Being a newcomer in the eCommerce industry can be very overwhelming. While there are endless opportunities, you also have to face several obstacles. Especially when you are first starting, one of these struggles includes managing your time when a lot is happening simultaneously. Also, there is so much competition that you have to come up with unique ways to market your business. Otherwise, you might end up lost in the crowd.
Handling all aspects of the business by yourself can get tiring. However, there’s good news. You do not have to do it all by yourself as you can take various consumer insights platforms. These platforms can help you better understand your customers and build a better brand image.
Today, most shopping transactions happen online, which is why the eCommerce industry has grown multifold in recent years. Most of the businesses have already established a digital presence and started generating revenue. But as they say, it’s never too late to start, especially considering the current circumstances. Due to the recent pandemic, eCommerce has been more successful in generating revenue than offline shops. Grow your business by simplifying the buying experiences for your customers, and reducing frictions with Appstle.
This is the perfect time to start on your eCommerce journey as the consumer demand is ever-growing, and so is the need for unique solutions. However, it is natural to be confused about starting your journey. There are many important decisions to be made, including planning your budget. To make the journey more straightforward for you, we will talk about a few areas you should keep in mind while planning your business strategy.
Table of Contents
eCommerce Tips for Beginners
Consumer Insights
Consumer insights are one of the critical areas to focus on while trying to create a brand image. User or Consumer insights refer to the information about your customer’s interaction with your business.
When a person interacts with your brand in the form of an email, social media campaign, website, or app, they react in a certain way. They might post a review or a comment, fill up a form, or post on social media about the product. This information is referred to as consumer insights. These insights have become crucial if you wish to survive in today’s market.
Gathering consumer insight can help you understand what a consumer desires, and you can use this information to create smart business plans and develop effective marketing strategies. Collecting consumer insights manually is difficult, especially if you are new.
But, you can use the services of various consumer insights platforms to do the majority of the work for you. This makes choosing a consumer insights platform a game-changing decision. It can be a good investment as it helps you create a better brand image and improve loyalty and build customer relationships.
Customer Care
Customer care is still as relevant as it was a decade before. Creating creative marketing campaigns and selling top-quality products won’t do you any good if the customer cannot contact you in case of a problem.
It is essential to set up customer care for your website. This opens up the possibility of future and current clients to contact you and discuss their issues. Good customer care can also help you convert leads by troubleshooting their worries and guiding them to make a purchase. Customer care helps establish trust with users as they know that someone is available to help them if they find themselves in any trouble.
It might sound old-fashioned but hearing your customers and helping them in real-time is essential. It has also become necessary to set up a live chat or chatbot on your website where the user can contact you on the go. You can also create a FAQ webpage to offer a solution to the commonly faced issues to avoid waiting time.
Shipping & Additional Costs
After setting up your eCommerce store, you have to figure out where you want to sell your products. If you’re going to sell products internationally, you must be fully prepared for the extra cost and effort you have to put in. Also, you need to determine the costs for international shipping and handling fees. It is important to note that the number one reason behind abandoned carts is the hidden charges such as handling fees and shipping costs.
To counter this, you can provide all the details on the product page to avoid any confusion. You can also offer discounts on shipping prices and handling fees to lure more customers. It is also advisable to start slow and sell only in your own country until you handle the business. This way, you can slowly increase the number of shipping locations when you have substantial experience.
You can also partner up with trustworthy and economical delivery partners to develop an efficient solution for all parties involved. You can even try and provide different customer delivery options, such as standard delivery, one-day delivery, two-day delivery, etc. This will help you create more sales and generate revenue without losing a client.
Invest in custom packaging for products to help minimize shipping costs. Often, businesses use boxes that are too small or too big for their products. The former doesn’t contain or protect products well, and you may dispose of the boxes in the end. The latter incurs more shipping costs and causes you to use more packaging fillers to keep the products from moving around inside and getting damaged during transit. Using packaging that’s customized to the size of your products saves time and money. Plus, you have full control over your packaging design.
Conclusion
Starting any new venture can be both intimidating and exciting at the same time. While creating your online journey, make sure to take it slow and plan everything first. Try to talk with experienced peers to gain a better understanding of your genre. The eCommerce industry has a very bright future, and right now is the best time to jump on the wagon.
