We’ve learned many things from lockdown, but perhaps none more that the fact that adding an “e” to your commerce can take your business to a whole different level. Not only will it allow you to easily attract returning customers who know and love your brand, but it will give your business visibility to those who don’t. But it’s not just that simple, unfortunately. There are things you need to know while building, maintaining, and promoting your site that you may not be aware of, so we’ve decided to help you get going down the right track. 

Design matters. 

The competition online is fierce, so trying to capture a shopper’s interest with an outdated, slow, and unprofessional-looking site is almost worse than not having a site at all. Ideally speaking, quality content should matter more than the cover (we all know how the saying goes), but George Eliot, who coined this phrase back in 1860 didn’t know diddly squat about online presence.

Getting professional help in this respect means shelling out some cash in advance, but the benefits it can reap you in the long run make this expense 100% necessary. Start finding the right design team by reviewing the firm or designer’s own website. That is their calling card and it can help you see what’s possible. In Apricot’s case, not only can the company offer top-notch design, but it can make sure it is interactive and reactive to all devices. 

Dedicate Time to Building Your Traffic

While fantastic ideas and great pricing are a good start, you won’t sell anything if the market doesn’t know about you. Building a platform for sales is the place to start, but driving traffic to your site is the next truly important step and that takes effort on your part, as well as anyone you decide to work with to build the site or brand. 

Social media campaigns, great SEO practices, and other tips abound in this area, but it’s all about what you put into it. Delivering a strong message and building a consistent client base is key. Here are some ideas for how to do that. <<LINK TO “NOW WHAT” ARTICLE>>

Make Sure Your Platform is Solid

Finding the right hosting solution is key here. If you are accepting any form of payments online or saving payment details from your clients, security, scalability, and customer support are absolute musts. This isn’t something you can watch a youtube video on and become an expert overnight, so putting your trust in a seasoned host with excellent communication channels to fix the odd bug here and there will help you and your business tremendously. 

Apricot warns clients not to try to manage it themselves until they feel completely comfortable, as mistakes can be costly for both the business and the clients. 

Do What You Do Best

To launch a successful e-commerce business, you should be able to focus your energies on what you excel at: growing and scaling your business, for example. Having a team dedicated to maintaining your site, optimizing content for digital growth, managing your digital advertising strategy, growing and addressing your mailing lists, and implementing social media outreach will free you up to focus on what’s important.

Listen to Your Customers

Sending out surveys, and investing in getting focus group feedback is a great way to ensure that you, your product, and your online presence is pointing in the right direction. People can often focus on what’s broken more than what’s working, so don’t be discouraged if not all the feedback you get is positive. However, engaging with them and taking their constructive criticism into account could win your brand loyal and devoted customers.

Measure Your Success

As you look at your analytics and sales records, make sure to compare your figures in a way that makes sense, as e-commerce is often seasonal, with high months and low months. Taking a year-to-year comparison at the start is likely the best foot forward. All in all, be patient and consistent and you will see those numbers rise. Not only is that a testament to your product, but it’s also a testament to how you implemented your online strategy and whether or not you got the right help where you needed it.