Supporting Business Goals through a Long-Term Digital Strategy

January 29, 2020 in E-Commerce

Supporting Business Goals through a Long-Term Digital Strategy

With so much of competition around, we keep wondering what more can we do? Are we lagging behind? We think of coming up with some new idea, create an app or tool to still be a part of the competition. There is no magic rule to get away from these challenges but rather than taking a hasty decision, one should focus on the bigger picture. Something new will keep happening, your competitors might come up with brilliant ideas but there is nothing to worry about. Digital technology advancing at such rapid rate, it might seem next to impossible to keep a tab. Yes, it is true that the development might not stop but one can always have a plan. We have to move ahead of the terms like traffic, views and short-term buzz etc.

Planning the Digital Process

This entire procedure can be divided into two sub divisions –

Understanding – Talking about this phase, it consists of assessing and auditing existing digital assets, competitors and consumer behavior.

1. Know your business objectives

One should be clear about the business goals of their organization. Your future plans, growth and how you want to see yourself in maybe next 5 years etc.

2. Know your audience

Be sure who is your target audience including their wants and digital behavior. Knowing in detail about your audience helps a great deal in overcoming obstacles and form new strategies.

3. Study the competition

With a digital scorecard system helps you to, not only review your competitor’s activities, but even their overall digital performance.

Phase Two: Build

1. Digital vision

Coming to the digital vision, it has a futuristic approach to it and is all about how technologies and digital channels will be used to drive business. It serves as a layout for evaluating what more can be done and what has to be done.

It is not a cake walk to write a good vision statement. With time and a little alteration, one can learn the nuances. One can start by getting the key decision makers from agency as well as company for a workshop and brain storming session to better analyse the initial directions and have a better perspective. At a later stage, it can be dealt with a smaller working team.

2. Digital priorities

Once you are done and ready with the vision statement, move on to figuring out and understanding more about the company’s business goals and other important aspects. Find out answer to questions like, “How digital can help you fulfill your ambitions?” and “What should be your strategies?” etc.

Next, plan what you would want to do each year. Like, in the first year you will focus on customer interaction and engagement and next year maybe the sales etc.

3. Digital creative platforms

It basically denotes an original thought with the motive of determining a voice to figure out the way your brand interacts with consumers online. The idea is to be inspiring and grounded in your brand’s overall positioning.

4. Tactics

To turn your digital vision into realities, one has to form proper strategies and execute them in the best possible way.

5. Metrics

For all the plans and strategies that you have made, you need to know if that is working successfully or not. Go by a proper step by step plan to avoid chaos.

6. Responsibilities

To make sure your plan is implemented and executed, have a clear understanding of who is responsible for what. This way there won’t be any confusion and everyone will know their role and responsibilities.

Conclusion

To sum it up, digital has definitely become a vital part of our lives and is going to stay so for a very long time. Everytime we need some information, want to buy something, we turn towards digital. Hence, for a world like this, long-term strategic plan is definitely necessary.

January 2, 2020 in E-Commerce

Tactics You Can Use to Drive Sales

The reason we keep trying something new and work so hard for the online store is to bring in more traffic. Be it through discounts, emails etc, one has to keep trying a different technique. Despite doing so much, we still feel a lot of times that maybe there is much more that one has to do. Maybe this is not enough. So, if you are going through the same, do read these marketing tactics which might definitely help. Try one or all, and evaluate yourself if it actually works. Get set for the old ones to come back and welcome new ones too.

1. Upselling – One of the most effective ways to sell your products. This is when the merchant puts in a lot of effort and tries to sell you a slightly a more expensive one when you might be considering buying a product. This can be done by mentioning about the better quality or it’s USP.
2. Instagram – There has been a sudden surge in the average order value from Instagram. Though we have been using the old methods still like organising contests, deals, campaigns but these days people are posting pictures of customers using their products. This trend goes a long way towards building a huge customer base as well as leads to more user engagement. Using the right hashtags, filters and posting at the right time is the secret behind mastering Instagram and creating a good following.
3. Abandoned Carts – A lot of times customers after adding items to their carts abandon it, but then there is nothing to be worry about. Though you can try certain measures to maybe convince these customers into reconsidering their decision by sending emails, offering discounts and free shipping etc.
4. Facebook Store – Another big platform for social media marketing. It not only helps one get good traffic but even sell their products directly through Facebook store. It is not only easy to set up, but even acts as a great channel for making sales
5. Email Subscribers – One of the best online marketing tools which is still widely used. One can drive traffic, supplement content marketing and even outdo twitter and facebook when it comes to sales. Honestly speaking, it is difficult to keep a tab of so many tweets and Facebook posts for us to keep with, but many of us might agree to the fact that people still like new messages sent to their personal emails. It also gives one the chance to say things that just can’t fit into a social media post. Make sure to promote your newsletters to get as many subscribers as you can on a high-converting channel.
6. Email Campaigns – Just getting a dozen email addresses isn’t enough; one has to keep sending mails regularly to your customers. You can do that on various occasions like, after they sign up, while the order is being processed, to give info regarding discounts, deals, tips and news about the product.
7. Wishlist Reminder Email – Very closely similar to the abandoned cart email, it tries to convince you to take the final call in purchasing the product that you were intending to buy. You can send out an email to let your customer know. A perfect way or push that might make them feel like buying the product.
8. Make it Easy For Your Customers – Your store shouldn’t be badly designed. Now, you might be confused as to what is a badly designed store? These are stores which are untrustworthy, unappealing, sans any value proposition, badly written product description etc. And not to forget, bad navigation which makes it difficult for users to go through it. This plays a great role in driving traffic as well as maintaining a good customer base. So, work on the theme and other aspects to make it a memorable experience for your customers.
9. Product Review – These are basically, testimonials. One gets to know what people think about your product or if they are planning to buy it or not. The content automatically increases and the chances of hitting upon a long key tail word also increases. Due to these reasons, product reviews increase sales.
10. Ad Spending – keep trying new techniques and methods on your bids for keywords to find a good niche. One can use Google Adwords to get qualified visitors so that you get to show up your store in Google when people search for your keywords. Next you can try Facebook which is a great way too. This is how you can figure out what really works for you.
11. Try to Engage Your Visitors – It isn’t just asking them to subscribe email newsletter. Try redirecting them to your social media page or Instagram feed. Manage your Facebook page or maybe make the “Follow” button quite prominent. Regularly post blogs to connect with your fans in a better way. You can also offer promotions on your products. To do this, you can send links to your social media pages, promote your product or use an on-site pop-up to capture emails
12. Start Doing Market Research – So, if you figure out an opportunity to expand your product line or add new products; do evaluate the market demand and the costs. If it is worth it or not? That can be done by geographic validation, by keeping a tab on social media trends and keyword research. You can even try Pre-selling your items, or may be by listing them as out of stock, and then find out for yourself the no of people who place an order.
13. Think Different – Though there are many tried and tested ways, but you can always come up with something that suits your product. Create your own style and tactic. Unless you try, you will never know. Thinking out of the box may be the key reason behind your success.

December 29, 2019 in E-Commerce

Tips to Improve Your Customer Return Policy

Four ways to make your return policy in such a manner which makes it more consumer-friendly and helps one build customer loyalty:

1. Make it easier for customers to find the return policies

A common issue faced by almost all the retailers is that what if they make merchandise return policies too prominent on their websites; it might encourage the customers to send the stuff back. On the other hand hiding return policies can be further frustrating for customers, this simultaneously ceates a lot as well more work for a company’s employees.

2. Increase the return time for the customers

Customers should be given extra time for more returns. Now, this could seem like a scary scenario but then as the time increases the returns start decreasing. Lot of companies have tried this policy and seen positive results. There is no exact reason but it can be termed as a psychological effect that makes customers relaxed and comfortable about their purchase.

3. Use simple english.

Technically speaking, the return policy is all about the legal terms of exchange. Though the truth is a as a customer you don’t want to see a 2-3 page document in front of you. Nobody wants to read so much and that too full of technical terms.

One of the solutions could be by giving an elaborate description of the return policy in the website’s terms and conditions section. Give them a concise step-by-step summary how they should handle a

return. This could include the below mentioned main points:

• For how long will the returns be accepted?
• How the company handles refunds in terms of credit card and product exchanges?
• Who is actually responsible for paying the shipping costs?

4. Customer feedback.

You can send a thank-you note to your customers and that could also talk about future discounts after processing the return procedure. This could be a great chance to ask them about their experience and they could even share their views and suggestions. The questions can be regarding the entire returning procedure and policies, if they would recommend you or if they would like to buy again etc.

This will let the customers feel that the company values your comments and cares for you. Replying to their queries goes a great deal in creating a positive image in the mind of the customer. You also want to show customers you’re hearing their concerns and responding.  

December 28, 2019 in E-Commerce

Ways to Handle E-Commerce Returns

Remember the time when you had opened your first e-store? Everything seems so good, you receive orders from customers, clients are pouring in with great feedback and it’s all smooth and nice. And one fine day, you get that customer who isn’t happy. They want to send the product back. It isn’t like you never knew this but then it is still a little surprising and sad. Though there is nothing to be sad about. This is a part and parcel of selling online. No need to worry, we are sharing few tips to make it a little easier for you:

Your Website Should Have an Online Return Process

In your website include a complete return procedure for the return. This way, you will get notified about each and every return, the underlying reasons and to better plan everything in a better way. For e.g. , if you are selling jewellery, you will be notified regarding the wrong colour, size and fit. Hence this should definitely feature in your website.

Clearly State the Refund Policy

Do inform your clients and even the potential ones regarding the fact that you are ready to accept refunds. Make sure that the policy is easy to find, the points are clear and each process explained properly. Though you should always mention the situations where you won’t be able to provide a refund to avoid negative comments and reviews from customers.

Never Ask for a Return Fee

Returning makes neither the seller nor the customer happy. Hence if you make it payable that further irks the customer. This will eventually lead to decrease the current as well as potential customers. Making returns free assures people to buy without any worries.

Inform Your Customers about Free Returns

The next step being, giving info regarding this free return policy. It shows that you care about your clients and want them to have a happy experience. You can directly announce it on your website or maybe on different social media platforms. Once you start doing it, you will understand how amazingly it works.

Avoid arguments with customers who are returning items

It isn’t a pleasant situation when your product is returned by customers. It is an inevitable reality of selling products online. Meanwhile, there will be a lot of customers who won’t be eligible for a return or they might come up with really weird excuses. Try and convince them so that they do not return, but don’t argue. Even if you are right, this entire experience will stay in the customer’s mind and they might think twice before buying.

Keep customers informed about the status of the return process

Through the entire return process, keep informing the customers about every step. Be it receiving a new product, getting refund or having received the product; notify them about all these details. Or else the support team has to go through all those weird questions. Hence, keep your customers updated through an automated email system.

Take Feedback from Customers

One should always take the customer’s feedback. Ask them a few questions regarding the entire procedure or any suggestions etc. This will help you in understanding the psychic of the consumer. Don’t forget to thank them for their cooperation, which in turn creates a positive image.

We shared these few ways and hope that they might help you to smoothly run your business for a better level of satisfaction among customers.