If you own an online business, then the first question that usually comes to your mind is “how can I grow my revenues and have more customers?”. The first thing that you should consider is whether or not a majority of your customer base is repeat customers. If yes, then this article will definitely help you.
Understanding the customer journey
A customer journey in e-commerce consists of a number of different stages starting from the very first impression about a website/brand to the final purchase decision and beyond. Sales and marketing professionals at Quantum Lifecycle Marketing have further divided these stages into Acquisition, Nurture, Conversion, Retention, and Winback. At each stage i.e., at every touchpoint, you need to have enough people coming into your store so that they can be nurtured over time with information about what you offer, why they should buy from you instead of someone else, or why not just look elsewhere altogether. Without these touchpoints, consumers will move on and your brand may never even get a chance to make a good first impression.
Impression
Getting enough impressions for your brand means getting people to see what you have to offer – be it a product, something of interest, or possibly even the latest fashion trend. In other words, you need some form of visibility and the only way that can happen is through traffic generation. Getting more people to visit your website, as compared to those who leave immediately without having spent any time whatsoever on your site, will hopefully lead more people down the customer journey path till they purchase from you. Ultimately this leads to an increase in your e-commerce revenues.
Conversion rate optimization
The next step for a customer after their first impression about a brand is them going past the landing page and actually looking at the details of a product/s they’re interested in. This is where conversion optimization comes into play and will help influence buying decisions during the purchase process. Without this influencing decision-making, consumers will simply click away and you’ll never get a chance to make money from them.
Lead nurture
Once a consumer has made the commitment to purchase from you, it’s important to let them know about other products/services and keep them interested in your brand. If they haven’t already done so, this is where consumers will look for reviews and feedback on different platforms before making a final buying decision. It doesn’t matter whether you’re selling clothes, luxury goods, or anything else; what matters is that keeping consumers engaged with you over time helps get more customers and e-commerce revenues than ever before.
So, how do all these stages get affected when there’s an increase in traffic? More importantly, why should increased traffic even affect this at all? Let’s find out:
Higher Traffic -> More Customers -> Better Brand Reputation -> More Exposure -> Higher Traffic
You get the picture. With a higher number of people visiting your website, you’ll have a better chance at convincing even more consumers about why they should buy from you and not someone else. And with this increased trust in your brand identity, there’s sure to be an increase in conversions on your site which will lead to an increase in e-commerce revenues.
Onsite Conversion Rate Optimization
Onsite conversion rate optimization is something that needs to happen continuously and simultaneously with all the other stages outlined above since it’s rather pointless without increased traffic and so on and so forth…but what exactly is meant by onsite conversion rate optimization? A simple definition would be “a process that involves all efforts and tactics trying to optimize your website in order to help you achieve the highest conversion rates possible”. In other words, setting up a website with all the necessary features and tools required for making buying decisions is one thing; but using them efficiently and keeping consumers engaged with your brand over time is another.
Multi-device compatibility
More than half of people in today’s world own smartphones and this number doesn’t seem to be going down anytime soon. What that means in terms of business operations is that whatever information you’re providing your customers, they need it to be available across different devices so that everyone has access to the same information at any given time. Why create various sets of data to be accessed on different devices when one will suffice?
Integrated payment options
The number of people preferring online payments over cash or card has been increasing rapidly in recent years. And this is where integrated payment options come into play to help you get more customers and e-commerce revenues. Make it easier for consumers to pay without needing to leave your website, thus increasing the chances of them making a purchase from you.
Multi-language compatibility
If your target demographic is spread across various parts of the world, then it’s essential that you have multi-language compatibility so that everyone can understand what information you’re trying to give them without any language barriers getting in the way. This not only increases your eCommerce revenues but also helps you expand to different countries at the same time.
At the end of the day, having an eCommerce business is all about generating more sales for your company without spending too much on costly marketing methods that you can’t afford or don’t need to try out in the first place. Understanding the concept of customer journey helps you make efficiently guide acquired leads into the cycle of Nurture, Conversion, Retention, and Winback. Also, having the aforementioned features and tools integrated into your website helps get people hooked on what you’re offering them and brings them back for more.
I’m is an owner of Venostech.com, blogger, Android and technology enthusiast. Individual who are educated in the IT and like to write according my scope.
