Tuesday, July 21, 2020
CRM for Online Retail Business: Top Benefits
Today, the concept of shopping has dramatically changed. More and more people are buying from online retail stores. This might be due to various reasons, such as the convenience of buying things from home, saving valuable time, offering free shipping, providing an easy way for customers' to compare prices among various online retail stores, presenting customers' with less product prices when compared to the products available in physical store, and much more.
Have you ever purchased any products from an e-commerce store? How often do you purchase? What are your buying experiences? Are they delivering products on-time? How is the product quality? Is it good? Does your retail store offer customer support services? Are they quickly resolving your complaints and issues after the post-purchase? At a point of time, every customer, who purchases from an e-commerce store, will come across any one of these questions.
However, in this technology-driven day and age, the e-commerce industry is booming and growing rapidly. There are several industries that are coming up with online retail store ideas to attract a new stream of digital customers' to their businesses. But how can your business attract online customers' without having a proper strategy?
Utilize Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software to streamline all your online business activities, provide top-quality tailored customer experiences, as well as effectively manage the retail customer relationship.
Here are the top benefits for your e-commerce store if you invest in a CRM solution today:
1. Automate Repeated Workflows
Previously, sales people used to waste their valuable time sending follow-up emails to clients and customers' instead of focusing on their core sales operations - selling. Now, you can use CRM system to automate the repeated work flows such as sending off follow-up emails, as well as tracking the buyer's online activities.
For example: Your customer has recently purchased a smart phone from your store. Immediately, after the purchase you can use CRM system to send an individualized thank-you e-mail. After a week, you can use your CRM solution to automatically send a proposal list of smart phone accessories to your recent smart phone buyer. In addition, you can define an alert system focusing on customers' who are leaving your online store without purchasing anything. Use CRM system to track your lost customers' activities, monitor interested products, and the browsing history of your lost customers' in order to send them the relevant products with discount prices.
2. Understand Online Customers' Needs
In this highly competitive business environment, it is imperative for businesses to have a full-blown picture of its customers. Use CRM system to automatically track and monitor your web customers' current needs, interests, tastes, preferences, age, income, demographics, past communications, buying histories, etc. The system then records all the customers' analysis in the centralized CRM database. This analysis along with up-to-date records on each customer will help the marketing, customer support, and sales team to improve their productivity as well as boost their efficiency. Additionally, tracking your customers' online social media activities will enable you to take note on your current customers' needs and buying preferences.
3. Boosts Positive Customer Experiences
CRM is an invaluable tool for online retail stores to keep track of their lost customers, detect and prevent the fraudulent transactions, and provide an easy checkout process. It will help you by providing the right information to your online buyers. For instance, if one of your online customers has asked you the question, "Where is my current order status?"
Then, you can use CRM system to provide your customer with an immediate response. In CRM software, you can track the intuitive order status as well as the comprehensive history lookup of your customers'. The data obtained from your CRM system will help you in providing accurate status information, which can "wow" your customers and foster an overall positive customer experience.
An e-commerce CRM system is helpful for businesses by facilitating every-day tasks, increasing visibility into the selling process, establishing more personalized shopping experiences, and driving a higher number of sales. Effectively utilize the solutions of the cloud-based CRM system to generate the maximum profits for your online retail store.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/9917642
Monday, July 20, 2020
6 Challenges an Estore Owner Faces and How to Overcome Them
The Internet is one of the revolutionary innovations of the twentieth century. It connects people from across the globe. A place where we can get almost anything. And to businesses, it gives new dimensions by letting them add new avenues and explore their industry further.
Yes, you heard it right. Today people are not using it just to connect with each other but millions of businesses have come online as well. Big e-commerce companies like Flipkart, Amazon, and Snapdeal paves the way for small and medium-sized enterprises to come online and connect, serve customers from across the globe.
And looking at the constant market growth of eCommerce solutions, today, thousands of businesses are online connecting with their customers. An eCommerce market is a proof that online is the place to be if you want to make your business global.
But, a lot of heart and sweat goes in running an online estore. If you are a business owner, thinking to set up your online store but stopping because of the challenges or don't have a clear idea of the challenges you might face and how to overcome them, then don't worry, we've got you covered.
Let's dive deep into the challenges you might face while setting up your estore online and how you can overcome them.
1) Developing an Online estore:
This is the first step to take your business online. You can hire an experienced IT company that provides ecommerce development solutions and understands your needs and business requirements clearly. They will help you with developing and setting up your online store. Not only that but slowly as your company grows they will also add new features according to your business's requirements.
A good ecommerce solution provider will make sure your online store is easy to navigate, has a good UI/UX, and that the theme of the website matches your company's logo, mission, and vision.
2) Managing your Online Presence:
Your technical partner's work does not end by just developing your website. You can choose to opt for their extra services like digital marketing to reach the right audience or you can choose to do it yourself as well. The aim is to promote your brand and products online via SEO, PPC, content marketing, or many different techniques. This will help you have a good online presence on different platforms, increase traffic on your website thereby increasing your revenue. All these strategies will eventually help you in growing your business, taking your business global, and getting more customers.
3) Getting and Retaining Customers:
This is one of the major challenges that most companies face. With the ever-growing ecommerce market, you need to provide value for your customers' money to stay ahead of the competition.
As customers are the king of any business, good service is the key to get and retain the customers. Look at the products and services provided by your competitors and learn from them as to what other things you provide your customers. Providing valued service will slowly but surely help you to grow your business. Ask your customers to share their feedback once they make a purchase with you.
Feedback plays a vital role in any online business. Most customers check reviews before making a purchase. So, this can definitely be one of the ways to get new customers.
4) Reaching to Customers:
As a business owner, you need to understand the ways of reaching out to your customers and vice versa. Create a unified platform for them to reach out to you hassle-free. Or you can branch out and create social media accounts, online customer support, toll-free numbers, customer portals, etc.
If your customers face any issues with your product or service and if you are just a few clicks away resolving their issues, then this will help your reputation as a brand. Nowadays, customers are writing their issues on social media platforms as well. So, your support staff needs to be active on these platforms to answer their queries as and when they occur.
5) Cart Abandonment:
Most of the estore owners have this problem. If the customers don't find the checkout process to be easy then there are chances they will abandon the cart. With the help of your technical partner or ecommerce web development company make sure to develop the checkout process as simple as possible. Make sure it has features like multiple online payment methods, auto-fill address, etc. so it becomes easy for you to deliver products and make your customers happy.
6) Data Security:
This one is a big challenge with the continuous rise in online data theft but you need to attend to it sincerely. As an online estore owner, you will have sensitive data of your customers like name, address, card details, mobile numbers, etc. So, maintaining and keeping them secure is your responsibility. Make sure that your technology partner is using the updated algorithms to keep the data secure.
Final words:
Taking your business online and maintaining it can be a difficult task but once you understand the way the internet works, running an online business becomes easy. Ecommerce platforms can help you reach a larger audience, grow, and leave a mark in the world.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/10316977
Friday, July 17, 2020
Digital or Physical Business: Which One Is Right for Me?
When looking for new business ideas, the question often comes up whether you should start a physical or digital business. Most people think that a physical business is more legitimate somehow.
However, when you learn that a digital business is just as legitimate and profitable as a physical business, with lower barriers to entry, you may decide that a digital business is just the ticket you need to become a new business owner.
How Much Money Do I Have to Invest?
For a business with physical products or a physical location, it's more than likely you're going to need upwards of $100K to even get started. If you're interested in a specific business, do the research to find out what it would take. But, if you don't have money in the bank that you can afford to lose, then a physical business may not be the best idea for you.
How Much Time Can I Spend on My Business?
If you need to work a normal full-time job while you're starting your business because you don't have savings to live on, then it's possible that the best choice for you is a digital business. This is because you can start it in your spare time with nothing more than a computer and internet connection.
What Skills Do I Have Right Now That Translate to a Business?
It sounds wonderful to start a food truck or a restaurant but what is the reality of that? Have you ever worked in a restaurant as a manager? If not, your learning curve will be extremely large. Even if you're currently a chef at a restaurant, making money as an owner is a lot harder than you may think - although of course, it is possible.
If you've managed to sock away enough money to live for a couple of years on savings, you may make it work. But what if you instead took those skills and used them to start a digital business? You could start a YouTube channel cooking your favorite meals, teaching others to do it and make just as much money faster with no investment other than time.
Do I Have Technical Skills or Can I Hire People to Help Me?
If you don't know how to create a website, run social media, or get online, you may have a higher learning curve with a digital business than if you did have those skills. But likewise, you'll have to learn technology for a physical business - such as a point of sale system, how to pay your taxes online, and so forth.
No matter which you choose, there are technical skills you're going to need to learn. In both cases, you'll need to hire people to help but with a digital business, you can often find people to help you less expensively than if they had to come to your shop.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/10159497
Thursday, July 16, 2020
Search Engine Optimization - In-House or Out-Source?
SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is, and has been, a really hot topic for some time now. Though this is not my area of expertise, I do have some thoughts. As with any tasks that you are considering whether to outsource or bring in-house, there are some pretty easy indicators as to which option will work the best for you and your business goals.
We all know that most of the tasks that we choose to undertake, especially as small business owners, can potentially take time away from the business of running our business. We have a limited number of hours in the day and we have to ensure that we are making good choices in how those hours are spent. I am a firm believer in work/life balance. Take into consideration the true cost of doing it in-house. Are you diverting yourself away from other necessary duties? An agency or consultant may have already cultivated that know-how and can do it more quickly and efficiently.
If you choose to manage your SEO in-house you potentially have more control over the how, when, and how often aspect. In other words you have total control; however, with that total control comes total responsibility. This option can work very well for you, if you, or someone on your team, is web savvy, has a keen understanding of keyword and content development, and has the time/passion to drive the project.
Outsourcing, on the other hand, can free you up for the tasks that you got into running the business that you are passionate about. By choosing a partner who is up to speed on the latest information and tools for optimization functions, ranking, and content, you are freeing some of those hours in the day that would be spent marketing (valuable to grow your business) to spend on maintaining your optimum work/life balance (valuable to grow your business and maintaining balance). If you outsource SEO, these companies and consultants have their own experts, who use dynamic methods to investigate the leading search engines on a regular basis. It's what they do all day every day and the have the expertise to get it done quickly and efficiently.
The choice comes down to making an honest assessment as to your goals, abilities, and passions. Remember, we are in business because we are passionate about what we do. The key to work/life balance is to ensure that we wear just enough hats to keep us challenged, but not overburdened. Successful entrepreneurs surround themselves with others who are smarter than they are to compliment them in the areas they are less knowledgeable about. It's okay to say we aren't experts in all aspects of business. We are only human so focus on what you are good at and work with experts to supplement those other areas.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/7767351
Wednesday, July 15, 2020
Why Small Business Owners Struggle to Make a Profit
Stop throwing your money away on marketing that doesn't work!
Have you ever wondered why your hard-earned marketing dollars fail to get a great return for you?
Have you ever wondered how you might improve your marketing return without spending more money?
Do you want to know why most marketing spending is a waste of time, effort and money?
Stop wasting your valuable time, effort and hard-earned money on marketing that does not work!
Understanding the purpose of marketing is the first step to making your marketing work better for you. By knowing what you are trying to do with your marketing activities and utilisation of those limited resources called dollars, you will dramatically improve the return on investment. So, understanding what marketing is all about is fundamental to getting optimum results and in this article I am going to demonstrate to you just what you need to know.
One of the most common mistakes small business owners make is to spend money on the wrong type of marketing. They spend money on something called tactical marketing. That is, how their marketing dollar will be spent. Things such as, "should we use AdWords or not, how much should we spend, what key words should we target, should we do direct mail or not, is my website due for an upgrade?" In other words, how to spend the advertising dollar as opposed to spending their money firstly on strategic marketing.
Strategic marketing is the message they want to send and who to send the message to. In other words, who is our most likely buyer, what are their pain points, what problem do they want solved, what solution do we have that is unique and what is the decision-making process those prospects are likely to follow.
Marketing is about understanding the needs, wants and desires of a market, how those needs, wants and desires are currently being met by competitors in the market and how you can take advantage of the opportunities that exist in those markets to make a profit.
To make the most profit from any market you want to create a market dominating position. That is a position that once identified can be communicated to your target audience with the clear understanding that you are the obvious choice for selection to solve their pain points.
This is done by focussing your advertising messages clearly to evoke an action from the prospective customer that starts them on the buying journey with you. It is not necessarily a message, in the first instance, to buy now! Unless it is an emergency service that you are offering, Your message should be to engage the prospect in the buying journey you would have developed that takes them through the identified buying process you discovered in your research. This could be a process involving a number of logical steps. You must take prospects on that journey.
Along the journey you will need to maintain some form of communication and contact with the prospect and that is one of the reasons why tactical marketing fails. It tends to focus on, "do it now actions". Buy now, call now, act now. Most buyers are not ready to, "do it now". Most buyers, in fact some would say more than 98% of buyers are not ready to buy now. Most buyers are still going along the buying journey. Only as many as 2% of buyers are at the end of that journey and are ready to act now.
If only 2% of buyers are ready to buy now and you have focussed your marketing activities on tactical marketing, i.e. using AdWords and bidding for keywords that get a lot of attention, then you are targeting 2% of the potential buyers for your product or service. The end results are poor returns and a tendency to blame the medium used for the poor results. AdWords works great when done right.
Put another way, tactical marketing means you are financially contributing to the research project of the other 98% of potential buyers who may just end up buying from your competitors. If 98% of buyers today are searching for information, after all we live in the information age, then why would you want to do that and not get to control the rest of the conversation, the education process with those same potential buyers?
Strategic marketing on the other hand identifies how to add to the education process and once a potential buyer engages with you, you want to capture them to be able to control the conversation, with you, AWAY from your competitors. This is what will provide you with the greatest return for your dollar. This is what will turn your business into a profit-making machine.
Focus on strategic marketing activities first. Get your messages right before you spend your hard-earned dollars making advertising platform owners rich. Let other competitors flounder around educating your prospects, but only until you decide to engage them in your conversation. Then keep them under control and watch the results grow.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/10169620
Tuesday, July 14, 2020
How to Overcome Competition in the Marketplace?
That there is stiff competition in every field may be an understatement. Thanks to such a super-tyrannical competitive environment, smooth sailing in the business world is a Utopian dream. Therefore, as an entrepreneur or a marketing manager of a firm, you may worry as to how to overcome the competition you are facing in your marketplace. Of course, this is easier said than done. But at the same time, it is not impossible as well. You have to take a few firm steps in order to surmount the competition and make your presence felt in the marketplace. Let us find out how you should go about it.
1. Identify the issues your prospects face and provide solutions to them.
Before you launched your business, you might have done considerable research. Of course, you may have started the business with a lot of hopes as well. But are research and hope enough to overcome competition and sustain in your market? The answer is an emphatic "No." You should keep watching your customers closely because they are the pillars using which you can build the edifice of your business. Unless you satisfy them in the right manner, you cannot sustain in your field, not to talk of growing in it. To put it differently, you should constantly strive to fulfill the expectations of your customers. In other words, you must always strive to find the "pain points" of your customers and try to provide solutions to them.
2. Be wise with your pricing.
As an entrepreneur, you have to earn profits. Making profits in the business is not a sin if it is done in the right manner. Not only that, your aim should be to earn only reasonable profits. If you price your products or services outrageously with an aim to make unreasonable gains, you will lose your existing customers very soon. You cannot add new customers also. In fact, customers have become very smart and they want to have products or services of the highest quality at reasonable prices. Simply put, they want the best value for the money they spend. Therefore, you should price what you are offering wisely.
3. Develop an "innovative mindset."
Before you take up a task, delve deep to find out the various ways using which you can get it completed. In fact, experts point out that there can be more than one way to do tasks. Therefore, you should never be rigid in your approach. You should develop an innovative mindset so that you can think laterally and find out how to do a task in a better manner. This approach will get you rich dividends because apart from completing the tasks more quickly, you will be able to reduce the costs as well. This will help in increasing your profit margins.
In addition, you must be ready to embrace the latest tools and techniques as well. Of course, it may not be possible for you to adopt all the new innovations. But you can choose the ones that suit your business and products or services for working smartly and for reducing your costs.
4. Always aim to enhance the quality of services you render to your customers.
Never forget the fact that without customers, your business cannot exist. You should, therefore, always aim to improve the quality of the service you render to your customers. Only if your customers remain satisfied, they will stick to you. Otherwise, they will switch loyalties.
Even if you adopt these steps, you cannot be certain that you will be able to overcome competition. Nonetheless, it may turn out to be a grave mistake if you do not adopt them. Remember this and keep taking these steps on a consistent basis.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/10241651
To Survive, You Need to Follow the Bubbles
Whether you are an entrepreneur or small business enterprise, one thing is for certain, we are all experiencing some form of disruption in our business as a result of Covid-19. For a very small handful of businesses, this unprecedented change is a positive one for their business, while a significantly greater number have not been so fortunate.
Sadly, we are seeing more businesses experiencing the negative effects and emotions of the virus outbreak, turning the business and its employees lives upside down. We now all need to learn how to navigate our lives and businesses during this time of life upended.
In helicopter training, students must participate in an underwater survival training; a simulation of being submerged in water where they must find their way out of the aircraft. As air bubbles rise to the surface, individuals are instructed to follow the bubbles to escape and make their way to the surface for air-to survive.
For many businesses, they are upside down because of the pandemic and are struggling to get right side up and survive.
Like so, so many entrepreneurs, I too, have experienced a myriad of emotions and thoughts about how to operate my business during these challenging times. I've had days when I'm totally upbeat about the free time available to take on new projects or learn something new.There are also times when I feel stuck, sad, anxious, lost and wonder what tomorrow will be like and how will I get through this.
Then I remembered a saying my grandfather would tell my mother. He would tell her not to worry about tomorrow, because tomorrow never comes, because tomorrow becomes today.
Remembering that saying gave me a new perspective and the energy I needed to take a big deep breath, follow the bubbles and then kick like hell to reach the surface.
Now with fresh air in my lungs and a clear mind, I'd like to share with you just a few things that I am doing to keep my mind in the game of 'this too shall pass and I want to be ready for when it does'.
Review your current strategies and change course where necessary
Last year in Q4, I implemented a new prospecting strategy using LinkedIn that was gaining traction. Through the process we unobtrusively requested a connection and a subsequent non-salesy follow up. We were seeing some positive results. That process has now been put on hold.
I'm of the belief thatat this time people are not looking for connections for business purposes. New business connections simply aren't on their radar right now. They are looking for the human connection that we can provide. Therefore, we are using the LinkedIn platform to offer hope and inspiration to others to lift them up so they too can 'grab a breath of fresh air'.
Everything I do around business marketing and operations needs to be reviewed and accessed to determine its relevance in this upside-down world. If it doesn't feel appropriate or doesn't add value to the business or to our clients, it needs to be restructured to what does feel right.
Avoid the Analysis Paralysis
Within my industry of speaking, training and consultancy which involved working with large and small groups of people, it was inevitable that business would slow down.
Even with that knowledge I would still go to office to work and think about what I needed to do differently and then got on with it. As the weeks went by, I watched as the rest of the world began experiencing their first cases of the virus. The numbers multiplied so quickly that my attention moved from my daily work activities to one of what-the-hell is going on?
I became consumed by thinking about what I should or shouldn't be doing? Can I afford to keep this person or that program or that app? Should I go out or should I stay in? Will there be enough groceries on the shelves? Will my family be safe in another country? If I sneeze or cough once or twice, am I sick? How long will my money last?
I looked up and realized that I spent an entire week obsessing to the point where I got absolutely nothing done. Nada, zilch, zero.
When I realized what happened, I stopped and turned off everything around me. I sat quietly and asked myself, what would I be doing differently if all this disruption wasn't going on? How have I operate my business during the quiet holiday seasons or other big lulls in my business?
The answer was that I still got up, went to the office and worked on the projects that I never seemed to have time for.
Allowing myself to stay in the place of reflection, I was able to take a hard look at what is going on and ask myself some key questions such as:
How can I continue to be of service to my business community?
What do I need to do differently and what will remain the same?
What is the best way for me to spend my time?
How can I protect myself and my family during this time?
How can I support my local community?
What are some ways that I can stay positive and focused on my work?
By identifying what is important to me has given me a sense of direction. I can follow the bubbles, grab some air and get busy.
Take stock of what you do and do not need
It doesn't matter what size the business is, cashflow is essential to the survival of the company. First things first. Assess what you have right now in the bank-not what is projected to come in as there may be delays with payments.
Determine how long your funds will carry you. Identify what you do and don't need to keep your business operational.When prospecting was moved further down the priority list, the decision was made to temporarily halt our Google AdWords campaigns.
Do your utmost to keep your staff or Virtual Assistants employed. Remember that they too need to feed their families and keep a roof over their heads.
To be honest, my immediate reaction was to do just the opposite as a means of preserving cash flow. But when I thought about the impact on their livesafter putting myself in their shoes,I immediately changed my view on this.
Now here's an interesting side note about that decision. I suddenly felt energized. It instilled a sense of purpose in me. It meant I needed to get refocused, to create a plan of action for what to work on immediately that would benefit my business community. I'm feeling empowered because now I know what I want to do to help others in the coming days, weeks and months.
Create a plan for your immediate and remote family
It was at the end of January that covid-19 reached the shores of Singapore and within two weeks, it had escalated to the point the country raised the DORSCON level to orange. It was that evening when my husband and I knew it was time for us to get serious about how the virus would impact our businesses, our finances and possibly the future food supply to our small country.
Over the next few days, we assessed our finances, took inventory of our medicines and food supply in the pantry. We created our family plan of action. Being an army brat, I remember how my father would tell us that you need to have a 'cash tuck' in case of emergencies. He recommendation was to take $100 and convert it to one hundred $1 bills so that you had small bills to use in the event retailers only took cash but had no change for large bills.
We also created a family chat group so that we could keep in touch with each other at a moment's notice.
Once the plan of action was in place, I again felt that I was able to catch my breath and then get on with the day-to-day as best I could. To get back work, back to living.
Give yourself a news break
I'm sure you've heard this one before. This is the time to be informed so you do need to tap into what is happening in your immediate community and around the world.
What I suggest is that you spend no more than 10-15 minutes in the morning and in the evening listening to or reading the news. It's way to easy to get sucked under water again where you feel like you can't catch your breath and a state of uncertainty starts all over again. When this happens, just follow the bubbles.
It used to be that technology was rapidly changing our world. Today it's an invisible virus that is changing our world daily. Even so, if we follow the bubbles, we can find out way to the surface, get some air within our lungs and clear our minds, we can start the day anew and right-side up.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/10271290
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