As we explore the world of e-commerce there’s a number of things to be informed about before making a decision about your current or prospective business. Whenever you’re making a decision about your business always remember to consider the pros and cons and evaluate every step. With e-commerce it’s important to evaluate platforms, payment gateways and how you plan to generate leads to your online store. In our series ‘Demystifying E-commerce’ we will help you to evaluate e-commerce platforms, payment gateways, lead generation and other questions about e-commerce.
In our previous article we explored some common mistakes made by business owners when deploying a lead generation strategy or tolls and three simple but important questions to ask when selecting a lead generation strategy.
In this article we will share with you some essential components of an e-commerce sales cycle.
Essential components of an e-commerce sales cycle
Knowing and naming each step of your sales cycles is important for your business structure and optimization.
This is the first and probably the most important step in identifying your target audience.
Reach out and say hello to your prospective customers on the platforms they are most active on or simply by email. The communication channel all depends on your prospective customers’ online behaviour.
- Nurture your prospect and present your offer
Always be a reliable source for your customers concerns/questions. Be prepared to sell your products/service by telling customers about the unique or added benefits of being a part of your business’ customer base.
In answering the queries of your customer/prospect ensure to tell them why your offer is the best on the market. Ensure the terms and conditions of your business is known and there are no hidden costs.
In the previous steps you would have shared enough information to convince your prospect to become a customer, don’t become a stranger after you have made the sale, follow-up…customers like that.
2 things to consider when designing an e-commerce sales process
- Security
E-commerce platforms are big on security especially since customers want to know that they are shopping in a secured environment just as they would in a physical location. With e-commerce, however, there is a bit more responsibility, you’re handling the financial and personal information of every customer that makes a purchase. We’re in the era where hackers and cyber criminals are trying to take over virtual space. So as a business owner, be sure to invest in security to protect your platform from cyber threats.
- Stock-keeping units
Just like a physical store/brick-and-mortar setups online stores must have stock-keeping units. Having SKU’s helps with tracking sales metrics associated with various products and their particulars such as size, color and style.
2 things to consider when optimizing and -commerce sales process
- Provide value
There is no one recipe to gain a sale when operating an e-commerce business. As our e-commerce guide says “only by providing value can an eCommerce sale happen”. Website owners must work to increase their sales through giveaways promoted through targeted advertisement using enticing imagery.
- Make the sales process personal
It always helps to put yourself in the customer’s shoe. Consider how a product will add to the market and most importantly solve a problem for your customers. When creating your platform think about how simple features like a wishlist makes shopping a bit more personal.
Conclusion
Remember, identifying your sales cycle/process is important to the structure of your online business. E-commerce shopping must be personal; similar to a physical location and adding various features to your platform such as a wishlist or wooing customers through incentives and coupons improves that.
Be sure to contact us for more insight at sales@getmobileedge.com to learn more about lead generation strategies for your business.
Check out our previous article here!