When launching a new business, entrepreneurs must ensure that there is a cohesive, organized strategy for digital. Trying to piece something along as they go isn’t going to cut it. Online sales are far more difficult to obtain than people believe. While Amazon surely makes it look easy, it required over two decades to achieve its market dominance in e-commerce. For many other companies, they’ve spent considerable time learning what does and doesn’t work to eventually reach profitable success.
Take the challenge of digital seriously. Here is what should be done.
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Get a Professionally Designed Website
Even if the business has a storefront, the website will represent it too. Many customers won’t live nearby or even visit the store. Therefore, assume most of the website visitors will visit initially through Google searches where your site featured prominently. Later, the business may develop a strong enough brand that they go to your site directly. However, that requires time to get there.
Use a web design Ottawa-based service provider like SOAP Media, who can deliver a quality site. They’ll have a portfolio to show their latest sites developed for customers. This will confirm you’re in the right place. A custom design is preferable over a cookie-cutter one using an existing premium theme or templated design. It’s important to not have the site resemble many others, which is what happens when using a popular theme design.
Ask for a WordPress Site
WordPress is a type of content management system (CMS). The idea with a CMS is that it makes the site easier to run from an administrative perspective. Logging into the site as the admin, publishing a new page, or adding an article to the company’s blog won’t require talking with a web studio to get it done. This provides considerable freedom.
Also, there are many plugins available for free or as a premium package. These add numerous additional features without needing to pay a developer to produce them from scratch. It saves money and provides greater options, like with the WooCommerce plugin to set up an online shop for e-commerce.
Don’t Ignore Customer Service Needs
Customers are increasingly looking to contact companies through a variety of channels. Whereas once a contact form on a website, email, or phone would suffice, now customers like to use a live chat feature on the support page or to tweet out an issue and wait for the company’s public response too. Selling online is great, but it often increases rather than decreases the demands on the customer services team. Be prepared to manage communications across various platforms, and track response times.
Use Customer Feedback to Iterate Designs or Features
Unlike in years past, customer feedback often comes in rapidly about a service or following a new product launch. A new company needs to respond quickly to these and pick up on where the product can be improved for version 2.0 or where the service offering needs tweaking. By quickly identifying customer pain points, a new business avoids getting bogged down in problems or receiving a poor online reputation.
By aiming to get a good reputation from the start and doing a few things right, new businesses avoid making painful stumbles in the early months. This proves invaluable for building early momentum.