Welcome to The Journey.
Today we're gonna talk about
how to stand out in a growing e-commerce market.
So customer spending has definitely been transitioning
for over the past decade
from less in-person shopping and more e-commerce.
The top 10 US retail giants
like Amazon, Walmart and Best Buy
now hold roughly 60% of the market share
and they're not slowing down.
And while there's still plenty of spending
to go around for stores outside of that top 10,
new stores are launching all the time.
So this isn't the time to just passively sit back
and expect the e-commerce wave will just shower you in cash,
as much as we all want that.
So if you currently don't have an online presence,
now's the time to do it.
And if you do have an e-commerce site,
make sure that it's optimized.
Depending on where your business now,
this may mean that it's time to invest
in some of the essentials for your e-commerce business,
just to make sure that you're able to stand out.
Now, Emma, what are some of those essentials
that you need to grow your e-commerce business?
Great question, Nealey, newsletter and email management.
I know newsletters are a great way to update your customers
or reach potential new customers, and emails,
another great way to just get promotions out there.
That's definitely how I've spent more money in the past year
is through an email promotion that grabbed my attention.
And not only that,
but there is enough research that really shows
that email newsletters kind of outperform
and are more effective than social media.
So Emma, what makes email marketing so effective?
It'll help you create new leads.
It also is going to position you as the expert that you are.
In addition to that,
newsletters are great for highlighting new products,
that's how I always stay in the loop
on things that are trending,
and you can tailor them to individual customers
to help bolster conversions.
And hey, I'm pretty sure we did a video on that here.
So another essential to growing your e-commerce business,
the data, the analytics, the tools,
you've gotta dig into the data
to better understand the consumer behavior.
As well as providing just
that increased personalized approach to marketing,
businesses are using this data to respond to changing needs,
measure their marketing efforts,
manage inventory and predict future trends,
increase conversions, determine product strategy,
analyze marketing efforts, minimize fraud risk
and improve customer service.
Once you have access to all this detailed information,
you can make better informed decisions about your direction,
reduce cost, and really maximize your overall earnings.
Well, some online stores,
they attempt to compete with price.
This is not always the best decision financially.
So I'd advise you to take the route of personalization.
Survey after survey highlights the importance
of personalization in e-commerce.
In fact, one study shows that
increased conversion rates by nearly 8%,
and most shoppers, about 75% say that
they appreciate the personalized approach
of an advertisement
or an offering that feels catered to them.
And if that's not enough to convince you,
let's look at some of the other benefits of personalization,
starting off with an obvious one, reduced bounce rates,
increased customer loyalty,
as well as conversions, enhanced customer communications,
the list goes on.
Now, think of any large e-commerce store
that you buy from.
The chances that they've use personalization
to make you buy again is pretty high.
And this means that they're gonna send you content
about products that you're either interested in,
you're most likely to respond to, or are newly released
and relevant to your previous purchases.
I know me personally, I just bought a Nintendo switch
from Best Buy and then a week or two later,
I got an email from them about some fancy accessories
that will just enhance the gaming experience
that I may or may not have purchased right away.
So, it works, having that personalized approach
of making sure that the content that you give out
to your audience, it fits their needs at the right time.
So let's talk about social media.
One of the obvious things of social media is it,
of course, helps you to engage with your customers,
but also can do a lot of things
to help boost your e-commerce sales.
You can do things such as send out promotional offers.
You can also see what other customers are buying
'cause they can go online and share that purchase,
which just helps spread word of mouth.
You can even do targeted campaigns, which I really liked
because then you can hone in on your ideal customer.
And in addition to that, you can host contests
which are super fun, and it's a really efficient way
to get some user generated content, which is very effective
'cause then it's your customers talking about you
and spreading word of mouth about you,
essentially it's a testimonial.
However, not every e-commerce owner has the time
nor the resource to take on social media,
it's full-time job.
And this is where some essential tools
will come into play and be totally invaluable.
Let's not forget about dedication to customer service,
and there's really no getting away from it.
Good customer relations are essential to your growth.
Most consumers say that poor customer service
influences their buying behavior.
So if you give bad customer support,
they're likely going to shop somewhere else.
The survey also revealed that most shoppers
about 67% expect customer service to be efficient.
So, engaging your customers online helps them feel heard,
and be especially responsive
when it comes to reviews and recommendations.
So two out of three people expect a response
from a company via social media within the same day.
So, you wanna practice excellent customer service,
here's what you should do,
monitor your Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, et cetera,
and be sure to respond to all feedback,
whether it's positive or negative,
and that will really help to boost
your online customer service.
And so by responding as quickly as possible
and responding to your customers,
whether negative or positive feedback is given to you,
it can really show your customers that you care,
that you're listening, and it's impressive.
But look, we get it, most small to medium sized businesses
don't have the time or resource.
So consider maybe doing some automated responses
or reaching out for help from another company.
I mean, really, for instance,
with looking at your analytics tool
to really improve your response times,
or you can use specific CRM software
such as HubSpot or Zoho CRM,
which has many automated responses.
And even social media aspects,
you can set up automated responses
if someone reaches out through Instagram DM
or even Facebook DM and give them a list of options
to either get information about your business,
answer general questions, or just, hey,
I'm gonna be around from eight to five
and I'll get your response then.
So, a couple of easy ways to have that automation aspect
so you don't feel like you're always working.
So the shift to e-commerce is not going to slow down,
and the global events have pushed us
even more to shopping online.
So, consumer behavior, it's changed,
and the old ways of shopping,
the old buying habits are gone.
And hey, if you haven't made the move to e-commerce yet,
or if your store is really lacking the tools
to make it a success, now might be a good time
to optimize your online offerings.
All right, that's a wrap.
You just learned how to stand out
in a growing e-commerce market.
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This is The Journey, we'll see you next time.