Launching an e-commerce business is exciting, but it can also be a little overwhelming, as there are many rivals to compete with online. You need to do your homework to ensure you continually stay one step ahead of the competition, while ensuring you provide visitors with an exceptional user experience to encourage sales. Find out how to run a successful ecommerce business.
Find the Right Products
It is important to have a strategic approach to e-commerce. You can decide to go down the generic path of selling jewellery or books, or you can appeal to a select audience by offering niche items they will not find elsewhere.
Write a list of potential items you would happily sell on your online store. Consider the type of items your family members, friends or colleagues would be interested in buying, as this will allow you to identify if there is a market for your product.
Time the Launch
Don’t make the big mistake of rushing the launch of your e-commerce website, as you will only get one opportunity to do so. While there is no reason you cannot purchase a domain name and add a “coming soon” page, you should avoid revealing your website until your site is ready.
Focus on the User Experience
Budding e-commerce entrepreneurs must focus on the user experience to run a successful business. You must, therefore, strive to move the user along from A to B with ease, which means providing seamless navigation, fast load times, and a simple checkout experience. It might be beneficial to contact BugFinders, who can provide website testing services to optimise the customer flow, improve the user experience and boost your conversion rate.
Utilise Social Media Campaigns
Anyone who wants to run a successful e-commerce website must be serious about developing an effective social media campaign. The powerful platforms are the beating heart of a business, as they can provide a forum to promote your products, connect with your customers, drive traffic, and boost your brand awareness. You, therefore, need to take the time to grow your brand on the likes of Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.
Build a Mobile Responsive E-commerce Website
The large majority of internet users are browsing the net on mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets. It is therefore important to build an e-commerce website with mobile in mind. Not only will this improve the user experience and reduce your bounce rate, but a mobile-friendly website can boost your rank in the search engine results pages.
Pay Close Attention to SEO Trends and Changes
Every successful webmaster must focus on search engine optimisation (SEO) to increase their online visibility, drive traffic to a website and improve conversions. Not only do you need to focus on the latest SEO tactics, but you also need to pay close attention to the latest trends and changes, so you effectively compete with your online competition.
Collect Customer Data
Grow your business by collecting as much customer data as possible. For example, you should aim to acquire as many email addresses as possible to send personalised email marketing messages to your past and prospective customers. You should also strive to identify your customers’ age, gender, location, and hobbies to deliver targeted advertisement campaigns to your core demographic.
Market Your E-commerce Store
Successful entrepreneurs understand you need to spend money to make money. However, you might want to hold onto as much cash possible when launching your first business. Yet, paid marketing is part and parcel of most e-commerce businesses. It is wise to invest money in e-commerce marketing, which will boost brand awareness, allow you to easily reach your target demographic and generate traffic to your website.
Aim to discover the best channel to market your products and attract your primary audience, before developing a compelling social media and PPC strategy that captures your audience’s attention and helps you to acquire new customers. Your sole goal should be to spend less on marketing than you earn each day so that you can witness a steady profit. Also, reinvest your profits back into your ads, rather than placing the earnings directly into your pocket.
Check your ROI daily to gain an insight into your business finances and marketing success, so you will never over or under-spend on a campaign.
Conversion Optimization
Are you struggling with a high cart rate abandonment? It’s bound to be more than a little frustrating, which is why you must focus on conversion optimisation. Again, web testing can help you to identify any flaws in your e-commerce strategy – as there is a reason people are clicking away from your site before making a purchase.
Optimise the checkout process by providing limited-time deals, create a retargeting campaign, or introduce a cart abandonment email marketing campaign to encourage subscribers to return.
Review Your Inventory
Eventually, your loyal customers will become tired of seeing the same old products on your website, so they may visit your competitors for up-to-date products. It is important to review your inventory to keep it fresh, so continually look for new products that will encourage loyal and new customers to visit your website to buy an item or two. Not only will it prevent your inventory from going stale, but it will provide new ways to market your business, refresh your website and encourage word of mouth.
Encourage Trust
Consumers are often wary about e-commerce websites, as they might be unfamiliar with your brand or products. For this reason, you must encourage trust in your products and services by focusing on exceptional customer service. For instance, incorporate product reviews onto your landing pages, create an informative FAQ page and offer a live chat support service to answer visitors’ questions. The more they trust in your brand, the more likely they will add an item to their shopping cart.
Continually Evolve with the Industry
It is important to never take your eye off the ball when running an e-commerce business. After all, industry trends, technologies and customer tastes will change throughout the years, so you must continually evolve to succeed online.
