Essentials for Starting an E-commerce Business
The eCommerce industry has truly gained a foothold in society over the last few years. With COVID-19 ravaging the world, brick and mortar stores have shut down their operations and are in danger of never opening again. This has opened the doors for online shops to grab hold of the market and never let go. Whereas online shopping used to offer convenience, current global events have now made it a sheer necessity.
Ecommerce has been growing for quite a while but today, eCommerce businesses just can’t seem to keep sufficient stocks of products! While popular marketplaces like Amazon and eBay restrain their merchant’s branding in favor of their image, entrepreneurs with their online stores get to completely control their customer’s experiences. Whether it’s readjusting product placement or emphasizing a particular sale, merchants can utilize their website to connect with their customers and embolden them to make purchases.
The prospect of having your online store sounds so liberating that most owners don’t know where to begin when it comes to building it from scratch. If you want to construct your own and begin attracting and retaining customers, here are several useful tips that will help you get your eCommerce store up and running:
1. Have an engaging web design
It doesn’t matter if you have the best products or the finest customer service—if your eCommerce store’s web design is not up to par, then your online presence is all for naught. Research backs this up as 93% of buyers think highly of visual appearance when they’re making a purchase.
If you want an eye-catching web store, you can either tap the services of a professional web designer or you can learn to code. Another option you have is to purchase a template and just tailor it to your preferences. The great thing is you can find plenty of eCommerce templates online, most of which feature clean designs and intuitive layouts. Your online store’s design elements should work to enthrall visitors with full-width images and avoid distraction by using minimal text.
2. Concentrate on the client experience
One of the biggest differences between online shops and brick and mortar ones is that customers aren’t able to properly evaluate products with their senses before making a purchase decision. There is no solution to this problem right now. However, you can still make up for this discrepancy by making sure customers have everything they need such as complete product information and making the checkout process smooth and hassle-free.
3. Offer superb customer service
Another way to convert potential buyers into loyal, recurring customers is to provide them with excellent customer service, even after they have made a purchase. Making sure that they receive troubleshooting support should they need it will mean a lot to your customer and can make a difference between them returning for another purchase or jumping to another shop. One of the most inclusive types of support is having a live-chat feature that works ‘round the clock. Research shows that having this on your online store will raise your conversion by more than 10%. And even if you can’t offer 24/7 customer support, you still must strive to provide ample support during working hours.
4. Make sure you test everything on your website
Another crucial tip that can either make or break your website is to make sure you test everything, before, during or after you launch your eCommerce business. Investing in testing and analytics will help you find out what your customer likes or don’t like, which processes work and which don’t. Getting the answers to these will help make the proper adjustments.
5. Take advantage of social media
While you may be tempted to delegate your social media efforts to other team members, you must take that task on yourself as it lets you connect with clients on a much deeper level. Social media is the heartbeat of your business and it offers you a peek into the lives of your clients, thereby giving you an idea of what they’re like and what their preferences are. It’s perfectly alright to have a social media manager but it’s highly recommended that you are involved in its day-to-day developments.
6) Advertise on social media
And while we’re on the topic of social media, you should also make sure you’re advertising on this platform as it is a powerful way to connect with prospects in creative and innovative ways. Social media advertising can be an unassuming Facebook feed post to a snazzy dance routine on TikTok. You can use tools such as Google Analytics to determine which channels your target customers are using most and then, concentrate Use tools, like Google Analytics, to track which channels your target customers are using most, and focus your marketing efforts on these platforms.
7) Run a blog to create more traffic
Having a blog is a great chance to produce more traffic to your online shop. Posts that have specific SEO keywords and have relevant information that consumers can use are likely to rank high in search engine results. Blog posts that rank well can entice people to visit your online shop and can be a viable pathway for more sales. Having a blog will also help you connect with your customers on a much deeper level as the content you present can be valuable to them. Well-written and presented blog posts can help bolster consumer trust especially if they offer information that is related to your products.
8) Display user reviews
Since consumers can’t assess your products by themselves, they have to rely on your word and that of other people. For this reason, you must encourage buyers to leave feedback and reviews of your products. This can help establish your business’ trustworthiness and will also help consumers save time they can quickly head over to the reviews page to get a glimpse of what other people think of your products and the purchasing experience. To further build consumer trust, you also must include negative reviews and find out what you can do to appease the customer.
