The business I was talking with last week has more than a million customers but making fundamental mistakes. They’re an offline business, established in the ’80s. Sure they sell a little online, but actually it’s as little as possible. Not really changed since the early 2000s. Totally missing the fact that their customers are doing so much more online.
Online sales are growing by around 15% a year. And ALL of that growth is coming from offline sales. We all want faster, easier, smoother solutions at one click.
Online sales growth is at the expense of offline sales. It’s not new money. So if your online sales aren’t growing fast, your offline sales are shrinking, or at least getting more expensive to you.
Back to this particular business. Their main problems?
- They don’t really know their customer.
- They’re doing no paid traffic.
- Their main offers were always promoted too late.
- Their marketing team was confused and lacking direction.
- Most of all, they were depending on “opinions instead of facts”. Waiting for their CEO and GM to say what they liked. But remember, “You are not your customer!”
The only opinions that matter are the ones tested with wallets.
And now it’s easy to do this. Give an offer. Run a split test. Drop the poorest converting one and run another. Repeat. Whether it’s a paid offer or an optin providing information that you know and your customers would like to know. Keeping it as simple as possible. Going to market as fast as possible.
That’s sometimes why the best thing you can do is to head for the beach. Daydream. Imagine. Consider what you know about your customer. What your business looks like at its best.
Looks tempting, doesn’t it. Now you can justify going to the beach as a business improvement exercise. Really!
Take time out to let good ideas in. To stop the same old, same old. To imagine your better reality. For your staff, your customers, for you.
You don’t have to come up with all the answers. After all, it really doesn’t matter what you think.
Your success depends on getting the right numbers of traffic, conversions and sales – to do that you need to get great people around you.
People who understand how to manipulate the internet, not be manipulated.
Who can create a fast-loading site for you with options to sell online which can also split-test to see what works.
Which landing page or homepage works best.
So once you’ve taken time off and considered what your business could be looking like, it’s time to get in touch with people who can make that happen for you.
Imagine how that will feel.
Your Life, Better.
It’s time, you know. To get the answers. To know the future’ll be bright.
Find out where you get the most traffic, the most optins, the best qualifying leads, the most conversions to actual sales, the best spending customers and clients who are the most loyal and long-lasting?
Why Every Business Is Now An eCommerce Business
Every single business is now an eCommerce business – because that’s where your customers and clients are.
Source: https://www.forrester.com/report/The+Evolution+Of+Global+eCommerce+Markets/-/E-RES76121
Here are the top 10 e-commerce countries for web sales along with year-over-year growth:
- China: $672.01 billion (42.1%)
- U.S.: $349.06 billion (14.2%)
- U.K.: $99.39 billion (14.5%)
- Japan: $89.55 billion (14.0%)
- Germany: $61.84 billion (12.0%)
- France: $42.60 billion (11.1%)
- South Korea: $38.86 billion (11.0%)
- Canada: $26.83 billion (16.8%)
- Brazil: $19.79 billion (17.3%)
- Australia: $19.02 billion (9.3%)
The most recent data from the U.S. Commerce Department shows e-commerce accounted for all of 2015 retail sales growth. U.S. e-commerce grows 14.6% in 2015.
Source: https://www.internetretailer.com/2015/07/29/global-e-commerce-set-grow-25-2015
How To Improve Your eCommerce Business Sales and Conversions
First of all, recognise that your customers and clients are online even if your business isn’t.
Look at where your customers are. Most of all, Amazon. It’s the world’s #1 retailer. If your business is not right for being online, at least have an Amazon affiliate account so that you can recommend relevant products and services to your people – and earn commission on what’s purchased.
When you have a million customers, that’s a no brainer. Even when you have 100 customers, it’s still relevant.
So Let’s Look At Your Biggest Problems:
- Making it too hard for people to buy – this is the BIG one
- No way for people to find out quickly what they want to know
- No clear branding
- Lack of Offers (by which I don’t mean discounts, just exactly what are you wanting your customers to do and buy now?)
- No coherent campaigns
- No optins
- Inadequate SEO Optimisation
- Poor presence on shopping channels and/or no affiliate networks set up
- No clear USP (unique selling proposition) or CBA (customer buying advantage)
- No dominance with strapline, hashtags
- No affiliate, influencer, interstitial arrangements
- No funnels, optins or engagement
- Poor social media engagement and lack of understanding of how it works
- No tracking of leads – sales – repeat journey
- Limited ROAS (return on ad spend) knowledge
- No strategy yet for customer acquisition:customer lifetime value
- No IP in terms of customer benefit – wherever possible, it’s best to trademark your “process” to communicate the benefits
The ROAS is a biggie too. If you don’t master paid traffic, you’re not in control of your business. You’re just running on hope. It’s that simple. Which to choose? So many choices – Amazon PPC, Bing, DNTX, Facebook Ads in all their variations, Google PPC Adwords and Display, Instagram, LinkedIn, Outbrain, Pinterest (in the US), Reddit, Redirect, StumbleUpon, Twitter, Tumblr, Yandex, Yahoo, YouTube including the new Spaces, 7 Search…
Launching a new service or product. Maybe crowdfunding is the answer for you. Gone are the days you could just throw up an idea and hit the jackpot, though. Now, upfront advertising spend is essential including an anticipation campaign. Then choosing the right platform – maybe Crowdfunder, GoFundMe, Kickstarter, Indiegogo, Pozible… and so many more.
It’s not your fault – running a business is time-consuming. An established business can get overwhelmed with too many messages and lack of clarity. A new business, product or service is like having a new baby, required dedicated time, attention and love otherwise it will die at worst or fail to thrive at best.
Let’s start with the first priority of your business. A good first step would be identifying your positioning statement or strapline. Sometimes called the “elevator pitch”, this is what you say when someone asks you about it. Sufficiently compelling to spark enough interest to find out more from your target audience. Our “Long & Short Copy” document helps you with this crucial first step.
You don’t want to be “just a number” to a big company nor to work on just one or two aspects of your business. You don’t want to be limited by geography or pay someone else’s large overheads and get poor value for money. You definitely don’t want to work with a marketing provider who’s poor – in financial or communication terms!
We work closely with our handpicked clients and liaise with trusted, best-value specialists globally for specific tasks. Above all, we empower you to get exactly what you need and understand the process, so that you and your team grow, becoming more capable of building your business in house.
Click here to get in touch and let’s get moving.
Your Life, Better.