It's never been easier to sell products online. New platforms help non-tech founders get a storefront up in hours, with players like Shopify and BigCommerce dominating the market. But what many people forget is there's much more to launching an eCommerce site than just getting it live, and low barriers to entry don't guarantee success. If anything, it makes the market more competitive. As you're getting ready to launch, you're in the most critical period, so roll up your sleeves, and let's get started.
Here's part 1 of our do's and don'ts of launching your e-commerce website:
Do niche down to a very specific product
Great ideas are a dime a dozen, and if you leave it too broad you'll find 100 other people with the same idea, selling your products. This makes it hard to stand out. As an example, don't just sell phone and tablet cases, be the go-to store offering premium leather cases for the latest Samsung tablet. Being specific helps you differentiate from every other eCommerce player out there.
Don't guess the demand for your product
Before you even consider building a website, make sure your product sells. Pick up the phone and call your friends and family, and convince them to buy your products. Put listings on eBay and Craigslist, to determine the pricing (and if it's even a good idea), before you invest time and money creating an online store. The Lean Startup covers the importance of testing your minimum viable product in detail, so check this out as no-one wants to be stuck with a garage full of an unsellable product.
Do get a solid foundation in place
Once you get great feedback on your products, you need a basic foundation to be able to sell online. Get organized, and work out your internal processes, company policies, and how you're planning to manage end-to-end sales transactions. You need shipping to be sorted, as well as a return process, so you have a fun and painless buying experience for every customer. Communicate all of this on your website, as the transparency also helps garner trust with potential customers.
Don't use poor photos of your products
The key to selling online is fantastic product photos. Because customers can't physically inspect your products before they buy, you need pictures in very high detail, from a variety of angles. This helps customers get a feel for what the products actually look like, and results in higher conversion rates than simply using the stock photography from your suppliers. Your ultimate goal is to make it as easy as possible for your customers to convert in your store.
Do keyword research in your niche
One of the main traffic drivers to an eCommerce site is its ranking in Google for specific keywords. Use tools like Google Keyword Planner to see what customers are actually searching for when they want to buy your products. Target the sales copy of each product you have to align with the relevant keywords, and it greatly increases the chance your site will come up in the search results when customers are looking for the products you sell.
Don't forget mobile and tablet customers
Forgetting users in this demographic is a rookie mistake. Currently, 36.9% of all e-commerce transactions are not done on a laptop, and it's growing every year. This is a very large part of the market to leave untapped, so at the very least make sure you have a responsive website. You want the customer experience across all devices to be fantastic, so you're not losing sales.
Do set up your social networks
Social media is a fantastic way to create an audience who is interested in your business. Services like NameChk let you see the availability of usernames across all platforms, so find one you like and create profiles under this account on all the major platforms. At first, you may want to focus your efforts on Facebook and Twitter, but as you expand definitely experiment with other networks and see which drives the most traffic to your store.
Don't assume people will find your site
Having an online store means nothing if you've got no traffic. Every visitor has come from somewhere, perhaps Googling a product you offer, clicking one of your ads, or they were simply told to visit your site from a friend. You need to create a marketing plan, as well as strategies for driving new customers to your site. For e-commerce, this means advertising, content marketing and SEO techniques. Make sure you get expert advice, because without traffic, your sales aren't going to improve.
Do allocate a marketing budget
Traffic takes money and effort to generate. You can get initial traction from your family and friends, but once all the people in your network know your store, how do you go to the next level? Put aside a budget allocated to advertising and experiment with the different channels. There's a variety of online advertising options, your best bet is to test each of these with a small campaign and put the majority of your money in the channel that works best for your products.
Don't forget customer abandonment
Customers with online carts filled, but no purchase are a worthwhile opportunity for re-targeting. They were almost ready to buy, but something stopped the conversion. Use your email marketing software (like MailChimp or Aweber) and build a targeted campaign designed to get the sale. Make sure it's customized to their purchase, like offering a discount on a related item, or a time-bound promotion for free shipping which helps convince the customer to purchase immediately.
See the rest of our tips in part 2 on the site tomorrow!
By Ian Hammersely, MD of Smartebusiness.
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