SmallBizlady: What does it take to run a successful online business?
The foundation is much the same as a brick and mortar business — a solid plan, good offering, outstanding customer service, hard work and a bit of luck.
It also takes patience — this is true with an actual store, but more so when you go online. Too many new business owners are surprised when customers aren’t reaching their websites right away. They make a big investment to get up and running, but that’s only half the battle. Spending money on attracting customers is critical to most businesses. This needs to be part of your business plan and budget.
In the storefront world, customers can’t help to find you. There may not be as many customers as you want, but at least you are in their path. In the online world it is possible, even likely, that a customer will not find you. It takes effort to build an effective, highly trafficked online channel.
SmallBizlady: What kind of features did you need to have on your website to be successful selling online?
Many people have different opinions on this, and clearly it depends on the type of business you have. Three features I have found to be extremely important are: a quality Product Search, easy shopping cart, and product reviews. Over the years we have tried many features, but found these are the ones that most impact conversions — the number of people who buy as a percent of unique visitors.
If you have lots of products, a good internal search engine is critical. Think about the last time you were on Amazon.com. Chances are you didn’t use the side navigation, but went right for the keyword search. Most customers do the same and you need to ensure you help customers find what they are looking for in an efficient manner.
The shopping cart is also an important part of the sales funnel. Customers are often skeptical and may look for an excuse to leave — don’t give it to them. Keep the experience as simple as possible. Make sure the cart is professional looking and has credibility.
Product reviews are often overlooked, but also add to a site’s credibility — not only because customers want to know about a products, they want to know others have purchased in the past!
Also important is that the site looks professional. While not everyone can do this, we found that adding a phone # also helps conversion. Other nice to haves include coupons and a rewards program — but these can be added later.
SmallBizlady: How long to do you typically get to impress a potential customer online?
While customers are typically different and have different requirements, you are normally dealing in seconds. Just like the impression someone leaves you with a handshake or “hello”, much is the same with your website. Your site needs to look professional and credible.
Using simple tracking from Google Analytics or other free products, you can track your various web pages to see how long a given customer stays. Count to “1” — chances are that’s all you have for that first impression!
SmallBizlady: How did you build your marketing mailing list through your website?
The easiest way is by putting a form on your website asking customers if they want to join your mailing list. Most of the better email marketing programs, such as pbSmart Connections, have a feature for adding a form on your website. You simply decide what you information you want to gather on the form (ex. email address, name, interests, etc.). Important — keep it simple! You want to encourage people to sign-up for your contact list. Just as with surveys, people are short of time and patience — make it easy for them! You can always ask for additional information later.
A second way is to have an opt-in form when customers purchase a product from you. Somewhere after they, ask them if they want to join your mailing list. Offering them a discount on a future purchase is a great way to encourage “opt-ins”.
If you also have a physical store, or market in a confined area, QR codes are a great new way to collect emails, contacts and new customers, especially if you also market to a specific location or through a store. This is a long topic, but an exciting one. Perhaps Melinda can schedule a future show devoted just to this topic.
SmallBizlady: How important has email marketing been to the success of your business?
Email is critical, but it must be used correctly. Simply sending email blasts can quickly close doors for you and cause you to lose customers. Think about how you like to be communicated to as a consumer.
Good uses of email: send a confirmation note when an order is received, another when it is shipped, and a third to ask your customers to rate / review the order. You might not think of this as marketing, but it is — putting your company name and brand in front of customers in a discrete way is a great way to make your company more memorable. Consider having a memorable logo to aid your customers in remembering your company.
Also consider sending reminders for future orders or services, related product emails and emails for the holidays — just don’t go overboard!
SmallBizlady: How have you used direct mail in your business? What systems do you use to conduct a direct mail campaign?
Yes. Most of our direct mail campaigns are focused on attracting new customers vs. communicating with existing ones. This is because direct mail is proven to be effective and there are not many alternatives — while email is important, finding new customers with email has proven difficult. That said, running a multi-channel campaign is one of the most effective ways to connect with customers the way they want. Think about sending a direct mail campaign with a theme, and then follow with an email campaign with the same theme.
SmallBizlady: Do you use auto responders and can you explain how to create an auto responder that converts into sales?
Yes, all the time. An autoresponder typically sends an email based on a date (ex. sends an email on a birthday) or an event (when someone signs up for your contact list). But with more sophisticated tools, they can also be used to send emails several days after an event (ex. 8 days after an order ships). Use more sophisticated workflows that send notes based on actions your customers make or don’t make — for example, if they open an email but don’t click through to the website. This is important as it enables you to segment your customers. Rather than having one list, you can use auto responders to split lists into different segments, as an example, those who don’t open your emails, those who do open and don’t purchase, those who open and have purchased in the last 30 days, etc.
Remember, customers don’t want to be constantly marketed to, so be smart and think through your strategy ahead of time!
SmallBizlady: How important is SEO to a successful online business and have you used any paid ads online?
SEO is one of the most important focus items you have in a small online business. Paid ads are good for generating traffic and depending upon your product or service can be effective, but also very costly. SEO may be costly upfront, but being in the top search spots on Google, Yahoo and Bing can brings you significant traffic at a fraction of the cost of pay-per-click. You can have the best looking site on the web, but if no one can find it, who cares?
I like pay-per-click in several places – for long-tail terms, with a very controlled budget or if I want to jump-start a particular product. It also can help you generate a steady stream of sales which may not be profitable, but can help you build a base of customers to establish credibility.
SmallBizlady: What kinds of things do you do to court repeat business?
As mentioned earlier, having a well thought-out email and direct mail strategy is essential. How many times have you had a good online transaction, but forgot the name of the merchant? It has happened to me on many occasions. Two that I remember are a purchase I made for a laptop battery and one for vitamins. When I went to reorder, I blanked out on the name. This is why sending customers a constant, but limited set of mails with your name/brand is important. A direct mail campaign is also very useful here — a coupon make go right into a special drawer your customer has or and on their desk or fridge.
I have to mention that there is no substitute for quality customer service. Here, online businesses and brick and mortar are similar. Also, try to personalize the experience as much as possible. Think about why you shop with certain small businesses — don’t you like it when they welcome you by name?
SmallBizlady: Now you started an online business in 1999. How did you mange this while working full-time?
In the early years it was difficult working two jobs, but it was also fun – running your own business can be very rewarding as can being your own boss. Early on, most of my time was spent on things that I could do during the evening or weekends — opening a bank account, building the website, so it was not problematic. My wife was able to work part-time in the business as well, so I was lucky.
Most people take the plunge into a new business by giving up their job. I would advise against this. It takes quite a bit of time to generate traffic, revenue and profit in the online world. Too many businesses fail early because they can’t go that long without cash. There is nothing wrong with keeping a part-time job or even a full-time one if you are willing to work nights and weekends. That’s one of the luxuries of having an online business.
As the business grew, I hired a strong staff. As with any business, this is critical. Over the years I thought about leaving my full time job, but having income allowed me to take risks with the online business that I would not normally have taken (like trying TV Commercials) which enabled me to grow it more. The knowledge I learned from running an online business was used in my full-time job as well — another added benefit!
SmallBizlady: I know that Pitney Bowes wants more small business owners to utilize integrated customer communications. Tell us about the Customer Communications Makeover contest going on right now.
Small businesses looking to grow need to reach their customers and prospects in the most effective way. Email may be preferred by one customer, Facebook by another and a third may prefer a direct mail piece they can hold in their hand and pass around. At another time, those same customers may prefer something different depending on circumstances. While the need is there, many small business owners don’t understand how these channels work or understand how to effectively implement them. A recent survey by Pitney Bowes found the majority of small business owners would focus on integrating a variety of marketing channels if they had the tools.
Pitney Bowes just launched a national contest to help small businesses improve customer communications to better position themselves for growth. Five Grand Prize winners will receive a customer communications plan makeover, valued at $10,000. The Grand Prize winners will receive a full-day consultation and planning session with renowned small business experts — including you Melinda! They will take a thorough look at each grand prize winner’s existing communications and provide custom coaching to develop a program that suits their unique needs.
To enter you must submit a photo of yourself in your workplace and either an essay of up to 300 words or a 60-second video, in each case explaining why the business is the best candidate for the Small Business Makeover. Entries must be received by July 19. Go to www.pbsmartessentials.com/makeover.
SmallBizlady: Pitney Bowes has recently launched a small business website. Can you tell us the URL and the goal for the small business website?
Pitney Bowes recently launched the pbSmartâ„¢ Essentials website to help small businesses. It’s an easy-to-access online resource that provides useful knowledge and tools to create opportunities to achieve their business goals by connecting with customers. There are tools that can help expand a customer base, streamline processes and grow businesses using those integrated communications tools we’ve discussed. Any small business will find something there for them. The url is www.pbsmartessentials.com
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