Promote

Running an online store is not at all easy, it is a challenging task. The first step you have to do after creating a store is to promote your online store.

Moreover, an online store is becoming popular among customers as a complex choice.

So it makes sense to market and advertise your online store efficiently for your survival.

In this post, we talk about how you can promote your online store and generate targeted traffic with little hard work, plan, and creativity.

Why is it important to promote your online store?

Creating an online store is one side of the coin, and the other side is promoting your online store for increasing sales.

To establish more sales, you need to have a bunch of things such as-

• A Creative Plan,
• Use of SEO,
• Content Marketing,
• Social Media Marketing and
• PPC – Pay per Click

After that, make your customers understand your products and services to build trust and make a purchase.

The benefits of promoting your online store are:

• Increase brand awareness
• Provide appropriate information
• Increase Customer Traffic
• Build sales and profits

To obtain these benefits, here are the 10 ways to promote your online store to smash out your sales target.

#1 Targeted Advertising

Digital media can help your online marketing by delivering the right message to the right people at the right time.

Target advertising includes the use of Facebook ads, Google Adwords, and Pinterest.

Facebook targets users by analyzing personal information and interests in their profiles. You can filter a specific group of people based on their interest.

For instance, if you’re in the men’s grooming niche, your potential target audience could be men interested in beard and hair care.

Therefore, consider running Facebook ads to promote your store and get more traffic.

Google Ads provides an option to target people according to their keyword search and location.

You can select the time and devices on which it has to appear. Additionally, you can pay only when folks click through and land on your page making it cost effective.

Pinterest is a growing social networking platform.

It promotes your product and brand in an easy and fun way. So, go right now and create an attractive account for your business.

Make sure that you follow people who are following the brands related to your target audience. And finally, add “pin it” button to your products so that people can easily share them.

#2 Facebook

Facebook is one of the platforms you must use to promote your online store. Reasons to choose Facebook is it’s easy to use, efficient and cost-effective, and finally, it works!

You can create engaging and interesting business pages for free and are simple to handle.

Don’t forget to engage your target audience regularly. Your posts must be inspiring to your target crowd, easy for them to relate and shareable.

To make it more simple, there are a number of scheduling tools you can use to schedule your posts at specific times.

#3 Remarketing

Remarketing is a feature that allows you to keep track of people who visit your site and displaying your retargeting ads to them as they visit other sites online.

For instance, if a potential customer visited a specific T-shirt page but didn’t buy, with retargeting, Facebook/Google will show that visitor- the ad of the same product he visited on your store.

This will happen while they are browsing online.

So how do you do this?

Simply tag the products and categories to promote and run a campaign. Ads will appear to the visitor until they clear their cookies.

#4 Guest Articles

Blogs and guest articles for magazines are powerful ways to promote your online store. Search for relevant online and offline blogs and magazines that your audience is interested in.

Then, build a relationship by-

• Following them on social media,
• Comment on their blogs,
• Retweet their posts
• Provide impartial advice, and
• Answer questions.

Most importantly, use your brand name and logo as your profile details so they get to know who you are.

#5 Offers and Competitions

People love the feeling of getting something for nothing and winning. So, offer things for free in return for your visitors.

Additionally, you can offer giveaways and discounts in return for leaving a review. They will become your promoters in no time with giveaways.

Make sure to educate them about your product with every offer, as a token of the entering process.

It will make people think of you immediately if they wish to purchase any specific item that your brand offers.

Therefore, the more incentive they have to shop with you, the more those people will tweet about your product or promote your online store on Facebook.

#6 Customer Stories & Articles

Follow up with the purchase to find out why that person bought your product. As all your customers will have unique stories to share

Pictures are worth everything, so ask your customers to send in pictures and videos of themselves using your products.

Use them on your website by having a customer gallery. It shall enhance your website and speak volumes to potential customers.

#7 Promote via Affiliate Sites

Affiliate marketing benefits every retailer with an online store. Affiliate marketing is a process of using a third party to promote your products.

Make sure that you sign up for a commission-only model.

But why would you do this if you’re already doing all the things mentioned above?

Let me tell you why-

Wise shoppers always first go to discount websites to see if they can save anything before making a purchase.

Therefore, Voucher and Discount code websites can lead to a rush of potential customers to your online store, including many who have not visited your site ever before.

#8 Beat the Nerves

Using a new online store for the first time can be nervous for the customers.

Providing free delivery and free returns can encourage first-time buyers to hit the checkout button.

It will attract them to return to your store and promote it amongst their friends and gatherings.

#9 PR Stunt

Do something enormous to grasp people’s attention.

You can ask people to return for free clothes, this can attract huge media around the country and give you excellent coverage.

Rather, open a Pop-Up store in a shopping mall or popular venue or out-of-town shopping centers for a few days.

This will help you promote your online store by

• Creating a buzz,
• Encouraging spontaneous purchases
• Build your brand awareness.

#10 Strategic Partnerships

Strategic partnership results in mutual benefits. Your potential buyers will benefit from a greater number of trusted resources.

Build a strategic partnership with non-competing websites that have a similar target market.

The key is to find partners with a matched vision and complementary products.

Work together for a joint promotion or ask for an advertising slot in return for free advertising on your own site.

Wrapping it up

Selling your products in an online store builds brand awareness and grows credibility with your target customers.

These are proven methodologies to promote your online store and boost your sales force. Try out these techniques and attract more new customers.

Follow up to make customers willingly buy from you again, and again, and again.

Loyalty is a very heavy word and it is equally heavy to practice. In this post, we discuss why and how to build customer loyalty for your e-commerce store so your brand stands out.

This trait is the basis of a healthy and secure relationship and it takes years to establish.

The drawback?

You can lose it as quickly as you earn it if you hurt the sentiments of the other person.

Why is it crucial to build loyalty for E-commerce Store?

In the language of business, your customer’s loyalty is very finicky and you will have to work really hard to develop a stronger faith in your brand. Your mistakes should not let them turn away from you.

The e-commerce business has made it easy for people to set up stores without the need to find a physical place.

To add to that, the attention spans are at an all-time low so you have to grab it in a mere amount of seconds.

Hence, the competition is neck to neck.

People may buy a product from your store once but to get them back is a miracle considering the number of options they have.

Therefore, you need to create heavy brand awareness and image to stay in this business.

Here are 10 tips to help you achieve their loyalty –

1. Absolute transparency

The foundation of any relationship is firm only when it is built on trust.

Every detail of your company should be out in the open for your customers. Gaining access to information will help them establish trust and inturn build loyalty for your E-commerce store.

Even if there is a glitch or something has gone wrong in shipping, you must keep them informed and take full responsibility for the situation. This can help you not lose your customers especially if it is an e-commerce business.

When you are accountable for your mistakes, it shows humility. Being truthful about what they should expect can work out amazingly well if you exceed those expectations later.

2. Customer Appreciation

Quick Tips to get you started

1. Remember their birthday and send personalized emails wishing them

2. Send out thank you notes and gift cards

3. Do spotlights on your customers

4. Host a customer appreciation event disguised as a party

Being an e-commerce business you don’t have to take much effort to communicate so use it to your advantage.

A thank you note or a mail acknowledging that you are grateful they chose to place their faith in your brand. After spending a lot of time on websites, customers finally arrive at yours and buy something.

You have to appreciate their time and make sure that they are to have brought the product from your website.

You should provide them everything you have promised and thank them for their feedback.

3. Establish a sense of belonging

Human psychology has spoken very highly of the need to belong. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs also places it in their chart. Why do you think that is?

Feeling a sense of belonging makes a person feel safe and happy. If they are choosing to buy from your company you should make them feel welcome. You can get them subscribed to a newsletter or interact with them on a personal basis.

They should feel a part of your brand as much as any employee in your company.

It is already an e-commerce business that does not have face to face communication so an extra effort will be required.

Updating them on your new products and communicating any news with their personal names would be a good way to do it.

4. The power of referring

Word of mouth is the oldest but most-trusted method of marketing. Your customers should be happy with the personalized experience you provide them so they consider referring your brand to anyone.

Being an e-commerce business, your referrals will happen through shared links and recommendations.

You can provide them with some incentive or boost their points if they can get a friend hooked on your website. It can be a free coupon or discount which should get them to actually speak about your brand.

A simple thank you message would also work because acknowledging their effort is very important.

5. Personalized emails

Whoever said email marketing is dead doesn’t know what he is talking about. A personalized email with their name and a brief study on their buying patterns would be a great way to build loyalty for an e-commerce store.

The biggest marketing aspect of an e-commerce business is email marketing.

They should feel like they are the first ones to know about your new product releases and offers. According to their buying pattern, you should find relevant content for the email.

The more relevant it is, the more they will buy from you. Your emails should let them know that you understand what they want and you will give them exactly that.

6. Quality content

Quick Tips for you to generate engaging content

1. Write a compelling brand story

2. Respond to a controversial article or video

3. Curate and share styling tips and techniques with latest design trends

4. Write behind-the-scenes post at an event

5. Take surveys and post results

What is the one thing your e-commerce business has that the others don’t? Quality content.

Your content should consist of all the necessary information and at the same time be engaging. You can cover a lot of current topics related to your brand in any way possible.

If you are adding to their knowledge and getting them to read something interesting, they will remember your brand. After remembering, they will come back to buy from your store because of the brand voice you create in your posts.

Don’t try to force them to buy your product. Sometimes, just have an interaction with them about things that matter. This will build genuine trust and loyalty for your E-commerce store.

7. Get feedback

It has become easier to get feedback and save paper at the same time because you are an e-commerce business. A casual survey or feedback form will help you grow your business. You will understand what you need to improve so they come back to buy from you.

Asking for their feedback will also let them know that their opinion matters to you. They can give you a better idea of what they are expecting from the product and what is not working about it.

When you improvise you must thank them for their feedback and introduce them to the changes you have made. By doing this, you are earning their trust and making them a part of your brand development.

8. Socialize

You should be active on all social media platforms and messengers so they know you are available to answer their doubts and grievances.

Once again, e-commerce has made it extremely convenient to communicate so utilize it.

Any kind of interaction should be initiated from your side so they know that you do care to respond.

You can start a group for loyal customers on which you post daily about anything and everything related or non-related to your brand. This will increase brand recall.

Your social media platforms should be a way for them to directly interact with your brand. All their questions, comments and suggestions should be responded to.

Introduce a live chat on your website so you can guide them through the website while they are placing an order.

Be there for them and they will be there for you.

9. Work on your Loyalty program

Ecommerce business has made it easy for you to navigate your success pattern and assess campaigns.

Once you have the database of your loyal customers in place, you need to define your brand’s social responsibility to them. For example, if your tagline is “excellence”, then you can hold contests and reward people with excellent achievements.

The activities that you hold for your brand should be communicated to your customers. Through your social activities, they can feel safe when buying from you.

Your loyalty program should include exciting offers, rewards, coupons, and discounts so they feel privileged to be a part of your brand.

10. User-generated content

You can turn your customers into your brand advocates. Any pictures posted by them about your brand or tagged your brand will become an advertisement for your brand.

You can feature them on your social media profiles if they post with your products and tag your brand.

Their ratings and reviews can also be a big boom for your sales and they record the highest rates of conversion.

You can reward them with exclusive t-shirts that have your brand logo so they feel a sense of belonging.

This will put your e-commerce business in the spotlight.

Wrapping it up…

With these tips in mind, all you need to concentrate on is providing good service and quality products. That is the biggest part of customer retention. Your product must fulfill their needs. Once you have them in your loyalty program, you must give them everything you promised and treat them with splendid customer experience.

Ecommerce business can be tricky but once you master it, there is only prosperity.

Choosing the right sales channel for your e-commerce business can be a daunting task. In this post, we share the various platforms to sell on, the steps to set them up, with their pros and cons.

Why do you need to find the right sales channel for E-commerce?

Dropshipping business is the most popular way to get started with the eCommerce industry in today’s time.

If you’re looking to start your own eCommerce company, starting up with a drop shipping platform would be a great idea.

It will be an exciting business with low startup cost and good margins.

The only drawback is that much of your business is out of your hands. On the other hand, it is the most profitable business, if done right.

But how do you go about it?

• Select the products
• Establish a relationship with your suppliers
• Register your business legally.

Once all these steps are set, you have to start evaluating the sales channels. Now how do you decide where to sell?

There exist different sales channels for e-commerce, but you’ll most probably pick one or a combination of selling on your own online store, eBay or Amazon.

Rewarding Sales Channels for your e-commerce Business:

1. Dropshipping on eBay

eBay is the well-known world’s largest auction site for physical goods online.

Begin by deciding what products to sell, then source those products from a wholesaler that can guarantee quick and reliable shipping.

Above all- volume is the key to successful dropshipping. Few sales will not give you a huge return, most drop shippers gain only a few dollars per sale.

Elements such as pricing, marketing efforts, and timing can shape or shatter the dropshipping strategy.

The Pros of Selling on eBay

• Easy to Get Started
• Access to a Large Audience
• Less Marketing

The Cons of Selling on eBay

• Listing Fees
• Constant Monitoring and Re-Listing
• Can’t Customize Your Sales Platform
• No Long-Term Connection With Customers
• You’re Not Building an Asset

To learn more about selling on eBay, click here.

2. Dropshipping on Amazon

Amazon is the online retail giant, which stocks and sells a number of items.

But did you know a lot of the products listed there are sold by third-party merchandisers via Amazon’s website?

In other words, Amazon does the packaging, shipping, and fulfillment without owning the product.

Besides, it also provides support and service to you if you choose Amazon as a sales channel for your e-commerce business. Isn’t it amazing?

The Pros of Selling on Amazon

• Easy to get started
• Instant access to a huge range of audience
• No pressure about marketing or SEO
• Fulfillment warehouses by Amazon which provide packing, shipping, warehousing, and delivery services

The Cons of Selling on Amazon

• Exposure of Sales Data
• No Long-Term Connection With Customers
• No Customization

To learn more about choosing Amazon as a sales channel for e-commerce, click here.

3. Dropshipping with Facebook

Sure, you’ve heard of Facebook Advertising as a great sales channel for your e-commerce business.

But were you aware of setting up a dropshipping store on Facebook?

The good news is you can. But before moving on to how to set it up, let me tell you why you need to set it up-

Basically, when your customers view an ad, they shouldn’t have to leave Facebook to make a purchase. If they have to, you’re losing out on sales.

It is all about making the user experience better and easier. As a result, your checkout process gets shorter. And of course, shorter the checkout process, higher the conversion rate.

So you better buckle up now, as I share next- how to set up this budding sales channel for your e-commerce business

Quick Steps and Hacks to get you going–

• Set up a Facebook business page.
• Connect your website to your Facebook store and make use of the platform to drive more sales.
• Build a following and create organic traffic by promoting your product.
• Run ad campaigns on Facebook

Don’t worry if you’re just starting out. It doesn’t take a huge Facebook ad budget to build a big crew of Facebook fans in a short span of time.

Also, if you’re selling for a while now and you haven’t seen good results in your store, selling in Social media can be a great option for your e-commerce business.

As a result, you get much higher revenue for every penny spent on creating your Facebook store.

The pros of dropshipping with Facebook

• Brand awareness
• Drive website traffic
• Targeted advertising
• Generate business leads
• Customer service and feedback
• Monitor and improve

The Cons of dropshipping on Facebook

• Time and Resources
• Skills
• Budget
• Negative Feedback

To learn more about choosing Facebook as a sales channel for e-commerce, click here.

4. Dropshipping with Instagram

Instagram has become the most favorite platform for businesses.

It provides the advantage of being a less saturated market. I don’t think I have to emphasize on the importance of this sales channel. We all love Instagram, don’t we?

Quick Steps and Hacks to get you going–

• Create a content strategy
• Use high-quality pictures for posts as well as promotion
• Decide the structure of what you want to show on your stories vs your posts.
• Build a following organically.
• Make sure you post at least 4-5 times a week.

I know what you might be thinking if you’re just starting out. It’s overwhelming. I completely agree with you- learning something new can be daunting.

So take your time and start getting comfortable using Instagram for your business.
Remember to be strategic on what to post and who you follow.

As you do it, you will get a clear idea about using it. It’s a popular saying that you often learn things by doing it.

Therefore, keep experimenting, find the winning formula, leverage it, and you’d move towards business growth and success.

The pros of Dropshipping with Instagram

• Instagram is all about photos
• Connects to Your Target Audience
• High Engagement Rate
• Post Your Contents Easily
• Visual Representation of Your Business
• Allows You to Respond Quickly
• Increase Your Reach

The cons of Dropshipping with Instagram

• Not Everyone Is on Instagram
• Limitations on Your Contents
• Advertising Is More Difficult

To learn more about choosing Instagram as a sales channel for e-commerce, click here.

5. Drop shipping with your own online Store

Always wanted to start something of your own? Well, then this is the road to your dream, my friend.

It is the best alternative to selling online with third-party websites like Amazon and eBay. However, you can still have a mix of both the worlds.

The Pros of Selling on Your Own Store

• More Control
• Easy Design
• Mobile Ready
• No Third-Party Fees
• Building a Real Business

The Cons of Selling on Your Own Store

• Less Free Traffic
• Take a long time to get off the ground

You can get your own Shopify Store or Woocommerce Store with us. Let us know, just in case!

Conclusion–

Still confused? It’s alright. Let me give you further tips on deciding on your sales channel. To choose the best one, you’ll need to ask more questions and evaluate your priorities.

Prioritize whether you need High-profit margins or more exposure to an audience.

If getting exposure is your goal, Amazon or eBay can be used. These are effective channels that will cut your margin but get more sales quickly.

However, if you’re all in on creating a brand, then having your online store is the way to go. You can also have a presence on Facebook and Instagram alongside.

Besides, having an online store gives you control over selling your products. You can set your own boundaries and work independently.

Most importantly, you should have a long-term goal. Think about how you can serve better and bring value to your customers. After that, you can decide on the platform.

Green lights to you. Evaluate the available sales channels for your e-commerce niche, and start selling!

Also, I’m curious to know, which one of them are you heading with and why?

Do you own an office/shop and you are not satisfied with the results? Or are you planning to start one but not sure how to proceed?
Well then it’s time for you to think about the reasons to start selling online

You can get an e-commerce website up and running in no time. 

But why should you? 

Because it’ll increase your sales quicker, reduce your business operating cost and increase profit margins for your business

However, if you’re thinking old school, let me share a short story-

Once upon a time, offline market retailers were the key players. But those days where brick and mortar stores ruled have passed.

I understand if you don’t feel that way. I don’t mean to offend you, I’m just here to serve and help you.

How about we just look at it from a broad mindset and then you can decide what’s right for you?

So what is it about e-commerce that everybody is talking about it? 

Well, if you own a mobile phone and have an internet connection, you can relate to the message here. The retail e-commerce market in India is expected to grow to USD 1.2 trillion by 2021 from USD 795 billion in 2017.

I can go on about the statistics, but you get the point. 

The good news is, plenty of eCommerce websites allow small business owners and people to sell products online easily.

Additionally, these websites allow you to use a range of marketing and sales techniques that’ll boost up your margins if done right.

Without waiting further, let’s jump right into them.

Here is the list of reasons to push you to start selling online:

• Internet in every hand
• Huge customer reach
• Free from brick and mortar
• Fewer costs to set up an online store
• Easy to start selling
• Risk-free business
• Increase brand awareness
• Prices are set, no need to bargain
• Up-to-date catalog
• Quick product delivery
• Easy payment options
• Higher margins on each product
• Quicker customer support
• The store is open 24/7
• Can be operated from anywhere

Excited!? Let’s look into it one by one.

#1 Internet in every hand

I’m sure you’d agree that the Internet is becoming a major part of our lives. And if you can’t live without wifi – so do others. 

Think about it. Almost everyone now has a smartphone with 3G or 4G, which has changed India’s traditional internet system. 

People these days don’t like to go to the market for shopping. We’re lazy.

So most of the people prefer shopping on eCommerce websites without any fear, provided you have built loyalty.

#2 Huge customer reach

eCommerce paves a path for you to reach more customers. Whether you are a startup or an existing seller, there are always new customers to serve. 

You can target customers all over the world. Yes, you can grasp the widest audience right from your office.

And all this could happen in just a few clicks. Isn’t that amazing? There’s more. 

If you have ever tried and suffered to promote your business locally, then you understand what this means for you. 

In my opinion, this is one of the most compelling reasons for you to start selling online. But let’s explore them all. 

#3 Free from brick and mortar

Setting up an online store is very easy and the best part is that the cost is not as big as starting a brick-and-mortar shop. 

How?

Well, this is because you do not need to pay for space, rental, electricity bills, employees or for maintenance. 

Apart from these, you don’t need a warehouse or inventory to store the products for your offline store and a showroom to showcase your products to the customers. 

All these expenses are saved by selling products online.

#4 Fewer costs to set up an online store

Online stores are cost-effective. With Shopify, you can set up your website in no time.

Once your website is ready, you can integrate your website to a plugin of any drop shipping service providers.

If you’re all set on starting your Shopify store, you should check this out- How does Dropshipping with Shopify Work?

#5 Easy to start selling

You can start selling your product as soon as you want to.

A week is enough to start selling your products online. It can get sooner with dropshipping business models.

The Dropshipping model is successful because you only need a good business idea rather than a physical store. You don’t need to maintain your inventory.

#6 Risk-free business

It is completely risk-free as you do not have any inventory to store. So there is no fear of damage or stealing of products.

#7 Increase brand awareness

Searching on Google is the first thing every customer starts with to buy a product online or offline. 

So when they search for a product on Google, your brand will appear on the search results page. 

This will increase your brand awareness so you will always be in front of your customers.

It will make your brand popular among the customers which will, in turn, build trust for your brand.

#9 Prices are set, no need to bargain

Bargaining is not possible on eCommerce sites. They just add the products they like to the cart and checkout when they are done shopping. 

Hence, people will buy on the price you set for your products. The price has to be nominal, of course. 

Therefore, there is no need to bargain. Also, one of the amazing reasons to start selling online today. 

Side note – If you want to convince your mom about starting an online store and you’re an Indian, you can start out with this point. Let me know if it worked.

#10 The catalog is always up to date

Printing of catalogs is not needed anymore as it is costly and outdated. The catalog in your eCommerce store will always be up to date. 

You can easily modify your price, description, availability and other details according to your preferences for the product. 

When you update, it will be updated automatically to all similar products in your store in no time.

#11 Product delivery in less time

You can build loyal trust amongst the customers by serving them secure and fast delivery. 

Because people will rush to online stores if any product is not available in offline stores. This way you can serve them faster.

#12 Easy payment options

There are several ways of receiving payments from customers. 

You can opt for direct bank transfers, credit cards, debit cards, cash on delivery and many more modes of payment. 

Customers prefer online transactions as they are very secure and quick at the same time. 

Payment gateways and wallets have become very popular now too.

#13 Higher margins on each product

It is easy to make higher margins on each product because there is no bargaining at the time of selling. To get this right, be sure to craft your business plan well in advance. 

To increase your sales, you can offer discounts on different items which is an effective promotion strategy. You can also upsell products to increase the overall margins.

#13 Quick customer support

The best way to keep your customers stick to your online store is customer support. 

When a customer has some queries regarding your product or service, and when the product you sold was defective you should provide sales support. 

Your best customer support will keep the customers coming back to your store and will increase your sales over time.

And if they’re coming back- Bingo! You’ve just made your first loyal customer.

#14 The store is open 24/7

An online store removes the time barriers of shopping. 

Most of the customers are working and they find time for online shopping only post work during the night.

24/7 open shop will help the customers to shop online whenever they are free. So you will always have orders on your online store.

#15 Business can operate from anywhere

Online stores reduce the restraint of selling products from offline stores which are fixed. 

You can operate your eCommerce website successfully from anywhere around the world. This makes your business more easy and flexible.

Conclusion

So there you have it, the reasons why you should start selling your products online today.

Customers are not afraid to buy online. Many have already moved to buying everything over the Internet.

They have a clear understanding of how online retail works. And it is moreover a natural part of their shopping experience.

In fact, the majority of people believe strongly that their favorite retail outlets should have an online presence too.

eCommerce is the biggest growing industry globally. So what’re you waiting for? Sell products online, grow your business worldwide.

Don’t miss: How To Use Printrove To Build A Successful Online Drop Shipping Business

Let me know what you think about e-commerce. Do you plan to start selling online?

The eCommerce organizations now know that buyers are preferring online shopping. Their websites need to be designed in a more presentable and user-friendly manner in the competitive business world. Before buying a product, the buyer explores all the details about the product.

So, your website has to be more informative and active, as there are so many other options available which can put you down on the ladder. The users are very intelligent nowadays, accordingly, everything has to be well-planned, creative and careful.

You might think that your website is well-organized and looks good, but it may not be delighting for the customers. You have to consider from the customer’s point of view before launching your website. The features you love the most may be difficult for the users to navigate, so they might route to the other websites. You have to be very careful in each and every step to attract more customers. But there might be a few mistakes you commit which can really annoy users on your eCommerce website.

See how little factors can annoy eCommerce users.

Chosen specks for you.

1. Impossible to find basic information

Customers need your business’s address, directions, working hours, contact number, and email on your About or Contact section. When a customer clicks on your profile, they need to ingest your basic business details. If these details are not made easy for the users to view, it frustrates customers and thwarts from visiting your website.

Customer’s Registration is a great effort in marketing. Although, most of the users prefer to scroll through your website and get out without signing up for an account. So it would be easier for customers if your website has a guest checkout option, and it will increase the customers to get back to your website frequently.

2. Out of Stock Items On Display

Out of stock items on Display can annoy your customers to a great extent. The customer finds the product, place the orders and waiting for the product. The item is not delivered as the item is out of stock, that will make the customer feel very disappointed. This breaks the trust in your store, the customer gets pissed off and never look back on your store.

To avoid this, once the product is not in stock give auto hide or mention the item is “out of stock-back soon” message. Make sure that you bring the item back to inventory as soon as possible. Making the customers wait for a long time can affect your business.

3. Slow Website

The more gongs you add to your website, the slower it loads. Your website has to load faster. The slow website brings in less productivity. Slow websites make the customers give up on your site. Slower websites can also take a hit in the Google’s search ranking.

Ensure that all your graphics, music and additional features are compressed into the smallest size possible. Take the help of a web designer to make your website optimized and load faster. This step can prevent customers from pissed off on your website.

4. Confusing Coupon Codes

Coupon codes are a great way to promote your online store and attract more customers. Coupons encourage them to spend some more time on your website and purchase products. Customers are annoyed when the coupons are not working. This makes customers feel cheated.

Sometimes, the coupon codes are very confusing like how users should use the coupon or promotional codes. Give a clarity of how the codes can be used to purchase products from your online store let it be of free shipping or discounts.

5. AutoPlay Videos / Music

The most horrified and ridiculous audio or video pop-ups come up and force the user to watch it. This is not a good idea. No one wants to watch that music when they click on a website. By all means have a promotional video as optional, so that the user can decide to watch or skip it.

The online consumers are savvier and have very less time, so design your website to avoid such annoying content on your Online Store.

6. Poor Customer Service / Lack of Communication

Customer service is the one which differentiates the average e-Commerce store from the best Online store. It maintains loyal repeat customers. Instant confirmation and tracking details should be sent to the customers via email. The queries have to be addressed and resolved as soon as you can. Best customer service can bring in more customers and build trust in your online store.

Delayed update or being unprofessional can ruin the reputation of your store. This makes people avoid shopping from your eCommerce store. Providing customer service is not a difficult task, and it is the most important customer retention tool.

7. No direct link to Social Media

Customers find it easier to check out your business on Social Media instead of constantly checking your website. Most shops, cafes, salons eCommerce store post their special offers and discounts on Social media to keep their followers engaged. Include prominent links to your Social media accounts to your online store.

Keep updating your customers engaged and keep updating your business activities, offers, deals and new arrivals. Lack of engagement and no proper resources can give a drop to your to your Online selling website.

8. Outdated content

Updating your content is a must. If you don’t have the frequency to update your website, Then keep the content simple with the basic essence of your business. The information about sales, events and new merchandise can be posted on your social media accounts.

The blog posts also have to be posted frequently, if not, don’t have a blog section. If a customer clicks on the blog and if no recent blog posts are published, they get a bad reverence for your website. This can really annoy the customers and they might look for other online stores to purchase.

9. Not mobile Compatible

Mobile devices are most widely used to go online. The count is increasing every day. So, be fanatical and optimize your online store and website. This makes it easier for users to read and navigate on phone and tablet screens. Optimizing and updating your online site for Mobile will show customers that you have a modern business and you are responsible and care about their user interface. On failing which, the users are annoyed and reduce their visit to your site.

Conclusion

All of these are simple, common mistakes on your online store that can annoy the users. Many businesses behave as though communicating on a straightforward, personal level with a customer is somehow unprofessional. Make sure you deal with problems and satisfy the customers to build a long-lasting relationship.

Create a plan and execute it on your online store, keep updating your website, optimize it periodically, keep engaging your customers. Most importantly, think from the customer’s point of view and design your website. Give a brief description of how to use promo codes. Provide best customer service to the users. These are a few tips to make your customers engaged with your online store.

With more time and power in your hands to handle your business, dropshipping helps you in creating a trustworthy brand despite the division of work.

• Understanding Dropshipping and Why it works
• What is Branding and Why is it Important
• How do you build a trustable brand with Dropshipping

While Shakespeare must have questioned “What’s in a name?”, businesses may have also pondered upon the importance of having a brand name. Dropshipping is a relatively new concept and because of the delivery and production being in the drop shipping company’s hand, it might seem impossible to create a trustable brand. Well, that is not true.

Let us understand this with more details.

Understanding Dropshipping and Why It Works

The thing with e-commerce businesses is that for the rest of world it looks easy but in reality it is just as tough as any other business model. The set of risks and problems are different from the traditional methods but, there are risks.

Traditional businesses would probably opt for products that aren’t niche just to save losses from experimentation. E-commerce gives you an audience that is looking for something beyond the regular range of products (it is moving to ecommerce for regular products as well now) and it can be difficult to ascertain the profit margins and contingent losses.

Dropshipping comes to rescue ecommerce businesses by providing them a service that can promise convenience, timeliness and credibility. In short, Dropshipping is a business model in which a seller works with a third party company (dropshipping company) to produce and deliver their products.

The online business of the seller displays a variety of products and once the order is placed, the dropshipper prepares it and delivers it to the end customer.

Still confused? Read- What is Dropshipping

The advantages? You are saving on:

• Money
• Workforce
• Inventory
• Location Rent
• Divided attention to business activities

Have a good look at the Pros and Cons of Dropshipping to make an informed decision.

Once you have shared the responsibility with a drop shipper, you can concentrate on the core business operations like: Marketing, Expansion and Branding.

What is Branding and Why is it Important

In its purest definition, branding is what differentiates you from your competition. Think about a brand you like and list down the things you remember about it. For example, you like coca cola.

What do you notice about it?

The brand name: Coca Cola (Coke)

The brand colour: Red and White

The brand tagline: Taste the feeling

There might be many things more that you remember about coca cola like the emotionally impactful advertisements or their sponsorship in huge events. The point is, you don’t call it cola or soda anymore. Coca cola is a brand name that has become a representative for the soft drink industry as a whole.

This is the importance of Branding- making your product seem like the only product in the market.

Your business gets its own recognition because of a unique logo that people remember as your brand. The logo is the face of your company and it should be an easy but powerful one so people remember it.

Your business value increases because of your brand image which will make it easier for you to launch more products and services. You will also benefit because of the referrals coming in as you generate new customers.

You will be able to establish loyalty in your customers as well as employees because they will want to belong to a brand name. Branding also gives you a professional edge and presence in the marketplace because your company name defines you.

There are many advantages to branding and even if you are in a dropshipping business collaboration, branding is important and possible.

How Do You Build a Trustable Brand With Dropshipping

It is similar to building a brand regardless of a dropshipping company involvement, however, there are a few functions that will be specific to dropshipping.

Let’s begin:

1. Create a Brand

People live for the stories. The journey is more fascinating to an onlooker than the final destination a person has arrived on. You need to spill your brand story all over the brand as this will act as a USP. Create a brand story with essential details and glorify parts which you think define your brand.

It is important to create a brand because it serves the most crucial purpose – sets you apart from your competition.

Notice all the leading brand competitions and how you think of them as different:

KFC and Mcdonald’s

Cafe Coffee Day and Barista

Adidas and Nike

2. Decide your Brand focus and Tone

You need to have a mission statement which will make your objectives clearer for you as well as your audience. That one thing which you are offering and the purpose behind it needs to be defined so the focus of your brand has a direction.

The second thing you need to decide is the tone that you want your brand to showcase. Are you a sarcastic brand, funny brand, young brand, professional brand?

Your taglines, advertisements, social media interactions and discussions will determine this. Choosing a tone heavily depends on what audience you are targeting, for example – Apple has a superior and classy tone as it is targeting an upper middle class audience – “if you don’t have an iPhone, you don’t have an iPhone”

3. Choose a Name

This is what your audience is going to call you when they speak about you to other people. Make sure it is a simple and approachable name. You can choose a name that subtly hints at what your brand does or do the complete opposite.

There are a lot of options you could use to name your brand, you can even make up words or merge two words. Make a list of all the options you want to consider and then based on popular opinion, settle for a brand name.

For example- Our brand name- Printrove is derived from two words:

Print- which means our print on demand option, hints at what our brand does

Trove- means a treasure chest, stating our variety of options

4. Write a catchy tagline

Taglines are everything. When you attach a catchphrase to your brand, your popularity will speak of it indefinitely. Every discussion forum will address it, everyone will remember your brand by this tagline, every competitor will target it etc.

A good tagline will put your brand in focus and in everyday conversations. There have been so many great taglines used by brands that have made them so popular:

McDonalds- I’m lovin it

Tata Tea – Jaago Re

Pepsi – Oh yes Abhi

L’oreal – Because you’re worth it

Garnier – Take Care

KFC – It’s finger licking good

Jockey – Jockey or nothing

5. Design a Logo

We cannot emphasize enough on how important it is to design a good logo. This is the first point of contact your audience has with your brand. You need to have a logo that is a combination of creative and simple.

The colour scheme you choose, the fonts, the size of the font, the background etc matter a lot when you are designing a logo.

Be sure to have a logo that you would want your audience to remember as it will be a part of all your events, sponsorships, packaging etc.

6. Plan a Sales and Marketing Strategy

Since you are collaborating with a dropshipping company, you get more time to focus on your marketing and sales strategy.

Choose which sales channel you want to use and what kind of audience are you targeting. For marketing, outdoor and indoor marketing methods need to be considered. Your logo, brand name and tagline will appear up close for everyone to see and you should make sure it is correctly placed,whether on a hoarding or a pamphlet.

Social media marketing will also work wonders for you as this is where you can give your brand a voice and tone by the kind of posts you publish.

7. Be Original when Dropshipping

You need to keep one thing in mind when you are dropshipping that your dropshipper is providing the same products to a lot of other companies as well. This means that the product quality and build is the same and you can’t change that.

What you can change and make your product still unique is the design. Choose a dropshipping company that gives you an option to print your own designs on the products.

Your brand logo will anyway be differentiating you from your competitors but a specific design will be your USP.

8. Request for White Label Services

White Label services mean that the dropshipping company will be producing and delivering products but under the brand name of the seller. So, every function which requires a brand name will be attached to the seller’s brand name:

• Label on Products will be of the Seller’s Brand
• Custom Brand Pack Ins which include small notes or coupons of the Seller’s brand
• Custom Packaging with the Seller’s brand logo and design
• Custom Shipping notifications which update the end customer about shipment under the brand name and not the shipping company

You can learn more on how to find the right dropshipper here.

Concluding…

Contrary to the popular preconceived notion that branding is not possible with dropshipping, we hope this article clears that doubt because dropshipping is much more than what the definition provides. A wide range of possibilities open up when you dropship and handle business operations with dedicated focus. Printrove offers Custom Branding Services which can fulfill all your requirements.

Develop a well defined marketing strategy and engage in conversations that are relevant to your industry

There is no dream big enough that can’t be achieved and by that we mean, make the impossible attainable. If you are starting out as an entrepreneur in the e-commerce world and you have chosen to partner with a dropshipping company, you can do so much with your business. Your production and delivery is handled by the dropshipper and thus, you can focus on business development and marketing.

Marketing is a wide spectrum and to hit the right note can be intimidating. Your research on the market structure and buyer personas need to be crisp and relevant. Use all the information you have and channel it in the direction you want your brand to take.

The thing with marketing is that you aren’t just selling your product, you have to sell a thought, an ideology or a lifestyle along with it.

So figure out what your business future should look like and then when you arrive at the marketing strategy, you can refer to the points below.

Here is How you Market Your Dropshipping Business

1. Build Trust

No business will survive unless your customers have established a firm confidence in you. Like most human relationships, a business relationship also requires you to put in a lot of effort. You need to be more interactive with your audience and make them believe about your transparency in operations.

You can do this by adding testimonials to your website of your existing or past clients, customers or partners who will speak about their experience with you.

Adding a customer review page will also help because it will make it easier for you to grow your brand. Potential customers could refer to past reviews and then come at a purchase decision.

The bad reviews can be taken into serious consideration for product improvement and your response to them will also make the customer realize that you aren’t leaving them high and dry.

2. Set Your Marketing Budget

You first need to identify who your target audience is and what channels you need to use to reach them. If your product is targeting a teenage audience, then social media would be the best bet. You can run google ads and facebook ads to get their attention but do it keeping in mind the budget you have.

If you think your marketing strategy is definitely getting you sales then it won’t hurt to invest more in your budget. At the end of the day, your product will only sell if people know about it.

3. Find Your Niche Audience

Just like you would look for a group that shares the same interests as yours, you should look for groups that your niche audience hangs out in. Find discussion forums like Reddit, Quora and Tumblr and participate in the discussions there.

Don’t try to aggressively market your brand as they are there to seek more information on the subject. The more credible your information, the more people will look towards your product.

4. Free Samples To Influencers

One of the best ways to make sales is by getting affiliates for your brand. Most affiliates are bloggers and influencers on social media who have a good range of followers and can reach a wider audience.

Here, your audience is already defined for you and you are directly interacting with them. Provide free samples to your influencers so they can try it and write about it in a way that will appeal to their audience.

Free samples will get you more affiliates and they will get the freedom to actually try the product and experiment with it.

5. Communicate With Bloggers And Press

It might sound redundant but it is actually very important to stay in touch with bloggers and the media houses. The new updates on your store will be covered by these platforms and it will only make your outreach circle wider.

Your comments and mention on blog posts will drive more traffic to your website because only people interested in your industry will be reading up on them.

6. Email Marketing

Despite the emergence of social media, emails don’t lose their ground. They are the epitome of the online world expansion. For professional and business deals, email marketing is the best option. There are a lot of things you can manage to cover when you have an email list of your target audience and existing customers.

Follow up is a very important function as it helps you understand the customer’s perspective and reminds them of your existence. Follow up email series will help in getting a response from your customers and taking the conversation forward.

Promotional emails create awareness in a more professional and organized manner as you will be providing them with all the necessary details and because you are personally addressing them, they will feel important.

Newsletters will help you update your existing customers of what is new at your company and what do you plan to come up with next. All doubts and queries could also be solved when you are personally emailing them.

7. Encourage Sharing Of Your Content

The “word of mouth” version of the online business world is sharing of your profile and links to the website by people who already follow you. You can also approach friends and family for this, get as many people you know to share your social media profiles and websites.

It helps in spreading the word and once people see that there have been so many shares, it automatically makes them believe that so many people trust your brand.

Concluding..

You have an added advantage when you drop ship: Time. That’s right, you will get abundant time to focus on marketing and business developments which can help you cross your own expectations of business growth. The only thing is you need to believe you can make it big and work diligently on achieving that.

You can score a marketing success easily by just identifying something that no one else has done. Experiment.

Ecommerce marketing is a crucial part of the ecommerce business lifespan and it is the only thing that will promise sales and jumpback after a defeat. Marketing is a broad term and has been in existence for the longest time. It started out with speakers, posters and prints which aimed at telling people about the existence of the brand. Today, it is quite the game changer for a business which makes it a highly competitive sphere.

Let’s delve into some tactics that not many marketers are using efficiently:

Diversify social media and online discussions

Personalize by writing original content

Contextual Marketing

Reduce abandoned cart

Speak the native language

Be creative with website interaction

Ask for product reviews

#1 Diversify Social Media And Online Discussions

Social media is definitely the most used platform for marketing because everyone is on it. It is also a problem for marketing because everyone is on it. Your competition is cut throat and grabbing eyeballs in a generation that has short attention spans- even tougher!

That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t market on social media, it means you should figure out how you portray your brand and what tactics you can use to be noticed. Popular channels like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter are sales booster but you can try channels that are more specific to your product niche.

For example, if photography and quotations are a priority for your brand, Pinterest and Tumblr will help you attract art enthusiasts. LinkedIn works well for your professional image and YouTube for your advertisements.

Being an active respondent on Reddit and Quora helps you understand industry questions and participate in discussions to get noticed.

#2 Personalize By Writing Original Content

Plagiarism will be an offense for every single piece of content you create but bringing original content to the table is what you should be aiming for. By original we mean, an idea that no other brand is using. If you are saying the same thing as other brands but only in a different voice, it won’t make much of an impact.

Personalize your content by having an original writing style, brand tone and merchandise. You need to make your customers feel like they belong to you and for that having personalized giveaways, offers, discounts, catchphrases, etc are very helpful.

#3 Contextual Marketing

Marketing is all about being at the right place at the right time. You must capitalize on whatever is trending on social media or current affairs at that point of time. Since people are already talking about that topic, your input on the same should be informative or funny to grab attention to your brand.

Amul is a great example for contextual marketing. It isn’t an ecommerce brand, but it does give you the right inspiration for your brand.

#4 Reduce Abandoned Cart

One of the biggest challenges faced by the ecommerce industry today is abandoned cart. This means the person browses on your website and adds items to the cart, but doesn’t end up buying it. To put it straight, these are sales you are losing out on!

You can help resolve this issue by putting a recovery strategy in place. Prepare an email series that reminds them of the abandoned items in their carts. You can entice them by offering a discount and reaching out to them during sale season.

Shopify is a platform that provides abandoned cart recovery options. Or, your can go for any ecommerce marketing automation tool, like Drip, ActiveCampaign etc.

Read more- Shopify vs Woocommerce

#5 Speak The Native Language

The one thing that is easy for the ecommerce industry and not a physical business space is the ability to reach the entire world. A website is accessible to people in all countries and if you are expanding to international business, e-commerce is a good way to do it.

When you do reach out to other countries you need to localise your marketing tactics and make content that is relatable to them. The famous quote- “When in Rome, do what the Romans do.” Reach out to people across the world by providing translation features on your store.

#6 Be Creative With Website Interaction

It is your business, you can do anything with it. You set the rules and regulations, and you can tweak it to your fancy. To stand out from your competition, be creative in aspects they haven’t explored. For example, your resources section could be more interactive and humorous. You can have fun FAQs answers and add weird facts to your knowledge base. Your website design can be creative with visually pleasing videos, animations and graphics.

Just make everything about your store unique.

Visit- Printrove Website

#7 Ask For Product Reviews

This might seem like a redundant marketing tip but we are focusing on why and how you can benefit from product reviews. You most certainly will get a reality check on how your product is doing and where the scope of improvement is, but you can also use product reviews to keep your customers engaged.

Most people won’t buy your product if they don’t see enough good product reviews on your product page. You gain their trust with the amount of reviews you display. It gives them confidence to pull out their wallets.

You can ask your customers directly to give a review of the product and ensure that your product review forms are easy and don’t take up too much time or effort.

In conclusion..

Marketing is an unpredictable function and you may have to deal with things you hadn’t accounted for. But, a good marketer will always rise to the occasion and find a way out of the situation with wit and grace. You just need to be alert and tap potential marketing tactics that could be the big break your business needs!