Building a business is just like building relationships with people; it is a process of attracting, developing, and maintaining. For E-commerce businesses, you need to be patient and build trust with your audience. Do that, and you’ll increase customer lifetime value and grow your audience, but before that happens, you must start at the beginning.
1. Understand what makes you “charming.”
Most likely, your product or service isn’t for everyone. But that’s okay! For your business to charm, you need to be trying to attract the right audience.
You know what I mean, don’t sell dog toys at a cat show.
Your business won’t charm the wrong audience just like a cat owner probably won’t buy a dog toy.
Knowing what audience will be captivated by you is necessary for your business to succeed. You need it to build your marketing strategy and to develop competitive advantages over your competitors.
2. Get your audience to notice you.
Before you can charm your audience, you need them to look your way. Social media is a great option when used correctly. Each platform is different, and your audience probably uses one or two platforms over the others. Tailor your content so you can maximize your return.
Don’t be afraid of SEO.
Make sure your site looks good on mobile and provides content that answers questions people are asking. Of course, it can get much more complicated than that, but it’s a good place to start.
3. Make a good first impression.
So, now you have caught your audience’s attention, the question is – do they keep checking out or do they run away, screaming.
It’s your web design that ultimately makes or breaks it for you.
Functionally, it should be clear and straightforward. That does not mean your site should be boring. Your site needs to be pleasing to look at as well.
4. Implement a call to action.
You’ve caught and kept your audience’s attention; now it’s time to get them to choose you. It’s time for your call to action.
Somewhere on your site, you need to ask your customers to pick you.
Invite them sign-up or buy your service or product. If you don’t, chances are they never will.
5. Maintain the relationship.
Congratulations you did it! Now you can relax, right? Nope.
Maintaining relationships with existing customers is important.
Repeat customers are much easier to convert into sales in the future, so don’t make your paying customers angry.
A steady consumer base increases the interactions you have with your customers, building loyalty as well as a community. Ultimately, it increases customer lifetime value as well.
6. Don’t get complacent.
Now that you have accomplished building a consumer base with strong relationships, time for you to expand your business. Encourage reviews, feedback, and discussion from your clients to learn more about your audience and to observe and opportunities you might have overlooked.
Your best source of information and fuel for growth are your customers, so make sure you use them!
Although E-commerce exists online, it is ultimately interactions between human beings. Therefore, building intimate and trustful, “virtual” relationships is important. This article was meant to show an overview of the different aspects of building a relationship. For the next six weeks, we will post an article each week that explores one aspect of building a relationship in depth. I hope you look forward to it!