Successful eCommerce businesses are a rarity these days. With the prevalence of social media and other marketing channels, it’s challenging to get noticed without a substantial budget. That said, there are still plenty of ways for small-to-medium-sized businesses to succeed with an online store. In this article, we’ll explore six different strategies that can help your eCommerce business grow tremendously. Here is the list.
Publish Blogs and Newsletters
One of the best ways to gain an audience is by publishing news that your customers would be interested in. As highlighted by the team behind this digital experience agency, such content includes industry updates, new product releases, etc. Try creating an email newsletter or a blog on your website where you release this information regularly.
By publishing helpful blogs and newsletters, you’re establishing yourself as a thought leader in your industry. More clients will put their trust in you, and this will help generate trust and brand awareness over time, which is crucial for success. If you can’t do this yourself, hire a professional writer or marketer to take on the task.
Improve Your Customer Service
For some customers, the buying experience can be quite complex. This is why your eCommerce business needs to provide quality customer service at all stages of this journey. For instance, if a client has any troubles while making their purchase online, you should answer quickly and resolve their issue with relative ease.
By offering exceptional support whenever needed, you’ll gain a positive reputation within your industry. This will encourage customers to come back and purchase from you again in the future, which is one of the best ways to increase sales. Ensure that there are no complaints whatsoever and that your eCommerce business is always improving in this area.
Offer Free Shipping and Discounts
Shipping costs can be quite significant to clients when they’re making a purchase online. If you want to keep your customers close at hand, consider offering free shipping or discounts on certain products from time to time. This will make their experience that much more worthwhile, and they’ll be less likely to shop with your competitors.
Offering free shipping is one of the significant eCommerce trends in 2021, so you should consider this for your business model moving forward. It can increase average order value (AOV) substantially, as customers are willing to go over their budget if no shipping fees are attached. As for discounts, this is another excellent way to build loyalty and encourage your customers to come back in the future. But if you want to offer both and delight your customers, you must ensure your items stay in stock. You can use tools like Spark Shipping to connect a product to multiple suppliers. This will come in handy if you’re dropshipping and one of your products from your original supplier isn’t available.
Improve Your Website Design
Having a website that looks outdated will only hurt you when it comes time to make sales online. This is why investing in an updated design (if needed) or even hiring web designers to come up with an entirely new website is a worthwhile investment. This guide to digital experience monitoring can help you better understand visitors’ behavior while on your website.
It’s essential for your eCommerce business’ branding and marketing efforts that you have a quality website design in place. Highlight the benefits of purchasing from you instead of other companies online, such as free shipping or discounted rates on certain products. If you don’t optimize your site with these kinds of selling points, you’ll lose out to your competition.
Share Your Business in Social Media
Social media sites can be invaluable to businesses. By sharing your eCommerce business’ content on platforms such as Twitter and Facebook, you’ll increase brand awareness and generate sales in the process. This is because people tend to trust recommendations from their followers over ads that companies pay for otherwise.
Make sure everything you post online has value to your customers. This could be anything from sharing industry-related news, photos of new products you’re selling, etc. Post regularly and make sure everything is well optimized for the social media platform you use (i.e., images should be no larger than 500 KB on Facebook).
Ensure that You Have a Return Policy in Place
When a customer has a bad experience with your eCommerce business, they’re not likely to come back in the future. This is why you need to have a clear return policy in place that outlines what can and cannot be returned under specific circumstances.
For instance, if someone doesn’t like an item when it arrives at their home, they should be able to return it for a full refund or exchange. Be as specific as possible and make sure you outline all of the terms and conditions in an easy-to-read format within your return policy page online. Failing to do this could result in negative reviews or even account closure.
Ensure that you have a good return policy for your eCommerce business, and it won’t hurt to offer free shipping, discounts on certain products, etc. when the customer makes their purchase online either! This will make them feel much more valued as a client, leading to repeat purchases in the future. When you use these tips, your eCommerce business will be running much more smoothly in no time.