So, you want to build the perfect ecommerce brand: something capable of driving
shoppers wild, while earning you a nice chunk of change each month. You’ve already
decided upon your product, you just need to figure out how to sell it.
While many vendors stumble through the initial steps of setting up their digital
storefronts, others find great success in attacking ecommerce setup holistically. These
five tips for a holistic ecommerce strategy will help you create a thriving business with
plenty of satisfied customers.
Create Your Brand Identity
The guiding mantra of ecommerce marketing is “it’s not what you sell, but how you sell
it.” This might be an overstatement (obviously, your product matters) but the sentiment
is valuable and worth taking to heart.
Customers are more likely to identify with “handcrafted jewelry for the goddess in you”
than “women’s jewelry” because it emphasizes an identity along with the product. This
breeds brand loyalty and help you differentiate your goods from your competitors’. So
go ahead, play with your brand identity until you find something that speaks to you and
your target audience.
Build a Beautiful, Easy-to- Use Site
Once you’ve picked your product and established your brand identity, you’ll need to
build your online store. Keep in mind; it needs to be easy on the eyes and easy to use to attract sales.
There are a few ways to do this. One way is to hire a site designer to build your e-store
for you; but this can be really expensive. You could build the site yourself, but this can
be extremely time consuming and complicated.
Instead, consider working with a company like Shopify to build your store. Heralded by
many as the best ecommerce site builder, Shopify’s platforms include payment
processing and security features from the get-go, while also allowing vendors to
customize the format, content and style. This is definitely the best option if you want to
open a credible looking shop quickly and affordably.
Staff the Right Employees
Finding the right talent to support your ecommerce business can be tough, but not as
tough as trying to run the entire operation alone. You can often find workers at online
job boards or on social media. Just be careful to select dedicated, self-driven and
digitally fluent workers. Why is this important? Because your staff will be controlling marketing, customer relations and order fulfillment, you’ll want them to be capable of
handling issues without constant supervision.
Employ an AI Help Desk
Because human workers can’t be online 24/7, some ecommerce vendors are leveraging
artificial intelligence to handle customer support issues. This might sound like science
fiction at first but it’s really quite simple.
A prospective customer finds your contact page and reports a problem with your site or
a question about your products. An AI-controlled chat bot responds to the issue
immediately. If the issue is simple enough, the chat bot can answer it immediately or
redirect the user to the proper page. If it’s a bigger issue, the bot assures the customer
the issue will be handled and flags the request to a human staff member.
This dramatically increases customer satisfaction and reduces the amount of time it
takes to solve an issue.
Break into Digital Marketing
Last but not least, you’ll want to find a way to market your store to new shoppers while
simultaneously strengthening your relationship with existing buyers. Thankfully, online
marketing can be inexpensive and effective.
Social media pages are a must for any online brand. Just create your page and start
posting memes, news about your ecommerce site, coupon codes and the latest arrivals,
as well as photos of customers using or wearing your products and more. Invite your
followers to spread the word about your store to their friends and family.
You should also take advantage of email marketing. Entice visitors to sign up for email
updates on the latest deals. This is a great way to stay top of mind.
In a nutshell, these five tips for a holistic ecommerce strategy encompass brand identity,
site creation, hiring, customer service and marketing. Yes, it might seem daunting at
first. But with a little research, and the right effort you’ll achieve your dreams in no
time.
Founder Dinis Guarda
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