Keeping up with the fast paced digital commerce industry can be a challenge. It seemed like just yesterday eCommerce was the hot topic and now, with the rise of smartphones, tablets and phablets, digital commerce is here. Here are five quick tips for increasing digital commerce revenues.
1. Aim for your Target
If you haven’t clearly defined your target, analyze your data. Odds are if you review your customers, you will find similarities to help you define your ideal customer. If you already have a target audience, great! Now it’s time to tailor your site to them. Let’s look at an example. Say you have a site that sells collegiate apparel, so your target would be men and women between 18 and 22. Between classes, cramming for exams, and part time jobs, most students are going to be busy and on the go, but of course have time to procrastinate. Having a site that was optimized for mobile would be a necessity because odds are; a fair share of traffic would be coming from mobile. Knowing your target consumer’s lifestyle will help foster a relationship with them and your site. Personalization is in and increasingly important as more and more shoppers are turning to digital commerce. Personalization helps foster the ‘warm and fuzzies’ associated with sales associates at brick and mortar stores. Read more on personalization here.
2. Crush your competition
Retarget like a champ. Keep on top of your competition by staying in front of your audience. What sites will they frequent most? If we continue to use the collegiate apparel site as an example, retargeting on university bookstore sites and social media would be most effective. In addition, many college students are going to be price sensitive, so offering coupons or playing up a special promotion, whether it’s a discount or freebie, can help you get that sale.
3. Master your Messaging
Continuing on with the importance of personalization, know your first time shoppers from your regulars. Your regular clients are keeping your business afloat, so be sure you reward them. From personal experience, earning enough loyalty points to earn some form of reward is well, rewarding. When sending emails to your regulars, make them feel important. Incorporating terms such like “exclusive offer” and recognizing that they are regular shoppers makes your client feel special.
An article in the iveybusinessjournal.com states, “[T]hose companies that do pursue a genuine customer-centric brand strategy will enjoy a significant advantage as a result of greater emotional equity, and that will drive sales. Yes, be true to the essence of the brand, but at the same time be forever on the move, proactively understanding and mirroring the target market well enough so that the company will become and remain closer to that market.” Essentially, by playing on your customers’ emotions, you can create loyalty and thus increase your sales.
On the other side of the spectrum, express your thanks to new customers. Offer them a coupon or free shipping off their next order. By expressing genuine thanks and offering a coupon for next purchase, you are all the more likely to get another sale from them.
4. Emphasize Omni
For those of you who run both a traditional brick-and-mortar store and play in the digital commerce space, you should emphasize your omni-channel strategy. By offering a seamless experience both in stores and online, you can cater to the multi-channel, multitasking shoppers of today. This means your customers should have the option to buy online and pickup in stores or place an order in the store and have it shipped to their home. If you struggle with juggling your omni-channel business, learn about our solution here.
5. Help Them Help Themselves
According to a 2010 study, “72% of US online consumers prefer to use a company’s Web site to get answers to their questions rather than contact companies via telephone or email” (forrester.com). How can you cater to this large number of consumers? Implementing an FAQ page and having a search bar present on all pages can help these prospects help themselves. A FAQ page addressing average shipping time and costs, your return policy, what to do if an item is out of stock, etc., will allow the majority of consumers to answer their own questions and as a result, are probably more likely to purchase from you. Calling customer service and being placed on hold for a simple question that will influence the consumer’s buying behavior may cause that buyer to take their business elsewhere. Offering commonly asked questions with answers can help keep that customer.
