Are you thinking about launching your very own e-commerce business? If you have a thought out business plan, have done your research on the current market and you have an amazing product, then you may feel that you are ready to go.
However, while you may have the above in place, this does not necessarily mean that you are ready to launch your new e-commerce business just quite yet.
Why?
Well, before you officially start your new business, you will need to have a great communication plan and strategy in place as this is what will really determine the success of your business.
Here, we are taking you through the many different reasons as to why communication with both your customer base and employees is so crucial to e-commerce businesses and some different solutions as to how to make your business successful.
Improving Communications with Your Staff
When launching a new business, it is important that all your staff know exactly what their roles are and what their responsibilities include.
As your business grows, it is important that you have processes in place that ensure the business is meeting customer demand and that you can see exact areas in the business where the process is being slowed down and needs extra investment.
With an e-commerce project, it is also likely that you will have outsourced a web design agency and so you will need to ensure that you are keeping track of where they are in the project to ensure that your website or any updates are being completed on time to meet customer demand.
A great way to learn how to prioritize tasks is to use a Kanban board. With prioritizing tasks on a Kanban board, you will be able to communicate easily with both those in your office and those working remotely.
This transparency with Kanban tasks means that everyone can see exactly what tasks need to be completed and for what date in order to keep business efficiency and productivity running smoothly.
Social CRM
Social media is everywhere nowadays and if your business is not already on it, then you are missing out on a wealth of opportunities. As an e-commerce business, having a well-integrated social strategy is absolutely vital, otherwise, how is anyone going to be able to find out about your business?
To do this you will need to develop active social CRM strategies so that you have a constant open dialogue with existing and potential customers. While most traditional marketing is a one-way communication method, what is so fantastic about social media is that it introduces two-way communication.
This then allows you to get valuable market research, produce items that suit your target demographic and improve your overall customer service, which should all translate to an increase in business sales.
We would recommend that you hire a social media manager to take charge of each of your social platforms. This allows the experts to figure out the best social strategy for your business, so you can then concentrate on the day to day running of your business.
Live Chat
If you are looking to improve communications with your customer base, then a good idea is to integrate a live chat function onto your e-commerce website. What customers absolutely love about this function is that you can have their questions answered in real time.
While they are asking questions about your products you can get your sales pitch on and convince them to buy.
Being able to directly communicate with your customers provides them with a much better shopping experience with your e-commerce business and is likely to make them return to you again.
Integrate an FAQ and Contact Us Section
As a business owner, you should be able to anticipate your customers needs and what questions many of them might have.
It is good to have an FAQ section on your website where customer can be directed to. This can be a deciding factor in whether or not someone chooses to purchase from your company as many people will be looking for a quick answer that they can find instantly on your website.
It is also a good idea to have a Contact Us page on your website (and link to it from the FAQ page). This makes it easier for readers to quickly contact you, should they not find the answer they are looking for on the FAQ page.
Follow Up Emails
Finally, as part of your e-commerce business, you will want to make sure that there is follow-up email communication strategy in place for after-purchase and cart abandonment.
In this email you can find out customer feedback on their purchase, if they are satisfied with it and also if they will leave you a review. Good reviews mean better publicity and will also give your website a higher authority.
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