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Are you contending with a loss of revenue due to covid restrictions? Perhaps your business is under shutdown orders.

Regardless, you need a comprehensive ecommerce guide to help you during these difficult times. 

Ecommerce growth has risen exponentially. Business owners are discovering new markets and reaching more customers online.

With an online business, you can sell your products locally, nationally, and internationally. That said, success isn’t guaranteed, and many owners make grave mistakes that cost them dearly.

This article will show you some vital ecommerce tips that will improve your digital operations. Read further to know more. 

Deals and Promotions

More people are looking to save money during these precarious times. You can draw them in with discounts and other promotions to generate business. Also, online deals generate more interest in your brand. 

One way to raise awareness about your ecommerce platform is through social media. To generate buzz, you can create digital contests and other fun activities. Participants can win prizes (i.e. digital coupons) to use in your ecommerce store. 

Overall, the goal is to create incentives that encourage potential customers to take action. 

Digital Advertising

Whereas deals and promotions are meant to generate short-term business, advertising campaigns will attract more customers in the long-term. Additionally, you can devote 100% of your advertising dollars online. You can do so in the following ways:

  • Starting a blog
  • Knowing SEO practices 
  • Advertising on social media
  • Writing press releases
  • Joining online communities and forums

Creating a blog and knowing SEO will go hand-in-hand. SEO stands for search engine optimization.

Business owners use SEO tactics to rank their websites higher in search engine listings. For example, SEO specialists implement keywords into content (i.e. articles and blog posts). As users type in these keywords into search engines, they can find your content easier.

Additionally, link-building on popular websites and blogs will funnel traffic to your website or ecommerce store. 

That said, SEO is a full-time job within itself. Therefore, consider hiring an SEO specialist to handle the details. 

You can also hire a professional to handle your social media advertising campaigns. Facebook and other platforms allow you to place ads and target specific consumers.

Facebook even allows you to target local demographics. You can maintain a local presence while maintaining digital operations in the process. With that, you must create a monthly advertising budget. As you generate more business, you can pour additional money into online advertising.

Use Retargeting to Reach More Customers 

Most people who visit websites never return. However, you can reach lost customers via retargeting. Retargeting means you’re reshowing ads to people who previously visited your website.

You can reshow ads to encourage those visitors to take action, and you can reach previous visitors on your social media ad campaigns.

On Facebook, for example, you can use Facebook Pixel to collect data on previous visitors. From there, you can set up an ad campaign that specifically targets people who visited your website or store.  

Choosing the Right Platform

In addition to an advertising budget, you must have the right budget for your ecommerce platform. Knowing your overall budget will help you choose the right platform. Choose a provider based on the types of products you’re selling and the types of features are available.

Perhaps you need a platform that will help you process credit cards efficiently. You can find specialty platforms devoted to digital transactions.

Investing in Security

Security investments will boost more sales because many customers don’t trust online transactions. Cybercrime is on the rise as more companies transition online.

Many customers leave items in their carts because they don’t trust the payment security settings of a website or ecommerce store. You can ease their concerns by inserting digital safety seals on your ecommerce store.  

Don’t Lose That Personal Touch

As business owners transition to digital commerce, they risk losing a personal connection with their customers. It can be hard maintaining your brand without in-person customer engagement. Without comprehensive engagement, your customers may feel alienated, and they could lose faith in your brand. 

However, you can boost customer engagement online in the following ways:

  • Faster customer service: On social media, you can set up an auto chat system that responds to customer inquires. If the chatbot cannot answer the question, the system can put the customer in touch with a live associate. Most customers prefer live chats because it answers their questions faster. 
  • Encourage customer feedback: Provide an open forum where customers can voice their concerns. Knowing what your customers think will help you tweak your operations. You can also use the data to improve your marketing endeavors. 
  • Simplify the user experience: Create your store in a way that’s accessible to consumers. Simplify your layout, and provide notification tools wherever necessary to help them through a process. 

Overall, ensure your customer has a great customer experience. The customer experience is different from customer service.

Customer service entails a formal interaction for a short period, and the customer experience entails a long-term interaction with your company from beginning to end. For more information about the customer experience, visit decibel.com

What’s the Takeaway from This Ecommerce Guide?

The main takeaway from this ecommerce guide is fostering a great customer experience. You can provide an impeccable customer experience through online deals that get consumers interested in your store.

Then, you can rope in more customers through digital marketing campaigns. More importantly, engage your customers regularly through feedback systems and live chats.  

Interested in reading more? Read more on our blog to gain insight into other topics.