E-Commerce, this word or concept is becoming a prominent part of the conversation in many boardrooms as well as in small shops all over the world. Especially for small businesses that sell products. E-commerce, put very simply is any activity that culminates in selling anything over the internet.
According to Rjmetrics, there are approximately 110,000 e-commerce sites that are generating revenue. This particular information might be difficult to estimate correctly, but this does give an inkling into how much opportunity there is for growth in the e-commerce space.
This also means there are probably hundreds of thousands of e-commerce sites that aren’t making money. This begs the question, what are the former e-commerce sites doing right and what are the later doing wrong? Let’s see if we can proffer answers to these questions with these 7 simple and practical e-commerce tips to help you make the best out of your e-commerce website.
Make Sure Your E-commerce site is Mobile Friendly
The world is gradually going mobile, that’s the future and those that want to be a part of that future must read the writings on the wall and go mobile. It is so much easier for your potential customers to shop from their phones than on their work desktop computers or laptops.
It is a smart decision on your part to create a great mobile experience for your e-commerce site. SEO agencies like Magento E-commerce Agency can be of great help in making these things easy to actualize.
Engage Your Customers
In this digital world, it is very easy for the attention of your customers to wander, they probably get bombarded by advertisement from other sites offering the same products and services as you on their social media feeds all the time. Once they visit your site, try and keep a list of their details, then engage them. Make them remember why they chose to buy your products in the first place, add the personal touch.
Send them text messages on their birthdays, refer to them by their names, make them feel special. If you want to make the best use of your time and resources, you can implement a bulk SMS messaging strategy to help personalize your messages. Making your message feel relevant to your customers will help you achieve better results through mass messaging services.
These things don’t require much of an effort on your part. But they go a long way in making your customers feel comfortable with you and your brand. They are bound to remember you the next time they need what you offer.
Make Good Use of Social Media
The gods of the internet have brought us a huge bounty in the form of social media, it would be a shame not to use it. You already have a ready-made platform where your potential customers visit daily, take advantage of it.
Use social media influencers if you can afford them, if not, plain old retweeting and likes from your friends and followers can go a long way.
Also, let there be links from your e-commerce site to your social media accounts. Make it easy for your customers to share their experiences on your site. As mentioned earlier, word of mouth can be a game changer for your business.
Make Your Site Appealing and Fast
Most folks browsing the internet have very short attention spans. You need all the help you can get to catch their attention and to keep it for the duration of time it takes them to order and pay for something on your e-commerce site.
This will definitely go more smoothly if they enjoy the experience of browsing through your site. Your images and pages should load quickly, the design should be sharp and enticing, there shouldn’t be any annoying pop-ups and make sure they can find exactly what they are looking for quickly without having to rummage through your site like it were a badly packed luggage.
Do Not Compel Customers to Register On Your Site
A lot of your customers just want to breeze in, find what they want to buy, pay and then breeze out, no commitments. Mandating them to register before they check out is a good way to make them look for easier shopping elsewhere.
Sure, you can show them the benefits of registering and put a prominent link to same somewhere on your site, but make it clear it is not a requirement for shopping on your site. Once they shop so easily on your e-commerce site a few times, they will most likely choose to register of their own volition. If not, you have at least gained a paying customer.
Make Sure Your Payment Gateway Is Secure and Trustworthy
This is pretty important to your paying customers as they wouldn’t want their sensitive credit card information to fall into the wrong hands.
Make sure you get security brands (like Norton) that people recognize and trust to secure your site and display their logos prominently. Also, use payment platforms (like PayPal) that are widely known and that have a great track record.
Sell Your Story As Well As Your Brand
The people you are hoping will come to shop on your site are human beings, people that have emotions and feel connections. Do not regard them only as a source of cash for your business, they are human beings first.
Connect with them on that level, tell the story of your brand. How you started filling orders in your basement. How when it got really cold during winter, you had to dress like an Eskimo to work every day.
Stories like this make customers see beyond the product and connect with the person behind the product, you can try this out to enhance your business. They will respond to that connection.
Wrapping Up
There you go! These e-commerce tips are sure to help you gain that foothold you need in your business. They are practical enough that you can start incorporating them into your business process right away and easy too.
Try and be the best in your particular niche. Offer services that are above and beyond what they are buying from you. Engage your customers on a personal level and keep your e-commerce site fun and exciting to use. These will help you in your e-commerce business journey immensely.
