing that include an easy checkout process, appropriate pricing, offering free shipping, and giving money-back guarantees to dissatisfied customers.
Be Available on Mobile
If you are not building your e-commerce store with mobile users in mind, you stand the risk of becoming irrelevant in a few years. Today, most customers are on mobile and you need to be where they are. So ensure that your site and themes are mobile responsive.
Be Social
Being socially absent or neglecting social media can only be described as a marketing sin for any online business. Social media is now acknowledged to be the heartbeat of modern business. It not only gives you an uninterrupted snapshot into the lives of your current customers but it also gives you clues about potential customers. Include different elements of social media such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and LinkedIn in your marketing campaigns.
If your business can afford it, engage the services of a social media manager. Some social elements to include are follow buttons, product reviews and testimonials, and even different social login options that can boost the conversion funnel.
More Products Photos
Your customers need to see what you are offering. To quote Arthur Bisbane, “A picture is worth a thousand words.” A key factor that leads to high conversion rates is the product image. Make sure the photo is optimised in a way that drives the highest sales directly on the product page and through ads. Videos are also known to assist in boosting conversions and sales.
Buyers want to see what your product actually looks like rather than how it appears in a touched up image. If, for example, you are selling apparel or other types of accessories, try and get as many pictures of real people wearing or using your products as it provides social proof.
SEO is Important
Our e-commerce tips for a small business cannot be deemed comprehensive enough without stressing the significance of SEO. Building a business website without SEO can be compared to building a road that goes nowhere. As the e-commerce sector continues to experience rapid expansion, more and more players will continue entering this already crowded space. You will need to stay ahead and stand out if you are to survive.
This means it’s becoming more important than ever for you to stay on top of SEO if buyers are to differentiate you from the competition. To see amazing results, it may not even be necessary to have a large budget. If executed properly, a search engine optimisation strategy can help in driving traffic to your store. In the long-run, you may want to think of engaging the services of an SEO expert.
Be Available on Live Chat
An online business needs to prioritise customer support as that can help you turn unhappy visitors into loyal customers. Your users need to feel like they’re interacting with live humans and not chatbots. A live chat creates the impression of being in a real store where questions are being handled by a pro shop assistant. Also, professional and timely support often lead to increased brand awareness, trust, and loyalty.
Create Quick Call to Action
A properly designed call-to-action (CTA) acts as a catalyst for conversions and sales for your online business. Not choosing the right call-to-action could mean your business misses potential sales and possibly losing customers. You also must place your CTA where it’s easily noticed.
Visitors and customers may move away if they encounter complex or lengthy CTAs, so try and avoid lengthy sign-up procedures in your CTA.
Make Your Customer Feel Safe
Without physical interaction, your online visitors and customers need to feel safe when buying your products. They need to be assured that your site is not only reputable but secure and that it protects their privacy. Adopt techniques that reduce online fraud such using strong passwords and using a Wildcard SSL certificate. SSL makes your sites secure, encouraging visitors to interact with your site with confidence.
Use the Right Tools
As a new or small business, experimentation is vital for success. Experiment with new business apps and tools now before you get bogged down by running your small store. The market has many different tools that you can use to boost your online business. Be sure to analyse your business and identify where you spend your dollars.
From there, you can figure out which tools are most useful for your small business. Remember data drives business, so make sure you experiment with tools and metrics that help such as Analytics, Revenue, Conversion, Retention, Retargeting, etc.
Conclusion
Starting a new business and going through growing pains is not a walk in the park. That is why we have assembled the above e-commerce tips for your small business. The most important thing is to remain focused, invest wisely, and be strategic.
Finally, never allow your business to stop evolving. Trends, technology, and customer tastes will keep changing, and you also must change if your small business to thrive, grow, and become a market leader.
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