How To Succeed in eCommerce

Are you working for an eCommerce brand or want to start your own eCommerce business?

This article will help you to increase your chances of eCommerce success.

E-commerce, or electronic commerce, refers to the buying and selling of goods or services using the internet. Every business with an online store that can take payments and fulfill orders is an eCommerce.

Let’s look at 5 overlooked ways to succeed eCommerce:

#1 Focus on converting existing customers

While customer acquisition is definitely important, it may not be the smartest strategy to start with.

The biggest mistake majority of companies make is ignoring their existing customers.

Both up-selling and cross-selling to your existing audience is more cost-effective than acquiring new customers.

Why?

Because people who are already buying from you are familiar with your brand and products – you don’t have to waste time introducing them to your brand or waiting until they decide to trust you.

All you have to do is improve your current customer experience and help them with valuable suggestions during the check-out process, retargeting or email campaigns.

Loyal customers can be worth up to 10 times the value of their first purchase. Plus the chances of selling to existing customers is around 60-70% compared to a 5-20% probability of a sale with new customers.

So what can you do to get more repeat sales?

• Send Wishlist reminder emails

• Provide exclusive promo codes and free gifts for loyal customers

• Personalise emails related to their recent purchases

• Offer a special discount, but don’t make it a habit

• Offer free shipping to loyal customers

• Show some love on they birthday

• Establish a loyalty programme

• Run retargeting ads

There are agencies that can help you with all of that.

#2 Hire a web design agency specialised in eCommerce

Not all web design agencies are the same. There are agencies that claim to be experts in everything, but in reality, have very limited specialism (if any), and as a result – do a mediocre job at everything.

As an example:

When lead generation businesses, i.e businesses that don’t accept payment cards on their website (like law firms, restaurants, recruitment agencies etc) can get away with average website, eCommerce businesses can’t.

This is because your website is your storefront, it’s where commerce starts and ends. It needs to be intuitive, delightful, and easy to use.

A good web designer can create both visually appealing and functional websites.

Web design agency specialist in eCommerce can advise you on the best eCommerce platform for your needs and help you set up your store. A professional BigCommerce web designer will help to create a custom theme for your store, which will give you an advantage over other stores that are using generic themes.

A custom theme will allow you to better control the look and feel of your store, and make it more unique.

#3 Ramp up your customer service

The modern buyer expects immediate responses across any channel – chat, social, email, phone.

I would always pick a service provider that offers real-time support and troubleshooting over a cheaper, but clunkier competitor. 61% of US Millennials will happily pay more for products and services with better customer service.

Simply because I happily pay for convenience & avoid unnecessary headaches.

Investing in customer relationships now means reaping the benefits of loyal repeat customers later.

Here are some ways you can achieve this:

• Answer frequently asked questions (FAQ) and offer live chat for immediate problem-solving. Customers will always have questions about how things work or why it isn’t performing well. The last thing they want to do is wait around for you to answer.

• Consider a 100% money-back guarantee. Offering a money-back guarantee makes it easier to shop online. Offering refunds will show your customers their satisfaction more than profits.
It will definitely increase your online sales.

• Offer extras for loyal customers. It costs three times more to get a new customer than to sell something to an existing customer. Invest in a loyalty program to help retain existing customers.      

• Delight with branded product packaging. Your packaging is the first thing customers will see when they receive your product, so it must look professional and stylish. 

Once you have designed your packaging, make sure to order enough for all of your products. Buying packages in bulk is cheaper.

Think of customer service like an investment, the better you serve your customers, the more positive online reviews they write. Raving reviews mean free traffic and more leads for your business.

#4 Get better at email marketing

Roughly 20% of eCommerce sales happen in email (2017 Smart Insights).

Email is the second biggest traffic source driving sales after organic (22%).

The great thing about email marketing is that the people who subscribe to your email list are ACTUALLY expecting emails from you.

Which is why email is excellent for repeat purchases.

Below are the types of emails you should be sending:

• Send Wishlist reminder emails
• Send personalised “Nearly Out of Stock” emails
• Provide exclusive promo codes and free gifts for loyal customers
• Personalise emails related to their recent purchases

#5 Think of blogging as a long-term investment

If you want to sell on the Internet, you’ll need content.

To sell to people, customers have to know you exist which means people need to start coming to your site.

Blogs help people to answer some of the most important questions related to your product, and they help your business get discovered on search engines.

To sell to people, customers have to know you exist which means people need to start coming to your site.

Make sure that your blogs are well-written and informative.

#6 Build your brand on social media

Social media is a powerful tool that you can use to reach potential customers all over the world.

Post interesting content regularly, engage with your followers, and run ads if necessary.

Social media presence will not only increase traffic to your site, but it grow customer trust in you.

Did you know 92% of users do not convert on their first visit to a website?

The great thing is that you can capture those sales by showing your product on social media channels your customers are visiting.

This advertising technique is called ‘retargeting’.

You can retarget your website visitors on other websites, social media, and email.

#7 Sell internationally 

Don’t limit yourself to selling only to customers in your country – there’s a whole world of potential buyers out there. Most popular eCommerce platforms like Poshmark, Shopify, and BigCommerce make it super easy to convert currencies and show different versions of your site in different countries.

If you’re not sure how to go about selling internationally, there are plenty of resources available to help you get started.

It has never been easier to sell online 😏