E-commerce is attracting more and more entrepreneurs. The competition is getting tougher! To stand out from your competitors, make your place with Internet users, and choose an appropriate platform and implement a solid web marketing strategy.
The keys to e-commerce are at your fingertips
The best way to achieve success as an e-merchant, is to demonstrate professionalism at every stage of your entrepreneurial project. From starting your e-commerce business to maintaining your website, you need to factor your goals into every decision you make. Here are 22 tips that will help you create successful e-commerce!
Create your brand and analyze your target market
Keeping your target market in mind will help you stay focused while building your marketplace. Not all audiences are alike: each age group and each socio-cultural class has their own needs and characteristics. A product that appeals strongly to one demographic may be less appealing to another. Successful entrepreneur analyzes their own brand as well as their audience. Your brand includes several pieces of information, like your store’s identity, values, and core goals. It can be helpful to prepare a document that clearly outlines your business and what it plans to accomplish. I also recommend creating a buyer persona before designing your e-commerce. A buyer persona is a detailed representation of your typical or ideal customer. It’s easier to think about your audience when you have a specific user in mind, even if that person isn’t real. Think about how your buyer persona will interact with your site and their potential searches for a marketplace. This will allow you to adapt your pages, navigation system, and delivery methods to propose an offer and adapt prices to ensure better conversion.
Use an optimal e-commerce solution
An e-commerce platform is an online sales solution that allows businesses to sell over the Internet. There are all kinds, but you must choose one that meets your particular needs. Whether you are new to the field or an experienced professional, web design agancies can support you at all stages of your development! SEO Melbourne offers over 400 features, an advanced technical SEO optimization service, and the flexibility to meet your site’s needs. In addition, they support you at every step. Their dedicated team of Business Coaches based in Australia are happy to answer any questions you may have throughout your project and give you advice to enable you to evolve constantly.
Use a fluid design
Keep the design as simple as possible to help visitors navigate your site more easily. Just as you prefer to enter a physical store as warm as it is sober, think about the navigation of your Internet users. Each page should have a main point of interest, such as a “Buy” button or a “Sign up” button. A simple design will draw more attention to these important elements, which can increase sales. The e-commerce features you offer will set you apart.
Simplify your menus
The purpose of a menu is to help shoppers quickly find what they’re looking for. However, some internet retailers opt for massive, complex, confusing menus. This is different from the purpose of a menu because the user will be confused. For example, if you are a clothing retailer, one of your main categories might be “pants.” Once the customer has selected this category, he can either browse all the pants or select specific terms such as “jeans” or “khakis,” and then filter his request according to several factors, price or by origin such as “Made in France.” Thus, the Internet user will find the product page he wants effortlessly!
Add a search bar
If someone visits your page, chances are they are already interested in what you are selling. At this point, your goal should be to make searching your products as easy as possible. Adding a search bar to the top of the page will help your customers immediately find the product they have in mind. This bar should appear clearly and should be marked with a magnifying glass icon to show its intent.
Simplify the checkout process
Unfortunately, some shoppers abandon their carts if the checkout process is shorter or more complex. The “checkout” step should only ask the user for their essential information. These include the buyer’s bank details and delivery address. You can offer the connection directly via Facebook or Paypal to retrieve the information automatically. This can save the customer from having to enter their data.
Don’t make profile creation mandatory
Having to create a profile to checkout is one of the most frustrating experiences for shoppers. Many of them will simply leave your site instead of creating an account. To make checkout quick and easy, allow shoppers to complete their purchases as guests. However, you can encourage your visitors to create a profile. One way to promote the creation of an account is to offer express checkout, which will save the buyer’s data for a faster transaction next time.
Send Email
Keep hope if a customer abandons their cart. He may have been distracted or needed more time to consider his purchase. An email reminder can be a great way to keep buyers returning to your site. You can even send a promo code to encourage Internet users who abandon their cart to come back to take advantage of your offer!
Make your SEO a priority
Search engines are a great way to increase visibility and attract more consumers to your site. Optimizing your website aims to improve your ranking on search engines like Google. When you are ranked on the first page of results, you make yourself visible to people actively looking for your products. Optimizing your SEO is a very effective marketing lever because it targets customers likely to purchase. This is a crucial element to include in your e-commerce marketing plan! A good SEO strategy takes some time, but you should keep this lever in mind from the launch of your e-commerce site.
Add blog posts regularly
A blog has a number of advantages for your e-commerce. It can be an excellent opportunity to add valuable content to your site, which can improve your search engine rankings. It can also allow you to expand your audience. If you write engaging, unique blog posts every week, your audience will have one more reason to come back to your site regularly.
Increase your engagement rate with social media
They are a direct link between you and your audience and can help you expand your reach and find new customers. Social networks are an excellent way to build loyalty and acquire new customers. Only each platform has its characteristics and target, which will correspond more or less to yours. For example, Facebook and Instagram are not recommended networks for B2B companies. You can then favor a platform like LinkedIn to get in touch with new prospects. Social networks are very interesting levers for your activity. Encourage your audience to engage with your posts by asking them questions. Share your blog posts on your accounts to drive more traffic to your website. Highlight everything that will convince Internet users to choose your brand! However, if you realize that it takes too much time or that you need more expertise, feel free to call on specialized agencies who can work with you!
Create lists of subscribers to your newsletters
An email list allows you to stay in touch with your loyal buyers. You can send updates about new products, sales, or promotional events or offer special discounts to your subscribers. To send highly personalized emails, consider email segmentation. This technique divides your list of email addresses into different categories to send only relevant messages to all subscribers on your list.
Offer Multiple Payment Options
Today’s online shoppers are used to being able to pay for their orders via a multitude of methods. To better meet the needs of your target audience, you should allow them to choose different forms of payment on your site. Your e-commerce should accept significant types of credit cards. The more options you offer your customers, the more likely they will be to complete their purchases.
Add exciting and informative descriptions to your products
Internet marketers have a great responsibility when it comes to showcasing their products. Buyers rely on your photos and descriptions to understand the item. That’s why it’s essential that your descriptions are clear and informative. Your visitors should be able to immediately understand the benefits of the product by reading its description. It should include essential features like size and materials. Also, instead of writing a big block of text, break the description into bullet points to make it easier to skim.
Display your contact information clearly
To establish yourself as a trustworthy brand, your contact information must be clear and accessible. Your email address or phone number should be in the footer of your site and have a separate page dedicated to your contact information. This may also include links to your social networks. Also, be sure to respond to messages. If a buyer doesn’t get a quick response from you, they can look for the product on another site. You must regularly check all your contact channels to build good customer relationships!
Optimize your site for mobile devices
Smartphones are fast becoming the primary internet browsing devices. Optimizing your e-commerce for mobile use is one of the most important steps. If your site is slow on mobile devices, you may miss out on many buyers! Responsive design is the easiest and most reliable way to make your site accessible to mobiles and tablets. This type of design adapts the layout of your site to the screen size, so the user experience is virtually the same on all devices. As loading speed is one of the essential pillars of e-commerce, a responsive site is critical!
Develop partnerships with influencers
Influencers can drive a tremendous amount of traffic to your site. Although partnering with an influencer comes at a cost, it can provide a great return on investment. Internet users trust the testimonies of these personalities. I recommend only working with influencers involved in your industry in some way. This ensures that their audience will be interested in your product. Also, your brand credibility will be boosted if the influencer already has sound domain knowledge.
Use high-quality images on your site
Since your visitors can’t see the article in person, your images should look great. Take photos from multiple angles so that customers can understand the whole product well. Be sure to highlight important features and benefits. Lighting is essential when it comes to taking pictures. Use multiple light sources to avoid shadows. In addition, take the photos in front of a neutral light-colored background to ensure good visibility of your catalog and visual unity on your site.
Add videos to your listings
For some categories, the images do not accurately represent the item. Videos allow you to see the object in motion, which can help visitors in their act of purchase. Your videos should show and explain how the item works, like tutorials. Show the product from all angles so that users can understand the thing differently. Videos should be short and to the point to hold the viewer’s attention.
Publish customer reviews
Most online shoppers read reviews before purchasing an item. To improve your conversion, highlight reviews, and testimonials on your homepage or in product sheets. You can generate reviews by sending follow-up emails to your customer database. Wait about two weeks after the transaction to give the buyer time to try the product. Some of your customers may leave negative reviews. It may seem counterproductive to add these comments to your interface. However, being transparent with testimonials shows potential buyers that you are trustworthy and want to do better for them. If your listing has a few negative reviews, buyers will also be more likely to take the positive reviews to heart because they’ll see that you’re not “buying” those posts!
Organize events to promote your business
Even online-only structures can organize physical events to attract new customers and increase their popularity. You can organize an event in a multi-brand store, a mall, or a public place. During this event, you could post how-to videos about your products or industry or be available to talk to potential customers. Related events can also be effective for e-commerce. You can organize a contest on your social networks or do a livestream with prizes! Anything that gets people interested in your business can help your brand succeed!
Be adaptable
For your site to experience long-term growth, you need to be adaptable. Keep an eye on e-commerce trends and make changes to your site to stay up-to-date all the time. The Internet is constantly changing, so strategies that work well today may not be ideal in a few weeks. Be prepared to regularly update and adapt your site to retain current customers and attract new ones.
Conclusion!
Millions of consumers turn to the Internet for their purchases, and many prefer to buy from small businesses on the Internet. Like any business structure, success takes time and effort. Stay informed on the e-commerce market to always stay in the race. Think about your ideal customer and what they want to see on a sales site. Finally, remember to be patient. The first steps in setting up a merchant site can be tedious, and it can be difficult not to see results right away. However, it is essential to plan for the long term. No business becomes successful overnight, but your efforts today will pay off tomorrow: always stay positive!
