Good news for the eCommerce industry, there are around 3 billion internet users worldwide (that’s over 40% of the global population!) WOW! It’s hard to ignore the magic & power of eCommerce. Don’t we all love to Live, Love Shop online? And the joyous experience of going through array of products, home delivery, and the comforting validation of customer reviews.
“In 2015, retail eCommerce sales worldwide amounted to 1.67 trillion US dollars; this figure is projected to grow to 3.55 trillion in 2019.”
Consumer today is better educated in terms of online shopping, be it extensive research and then eventually purchase. As more & more brands choose to pump their online selling, attracting consumers to the site for buying becomes more challenging. This article summarizes how you can execute an easy but effective eCommerce https://drporn.info/ strategy and benefit maximum results with minimum efforts.
Step 1: ‘You are special’ – Adopt a customer centric approach
Get little personal, know your customer better, learn their choices & preferences, their buying behaviour and then try to tailor your shopping experience for them. It is important to engage & maintain potential customers to boost new sales and hold on to old customers for repeat purchases.
“45% of online shoppers claim that they are more likely to shop on a site that offers personalized recommendations”
Apart from making your site simple, easy to navigate and having a clean lay-out, you can add the personal touch by applying some of the following:
Dynamic Pages
Along with concise figures, copy and appropriate images, your webpage needs to have content suiting the particular user visiting that page. For instance, if you are a book e-tailer and have a customer landed on a thriller book page of an author. In addition to that book details you can generate relevant content with similar preference. Like, options can have other popular books in the thriller category or similar books by same author. This can push the consumer to add more products to the shopping cart.
Customized Recommendations
Not really different from Dynamic pages, but recommendations are equally powerful to draw customers. These could be based on many factors, like on their geographical location, their wish list, their buying history and even their browsing history. If they have viewed certain products on your site, you can display them on their next site visit.
Loyalty Programs
Oh Yes, they always work! Reward your customer with discounts or offers based on points system. Make them feel special by offering some exclusive discount as they have shown repeat trust and purchased again. It’s always easy to hold onto old customer than getting a new one!
Step 2: ‘Content is mighty’ – setup huge content base
There is no denying that how powerful content marketing is for increasing brand visibility and generating leads. A persuasive well designed content can be extremely effective for eCommerce Success. Gripping compelling content can establish your brand, jazz up your social media channels and improve your site’s search ranking. Here’s how you can leverage on your content
Blog Blog Blog
You don’t really need to have long blog pages or many blogs, or any high end design & exotic data all the time. All you need is consistency in your blog schedule. Just be sure, it is genuine & relevant. Try to manage content which works on customer pains & problems and how your USPs can provide a solution. Get little creative with the blog content, customer should be willing to read your blog. It should help him in some way. Don’t always press on loads of information but focus on presenting information in a simple way.
Little Notes
You can have standalone pieces of content and showcase them site-wide to make the customer wait and linger on the page to make a purchase. It could be anything from an instructional video of ‘do it yourself’, interview of the brand ambassador, demo of the product, well designed FAQ or other piece of information related to that product. Show casing good customer reviews will weigh even more. Ask for their opinion for a product with simple like/dislike icons. Customer feels valued, thus encouraging brand appreciation and loyalty.
Step 3: ‘Satisfying Customer experience’ – Build a social customer experience
Your customers are critical for your success. With each business type, there are wide options available with the customer and you cannot always differentiate on the product quality or product price. Providing an impeccable level of customer service is what that will set you apart from the competition. Strong customer service goes a long way, and ensures brand loyalty and repeat purchases. You can practice a social media driven approach to customer service to comply your eCommerce strategy.
Manage an Online Circle
Extend your brand experience on multiple social media platforms; let the customer have flexibility and choice to connect through their support channel. Always aim to provide swift response to customer query, the longer you wait to revert; less likely the customer will make a purchase from you. Empathize with your customer; always attempt to solve their concern. Assist them in any way possible. Communication is key; make sure you are always contactable.
Social Listening
It is crucial to know what the customers are talking. From Buzzsumo to SproutSocial, there are ample of social listening tools available. They will let you make a careful study on your target market and get an insight into your customer’s needs, expectations and worries; what kind of social conversations they’re having, what kind of content they’re consuming. Once you know this, you can accordingly engage them in conversations and come up with related deals & offers, also present content which attracts more customers.
Step 4: ‘Smarting with Smartphones’ – Work on Mobile-Customer-Experience
With ever increasing number of smartphone users, it is essential that an eCommerce strategy must consider mobile users; especially as four out of five smartphone owners use their devices to buy online. Brands strategise carefully for their M-Commerce considering the fact, ‘M-Commerce accounts for over one third of global eCommerce; Reasons – easy accessibility, convenience and universality of smartphone culture.
Tweak Site for Mobiles
Your mobile users should have a smooth shopping experience, just how your desktop users enjoy. This doesn’t mean you need to make different websites for desktop and mobile, but something sort of a responsive design modified for mobile traffic which ensures consistent user experience irrespective of the device they are using to shop
Simple Checkout Process
Why do you need an easy checkout for mobile? Because, 30% of mobile shoppers abandon a transaction if the shopping experience is not optimized for mobile! That’s huge; you cannot lose customers just because the checkout was tiresome. Consider the logic; mobile users do not have mouse, keyboard or large desktop so try to streamline the process to purchase. Reduce contact form fields to the essentials, Allow users to checkout as a guest rather than forcing them to create and confirm an account. And finally, consider other mobile payment options, such as PayPal or Google Wallet. Allow your customers to complete purchase in few steps.
