Starting an eCommerce business is a great idea if you’re looking to make a profit, seeing how eCommerce has only been growing in popularity. This industry doesn’t show any signs of slowing down as new eCommerce businesses emerge every day.

If you’re thinking about starting your own eCommerce business, you might find it overwhelming at first. There are so many decisions to make and things to do that it might even seem off-putting at first.

But don’t worry. Below are listed some strategies for starting an eCommerce business that is guaranteed to help you succeed.

Plan ahead

Do you know exactly how you want to run your business and what you want to do or do you just have a general idea?

Shopping illustration by Manoj Jadhav

Starting a business is not something you should do without having a good plan from the start. Every entrepreneur agrees that business plans are an essential part of every company.

They help you keep track of your short-term and long-term objectives, and make informed decisions about your business. Luckily, these plans aren’t hard to make. In fact, all you need is a business plan template and you’re good to go.

Choose the right eCommerce platform

Even though you might have great business ideas and amazing products, that doesn’t mean much until you actually create your website. To start an eCommerce store, you first have to make your website. A good shopify website designer can help you get an effective website. The most affordable and best way to do that is by using an already-developed eCommerce platform.

When you’re choosing your platform, you need to consider the following things:

• Price. Platforms have a monthly fee and they can differ. Consider your budget and how much you’re willing to spend on a platform before making your choice.
• Availability of plugins. Different platforms offer different plugins, some of which are essential, while others are something you can go without. Decide which plugins you need and see if the platform you like has them integrated.
• Support. Sometimes, unexpected things happen and websites crash. When that happens, there’s no need to panic. In that case, you should contact a support team. Make sure that the platform you choose has a support team that’s always available through multiple ways of communication.
• Mobile-friendliness. Making your website mobile-friendly is extremely important in the eCommerce world. According to statistics, 67% of consumers use their smartphones for ‘digital window shopping’. And 77% of them make impulse purchases while doing so.

There are many eCommerce platforms for you to choose from, but two of the most popular ones are undoubtedly Shopify and Squarespace. Both are great platforms, but they cater to different needs.

Think about web design

After you’ve chosen your platform, it’s time to think about designing your website. When you start an online store, you have to think about how you’re presenting yourself.

Arredo Clean Furniture Store by Jovana Jevtovic

After all, the look of your website is a reflection of your business. If you want to show customers that you’re a serious and trustworthy company, your website should have the following:

• Easy navigation. If you want to keep people on your website, it needs to be simple to navigate. Customers should be able to find what they need in just a few seconds. That’s why navigation on your website needs to be simple and straightforward.
• Quality copy. Customers visit your website to get more information about a product. The way you’re going to provide them with it is through a well-written copy. Include all important information with content that’s pleasant to read and easy to understand.
• Meaningful visuals. In order to engage an audience’s attention, you need to include visuals. It is important to include useful and purposeful visuals as they can help customers visualize a product and get a better understanding of it. They also provide a break from the written content.
• Page speed. All of your hard work will probably be worthless if you have a slow-loading website. If someone needs to wait too long for your website to load, they will lose interest. Check your page’s speed regularly so you can fix any issues if they arise.

Start an email marketing campaign

Email marketing isn’t much younger than the internet itself. It seems like it’s been around for almost as long as the worldwide web, and it isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. Email marketing is a highly effective marketing strategy that involves sending emails to customers and prospects. If you run this campaign well enough, you can turn prospects into customers, and earn loyalty from your existing customers.

For a successful email marketing campaign, there are a few steps you should follow.

Build your email list

You can’t start an email marketing campaign without any email addresses. That’s why building a list should be your first step. Find contacts that could be interested in your product and offer people to sign up for your email list or newsletter when they visit your website.

The best way to make people sign up for your email list is by using a lead magnet. This is something you offer to prospect leads for free in exchange for their email addresses. These magnets are free or low cost for you but are rather valuable to your clients.

A good lead magnet is:

• easily consumed
• actionable
• relevant
• immediately available

Segment your list

If you want to increase click-through and email open rates, divide the people on your list into segments. Segmentation helps you understand different groups of leads on your email list and decide what kind of content to send them.

Some of the factors you can segment your leads by include:

• age and gender
• whether they are new or old subscribers
• location
• preferences on what kind of mail they want to receive
• interests

You can get all of this information by asking your leads to fill up a short survey when they’re signing up for your email list.

Remove inactive contacts

A large number of subscribers doesn’t mean anything if they’re inactive. That’s why it’s important to keep a close eye on your email list. If a customer hasn’t engaged with your company in over six months, they probably aren’t interested in your business anymore.

However, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try to re-engage their interest. Try sending another email to see if they still want to do business with you. If they don’t respond or if they say that they aren’t interested anymore, it’s time to remove them from the list.

Send emails on a regular basis

Since people joined your email list, it’s safe to assume that they want to receive content from you. Most people check their email every day. If you send mail to them regularly, you will build an ongoing relationship with your customers that will always keep your business in their mind when it comes to online shopping.

Keep customer loyalty in mind

As a business owner, you should start thinking about customer loyalty from the very beginning. It’s much better to gain a customer that will stick with your brand than to always search for new ones.

Ecommerce App by Shahidul Islam Shishir

If you show that you care about your customers, your business will succeed faster. That’s why you should set up a loyalty program.

A loyal customer will often purchase from your company and even recommend you to other people. However, there are some things a company needs to do to earn that loyalty. That’s why a lot of businesses have a loyalty program set up to reward customers.

These types of programs offer special benefits to customers who meet certain requirements. This could be a special coupon or discount as a reward for a certain amount of money they have spent or a number of points they have collected by buying from you.