We
probably don't need to tell you that visitors to your online
store
need to be nurtured in order to take them from a prospect right
through to a repeat customer. But the problem is, the customer
journey is not a 'one size fits all' kinda deal...
Each
person that visits your online store or comes across your brand is
completely different from the next. And you need to effectively track
and measure their journey to make sure you are doing everything you
can to keep them happy.
So
how do you do that? You're about to find out...
1.
Optimize your marketing channels
In
the world of Ecommerce, your marketing channels are a pretty big
deal. You'll have social platforms, email marketing, ads, organic
traffic, content marketing to name just a few. And it's important to
look at each of your channels differently to ensure that you are
doing everything you can to nurture your prospects.
A
person who visits your store to check out your blog post, is
completely different from the person who clicked through from an
email promotion. They want different things – some are ready to buy
and some are simply curious - so it's important that you manage them
differently to help move them further along their journey with you.
How
do you do this?
Let's
say you sell furniture, and you get a bunch of traffic from your blog
post that's all about chairs, then it's clear that those people are
specifically interested in buying a chair. What you need to do is
provide an appropriate call-to-action that leads those people on to
the next stage: data capture.
To
obtain their data, you could create another piece of content such as
an ebook, that offers so much value to the visitor, that they are
willing to exchange their email address to download it. So once you
have their information, you can then send them email promotions with
offers that will entice them to buy your product.
It's
that kind of nurturing that will help you build more customers,
rather than assuming that every visitor is ready to buy your product.
It's important to look at every marketing channel as a step further
along the buyers journey, and within each step there should be a
different focus and goal.
2.
Measure customer satisfaction
Keeping
your customers happy is an extremely important aspect in improving
conversions. Did you know that a 5%
increase in customer retention can increase your profitability by an
incredible 75%? Not only is customer service good practice, but it
can actually have a significant impact on your sales – so it's
certainly not something to overlook!
How
do you measure satisfaction?
Communicate
with your customers and ask them for their feedback. Think about
sites such as eBay that will ask for the buyer to leave feedback on
what they have just purchased. The vendor is not only rated on their
product, but also on the transaction as a whole. This really helps to
gain feedback and if needed, provide a better service to future
customers.
There
are plenty of tools to help you do this including Survey
Monkey,
Floq,
or Google
Forms.
Remember to consider the questions you want to ask your customers.
Think about the appropriate page to implement the survey – and even
encourage customers to fill it out by offering discount off future
sales.
3.
Assess where you are going wrong
Unfortunately
not everyone is going to stick around long enough to purchase your
products, and many will up and leave if they can't find what they
want. It's important that you completely refine your shopping
experience so that you've made buying your products as easy as can
be.
Did
you know that $4
trillion worth
of merchandise will be abandoned in online shopping carts this year?
Not only that, but 63% of that could potentially be recovered by
online retailers. So why are so many people leaving? What can you do
to improve your shopping cart experience?
First
you need to look at your product pages. Are they simplified enough?
The two biggest elements that should stand is your product, and the
CTA. If you are struggling to get people to add items to their cart
then another great idea is to integrate with live chat software. That
way you can ask them questions, and provide different options if they
need it.
Once
you've made it really easy for your visitor to add the product to
their cart – you can then start to work on refining the steps to
checkout...
Do
you really need them to sign up for an account? Do you need to ask
them for so many details? Limiting the amount of effort people have
to take in order to get to the checkout will really help here.
Another common problem is additional charges such as VAT or shipping
costs are included right at the very end. People don't like
surprises, so make sure you are upfront right from the start.
4.
Analyze EVERYTHING
Whether
it's email campaigns, ads or your website, it's important to analyze
every aspect of your online store so that you can provide the best
experience possible. The good news is that there are tools available
to help you do this!
When
it comes to your marketing and ad campaigns you can use platforms
such as Google
Analytics
to get key insights and track your traffic. That way you can learn
how successful a campaign has been and where you can improve in
future.
When
tracking your website as a whole, A/B testing and heatmap tools can
really help out here. A/B testing essentially offers two different
versions of the same page, so that you can find out which version
your customers respond better to. Heatmap tools are similar, but they
show you where your customers are clicking in order to track how your
visitors interact with your site. This will help streamline your
processes and provide better navigation across your online store.
Closing
thoughts
Whether
a person is right at the very start of their buyers journey or they
have made it to the sale, it's important to analyze, measure, learn
and continue to wow your customers so that they keep coming back for
more! We hope you enjoy the ecommerce tips in our blog and we'd like to know your thoughts in
the comments below.
Looking
for a better Ecommerce
solution
with integrated apps and pro-grade tools? Then give AmeriCommerce a
call today!