There are so many reasons why an SMB or a startup should start their own e-commerce website. For starters, you get to avoid a middleman like eBay and make both your business and your products appear more legitimate. Still, larger platforms often make it easier for you to grow your customer base, seeing as how they might recommend you to people who bought similar products. On the other hand, by finding a way to grow your e-commerce business organically, you can negate this downside and get to freely enjoy the perks of this system. Here are four techniques that are known to work.
1. Use hashtags
While to some people this may seem like a bit of a silly trend, in their core, hashtags are not that different from keywords. The greatest difference, however, is the fact that on your e-commerce website, you can use as many of them as you like, whereas most e-commerce platforms allow for a limited number of hashtags only. Nevertheless, you don’t want to push it, which is why you need to find a couple of hashtags to use. Now, unlike with keywords, going with long-tail might not be the best of ideas. If you manage to stay ahead of the current, hashtags will allow you to grow your business through networks like Twitter and Instagram.
2. Keep your eye out
Sometimes, all you have to do in order to see the errors of your ways is to keep an ear to the ground. Basically, in the age of blog posts and social media, it is quite easy for you to find out what others are talking about your brand. The most efficient way to do so is to hire the services of a media monitoring agency like Isentia. Sure, there are a lot of mean-spirited comments out there but every now and then, you might discover a proper jewel amidst them. We are talking about a ground-breaking piece of constructive criticism that will allow your business to adjust to the needs of your target demographics.
3. Turn to micro-influencers
Another great idea is to look for influencers who are relevant for your niche and exploit this connection to drive sales your way. Getting an A-list celebrity to endorse you can be incredibly expensive, however, there are alternatives you can explore. You see, there is a division amongst influencers based on the number of followers they have. Those with less than 100.000 followers are considered to be micro-influencers, although you should not make a mistake of underestimating their reach or their influence. If the niche is right, their words may resound as strongly as those of their much more popular counterparts.
4. A/B testing
Finally, any change you introduce to your e-store needs to be tested, tested and then tested once more, just in case. Keep in mind that every plugin you introduce to your platform might further complicate things and make your platform less responsive or easier to crash. Furthermore, any change you make, even an aesthetic one, might result in a situation where you actually start losing customers instead of gaining them. The only way to test those changes in a controlled environment is to go with A/B testing.
Conclusion
The thing about the above-listed four ways is that, although their success may differ from industry to industry, they usually tend to yield immediate results. Needless to say, this makes it much easier for one to track their ROI, which makes devising any future strategy much easier. Apart from the above-listed four, there are many other sales-boosting methods you might want to try out. Nonetheless, most of them are not nearly universally-applicable and are more situational or even niche-specific.
Dan Radak is a marketing professional with eleven years of experience. He is currently working with a number of companies in the field of digital marketing, closely collaborating with a couple of e-commerce companies. He is also a coauthor of several technology websites and a regular contributor to Technivorz.
Fivenson Studios is based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, our studio specializes in logo and website design, as well as photography and marketing campaigns for social and print media. From flyers and brochures to targeted landing pages, we aim to bring your company into the spotlight and reach a greater range of potential customers.
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