“If you can do it now, do it now, there is no tomorrow.” Those are golden words imparted and imprinted on me as my mom’s vision about business. Growing up in a retail business household, most of our conversations revolved around sales. It meant less time with friends and more time being friendly with the customer.
Many e-commerce specialists out there claim that they can help you boost sales, drive qualified traffic, increase ROI, etc. But in theory, a promise that’s based only on theory is, well… just that.
And that’s where you, the decision-maker, get to play the most important role of all.
You get to ask all the relevant questions, some of which are listed below:
How much experience is too much experience?
This is a great question for small businesses that are venturing into e-commerce. When looking for partners, the more experience an e-commerce specialist has, the more adept they will be in the myriad technicalities of how to launch a successful portal.
How effective is your current SEO and paid media?
The bottom line for any online e-commerce is qualified traffic, and the only way you can achieve great results is if you know how to intercept and interpret intent.
This strong reliance on qualified traffic for e-commerce makes it important to have a strategic partner that has the experience of doing both and doing them well.
What are the right steps when wanting to sell online?
This question is tricky because it’s not so much about when to sell but more about how to sell it.
Some of the critical points that need to be covered are hosting, CMS, e-commerce solutions (proprietary or third party), payment gateways, CRM, inventory management, shipping and warehousing.
The above will take care of the logistics of launching an e-commerce venture, then the plan should also cover site architecture, user experience, content plan, CRO, and conversation-to-commerce solutions.
What drives the big players driving e-commerce, and what can we learn from them?
There are multiple nuances to each pure player, from A+ content to sales velocity, sellers rating, keywords, and others.
Some of the more consumer-focused points to act on are shipping costs, shipping times, checkout process and easy returns.
Usage of the data to map and personalise the user experience will go a long way. It will help you make recommendations to identify further interests and provide a wish list to have customers keep coming back.
If there is one thing that e-commerce has taught me, it’s the fact that if you want your business to succeed, you need to be someone who likes to roll up your sleeves.
Because only when you know more will you learn more.