Online purchases are growing every day and e-commerce in Spain already exceeds 10,900 million euros per quarter, a figure that shows the great opportunities offered by Internet sales.
Correctly exploited, these opportunities will lead to the success of your business but, how can you make the most of this new environment? There are 4 basic points that should not be lost sight of:
Attracting customers to your business: As we have already mentioned on some occasions, the first step to start selling on the Internet is to attract potential customers to your website. Although it may seem obvious, it is a crucial step that can be developed in multiple ways: traditional advertising, social networks, corporate events, email marketing campaigns… All techniques are valid, as long as they are adapted to the socio-demographic characteristics of our target audience.
Increased conversion rates: Once the consumer has landed in the online store, the important task of getting them to make a purchase begins. To do this, we must first look at the product range and the way in which the products are presented. Once the user has chosen one or more items, the next challenge begins: to offer a quick and easy checkout and a great sense of security that will prevent the cart from being abandoned. This can be achieved with a wide range of secure payment methods, and even by selecting payment methods according to the characteristics of the buyer. Security certificates (such as PCI DSS) from payment service providers are also very useful in providing greater consumer confidence.
Loyalty and repetition of purchase: it could seem that once the sale is made, the process is over, as well as the efforts that must be invested in it. However, special attention must be paid to the customer in this moment: we have already managed to get him to trust us once, so our aim will be to extend that trust and give him reasons to come back. It is much easier to keep a customer who already knows us and has had an experience with us than to reach new people who have had no previous contact with our company. Therefore, we must be careful with elements such as after-sales service, resolution of doubts or problems, shipments in the agreed time, ease of returns, etc. In addition, it will be very useful to make future purchases easier by collecting the most useful and relevant data in the first transaction (card details through tokenization, preferred payment method, shipping address…).
Communication for a snowball effect: we have attracted customers, got them to buy and made them trust us for future occasions. What is left for us to do? Use our consumers as the best advertising technique. Word of mouth has always worked and in the age of social networks and the internet, the opinion and comments of a satisfied consumer can reach thousands of users. Approaching potential customers from the perspective of a friend, family member or acquaintance who recommends our brand or products will help more people give us a chance. So invite your customers to leave a comment or encourage them with the promise of a small gift and you will see more and more people coming to your online store organically.
Achieving business success is never easy and in the online environment the constant growth of competition can make it even more complicated. However, not only does the competition grow, but so do the shoppers, their average tickets or their number of purchases. Therefore, as highlighted by the Communications Department of Sipay payment gateway, it will be important to have a careful strategy, which takes into account all the steps already mentioned and that is supported by experts capable of advising and helping on the way to success of ecommerce.
