Customer acquisition and customer experience in e-commerce venture

E-commerce! The word spells a billion dollars, because I’m aware of its potential. When e-commerce comes to my mind the first thing which strikes me is “customer”. Only the e-commerce entrepreneur knows the importance of customers/subscribers and how to get them. As I have a little experience in e-commerce startups I would like to share my knowledge with those folks who are e-commerce savvy.

An e-commerce venture is all about analysis and subscriber hence you will have to do proper homework before launching. If you have reached this stage then it is vital that you have knowledge of customer acquisition and customer experience. So, let’s understand it in-depth.

What do you mean by customer acquisition?

Online retailing is a business where you have to be ready for surprises, be they good or bad. It is possible that you will gain more subscribers in a short time but it is also true that you will not get your desired subscriber base for a long time. Once you gain your subscriber base, then customer acquisition comes into the picture. At this juncture you have to be ready with your marketing and sales plan. You must know how you have to play with those subscribers, how you have to give them the best offer so that they will buy repeatedly from your website.
After getting the desired subscriber base, it’s up to you how to get the maximum from it. Here I have listed some points which will help you in acquiring customers.

Take advantage of the ‘Free’ word

It is quite natural that when we see the “free” word we get excited and visit that website. In e-commerce business, take a full advantage of it if you want to acquire more subscribers. “Get subscribed and get discount”, this motto will definitely turn your user into your potential customer.

Social media is all yours

Social media is a platform where you will find numerous people and this gives you a great opportunity to turn them into potential clients. Adopt various strategies of social media optimization and always take the help of your friends and relatives who are in your network.  

What do you mean by customer experience?

Customer satisfaction is a major part of success in an e-commerce venture. How do you know what keeps your customers happy? It is only possible when you see things from the customer’s perspective. Imagine that you are a customer and then think what things make you happy. Implement those thoughts on your e-commerce website. 

On time product delivery along with shipping and smooth transaction will create a good user experience. Always focus on those areas and try to make it as easy as possible. Below are some points which will help you to create that user experience.

The website is a primary interface

Online retailing fully depends on the website hence it is a primary interface between you and the user. Make a user-friendly website which has a personal touch and an unforgettable surfing experience. In an e-commerce website, you have to mention number of products and so you have to take care of its usability otherwise it will create a cluttered website.

Ask for feedback

Satisfaction is not easy to quantify and it cannot be measured; you can only measure the users’ experience when you ask them about their buying experiences. It will also help you to create a better product and a more user-friendly website.

In an e-commerce venture you will only achieve success if you have a big number of subscribers. So customer acquisition is the most important part of such an enterprise.
I wish to know how you plan to acquire your customers for your ecommerce business.

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Posted in: Ecommerce Solution,Ecommerce web design,Ecommerce Website Design,Website development company

Bring innovations in your ecommerce web design and get huge success

Be different. This is the unique concept in ecommerce business because you are very much aware with the various ecommerce businesses. There are plenty of ecommerce businesses available in the online world and some of them are giant companies like Amazon. What you think that if users want to purchase any product then they will purchase it from your generic website or from Amazon? Of course, user’s first option for purchasing will be such companies because they provide great service and almost all products. If you really want to lead your business to the next level then you must have to be different from this type of companies. It is quite obvious that we don’t have that much funds for making a company like Amazon but we can do it by bringing some innovations in ecommerce website.

As we all know that in ecommerce all the transaction will happen through only website so here is an opportunity for being a different. You have to bring innovation in your ecommerce web design; there are hundreds of ideas to make a fascinating website. 

Imagine that you are hungry and went to the one sandwich shop. That shop’s staff didn’t wear any gloves or hats to protect foods. They don’t know how to make hygienic food.

Next to that shop, there was another sandwich shop which staff was neat and clean and they take care of all the things which makes pure hygienic food.

What will be your decision? How much hungry you are?

Yes, you and I have to take various decisions in our routine life and such things can be applied in the ecommerce business. So you have to take care of your customers needs and must have to know that what they want.

In which part you have to bring innovations?

Content – Innovation in content is too tough because it requires lot of thinking but it is a most important part which can help you in being a different from others. Choose punch line like a story teller of your business. This will really impacts a good impression on user’s mind.

Exploded Homepage! – That means you don’t have to fire crackers in your website homepage but yes you have to create just like it. Remember that homepage is always matters a lot in attracting visitors because it is a first thing of website which falls on user’s eye. That’s why you have to make it as aesthetic as possible. Never create it with so many banners and images because it’s only slowing down the speed of website.

Product placement – At the end of the day your main objective with ecommerce website is the product which you are offering so put the product with proper placement with better images and description.

Website navigation structure – It defines the navigation system of website. In ecommerce website it is most important that users can easily reach at their destination means at their required product page and then after order placement form. Create too simple navigation system in your ecommerce website.

After all there is not any limitation in the innovations so be innovative and try to bring those innovations in your ecommerce web design. Everyone wants something new and interesting. All the best!

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Posted in: Ecommerce web design,Ecommerce Website Design

Mistakes in ecommerce website design

There are many companies in the marketplace which can provide ecommerce website development service but what you think that all of them are experts in ecommerce website development? Ecommerce website development is not easy as there are many aspects which can directly affect in your ecommerce business and if your ecommerce website is not as per those aspects then it will ruin your business. One main aspect which is too important in ecommerce website development and that is ecommerce website design.

Here I am going to share some generic mistakes of ecommerce website which can looks simple but affect a lot in your ecommerce business.

In ecommerce website must have proper navigation

If you want to buy a computer but you don’t know that from where you can buy it or if you know that shop but don’t know the address of that shop then what you do. Obviously you look for some other shop. Same thing will apply in the ecommerce website because your ecommerce website is your online store where customers are coming for purchasing products. Imagine that if customers will enter in your ecommerce website and looks for some product but they can’t find that product then what they can do? They will definitely switch to other website.

Proper navigation in ecommerce website will make the customer happy so they can easily purchase the products. Make categorize ecommerce website so users will easily find their needed product within short time span.

Shopping cart and payment gateway

When customers are ready for buying products from your ecommerce website then you must have to ready with full functional shopping cart. Fully functional shopping cart must have such functionality like product name, payment options and most important thing price.

Payment gateways are the backboneof ecommerce business because all the transaction in ecommerce business will happen through payment gateways hence implements good and reputed payment gateways so users can purchase product without any risk of data theft and in smoothen way. Also, choose that type of payment gateways which allows Credit card transactions because in online purchasing most of the users will prefer this option.

Make clear looks of products

A human believes in those things which they have seen. In ecommerce business you don’t have such opportunity because you are not able to show physical view of product but you can show a virtual image of the product. Put high definition images of product so customers easily see the exact view of products. Along with image you have to put some description of product and customer’s reviews so purchasers will able to take decision of buying that product.

By taking care of such mistakes in ecommerce website design you will create a perfect ecommerce website which can generate that kind of revenue which you are looking for.

Some related articles:-

Strategy behind Ecommerce Website Design

Ecommerce website design as per customer’s needs 

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Posted in: Ecommerce web design,Ecommerce Website Design

Domain name importance in ecommerce solution

Some experts of online marketing world are saying that domain name plays a big role in getting the maximum exposure from the web. It is quite true because domain name is also one of the most important factors in the SEO; if the domain name is relevant to the business model then Search engines will give a first priority to such domain in search results. In ecommerce platform, website is the only thing from where you can earn your revenue. There are hundreds of ecommerce businesses available in the market place. Some of them are providing almost every products and some are only specific to one or two product.

If you are in the planning of starting an ecommerce business then first you have to acquire a domain name. It is not easy to choose a domain name as it require a lots of research from the different point of view. Ecommerce is all about website so it is too important that your website has a good and unique domain name which can reflect your products and your business theme. In accordance to such things it is so clear that domain name is playing a big role in the success of ecommerce website. As domain name is too important, you have to be focused while selecting it.

An ecommerce solution is become quite easier if you have a good domain name so start doing some research of competitor’s website and their domain name before selecting your domain name so you get some basic idea about domain name, also you can understand that how others select their domain name as per their products and business model. Further I am also going to share you some tips on how to select a domain name for ecommerce website.

How to select domain name for ecommerce website?

Adopt the KISS rule (Keep it simple silly) – Always select short but meaningful domain name so users can easily remember it and also understand the business theme from just your domain name. For example, if you wanted to buy a mobile phone then which site you prefer from below.

A.      www.mobilephones.com

B.      wwwjackmobiles.com

It is quite obvious that many users prefer option A because it produces the main objective of the website from domain name.

Pick .com extension - .com extension is a sign of business website so in ecommerce website you must have to select .com extension. Also, .com extension insists to be of global platform so if you have .com extension of domain name for your ecommerce website then you are not bound to any specific region.

Keyword included – Never choose a domain name with your own name or some funky names because it impacts a bad impression on user’s mind and also they don’t believe the authenticity of your ecommerce website. Choose domain name which have your targeted keyword or product name as it is good from SEO point of view and also users can easily justify and identify your website.

A Perfect domain name will lead your business at the next level so keep the above things in your mind while choosing a domain name for your ecommerce website. Always do in depth research before selecting a domain name for your ecommerce business so you will get the best ecommerce solution.

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Payment Gateways - A hazardous thing in ecommerce solution

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Posted in: Ecommerce Solution,Ecommerce Website Design

Ecommerce website development from Wordpress

Ecommerce website development is always full of complexity because it requires a full proof of coding which can produce a good functional website. In short, for developing such website you must need a developer. Hiring a web developer is quite costly and specifically if you are in startup stage then you can’t afford them, so what to do in this situation? There is one option available which can solve your problem and that is going for CMS and develops your website with yourself. Yes, it requires some technical knowledge but you can easily setup your ecommerce website with the help of CMS. Here I would like to suggest a Wordpress to develop your ecommerce website.

Wordpress is one of the best CMS in the category of CMS. It provides so much functionality which makes a good functional website. There are many big websites which was developed in Wordpress platform. For ecommerce solution, Wordpress provides great facility. First of all you have to purchase a domain name from any domain registrar. Choose a domain name as per your ecommerce business model so you can get maximum benefit from the SEO point of view.

After purchasing the domain now you need a hosting from where your website is accessible. You have to select that web hosting provider who with meet with Wordpress requirements; you can go with Godaddy, Hostgator, etc which are providing the same. In fact almost all the hosting providers are familiar with the Wordpress so it is one of the best benefits for choosing Wordpress. These two steps are the generic process of every website development. Now you have to create an account in Wordpress and then main things comes that how to develop ecommerce website from the Wordpress.

Follow the below step by step process:-

1. Go into your hosting Cpanel and click on “Choose platform” option and then select Wordpress.
2. Now you have to fill some details of your Wordpress account like admin name, password, website name, etc. Make sure that you are not doing any mistake in it because it becomes your credentials which are going to use in login to your Wordpress website.
3. Now you have to download Wordpress theme in your computer and then by using any FTP client you have to upload that theme under root folder in hosting database.
4. Now login in your website through Wordpress and install new plug-in of e-commerce and fill up required information and it’s done.

For doing all this you require some basic technical knowledge. Ecommerce website design is too important so either choose some good theme or get it designed from professional web designer.

From below link you can see a complete video of this process: - 

http://wordpress.tv/2009/06/08/create-an-ecommerce-website-with-wordpress-in-under-5-minutes/

You may be even interested in below Articles:

Mistakes in Ecommerce website design

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Posted in: Ecommerce web design,Ecommerce Website Design

Ecommerce web design helps you a lot in marketing

It was proven that from any other business sector ecommerce business is rising more and more on every changing day. Every entrepreneur is in a race of expanding their ecommerce business globally. In this raising ecommerce business, competition of doing a business is also reached at the skies and that’s why a proper marketing of business is now mandatory. Online marketing is so tough in comparison to off line marketing but a proper execution of the strategic plan will make it easy. Ecommerce entrepreneurs have to dedicate a huge budget to the marketing department for exposing their ecommerce business. A numbers of activities have been performed by marketing experts while exposing the ecommerce business in the online world. At that time there are many key factors which are playing big roles in business exposure. One of them is the ecommerce web design.

A web design is too important in the website even it is developed for ecommerce business or just for sharing company information. In ecommerce, web design is the most important part as it is a thing which holds the users and leads them to trading part which is the main purpose of ecommerce website. As this is the golden time for ecommerce business, everyone comes on the battlefield so doing a proper marketing of ecommerce website is quite necessary. In this scenario, marketing experts give you instructions on how to develop the web design which is more attractive and unique.

As ecommerce web design creates your unique identity in the online world, it becomes too easy to promote your business in the online world with this identity. A perfect web design is completely dedicated to customers’ needs. An ecommerce website must have a proper navigational function so it can drive the users at the right destination. From the marketing point of view, if the website is totally oriented to customers than the job of marketing folks become so easy. They can easily drive much traffic to the website and through this traffic a figure of sales will be increased drastically. Also for building the brand name of company, web design helps a lot. If we create a web design which is completely unique from any other website than this web design is making its place in users mind and they can know the company only by the website design.

What are the other areas of Marketing for ecommerce website?

• Online channels – Online channels will help you to expand your branding to the infinite end users.
• Social Media – Social media is a platform from where you will get maximum exposure. At present, social media platforms are booming the online world. Twitter and Facebook; from this both platform you will get more sales so start your marketing campaign on these platforms. You can also start a Facebook Ad campaign.
• Google Adwords – If you have enough marketing campaign then you must have to start a Google Adwords as it is a very effective way of getting better exposure.
• Affiliate marketing – Place your banners and Ads in some reputed blogs and websites. Affiliate marketing is a very cost effective way because you have to only pay the money when you get a sale.
• Offline marketing – Offline marketing is also a best way of marketing in ecommerce business and especially when you are targeting any specific location.

In ecommerce business, a website is the main tool from where you can get your earnings. Nowadays there are many ecommerce web design service providers available in the marketplace. By keeping the growth of ecommerce industry in mind I will definitely assume that within the next few years a demand of creative web designer will be on booming stage.

At last, remember one thing that without marketing you will never earn a single penny in ecommerce business.

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Posted in: Ecommerce web design,Ecommerce Website Design

Ecommerce solution for Low-priced goods

As we all know that ecommerce is all about trading and this trading is happening through online medium. There are various business models of ecommerce. You can find giant companies like Amazon, buy.com and snapdeal.com also there are small-cap companies in ecommerce business. As in ecommerce there is a one mediator who takes care of all your financial transactions and this mediator is a Payment Gateway. By this payment gateway you can able to sell your product in the online world, so it is too important that you have a first-class Payment gateway. Big companies have a huge budget for expanding and promoting their business so payment gateway has not become a roadblock for their business. Small-cap and startup companies have a limited budget so here the problem takes its place.

There are many ecommerce business models; if you are in a business of low-priced goods selling then it is quite difficult to find out the perfect eCommerce solution. As I said that Payment Gateway is the thing which handles all the trading in ecommerce hence it is compulsory that you have at least one of it. Generally a Payment gateway provider’s revenue model is dependable on your selling figures. As high your website sells products as high they earn, means they charge as per transaction and this charge they can deduct from goods price.

Here comes the main problem when you are in an ecommerce business and your product prices are less than $5 to $10. In this case Payment gateway will not charge you low but they will charge you as per their standard rates so in the end you didn’t get anything in terms of profit.  A perfect ecommerce solution for this situation is that you have to choose a payment gateway which provides a service at cheap price.

A revenue model of ecommerce business is completely dependable on the transactions but you will only earn revenue in ecommerce if the transaction is high. Customer acquisition is a thing which plays a big role in ecommerce revenue model. If your customer acquisition is high and your transaction is low then you never earn a single penny from your ecommerce business. If you have high priced products in your ecommerce website and transaction will happen on those products then only you can earn some revenue hence it is most important that you are completely aware with such things before you are going to start your ecommerce venture.

In such low-priced product’s business you have a one benefit that if you didn’t have a credit card option in your payment gateways then it is fine because for purchasing such low-priced products people will not go to use their credit card they can simply choose cash on delivery (COD) option. This benefit will definitely help you in finding the cheap payment gateways because usually payment gateways charged you high when they provide the credit card option.

I would like to say that if you are starting an ecommerce venture and if you don’t have any knowledge about it then you must have to consult someone who has experience in the ecommerce sector. Take advice from he/she and then plan your business plan accordingly.

At this moment in time an ecommerce is an exceptional opportunity for doing a business but you have to take care of such things and get the best ecommerce solution so you can earn some bucks otherwise at the end of day your ROI will be Zero.

Additional resource:-

Payment gateways – A hazardous thing in ecommerce solution
Get Ecommerce solution from professionals

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Posted in: Ecommerce Solution,Ecommerce Website Design

How to deal with an ecommerce web design company?

There are many businesses in the marketplace and all of them require some resources which represent their business. Either the resources are physical or virtual. In ecommerce business this resource is the website. For doing an ecommerce business you must have a perfect website because in ecommerce business all the trading is happening through only and only website. Where a website is that much important, you must have to decide that how you will take care of it. Ecommerce website needs a professional touch so you may earn a lot. While choosing a company you are in a very difficult state as you have to choose a good ecommerce web design company which can develop your actual ecommerce website.

First of all you have to make up your mind with ecommerce business. Choose a business theme and goal then start creating the road-map with keeping your goal in mind. Decide a timeline of launching the business. Make a list of all your requirements in your ecommerce website. This is your homework and it will be very helpful to you in choosing the right ecommerce web design company. As a website is everything in ecommerce business, it is too important that its creators should also be an expert so they can create a great website.

Now it is a time of taking the decision. There are countless web designing companies available in the market, among them some are good reputed and some are startup companies. Never get fascinated with reputed companies because sometimes it is happen that what we see is not in reality. As I said already that choosing a company is very difficult so in this situation you have to think from very calm mind. First of all you have to start with local search, find local companies which provide ecommerce web design solution. Give them your requirements and ask for their quote for the same. One benefit of going local is it’s become easy to contact them at any time and get your job done.

If in local you can’t find sophisticated companies then your next step would be collecting the various web designing companies' data and prepare a list of them. Check that which company has a Specialty of ecommerce web design and short listed them. Now check their websites and their clients. Also, see their client’s website and do some research on it so you will get to know that how much they are expert. Now you will definitely get an idea on which one are best so pick up your phone and call their sales team. Set up a meeting and finalize all the things.

One most important thing in ecommerce website is that you must have a proper functional website otherwise it would not hit that impact which ever you desire thus before dealing with web development company you should have to tell them a clear picture of your website. Apart from this if you are going to buy hosting plan from the web development company then you must have to know that how much disk space and bandwidth they are going to allot to your website. As well as also ask them that whether they allot you shared hosting server or dedicated server? Such things are very important in ecommerce website and if these things are perfect then your website will run smoothly.

While dealing with an ecommerce web design company you have to be a transparent. Tell them all of your requirements so they can easily get the idea about your website and this will make the job easy for them. Also give a concrete timeline for your project so you can start your business within your decided time frame.

What? Do you still have any confusion in selecting the company? Let me know through Comments.

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Posted in: Ecommerce web design,Ecommerce Website Design

Payment gateways – A hazardous thing in ecommerce solution

“In the end payment is everything”, this is the wish of ecommerce solution provider. In today’s scenario ecommerce is like an open window of business opportunity. A recent research shows that ecommerce business is rising so quickly than other business sector. In this cutting edge rivalry; an ecommerce solution providers want that their each User convert into customer. Somehow this is not possible because every user would not be purchaser they may only come at website for just gathering the product information. This is the matter of customer interest but if the user gets interested in any product and want to purchase it then it become a matter of payment gateways.

Here I called payment gateways a Hazardous because of it is a most important factor of ecommerce platform. If your payment gateways are good then you don’t have to worry about it but if it is not then it becomes hazardous for you. Payment gateways are the one who brings money to you. The whole working structure of payment gateways is like,  if the customer place an order for any products then he have to click on a “Buy now” button and then have to fill out the necessary information like his address where the product has to be shipped, contact number, email ID, credit card information, etc. After this he will be redirected to a payment gateway’s website where he finds a choice of payment options like cash on delivery (COD), Credit card, Net banking, etc. He has to select one out of it and has to proceed, once he will confirm the order, Product price has been deducted from his bank account by payment gateways and then payment gateway will deduct its transaction charges from this money and shift the rest amount to your merchant account.

This process is very difficult to understand, so let’s make it simple. You can understand it by below image which shows payment gateways working method.

 

Impacts of payment gateway on ecommerce business

We all know that without payment gateway we can never do ecommerce business so we can say that payment gateways are a heart of the ecommerce business. If the payment gateway which integrated in your website is good then you will definitely lead your ecommerce business to the next level but if it is not good then it will lead your business to the failure. Below are some aspects of payment gateway which will play a big role in ecommerce business.

1. Payment gateway’s one time deposit – This aspect will affect on startup of ecommerce venture. At the very first time when you integrate payment gateway at that time payment gateway provider will take a deposit which will non-refundable.
2. Transaction charges – Every payment gateway provider has different transaction charges. If your payment gateway provider’s transaction charge is high then it will directly impact on your revenue. It will also impact on your customer acquisitions.
3. Tie-ups with banks - It is not necessary that every payment gateway provider has tie-ups with every bank hence here we can say that this is one of the loophole.
4. Credit card transaction – Some of the payment gateway provider can’t provide credit card transaction and this is the biggest loophole of such payment gateways because as per surveys it was proven that customers prefer credit card transaction while they do online shopping.

Now the main intention of this article has come up, why it is hazardous? Understand above image and calculate the importance of the payment gateways. Payment gateways are like one mediator which maintain all the financial transactions and gives you a tremendous ecommerce solution. If it is not able to provide its core work smoothly then it becomes hazardous thing in reality. You may lose your customer and wind up your business.

Now, which payment gateway are you going to integrate in your ecommerce website?

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Posted in: Ecommerce Solution,Ecommerce web design,Ecommerce Website Design