The world of ecommerce is constantly evolving and one needs to have a continuous thirst for knowledge in order to make progress or even maintain your position. Since it is the beginning of the year, the timing is just right for making a few changes in an attempt to improve your SMB’s performance. In that respect, take a look at some ideas and best practices in that domain.
Pay attention to customer reviews
Before the development of internet reviews, people would always rely on other people’s recommendations. Even today, when it comes to important things, reviews of people we trust are extremely important and valuable to us. For instance, doctor’s recommendations are still usually taken as a first hand recommendation. This is why it is important to have good feedback and also let it show. One way to do this is to ask your users directly to give you feedback. You can publish this on your own website, but it will not have much value when it is published by yourself or your business. However, what is valuable is a standardized measure of quality assessed by all the people out there. Perhaps you guessed that we have Google reviews in mind. If you manage to keep a good grade on Google, it will impact your business hugely. Positive reviews are what you hope for, while negative ones should be what you also expect. Therefore, you need to have the right attitude when reacting to negative reviews. Always acknowledge your mistakes and try to empathize with the customer, apologize and make a commitment that the next time they use your services, things will be different. This is very important as proper reactions show you are human and polite, as well as that your intentions are pure. Conversely, aggressive and defensive reactions only show you as petty, opinionated and emotionally unstable.
Improve customer service
This part is connected to customer reviews. If you would like to have good reviews, you need to be of service to your users. Of course, it is impossible or at least inhumane to have people working as support 24/7, however, there are other ways you can improve in this area. Firstly, you need to think about the hours your support will be off. For this period, you should have a system that sends automated messages stating that your support is unavailable at the moment and assuring the user that their issue will be dealt with at the earliest possible time. Secondly, having a FAQ section on your website is also a good idea. This way, people can self-diagnose their issues and resolve them with the help of your answers or instructions. If you can manage having a chat bot that will handle some of the most common issues while everyone is away, that would also be a great improvement. Finally, you also need to think about improving the current customer service you offer. Train your employees to be empathetic and kind, avoid catchphrases and make sure to not give false promises. The only promises you should give are the ones that you are certain will be kept. Otherwise, not only that you will not help your user, but they are very likely to lose their trust in your business which is a much more dangerous consequence than an unresolved issue.
Incorporate AR in your business
Being innovative is something that is guaranteed to attract some new audience that likes trying new things. If you are unfamiliar with AR, it is short for augmented reality. It combines real and virtual life. If you are wondering how, there are a number of ways you can incorporate AR in your own business. If you ever played the famous mobile game called PokemonGO, you definitely would have heard about AR. In the game, AR is used to place virtual pokemon into your own environment. Simply turn your camera on and you will see your own room or anything that surrounds you with an addition of a pokemon. Just like this game, you can use AR to present your own products. Depending on your business domain, if you are selling furniture, your AR could place the furniture in lifesize anywhere your customer likes. It is a great way for your users to see how a piece of furniture would fit into their homes, for example. This is just one use case, there are many and you should feel free to think of your own and apply it to your business. It is guaranteed to have positive reactions.
Be flexible with headless commerce
Headless commerce is a concept where your website’s frontend is independent from the backend. What does this mean for your business? It means you are free to change your user interface without having to change any of the core things lying in the deeper layers of the website. All the data would remain intact while you play with the appearance of your webpages. This also applies to mobile versions and any other devices. It is a very neat thing to do. Just think of all the possibilities – Christmas, Valentine’s Day, Easter and any other holiday or special occasion can be celebrated by your business by changing the look of your front page, for example. You can even change it every week, if you please, it will be that easy. Of course, engaging in this mission to do headless commerce is an investment of time and money, however, it is done only once. After that, you can change your UI anytime you like without any consequences. It is basically a small sacrifice for what you stand to gain once it is done.
Finally, make sure to stay true to yourself and trust your instincts. Running a successful business is not an algorithm that can be learned. Sure, some advice should be taken and some strategies used, but you should always leave room for a certain personal touch you will give to the whole thing. This will give your business a unique flavor people are going to love.
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Author Byline: Liam Collins is a tech pundit and Web enthusiast working at TuiSpace.com. He spends most of his time reading and writing about the current affairs in the world of information technology. When he isn’t working, he likes going for long bike rides and walks in nature.
