Now may well be the best time to set up or grow your business in eCommerce. That may sound exciting, a lifetime experience, yet you need to be cautious to avoid costly mishaps.  Yet, it is advisable to do some homework before venturing into your new retailing.

1. Build an impressive Website

What the audience sees first is your website.  So, a good first impression is vital in getting more customers. Once they visit it, you want to keep them there and entice them into making a purchase.  A professionally-built website is worth every penny spent. To put it differently, you are not spending money, but you are investing in your business’s future.

The design of your eCommerce website must grasp all types of customers. A well-designed website convinces people to take a close look at what you offer.  Your website must convey information fast and concisely. It needs to evoke the trustworthiness of your business to potential customers.

3.  Take advantage of the m-commerce strategy

Online stores need to be mobile-friendly. Your website needs to be optimized for mobile devices to be accessible to more customers. A mobile app is not necessary to do this. What you need for m-commerce are; a responsive design, an easy-to-use navigation menu, solid mobile search features, and easy checkout and payment.

Improve your site’s mobile accessibility with appropriate design and optimize your images so they can load faster. The more you improve your site’s accessibility, the more customers will possibly visit it.

4. Have your e-shop all set to go

First, complete all the steps before launching your online store.

Decide what you want to sell.

Create your logo, and have your page well-designed with graphics.

Optimize your site to draw customers and bring you sales.

Categorize your products clearly so that the shoppers can easily find what they are searching for.

 Include all relevant information for them, like contact form, shipping cost, return and refund policy.

Having a well-designed site shows professionalism and gives confidence to your customers to buy from you.

5. Offer customers easy access to relevant information.

Υour customers need to have access to all information regarding their purchases.  The customers should know about your shipping and return policies before their purchase. A contact form so customers can contact you easily.  24/7 customer service and an FQA page are helpful. You may want to consider a Chat on your site via Tawk, FB, or other services.

6.  Spread the word

Once your online store is ready to launch its products, spread the word. There are plenty of ways to achieve better results by spending less money but investing more time. One of the most important eCommerce strategies worth applying is search engine optimization. You can grow your customers without spending more on ads.

Increase your traffic through (SEO), creative content writing about your product, and keeping your blogs up to date. Make the best use of email marketing tools, social media, Facebook, Instagram, Tik Tok, etc.

7.  Market your store beyond ads

It is not as difficult as it may look.  There are plenty of available applications to do all your tedious work with just a click. Do some research, and don’t hesitate to use their free trial option before purchasing the one that suits your needs.

Create ads that bring in traffic that converts into customers. You need to try different products to find what works for your store. Invest in marketing and advertising your eCommerce.  Choose the products that sell most. You need to be patient, as the results of your ads campaign will start showing after a few days.

8.  Why create multiple links?

It’s necessary to create external backlinks.  Promote your products on similar and popular blogs or magazines. The more links you have to your site, the less you spend on ads. Then, you can retarget the clicks to your site, which is much cheaper than trying to find new customers. The more sources you have driving traffic to your site, the more audience and potential customers you get.

9.  Facilitate online shopping

Help your customers find your products.

Your customers must be able to navigate through your eshop with ease and find what they are looking for in no time. Be specific with your product categories so customers can easily find the exact products they search for. The easier they find what they’re looking for, the more likely they’ll make a purchase.  Also, remember to remove products that are no longer available or do not sell because they have a negative impact on customers’ purchases.  

Provide “Product Comparison” so customers can easily compare product features and decide which meets their needs.

Offer a “Wishlist” so your customer can select products in a “Wishlist” for future purchase.

It is advisable to have clear images and product reviews to encourage buying. A short, detailed product description and how-to-use product information can help convince your customer to buy from your store.

10. No shipping cost is a plus.

Free shipping is always an incentive to buy online. Customers are usually hesitant to spend more money on a product, even more so from smaller, lesser-known companies. So, you should offer affordable shipping with ePackek offering a less expensive shipping service or free shipping with AliExpress.

In cases where the shipping cost is inevitable, have a flexible way of calculating shipping manually, based on location, weight, and special shipping class for the particular products.

Consumers like to know the total cost of their purchase before clicking the “Buy” button.

11. Outsourcing is necessary

Ecommerce is a 24/7 business. Of course, you can’t be there at all times. Also, eCommerce requires different skills, no matter how multi-talented you may be, it is not a one-man’s job.  Accounting, marketing, graphic design, content writing, and web design are just some skills you will need.  Find skillful people to work with to run a profitable business.

12.  Build your audience

Building your audience is essential. Try reaching out to people who are interested in your products. Request their feedback on your store. You can find and grow your audience by applying a mix of new tools and strategies and making all necessary adjustments as you grow.

13.  Increase your organic traffic

If you provide creative content, you have the edge over your competitors. The best way to do this is by creating unique content. Post compelling blogs regularly to grow your audience while engaging your customers and bringing new ones. Engaging blog content brings more visitors to your store through SEO and social media, which convert to sales. Monetize your blog content through special offers,  and feature your best products for special occasions.

14. Why consistency is critical to creating a loyalty program

It is essential to retain your customers while acquiring new ones, and this is accomplished by being consistent. That is, add new products, new offers, or even new blogs regularly, on specific days.  That way lets your customers know when to visit your site, and loyal customers will spend more on your products.

The “Collect points” system lets your customers collect points on each purchase and keep them coming back to redeem their points in future purchases.

Focus on their preferences, social media engagement, and buying habits. Afterward, use this data to make the most out of your current customers, with ads and marketing targeting.  It is a profitable procedure in the long run.

15.  Visual marketing tools to better ROI

Increase conversion rate and sales with visual material.  Product videos attract more potential shoppers as they are more explicit and show how to use the items, which is more convincing for the customer.  Although creating such videos is time-consuming, it gives you a competitive advantage over your rivals and increases your ROI (Return On Investment).

16. Social media

Use social media to build and engage your audiences.  Do not rely on just one social platform experiment with different platforms.  Consumers like to connect with brands they see on social media.  Powerful social media posts, sharing knowledge and interests, can encourage user-generated content like tagged photos. When your customers start sharing their pictures, you can post them on your social channels and let your audience feel they matter.

17.  Let automation tools work for you.

Ecommerce automation tools can simplify your job. Shopify tools like Kit allow you to automate order processing and marketing and allow you to spend more time making sales and enjoying your profits. The marketing CRM tools can help you organize and connect your audience data.  This approach lets you identify favorable circumstances and create personalized communications to meet your audience’s needs and desires. Take advantage of free trials on apps to find the right ones for you.

You can try out the free trials of several apps. Find which apps suit your needs best. Begin with apps that help grow your business, like upsell and abandoned cart apps, and their price tiers are cost-friendly to your budget.  

18.  Build an email list

Send emails regularly and promotions to your customers. Email marketing helps you send offers to your best customers, recover abandoned carts, and provide value by informing your customers with practical tips for your product. Choose from an abundance of affordable email tools to facilitate your work.

19.  Enrich and renew your product list

At times you may need to change your product list. Take out products that don’t sell and include new products that are gaining popularity in the market.  You can use the Automizely app to find products for your store in any category, from fashion to hardware just a button click.  You can include a trendy item but don’t invest in it as it may be outdated before you know it.  Prefer products that last, such as fashion, fitness, pets, accessories, and home furnishings.   It is necessary to stay alert to new products and competitors in your eCommerce field.

20.  Don’t forget discount opportunities.

Price is often an issue for many customers. There are various apps available that let you see and compare competitors’ prices, such as DataCrops and Import.io. Shoppers always look for the best offer money can buy using available online tools.  You should price your products high enough to afford to offer them at a lower price and submit your discount code to popular sites.

This method helps shoppers find the discount for your product and make their purchases. You can also include discount codes on social media. Urge your customers to take action by putting a countdown timer showing that the offer ends after a specified period, for example, in 48 hours.

You can also consider a pack offer. When customers purchase product  X, they receive an additional discount if they buy products X and Y together.

 Keep your customers satisfied with saving money when they buy products they want.  Take into consideration that shoppers are looking for the best price for a specific item, not necessarily the lowest price.

21.  Price Tiers

If you are marketing services, then provide “Tier Pricing”.  So, you should include a “Register Form” for premium customers.  The “Registered” customers will see different prices on the same products and will have access only after manual approval.  Based on this pricing system, your customers will receive tier pricing, and you can show various costs to your customers.  Such pricing encourages potential customers to register to make more economical purchases.

22. Choose an appropriate payment method.

You should offer 2-3 payment methods such as PayPal, Apple Pay, Shopify Pay, Stripe, or 2-Checkout because they are the most popular and trusted. Choose the most favorable for your customers and offer alternatives, and let your customers choose which they prefer.

23. Provide security to your customers

Security is a concerning issue when personal and financial data is shared online.  Eshops risk customer data being stolen, especially with credit card transactions occurring online every day. Your customers need to feel their sensitive data is safeguarded for all interactions on your site.

 8 More Technical tips for eCommerce

1.  A high Website speed is necessary. That is A on GT Metrix and over 70/100 on mobile and over 90/100 on google page speed insights.

2. Image size: Optionally, it is better to compress all your photos when you upload and ideally upload in web format for better speed.

3.  A meta description field should be on every page that can be easily defined from the back end.

4.  Create your sitemap link to register in Google Search Console.

5.  It is advisable to have Google Analytics installed to monitor your customers’ engagement on your site.  This helps you see all the sales, add to cart, abandoned cart, etc.

6.  Facebook Pixel dashboard will give you vital insights on how visitors use your Website and their engagement, so you know when someone took action after seeing your Facebook ad. So, you can reach out to these customers through Custom Audience.  Conversion optimization improves Facebook ad delivery to more potential customers for your eCommerce.

7. Sell more with pop-ups. After 30-second browsing on the site, a pop-up appears with “Fill in your email to receive a 10% discount on the first order”.  Email addresses should be entered in a database to give the discount to users, and linked to Mailchimp, or any other email service app you are using.

When your customers add a product to their cart, they will enter their email so that in case of an Abandoned Cart, you can send an automated email.

8.  Security Apps Make use of SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) or TLS (Transport Layer Security) to secure your customers’ online shopping experience.  A security system ensures that transactions and data are encrypted.  Two-way authentication is also a better way to further secure your online store.  TLS can also be used to encrypt other communications as well, such as email, messaging, and voice-over IP.

Successful eCommerce is an ongoing process.

A key to successful eCommerce is trying out products and methods to see what works best for you.  Maintain what brings desired results but always be on the lookout for new products and tools which will facilitate your growth and bring in new customers.

Research shows that more than 2.5 quintillion bytes of data are created daily. This includes data generated by businesses when developing applications, customer data collection through their activities on the internet, and much more. Trying to make sense of this data is beyond the capability of any one organization. However, through the process of data visualization, hard-to-interpret raw data can be converted into easy-to-understand graphics, which organizations can use to make informed decisions, provide personalized experiences to consumers and outperform the competition. This article by Atalos Web will serve as an in-depth guide on everything you need to know about data visualization.

What is Data Visualization?

Before we get into the nitty gritty of how data visualization is used, let’s take a bird’s eye view of what this field really is. Data visualization involves analyzing and converting large amounts of data into visual formats such as graphs, charts, maps, interactive diagrams, and more.

Representing data in graphic format makes it much easier to understand and interpret the true meaning behind the numbers, such as identifying trends in customer behavior, tracking market performance, and more. Additionally, through these graphics, businesses can make informed decisions, as it provides them with a clear picture of their current performance, competitor performance, customer preferences, and numerous other metrics.

Best Data Visualization Tools in 2023

While there is various mass-used software such as Excel and Powerpoint, which have been used to create graphics for a number of years, given the sheer amount of data companies need to process daily, this software just won’t cut it.

Don’t fret, as there’s no shortage of great data visualization tools available on the market today and here’s a list of some of the best options:

1. Tableau: This is a commonly used data visualization software in the industry today. Businesses can seamlessly integrate their database with tableau, post which they can sort, analyze, and clean data to be used for creating engaging visualization. In addition to tech companies, marketers and journalists are increasingly using this software to create visualizations. However, this software does have a learning curve, and new users will require a bit of training.

• Infogram: For those new to data visualization, Infogram is the perfect software owing to its drag-and-drop interface, making it easy for anyone to create data visualizations. Whether you want to create reports, website maps, or even social media posts, Infogram has got you covered.

• Google Charts: This is a free tool created by Google that can be used by individuals and businesses alike to create data visualizations. While its collection of templates isn’t as impressive as competitors, Google Charts is a great entry-level tool to play around and learn about how to create good visualization. Additionally, the visualization you create can easily be integrated with your social media, website, or blog posts.

• Microsoft Power BI: Similar to Google Charts, this is a cloud-based visualization platform that is easy to connect with your database and be used to create visuals, reports, and other types of graphics within a few simple clicks. Microsoft also provides users with the power to forecast by utilizing the power of predictive analysis.

When it comes to sharing visualization across teams or sometimes consumers, it’s best to try this tool as it will turn PDFs into JPGs, which maintains the image’s quality. This is the best choice when visualizations need to be printed for presentations or business fairs.

Benefits of Data Visualization

Now that you understand what data visualization is and the best tools on the market, let’s dive into the various benefits it provides:

1. Making Informed Decisions: A common trait among most successful businesses is that they make informed strategic decisions. Whether it is to introduce new product offerings, launch a marketing campaign, or conduct product research, all of these decisions need to be based on facts and data. When in a meeting with various stakeholders, it is not possible to present complex spreadsheets. However, well-made data visualizations ensure that everyone understands the data and can take collectively informed decisions.

• Overcoming Biases: Just because something worked in the past, doesn’t guarantee it’ll work in the future. However, humans are prone to give into biases as they provide a sense of comfort and predictability. But, when it comes to business decisions, it’s best to keep biases at bay, as they can cloud your judgment. Through the use of visualizations, biases can easily be tested and scrutinized to chart the best way forward, rather than relying on hope and past results.

• Uncovering Hidden Trends: Analyzing isolated data sets, for instance, from the sales team is bound to provide great insights into their performance. However, when you analyze business-wide data, there will be certain uncovered/hidden trends that will come to light. These trends could provide pivotal if your business is in a highly competitive market.

Here are a few examples of how data visualization is used in various industries:

• E-commerce: Major online retailers such as Amazon and Walmart track every part of their customer’s journey on their websites and use the data to create visualizations regarding their preferences, purchase behaviors, and more. These visualizations form the bedrock of their decision-making process.

• Music Streaming: Spotify has been a pioneer in utilizing data visualization as a marketing tool through its Spotify Wrapped campaign. Each year customers await their ‘wrap,’ which is a graphical summary of their favorite songs, artists, and usage of the app. As reported by Variety Magazine, in 2020, Spotify Wrapped was shared by 60 million users worldwide (out of their total user base of 90 million)! This is a great example of the usefulness and popularity of data visualization not only from the business side of things but customers as well.

• Finance: From big banks to standalone lenders, almost all players in the finance industry rely on data visualization to analyze market trends, understand customer preferences and create appealing promotional materials such as brochures, reports, social media posts, and more to convey this complex information to various stakeholders such as investors, customers and more.

Data visualization is a tool that has become a necessity for all businesses. Whether it be internal or external decisions, using visualizations ensures that stakeholders make informed decisions based on past trends and projections. When it comes to sharing visualizations with stakeholders, along with sharing them digitally, using a PDF-to-JPG converter is a great option allowing anyone to print documents with ease.

Look into low-cost business models and calculate your startup costs

Get your finances in order before you apply for funding.

• Check your credit score and improve it so you can get better terms on a possible business loan.
• If a traditional bank loan isn’t ideal for you, try alternative funding sources like angel investors, venture capitalists, and peer-to-peer lending.
• Sit down and calculate your business startup costs to see how much cash you need.

Trust technology to improve efficiency and reduce expenses

These tools and professionals can help you save on startup costs.

• Use project management software to quickly track deadlines and deliverables.
• Digitize your documents to make them easier to store and share. You can merge a PDF with this tool.
• Save time on accounting using small business accounting technology.
• Trust scheduling apps like these to speed up appointment organization.

Look into affordable marketing techniques to boost business

Promote yourself with the help of these resources.

• Research affordable marketing options like social media and blogging.
• An expert like Atalos Web can help you implement cheap digital marketing strategies.
• Consider getting accredited by a reputable business organization to demonstrate your expertise and trustworthiness.
• Join a business network so you can meet other entrepreneurs and cross-promote.

When you consider the costs, starting a business can become an intimidating prospect. Don’t let money matters deter you. There are many resources available to help you realize your dreams of entrepreneurship. Just check out the list above.