As any entrepreneur will tell you, running a successful business is challenging. The good news is that there are tons of resources out there offering top-notch advice on everything from finding the right business model to setting up your store correctly.
While you can use sophisticated ecommerce tools like Payment Cloud and Woo-commerce, nothing beats following the footsteps of successful entrepreneurs. Over the years, it’s become apparent that businesses thrive thanks to the input of their owners and founders.
We’ve condensed these traits into four simple habits. The habits may seem obvious, but they have a tremendous effect on the business’ overall success. Let’s examine them one after the other.
They love the customer experience
Some of the most successful companies in the world today were started by people who were unsatisfied with the status quo. They hated the available products and services and decided to do something about it. This is true for Apple, Ali Baba, and even Amazon.
The most successful ecommerce websites have the customer journey in the center. They are focused on optimizing every visitor’s experience and making sure that they leave with a great idea of the business’ offer.
Unlike physical stores, ecommerce businesses have a limited means of interacting with their customers. They can’t immediately tell if their visitors are pleased, annoyed, or ready to patronize a competitor. That’s why it’s not surprising that they’ve taken a different approach to appeal to their customers.
They focus on delivering the best possible experience through the website and other channels. Ecommerce owners understand that every customer touchpoint is an opportunity to make a great impression, and possibly earn a loyal customer.
They also ensure that their passion and value shine through at every given opportunity. You can see this in fine detail when you visit sites like Amazon. You see the impressive UI, the warranty and money-back guarantee, and of course, the customer reviews.
They tell fascinating stories
Copywriters are some of the most valuable professionals in the digital space today. Their ability to tell stories to specific audiences based on their needs is critical to selling. People also tend to gravitate to brands whose stories they understand and relate with.
And this is what sets successful ecommerce owners apart. They understand the role that stories play, and they tell them passionately. Interestingly, the audience may buy into the story without even realizing it. While some story campaigns are very in your face – like apple’s – many are also subtle, and they creep into your mind over time.
Let’s take Amazon as an example. You probably know that they pay workers higher than the required minimum wage. You also know that they focus on being a complete service to its customers, and it does this through everything from Alexa to the Amazon site itself.
The good news is that you don’t need Amazon’s large budget or an army of copywriters to tell your stories. You can do it by simply thinking of a way to share your story with your audience. The trick is to make it relevant and to reach them in the best possible medium.
Videos, FAQ sections, blog posts, newsletters, books, webinars, podcasts, documentaries are all viable means. Some of these will be more relevant to your business but they all have the potential to reach your audience
They can’t get enough of metrics
This trait isn’t just from successful ecommerce business owners. You can see it in brick and mortar businesses, and other non-business endeavors as well. Metrics can tell a very concise story about what’s going on with any undertaken.
Einstein reportedly said insanity is doing the same thing over and over but expecting a different result. The problem is, changing approaches can be tricky especially when you can’t identify the actions that work.
You need to know how much effort you’re putting into every step of the process, and how much of an overall impact it produces. From there, you can vary your approach to achieve a different result and escape Einstein’s cycle of insanity.
Successful ecommerce owners keep an eye on metrics like cost per acquisition, conversion rates, average order value, average sales over a period, and shopping cart abandonment rate. There are several others that you’ll encounter as you begin to measure your website’s metrics.
Once you have the analytics, you can make better decisions and channel your resources in the right direction. Launching an ecommerce store is a bit of a leap of faith. But after the business gets on its feet, your subsequent decisions become calculated and intentional.
You can also use data to minimize risk by testing your efforts on a small scale and using the metrics to go big.
They love feedback
Customer feedback is a different kind of metric. It tells you about the good thing you’ve done in the past and all the ways you can make it better. But it also tells you something more important – how people are feeling about your brand. Unlike conversion rates and average sales, customer feedback helps you identify, with accuracy, all the things you’re doing well, and all the things you can improve.
It also helps to focus exclusively on what the customer wants. When reviewing analytics data, ecommerce businesses tend to focus on how well they are achieving their business objectives. It’s easy for customer needs to fall out of focus. But it’s impossible to ignore your search filters when customers are constantly opening support tickets about it.
Much more than receiving feedback, successful business owners love to respond to the feedback. They may follow up with an email explaining that they’ve fixed the issue, and ask for more suggestions. They may also ask other vital questions like how the customer found the shopping experience and what features they look forward to revisiting.
The fascinating thing about feedback is that it gives your online store the same advantage as brick-and-mortar businesses. With customer feedback, you can actually tell what your customers are feeling, and find innovative ways to respond.
