The eCommerce industry is showing no signs of slowing down. Even before the pandemic, it was clear that people prefer buying online whenever they can. Now it’s even more obvious that online shopping is taking over the world by storm.
However, what is also obvious to entrepreneurs across the globe are the numerous benefits of online selling. That is the reason this industry is extremely competitive, so if you want to enter it, you need to follow some proven strategies.
If you are starting an online store in 2023 or want to improve your eCommerce business, these four tips will give you a great headstart.
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Invest in SEO
Every business that wants to be visible and easily found online needs to invest in search engine optimization. If people can’t find your online store, there’s no point in building a visually appealing and user-friendly website.
Take a look at some of the proven SEO tips to use in 2023:
- Find and implement the right keywords. This one is a no-brainer as keywords are one of the staples of an effective SEO strategy. Conduct your research, be specific about the keywords you want to use, balance competition with search volume, and consider user intent.
- Create effective product descriptions. Apart from a photo, title, and price, every product page should have a comprehensive description. This description should be detailed, including measurements, ingredients, and instructions, depending on the product itself.
- Optimize for speed. Since user experience is one of the primary ranking factors for search engines, you want to make sure that visitors have a great experience when they land on your website. This means that you should optimize your images, have good website hosting, and regularly update your website builder, theme, as well as plugins.
Last but not least, consider investing in SEO VPS hosting. This will allow you to interlink between different websites on the same network, increasing your search engine ranking with the help of dedicated system resources.
AI, AR, VR
Did you know that a whopping 91% of customers are more likely to buy from companies that remember and use customer preferences to offer relevant recommendations and offers?
Personalization is crucial for eCommerce businesses and AI can be of immense help in improving how you interact with customers. For instance, you can use AI to create chatbots, which reduces the amount of work your support team would have to do.
Moreover, AI can help you process valuable data and current trends about customers and prospects. That means you’re able to give relevant, timely suggestions which are based on customer profiles, purchase history, interests, and other factors.
This article wouldn’t be complete without mentioning AR and VR, which are among the hottest eCommerce trends today. With these two technologies, you can create your own virtual versions of fitting and staging rooms. Companies like Amazon, IKEA, and Lenskart have been using them for a while, which is one of the reasons why they are so successful.
Work on customer experience
If a customer is satisfied with how you treat them, they will likely come back to buy more of your products. But if they’re not, well, you can probably bid them farewell. Customer experience includes all the touchpoints with a brand from the moment a customer has initially heard about them to the moment when they buy from that brand.
Here are some tips for improving customer experience this year:
- Personalize. Personalization is key to turning leads into customers and keeping those customers loyal. For starters, you can show them products they’re interested in and personalize ads.
- User-friendly website. To create a seamless user experience, you need a fast-loading website with easy navigation, functional search bars, links, and buttons, as well as a simple checkout process.
- Stellar customer support. Needless to say, customer support plays a huge role in the overall customer experience. Make sure your reps are pleasant to talk to as well as willing to go above and beyond to solve customers’ problems.
Email may be an old marketing channel, but it’s far from outdated. As a matter of fact, it’s one of the most widely used and effective marketing channels, providing the best return on investment.
Follow these steps to use the full potential of email marketing:
- Capture as many subscribers as possible by offering lead magnets and providing helpful content.
- Encourage them to read your email by regularly sharing quality content in the newsletters you send.
- Launch an email marketing campaign where you will promote your products.
- Use email automation tips and tricks.
- Don’t forget to personalize emails and segment your subscribers.
Summary
Based on your business and industry, you can use these tips to different extents. It’s crucial to stay informed and always keep an eye on your competitors. You can’t win in the oversaturated eCommerce industry if you choose to ignore current trends and your competitors.