6 Ways to Streamline your E-Commerce Channel
With e-commerce, we are continually moving towards buying everything we want or need online, then having it delivered preferably same the same day. Online shoppers & users also demand the process be as painless, quick, and easy as possible!
What is E–Commerce?
Ecommerce, also known as electronic commerce or internet commerce, refers to the buying and selling of goods or services using the internet, and the transfer of money and data to execute these transactions. Ecommerce is often used to refer to the sale of physical products online, but it can also describe any kind of commercial transaction that is facilitated through the internet.
Learn more about ecommerce services in Kenya
E-Commerce is the new norm for consumer shopping and offers immense opportunity for brands to expand their reach and increase conversions. Developing the optimal E-Commerce marketing channel will require strategic planning, in addition to ongoing monitoring and enhancements to ensure your brand connects with your customers in a meaningful, relevant way that maximize conversions along the buyer’s journey.
Taking the time to understand the customer journey on your E-Comm site, and adjusting for any gaps (refer to the checklist) will help to deliver the experience your customers expect – and the desired level of profitable interaction such as making sales and acquiring qualified leads for your services/ solutions or products. It is critical “to get it right”.
If it’s too cumbersome or time consuming to find you, or if customers find it difficult to get the information they need to make the purchase, they will just move on. Typically, you get one chance for a successful conversion.
Benefits of selling online
Nowadays, customers prefer the convenience and experience of shopping online, especially now with many more companies offering benefits and perks to online users such as – sign up coupons, flexible payment terms, returns, extra discounts for spend thresholds, free or discounted shipping, surprise (and delight) gifts with purchase as well as flash sales for special online products.
For online businesses & brands, there’s no denying that e-commerce offers immense benefits in reaching your target customer such as of expanded geographical reach and 24/7 customer accessibility, along with the potential for collecting valuable demographic information in the form of analytics from dashboards such as Google Analytics, Bing analytics or even Google search console.
As a business owner willing to go the e-commerce way, investing the time and resorces to develop a smooth digital user experience on your web platform is key to providing access to key information that enables online shoppers make an informed purchase decision.
Mobile optimization should be considered high on the list, with more than half of the online shoppers today utilizing smart phones, tablets or hand-held devices.
So what helps to create a seamless customer experience in an E-Commerce platform?
- Enhanced page elements – These are design features which assist online customers evaluate alternatives and increase conversion, such as videos, reviews, and product descriptions (info/specs). Also included are ‘call-to-action’ buttons that encourage the user to take an action leading them to the next stage of the buyer’s journey,
- Custom campaign landing pages – These are ‘special website pages. that are solely focussed on driving more engagement and conversions for specific solutions or products.
- An optimial check-out process to minimize time spent finalizing payment and delivery. Ideally, allow members the ability to save payment/shipping preferences
- Personalized and relevant recommendations – Upsells & cross-selling of products around the various content areas in the e-commerce store should be visible in areas such as the blog sidebar, header & footer banners, posters or even interstitial ads in selected areas.
- Live Support – Live support is key in generating more conversions in your e-commerce store. Toll-free calls, chat bots & online/ mobile chat systems enable you address sales inquiries or general queries faster, increasing your overall conversion-rate.
- Leverage SEO – Search engine optimization of your website pages and products with keyword-rich content to increase awareness and promotion of your products/services through organic search is also a must when aiming to increase conversions. There are 3 different kinds of SEO >> On-page, off-page & technical search engine optimization.
How can our E-commerce solutions add value to your online brand?
We develop custom WordPress e-commerce stores to manage and market products in your online shops. Whether an individual or business selling products or subscription services, your WordPress-based online store will enable your business acquire qualified leads, sell online, learn more about your ideal customer and products and provide business intelligence from website & digital marketing campaign data.
Below are some key features & functionality any good online store should have:
Key features
- Easily update-able online store for your products & solutions. We offer monthly inventory management for online store owners.
- Create sign-ups and user-accounts for your online store visitors.
- Multiple payment gateway integration such as VISA, PayPal, MasterCard and mobile money via vendors ssuch as PayPal and KOPO KOPO. These include – MPESA (‘Paybill’ & ‘Lipa Na MPESA’), Airtel Money, Telkom & MasterPass
- Stay helpful and human to your clients with Live chat messaging & automation (Chat & WhatsApp) for you and your team
- Measure online traffic & conversion-rate of your e-commerce store and different products. Learn what’s a hit or miss in your e-commerce store.
- Attract more customers by optimizing your products & services, offering discounted store prices for better online sales.
- Pricing Tables & Boxes for your store products in Kshs.
- Availability of Product reviews and ratings
- Well- optimized inventory (store items) to help you get noticed by users on search engines such as Google & Bing.
- V.A.T & Shipping costs addition if needed.
- Connected to Google Analytics & Google AdWords (PPC) dashboard if the need for Google or YouTube marketing campaigns arises
- Bulk Uploads & edits for many products in CSV or XML databases.
- Variable Products creation and quality checking.
- Point of Sale Systems
- Social Login features
- CRM management – Integrate a customer relationship management software to better workflow for various teams and departments in your organiation such as Zoho, SalesForce, HubSpot, Beatrix 24 or even Mailchimp and Google Sheets databases.
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