7 Things The Best eCommerce Store Owners Excel At

21/12/2016

7 Things The Best eCommerce Store Owners Excel At

Amazon are the pinnacle of an ecommerce store owner’s fantasy. From humble beginnings as a book store to boasting a plethora of products on a global scale, they really are the alpha ecommerce store. Of course, this business was launched on the back of a great idea but in true Liam Neeson form they had a particular set of skills. Skills so accurate and impactful that they eventually became ecommerce titans. Skills that are about to be revealed…

Expert analysis to what leads to success amongst ecommerce businesses usually fathoms a few recurring themes: online marketing, copywriting, sales, branding and customer service. These all reoccur in a bid to nurture customer happiness and loyalty.

1. Broadening a Brand
There’s a lot left to be said about branding and how entrepreneurs must capitalise on the value of extending a brand through its content.

RedBull are a great example of this. They are much more than an energy drink because they extend their brand across many avenues. Did you know they are heavily involved with Motorsports, Fitness Training and Adventure, Games and Events as well as championing recycling and other eco-friendly campaigns?

Customers want to be associated to the brand and become involved with it because of the benefits personally and globally.

All you have to do is have a solid but unique selling proposition, differentiate your products based on quality, become counterintuitive with your marketing and the language of it, develop or create a personalised customer experience and thank your customers by supporting charities and organisations they care about. Easy right?

2. Servicing Customers
Prioritise this. Prioritise providing exceptional customer service so you can quickly increase customer loyalty and lower the costs associated with problematic product exchanges and returns. It doesn’t take a lot to win a customer over. Simple manners, listening skills and respectfulness can go a long way. What’s more is that projecting a calm exterior whilst resolving issues and carrying a positive demeanour is surprisingly contagious. Ultimately, making the whole experience of interacting with your customers a more enjoyable one. Consequently, allowing shoppers to feel more connected with you as a brand.

3. Psychological Selling
Wizardry doesn’t exist, yet, without getting too cryptic there are a few things here you may want try out, knowing the fact that ‘how you sell is just as important as what you sell’.

Firstly, pair products that go well with one another in order to help customers envisage their desired end goal. Next, give them an incentive to buy them by offering free shipping if they order a minimum of X amount, alternatively, reciprocate their purchase with a freebie giveaway.  Furthermore, you should strive to ease the simplicity of everything from browsing products to viewing their replenishment dates and beyond.

Additionally, by adding call outs or time-sensitive offers will create a sense of urgency as your customers won’t want to miss out on any deals! Finally, stroke your customer’s ego and bait them to buy high end items whilst instilling confidence in your brand and products. This should then be reciprocated in a positive customer review online.

4. Creative Copywriting
Adjectives and adverbs are underestimated and undervalued. The description of a product can lead to a conscious decision to buy.

Other methods include:

• Researching of product to craft a buyer persona
• Listing features and benefits of the product - don’t hide them!
• Establish a brand tone of voice
• Ensure your content is scannable
• Draft, proof and edit.
• Persuasive language to maximise engagement
• SEO friendly text

Lastly, talk about your brand and each of its products with equal passion.

5. Digital Marketing
Smart ecommerce companies use the likes of email campaigns, social media strategies and SEO not only to increase their brand reach but to begin to better understand shoppers’ needs. This, in turn, allows ecommerce masters to create tailored solutions for their consumers.

• Enticing Email  - employ exclusive offers, discount vouchers and promotions as a way to regularly contact your customers.

• Social Selling – there are lots of networks out there to launch an assault upon. Social media advertising is one way to reach wider audiences, however, if you opt for alternative such as Pinterest and Instagram, as more image based social networks tend to drive higher conversion rates, you’ll be making your networks more shoppable!

• SEO – Whether it’s Google, Yahoo or Bing there are quick wins in the form of PPC but you can also use ad extensions to improve CTR. Track your and monitor your campaigns persistently.  

6. Basic Code
Platforms such as Shopify, more ecommerce storeowners are breezing through building their own websites to sell their products than ever before. Despite this there are often minute makeovers that need to be done every so often like these:
  

• Embedded images
  

<img src="IMAGE URL" alt="Mountain Range" width="200" height="137" hspace="5" vspace="5" align="left" />

• Border outlines
  

<img src="IMAGE URL" alt="Mountain Range" width="200" height="137" hspace="5" vspace="5" align="right" border="10" />  

• Linking an image
  

<a href="URL" target="_blank"> <img src="IMAGE URL" width="200" height="137" border="2" alt="Mountain Range" /> </a>

• Adding a text link
  

<a href="URL">Practical eCommerce</a> ·       

• Aligning text to an image

<p> <img src="IMAGE URL" width="200" height="137" alt="Mountain Range" align="left"/>"Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua.</p><p>Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.</p>

• Including a wide horizontal line break
  

<hr />

•   Adding a page jump link

<a href="#articles">Click Here To Jump To Related Articles at Bottom of Page</a>
<a name="articles"></a>

• Formatting text

<b>Bold</b> or <strong></strong>
<i>Italics</i> or <em></em>
<u>Underline</u> or <ul></ul>
 

• Page formatting

<h1></h1>...Different sized headers....<h4></h4>
<center>Centered text.</center>
A line break <br />  

7. Shipping Success
Once you have mastered all of the above, selling products should be a doddle. Keeping on top of and fulfilling orders, on the other hand, is next level ecommerce store management. Those at the top know how to set up a speedy and efficient supply chain. By managing logistics in a cost effective way and ensuring their popular products are always in stock by keeping a close eye on their inventory they never delay a shipment and always deliver on time!

To reduce the risk of being late, ecommerce stores should be conservative with delivery estimates and stay in constant communication with suppliers and customers to learn of anything that may impact upon an order.

8. Evaluation Station
In order to become your own ecommerce titan like amazon, these seven areas should help you create a competitive advantage which will attract new customers and convert them into loyal brand ambassadors. Beware, it is competitive out there!  

If you have any questions about how to use Amazon for your business, Amazon suspensions, and how to appeal them, or need help with your business`s web design and digital marketing, get in touch with Studioworx either via email ([email protected]), telephone +44 (0)1603 274285 or the website (https://www.studioworx.co.uk).