Sashank RavindranathJust a couple of decades ago, the concept of having your own E-commerce store was considered fanciful, even a dream. How would it work? What would such a store provide? How will the store handle all of the sales, the purchases, and even the logistics of the goods? It was a pipe dream for some, and many at the time believed it to be just impossible. However, with the progression in technology and innovation, this has no longer been the case.
With so many E-Commerce stores sprouting up, brick-and-mortars would be left behind in the dust. However, it begs the question; if I were to open my E-commerce store, what would I need to do to ensure that potential customers are willing to go through my store? How do I set them apart from the rest?
Here are some ways which would certainly boost your rankings and give your competition a run for their money:
1. DYOR – Do your Research and Sell the Latest Products
By following the herd and offering the same products to the same class of customers, you will not be able to differentiate between yourself and the others.
You have to find out what the customer wants!
Do your research, find out what kinds of products have a higher selling potential, where you would be able to outsource them from, distinguish your products from theirs by offering the latest variants, and ensure that you are ahead of the curve by upgrading your industry research and discovering the latest trends.
Do not forget to add as many product details as possible so that the users have a clear idea of what they will get.
One of our best strategies to capture and keep our audience’s attention is to highlight our newest products. For example, in our online store, we highlight new arrivals at the top, above the rest of the store. – Matt Weidle, Business Development Manager at Buyer’s Guide; a website that helps people make smarter buying decisions
Doing this in an e-commerce store creates a sense of urgency in being the first thing a customer sees. Additionally, returning customers seeing any new product will see our continued momentum and may be excited to see what else we have to offer.
2. Breakout of the Traditional Mindset
It takes hardly a second nowadays for a potential customer to decide whether they should approach the website or move ahead to another one.
E-commerce stores nowadays need to be sharp, bright, and interactive, and there should always be something that sparks the interest of the consumer. If you are dealing with a B2B model, then the traditional model may work, but when you are targeting individual customers, every impression matters.
Suggestions? Keep it quirky, keep it interesting, but do not stray too far from the current trends.
Like in any other situation, beauty attracts the eye, so to gain a customer, you must first start with basic principles of graphics and layout. As a founder, to increase traffic to our website, we used texture, movement, continuity, and consistency in the design, such as the texture, space, and styles. – Tanner Arnold, President & CEO at Revelation Machinery
Because of this, the design is uniform and much easier to read. The contrast provides an object or design with visible weight.
To minimize cluttered design, you must examine and limit the use of many aspects such as color, style, and font so that it is readable and it is connected to your main theme.
Another aspect is the unity and harmony of the elements when they are combined. The design’s elements must collaborate and agree on its meaning, topic, feeling, or atmosphere.
3. Advertisement Placement is Crucial
So, you find a product that you like. Great!
But, when you click on the link, you are transported to, you guessed it, yet another advert offering products you do not need.
What is the point? Are you interested in earning just from the ad revenue or from the actual products you are offering?
Make sure your e-commerce store is set up so that customers can buy without being bombarded with advertisements.
Secondly, try to obtain ads that are relevant to you and your customers! What is the point in offering the customer a pair of shoes when they are looking for the best restaurants to eat at?
Keeping the previous point in mind, always pay attention to how easy it is for you i.e., your customers, to navigate throughout the site.
It is extremely easy to run checks, and the easier it is for your customer to move through from point A to point B, the greater their customer satisfaction.
Customer satisfaction is king, and this is one metric that would determine your long-term profitability. In short, do not let the customer scroll through the entire website for the information they need; let the information and its access come directly to them.
Whether it is through a search bar that runs algorithms to predict what the customer needs, or logging in with previous information using cookies to recover past purchases to suggest newer ones, it helps them navigate the site with ease.
Audiences stay longer when the landing pages are crisp and provide easy navigation. Make sure that your landing page describes what you offer.
People don’t solely use computers, because there are so many different gadgets to stay in the loop 24/7. To increase the number of customers of the specific platform, adaptive design should be considered. That’s how one will manage to make a site available to a wider audience. – Veronica Miller, Digital Marketing & Growth Director at VPNoverview
5. Establish a Brand Unique to You
Your online presence is extremely important in gaining traffic.
What is online presence, you ask?
Your message and the values that you portray to the rest of the customers and all those who visit the site. There can be many ways through which a brand can be built; including engaging graphic designs, smart advertisements, building a strong following on social media, and quality customer service, even though building a logo reflects a critical part of the identity.
Most importantly, it is the consistency through which the customer will remain engaged and, over time, will remember the name and the brand’s message whenever they think of a particular product or service. Create a positive space within their hearts, and they will remember you for a long time.
If you want to offer your customers an enhanced experience while they visit your eCommerce store, ensure your online store is designed with an attractive template. Adding enriching color schemes can grab the visitors’ attention and compel them to opt for buying products. – Jay Ehrenfeld, Chief Marketing Officer at EZContacts
6. Associate your Band with Philanthropy
Many customers find the products they like, fill up their e-shopping carts, and leave them as they are for a later purchase.
At times they even forget they had even filled them up in the first place, and this can lead to a potential sale that was lost. So why not add a philanthropic angle into the mix? There are many e-commerce sites and stores that are connected with welfare organizations and NGOs, but they do not portray this on their sites.
Well, they should! By doing so and encouraging the customer to purchase the product so that it can be connected to their philanthropic action of the day, customers will always be more likely to purchase from you than from another organization with a similar product.
7. Automation is your Best Friend
There is a lot of software that can be integrated with your E-Commerce platform to connect with the customer even when they are not active on your platform.
Some of the automation software are as follows:
- Customer Relationship Management tools such as HubSpot power your customer support, sales, and marketing with easy-to-use features like live chat, meeting scheduling, and email tracking.
- Automation Tools to trigger the workflows, which will help with communication with the customers.
- Use email marketing automation tools to trigger emails to your customers.
- There are plenty of invoicing and accounting tools available as well, for managing the store’s numbers and sales.
- Tracking and rewarding your customers will increase their retention rates by offering them points based on their level of activity on your portal and store. Adding a gift and or even free delivery can help to engage the customer for the future even further.
To help them decide better, we make the whole shopping experience easier. We provide them with the specifications of every product and color availability, so they can picture out which product will suit them and not be disappointed with their orders. – Ellie Shippey, Digital Marketing Specialist at Lumina, an e-commerce store and leading innovative equipment, cosmetics storage, and lighting seller
8. Feedback, Feedback, and Feedback
There are multiple points throughout the entire process where the customer can be prompted to give some sort of feedback to you.
From the time the goods are in the cart, to the actual point where the customer purchases the goods, to when they can receive them, and after the delivery, the post-usage experience.
Engaging the customer at various points, allows the store to generate data throughout this time. For example, to encourage reviews, you can set up the automated mail flows after a certain period, where honest feedback and links can help guide them to where they would be able to post their reviews.
The importance of client reviews cannot be overemphasized.
Consider that almost 88% of buyers use reviews to make purchasing decisions and will not purchase a product if it lacks positive ratings. Potential clients want the same excellent outcomes that past satisfied customers have had.
9. Target with Product Recommendations
The product recommendations are an extremely useful addition to any e-commerce store.
If you are going to be a first-time visitor to a website, the use of cookies would start collecting data from your movements throughout the pages and screens.
Initially, it would use the data from other customers and provide “Best Sellers” from the store to gauge what kind of interest you show.
By creating an account, the homepage would start building personalized advice based on previous visits. This can be extremely useful in finding out what the current trends are and what kinds of products are coming into and moving out of fashion.
By optimizing the marketing strategies, the right kinds of products will always be recommended to recurring customers.
We recommend experimenting with different product recommendation tactics on various pages to find which ones are the most engaging for your target audience. You might find that sharing your best-selling things on the homepage isn’t getting you the conversions you want, and that recommending recently seen items or a personalized selection of products based on past browsing habits gets you more conversions. – Luke Lee, Founder of PalaLeather
10. Multiple Payment Methods
With so many payment alternatives available today, keeping track of all the ways customers can meet their payment responsibilities to online businesses can be tough.
Some of the most popular (and up-and-coming) options for shoppers to pay for goods and services online include:
- Most common methods of payment, including debit and credit cards (like Visa, MasterCard, and Discover)
- Buy Now, Pay Later Options (like Instalments and PayPal Credit)
- Cryptocurrencies (like Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ethereum, and Solana)
- Digital Wallets (like Venmo, PayPal, and Apple Pay)
Many online business owners believe that selecting a single payment gateway or payment provider is all they need to do to get their e-commerce store up and running.
E-commerce success, in my opinion, requires a variety of payment choices. For starters, it helps to broaden geographical reach, which leads to a better client experience. Customers would not be left out if one of their payment options failed. It enables the buyer to explore many options and select the easiest payment option. Multiple payment methods, in my opinion, provide for a more pleasant experience and boost online sales. – Kenny Kline, President & Financial Lead at BarBend
Summary
This list is by no means exhaustive.
There are more ways than you can imagine through which a new or existing e-commerce store would be able to build and grow beyond its comfort zone and move ahead of the curve in gaining and retaining new and old customers.
The time to create your own space in the e-commerce industry is now.
With constantly evolving strategies and techniques, these points will be extremely crucial in taking your store to the next level.
So, what are you waiting for?
Time waits for no one, and neither should you!
Go ahead and build your new empire by following these techniques for growing your e-commerce stores and taking them to greater heights!
This is a guest post by Kruti Shah
Kruti Shah is a content writer and marketer at The Marketing Drama. She loves to write about insights into current trends in Technology, Business, and Marketing. In her free time, she loves baking and watching Netflix. You can connect with her on LinkedIn.
