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Ecommerce Tools and Tactics to Boost Your Online Shop's Performance

Friday 5 October 2018

9 minute read

By Sarah Burns

If you're an ecommerce business you'll know just how fast the world of digital sales and technology changes.

Of course, no company should simply "follow the crowd", but it is imperative to keep on top of the new tools and tactics, as some of them may just boost your traffic and sales.

Key tools already making headway for 2019 are chatbots, UGC and digital wallets - we loooove Apple Pay!

Consider the following five tactics and tools for your ecommerce business and remember, don't jump on the bandwagon, but make a conscious decision about which may result in success for you (or ask us for advice!).

1. Chatbots

We're a digital race and we need answers to our random questions at 00.30am whilst falling deep into a trap of Wikipedia/Google/IMDB hell browsing.

Facebook has succeeded in developing a fantastic chatbot system for business pages and their users, HubSpot has created a free bot for users and there are so many other bots for websites of all shapes, sizes and sectors.

A chatbot is there for your visitors 24/7, meaning you don't need to be (that's nice isn't it?). It allows the user to feel warmly received, without major effort on your behalf - this is particularly ideal for ecommerce websites. Answers to regular queries such as delivery timescales, sizing information etc., can all be built in to your bot's bank of knowledge - easy!

2. Digital Wallets

We all know that people are now more comfortable than ever using their phones and tablets to browse the internet, watch serious documentaries on Netflix (funny cat videos) and catch up on whatever Trump is tweeting about this week... But what about their shopping habits?

Again, people are accustomed to online shopping, with online retail giants all working to make the experience easy, secure and efficient. SMEs can also provide a similar experience by adopting simple, digital wallet payments, as well as digital discount codes - for that added joy at the checkout!

Start with the basics and make sure you have PayPal as a payment option on your website, it's easy to do, but again, Thrive or any reliable development company should be able to help you get set up.

3. Review Marketing

Be open-minded to really engaging with review and comparison sites, as well as adding your own review function to your site and social media. Actively encouraging open and honest reviews can be of real merit to your business - especially as you start out.

Don't be deterred by negative reviews either - they can invoke trust in your brand and the way you respond to a "bad" review can win you customers anyway!

When a customer receives their product send a follow-up email requesting they leave a review - there's plenty of great services that allow you to do this, or you can do it as part of your inbound marketing funnel.

4. Influencer Marketing & UGC

One of our clients drives their success thanks to the niche in their market - health and fitness supplements - as this arena is most popularly littered with sporting and local celebrity influencers. All of these influencers provide great opportunities for brand awareness, traffic and engagement with prospects.

Start small - some of the best influencers, generally speaking - are content creators that you'd find on Instagram or Twitter - ordinary people who are 'popular' in your sector because of the content they themselves create. They are also more likely to ask for freebies or discounts in exchange for their efforts than large sums of money. It's probably best not to ask a Kardashian - or Beyonce.  

Some content creators will often share content about you because they love what you do, what you sell or how you work - this is User Generated Content (UGC) and is completely free for your company to use. Bear in mind the risks of UGC - it isn't yours so you can't claim it and it may go against your brand - you can't steer what they say about you, and what they portray may not be 100% accurate (but they do love you).

Chat to our team about the different ways you can refresh your ecommerce platform or evolve your online sales strategy.

If you're looking to embark on a website build project, whether it's completely from scratch or a site refresh, our ebook will give you the knowledge to make your project as stress-free as possible.

The Website Design Handbook for Businesses

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