CEO of LeapVista.
getty
Starting a business is always exciting. However, the challenges between one’s starting point and end goal are rarely as thrilling. There’ll be disappointments, issues that aren’t within your control and even global crises like the current pandemic with its resulting community-wide and statewide restrictions on businesses.
In my 14 years in the e-commerce industry, I could say that my businesses have suffered both small and big crises. I see crises as two-edged swords that can have positive and negative impacts. They also have the potential to reveal your strengths and expose your weaknesses. Best of all, crises could push you into adapting tactics and strategies that would safeguard your business against similar or bigger challenges in the future.
There are lots of uncertainties that come with building an e-commerce empire. However, taking the lessons that many businesses have learned from past and current crises, there are steps you can take to strengthen your resilience, be more receptive to changes and stay relevant to the needs of your customer base.
1. Get into digital marketing.
Regardless of the type and size of your business, digital marketing is the name of the game. Online is where you’ll reach people, and that’s enough reason you should be on the same platform. When done right, digital marketing gives you better control of how your brand is perceived and how you’ll keep driving new customers to your business.
You need not master all the nitty-gritty of digital marketing, but it’s always wise to delve into the strategies that would work for your target market and can be implemented in your chosen traffic or sales channels. Many e-commerce businesses do well by focusing on a few digital marketing methods, like social media ads, pay-per-click (PPC) ads and email marketing. Identify the best ways to reach your ideal customers online and then use them. Once you’re ready to scale, you can always choose to tap experts who can help take your business to the next level.
2. Improve your offer based on your customers’ feedback.
Even popular and well-established brands ask their customers for feedback. Why? Because feedback lets them know both the satisfactory and unsatisfactory features of their products and services. If used well, feedback could drive businesses toward better product development decisions, marketing tactics, and other data-backed improvements.
Your customers are the ones who bring cash into your business, so it makes sense to listen to what they have to say. Plus, having the flexibility to adjust according to reviews will help ensure that your business stays relevant and responsive to your customers’ needs and preferences.
Of course, not all customer feedback will be beneficial or possible to act on. The key is to strike a balance between accommodating feedback and sticking to your business values, branding and resources.
3. Cultivate a loyal customer base.
It’s common knowledge that it’s more costly to acquire new customers than retain existing ones. With that said, you’ll want to make the most out of every customer you attract. Strive for loyalty, and make sure your customers find every transaction with your business to be satisfying.
Some of the ways that you can build customer loyalty are through stellar customer service, exclusive offers, retargeting ad campaigns and nurturing content delivered via email or social media. Be engaging and encourage your customers to engage with your business as well.
Today, using social media is one of the easiest ways to engage with actual and potential customers. So leverage social channels to start conversations or join existing ones and inspire more user-generated content for your brand. As you do this, you’ll also gain more social proof, which could attract new customers as well as inspire loyalty.
4. Take on a reflective and proactive approach.
Risks always accompany businesses, and there are many ways that a business could fail. It could be a lack of foresight, insufficient resources, poor management, lack of discipline or extreme crises like a recession or pandemic.
Because of this, it’s important to be watchful of the threats or dangers that could potentially affect your business. Reflectiveness and proactiveness are key here. You should stay abreast of industry trends and forecasts and use your findings to decide how you can adapt and secure your assets.
Regular self-check also counts. Have you been putting in enough effort for your business? Or are you just winging everything? Are you preparing for uncertainties, or do you only face problems once they’ve progressed into a full-blown crisis?
There’s no running out of challenges in the e-commerce industry, and mistakes and failures will always be part of entrepreneurship. However, by listening to your target market and offering these customers value, coupled with early and quick preparations for potential crises, your business can have a better chance of thriving amid difficult times.
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