6 Necessary Steps to Go Online
Recently you have entered traditional business field as a head of marketing and your task is to go online. You will have to do a lot of unusual things, but it`s worth it.
1. See the difference between online and offline shopping
Why do people buy? Personal communication becomes a trigger in case of offline purchasing: people like when the seller approaches them, helps with choosing a product, gives advice or offers available options. While among the online triggers are convenience of buying (24/7 in any spot with Internet connection), price, description completeness, video demonstration of all the product features — something one can"t find offline. Therefore, a client expects to get more information on the site — and it must be presented in an accessible, but comprehensive manner.
The main task for online stores is to keep the attention of their potential customers. Real stores almost don"t need that, since the very amount of time spent to visit the store means that it is more likely for a person to make a purchase in order to justify his or her actions.
Do your customers leave your website very easily and go searching for a product elsewhere, often with no coming back? In such a case, make sure that your site is as clear as possible and eliminates any frictions, which a potential client may have:
• When a client trusts you, he or she is more likely to deal with you, and not with your competitor. Provide only verified and accurate information about yourself and your services. If you promise to call back within 30 seconds or free delivery — make sure to fulfill all of those.
• Simplify the purchase process as much as possible: remove obligatory registration, complex forms, which take 15 minutes to complete. The more difficult an order placement will be, the greater the chance that a person will leave your site in search of a more user-friendly online store.
• There is no live seller in the network who can answer any customer"s question. That"s why, except useful content and FAQs, your online store should as well contain several instruments for quick contact with you (e.g. chat bot, callback).
2. Make up buyers personas
It sounds unobvious and boring, but that"s how it works online today. When you don"t understand who your customers are and don"t know what drives them, you won"t be able to sell them anything. For a business, which just starts shifting online, it is important to understand who buys from it offline, and who buys it online, and those can be different people. It is necessary to make up byers personas for all: people, who buy via manager, those coming to the warehouse for goods by themselves, as well as for those buying through the Internet store. Why should you do this? It's simple: your current offline customers can eventually go online.
In order to create an offer, which meets the needs of your target audience the best, you need to create a detailed profile of the client, collect detailed information and take into account lots of characteristics, such as:
• age
• marital status
• income level
• place of residence (geography),
• sex,
• employment,
• position level
• typical problems related to your business specifics,
• needs, fears and desires.
Knowing the needs and wishes of potential customers, you will significantly increase the effectiveness of your marketing campaigns.
3. Create a customer journey
It is necessary to make a customer journey, even if no one buys from you yet. You must understand how people buy online and how they get to a purchase. There is no golden rule for creating a customer journey, but here are the main points you should pay attention to:
• Divide customers into groups (based on buyers personas) and make a map for each segment.
• Show the buyer"s goals at each stage of the purchase decision-making process.
• Don"t forget to display the emotional component of the client"s decision-making process.
• Display the key points and stages of customer interaction. The key and secondary actions must be clearly separated.
• Match the quality of customer experience with your brand offers on every step of the way. This will provide an opportunity to analyze the extent to which your product meets customer expectations.
4. Describe a case study
So that to make your opinion authoritative for the client, confirm your expertise. Case study will help you on that. By using this instrument, you will show how you solved the problem of your client. The more details you cover, the more credibility you will gain for your company — and the more customers will trust your experience. A case study should not sound dry and formal; it should attract reading it until the end.
Therefore, your case study should include several main elements:
• Item description: explain the story and vulnerabilities of your client.
• Subject"s objective: describe your client"s goal within a project so that readers understand what to expect.
• Strategy hypothesis: tell your audience what you were expecting when you started implementing your strategy for a client.
• Strategy implementation: show the reader a step-by-step process.
• Strategy results: share the results as comprehensive as possible, preferably with a quote from the client.
• Final conclusions: explain what exactly this example have taught you and how it can help other people.
5. Learn search engine algorithms
Your keywords already get you 10 pages in search engine results. In its latest update to the Quality Rater Guidelines Google has put a new focus on E-A-T (Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trustworthiness). It means that Google will fill the first search results lines with user-friendly content, written by experts and from transparent websites — i.e. those indicating a person, company, business, etc., responsible for the website, and the content authors, as well as some contact information.
For a website to be considered transparent, it should contain the following information:
• Thorough About page
• Easy to find Contact page
• References and external links to sources
• Privacy policy and terms of service
6. Use storytelling in product description
One of the new approaches to creating useful content that Google loves so much is storytelling in product description. The main task of such a description is to make people fall in love with your product, show the real advantages of its use and possibilities it provides. It becomes possible due to a couple of factors that need to be taken into account in product storytelling: you need to evoke positive emotions and inspire. This is a true art, which requires a high skill level, while at the same time storytelling in the product description will help you to tell people how their lives will change with your product.
The task is difficult, but you can already try it now — order the product storytelling service and expand your business opportunities in e-commerce.