Identify target customers and supercharge your online store for success

For entrepreneurs looking to take their businesses to a new level and introduce

new products and services, there isn’t a better platform for marketing than the

internet. Every other day, there would be a couple of new ecommerce stores

trying to stand up to the existing competition. Statistics suggest that there are a

minimum of 100,000 online stores from the US alone. However, this number

also doesn’t mean that all of these entrepreneurs have been successful. While the

market for online stores spreads across the globe, meeting customer demands

and coming up with unique ideas is really a difficult thing.

Considering the UK based stores again, only 40% are generating a

profit of more than £25,000 annually. So, how could you ensure that you

don’t fail in your venture? As it is, anyone with a computer, innovative ideas and

an internet connection can be a part of the selling online but to be successful, you

require doing much more than it. Here are a certain ways about it.

Presentation

The only drawback of ecommerce stores as compared to traditional brick and

mortar ones is that customers don’t get the actual feel of the product before

buying it. However, they continue looking for hints that will give a better idea of a

product. Experts suggest that presenting products with every possible detail

through textual content and imagery is very important. High resolution images,

HD videos, scale etc can be a motivating factor to increase sales.

Branding and customer support

Anything that looks good has more face/sale value. If you are targeting a

customer group, branding can help you connect emotionally, culturally and more

importantly visually. This will include things like a well defined/designed logo,

product designs following the trend, etc. As such, more than 90% of the

ecommerce stores have failed because of inconsistent branding and inability to

target customer groups. Following branding is customer support. Forrester

reports that 55% of traffic is directly related to the quality of customer support an

ecommerce store is providing. Customer support ranges from the landing page

design to the checkout process.

Social media marketing

Depending on your product type/category, social media can be a huge booster for

your ecommerce store traffic. Social media helps brands make a personal

connection with the targeted demographics. According to Syncline, over 85%

brands have been able to increase their rankings in search engine via social

marketing. Fedelta reports that 80% of modern customers rely on social media

for online purchases and decision making.

Fan following

While we say that social media is the best platform for online branding, just a

mere presence won’t do any good either. You should be trying to attract more

customers everyday and this will involve regular updates, email messages,

newsletters, etc. PC World says that newsletters can help cement your online

brand, creating intrigue and solidifying your niche in the industry/product

category.

However, the first thing will be to identify a customer base. Internet serves a

global marketplace but you need to be particular about your branding and

engaging customers who will have more reasons to relate to the product. It is only

through a passionate following that you can change the trend and play the part of

the leader. Modern customers look out for new things but it is the marketer’s job

to make them realize the unique advantages of their products.