It can be a real challenge running a business and making it prosper. There are things you need to know before you start and you can never afford to take your foot off the pedal. When it comes to the world of eCommerce it can take a lot of time and effort to get your store off the ground. If you want to increase sales once it’s up and running, there are specific things you must do.
In this article, we’ll discuss how you can improve your eCommerce business and attract more customers to build customer loyalty.
Get Some Outside Help
It can be highly beneficial to use Google Analytics to track the performance of your website, so you can discover how many visitors you receive each day and where they come from. Having said that, not everyone has the skills and expertise necessary to do things like this. One solution is to hire an external company or consultant to help you. The outside perspective can also be invaluable, especially when you are bogged down with day-to-day responsibilities and have trouble seeing the big picture.
The internet is a key starting point for finding the right person to help you. People who approach the eCommerce development team at Envisage Digital show that people are keen to get help with their project planning, web design and development, and user acceptance testing and delivery. By visiting specialist websites you can view case studies and request chats with designers, coders and developers.
Create A Quality Website
Customers will trust your website more if it looks professional and is easy to navigate. If they can’t find what they are looking for, or the site feels clunky in any way, they’ll not make a sale. Your product pages should be clear with high-quality images of each item from different angles so customers know exactly what they are buying when purchasing online. You also need to make sure that there is plenty of information about each product on the page including price, shipping costs, return policies, etc.
Make sure that people can easily access your website whether they use a PC, laptop, tablet or smartphone. If you have a large catalog of items, consider creating separate product categories so customers can navigate more easily. For example, if you sell mobile phone cases, create subcategories within that section such as ‘iPhone Cases’ or ‘Samsung Galaxy Cases’. People will appreciate the search results being tailored specifically to their needs, and Google also prefers this structure in terms of assessing your web pages’ relevance.
Have An SEO Strategy
If you don’t know what Search Engine Optimisation is, it’s basically what you do to get your blog or website in front of people. This is designed to occur when they are making Google searches online for the products and services you provide. Write text that is optimized for the keywords potential customers are using during these times, and use an external company to help you if necessary.
Include images in your web pages because they get indexed by search engines and if they contain relevant words, great. Also include SEO titles, descriptions and keywords in the HTML code of your website, as it can contribute towards your search engine optimisation efforts. It’s important that you don’t go overboard with SEO content (getting spammy with keywords) as this can actually harm your search rankings rather than improve them.
Create A Strong Brand Identity
It’s important to create this in order to differentiate your business from your competitors. A good way of doing this is by creating a logo for your company because it helps your customers instantly recognize your product or services. Think about the colors associated with other similar brands and try choosing contrasting colors to make your logo stand out.
The next thing to think about when branding an eCommerce store is fonts. There are thousands available online which can be purchased very cheaply. However, if you have a nice idea for a font, go ahead and create one yourself using Adobe Illustrator or Photoshop. You can also use layer photo editor to get your work easily done.
Use Social Media And Blogs
Get your company on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram if you haven’t already done this. Social media provides great opportunities for promoting products or services, building brand awareness and getting more customers through increased exposure to your company name. The main objective of using social media as part of an eCommerce strategy should be growing a community around what you do or sell. Engage your followers and potential clients through interesting regular free content, and in turn, this will encourage brand loyalty, good reviews and sales.
Write blogs to attract the attention and interest of new customers, as well as existing ones who may be looking for more information about what you provide. Content is key here because your blogs should not only provide relevant information but also make people want to share it with their friends and family members. This will lead to further exposure within social media circles, which can then turn into increased conversion rates.
Outstrip Your Rivals
Check the websites of companies that offer similar products to you and see what you can learn from them. Some ways to outshine them could include:
- Offering competitive prices
- Free shipping deals
- Loyalty schemes including birthday discounts
- Discounts for new customers
- Easy checkout
- Money-back guarantees
- Freebies (downloadable ebooks, free subscriptions or trial periods, buy one get one free offers, black Friday deals, flash sales, etc.)
If there is another product that is often sold with yours, why not sell this as well, especially if your rivals don’t? Also, listen closely to what people say about their experience shopping at your store – negative feedback should be taken seriously and acted upon. Also consider SMS marketing, adding Autobots to your website and advertising with Google Adwords, Facebook Ads etc.
It’s well worth you putting some of these suggestions into practice, because they will help raise your profile and improve your sales. Whilst eCommerce can be challenging, its global potential means the sky is the limit if you really get things right.
