Non-e-commerce websites have the luxury of tracking metrics such as traffic or time on page. But in the world of e-commerce, it all truly boils down to e-commerce conversion rates. 

You may have thousands of visitors per day, but if none of them are actually converting and making a purchase, you’re doing something wrong. 

Let’s look at six high-reward tactics that can help you improve your e-commerce conversion rates without breaking the bank.

1. Write Compelling Copy and Detailed Product Descriptions 

Selling a product often comes down to explaining to a customer what it is they are actually getting. 

In the world of e-commerce, this means you need to be crystal clear with your product descriptions. The more detail you provide, the easier it will be to understand the benefits and whether a product is actually what a visitor is looking for.

Your copy should speak the language of your customers. If you’re selling high-tech products to noobs, tailor your language and don’t use terms they might not understand.

Dewalt does this really well – they give you all the specs about their tools and leave you to make an intelligent choice, but the words they use just make you want to buy that powerful saw. 

2. Use High-Quality Images 

The images you use are equally important as your copy – and sometimes, even more so. 

If you can take pictures of the product (original ones, instead of using something you’ve found online), try to do it from various angles. Make them as high-resolution as possible, too.

However, there is more to your e-commerce website than product imagery. Here’s an example: LMNT has an incredibly compelling Ingredients page that compares their product to other popular similar products. The comparison image lets them showcase how they stand out. As they’ve paired it with some very clear and persuasive copy, the page works incredibly well. 

3. Include Social Proof 

A great way to improve your customers’ trust is to utilize some social proof on your website. 

You can provide social proof in the form of reviews, testimonials, banners, or badges. Whatever you choose, sending a signal that you are a legitimate business that is loved by a whole host of others is a great way to inspire more conversions. 

You can also go for user-generated content, sourced from social media or by reaching out to customers via email. Satisfied customers can provide you with some amazing images for the website.

Runners Athletics features some user-generated content from Instagram on their homepage, which shows their product in action. This can give visitors a chance to imagine themselves wearing it and gently persuade them to convert. 

4. Offer Support and Provide Answers 

Chances are, a lot of your potential customers will have a question or two to ask along the way. 

This might be a question about shipping and returns, taxes and delivery times, packaging, and payment methods. You can answer all of these in an FAQ section. This will make the shopping process more transparent and seamless, and you will again be establishing some trust.

On the other hand, you also need to provide a way for your customers to ask questions that have not been answered. For example, these may be questions about a specific product or the best way to use one. For these cases, you should provide a support system – a phone number, email, or chat. Preferably all three.

The more avenues of contact you provide, the better, as different customers prefer different ones. Some like to chat, while others love email. 

Pretty Little Thing has a great FAQ section that makes finding an answer easy, and they also offer support if you need it. 

5. Include Trust Elements 

Let’s talk about trust a bit more, shall we?

While social proof is a great way of working up some credibility, you should also try to go a step further. Here’s how:

• Clearly showcase the payment methods you accept. 
• Showcase the brands you have worked with. 
• Provide testimonials from satisfied customers. 
• Make features like money-back guarantees, warranties, and similar promises clearly visible. 

Gili does this well with their satisfaction guarantees clearly displayed on their product pages. Plus, they also point out that buying their products directly benefits the marine and wildlife charities they support, which makes them an even more positive brand to work with.

6. Test Things Out 

Adding all of these conversion-inspiring features to your website is just the first step; bear that in mind. You still need to make sure they work well by testing each different element. Consider your:

• Calls to action
• Checkout flows
• Payment methods
• Confirmation emails
• Shipping notifications
• And all of the elements we’ve discussed in this article

Knowing that everything works properly and that you are speaking to your target audience in their voice will ensure your conversions are optimized. If you notice e-commerce conversion rates are dropping, try tweaking different elements of your page to figure out what the issue is. 

Closing Thoughts

Think about the different ways you can incorporate all of the elements we’ve discussed into your website, and see which ones work best. Don’t forget to run clever A/B tests and work on improving them even further.

Have additional questions about conversion rates? Contact Beanstalk and let’s chat.

The post 6 Low-Cost, High-Reward Tactics for Improving Ecommerce Conversion Rates appeared first on Beanstalk Web Solutions.

It isn’t hard to understand why businesses seek 5-star reviews. Humans always want to see, hear, and read what others believe about someone or something. That’s why negative reviews can be so discouraging for a business. 

What is the first thing that you do whenever you want to try coffee from a new café, hairdo from a new salon, or products from an online store?

Yes, you check out the online reviews and base your decision on what other people have said. Bad reviews might convince you to pass on a business. But if the reviews are good, then you might give it a try!

However, if you are focused on only getting positive reviews and preventing any and all negative comments, you should rethink your strategy when it comes to online reviews.

According to research, negative reviews can result in an 85% increase in conversion rate. Communicating with negative reviewers is an effective marketing strategy that can boost customer retention. Read on to find out why and how you can interact with negative reviews in a positive way to connect to potential customers.

Hiding Bad Reviews Isn’t a Good Practice

Many businesses believe that negative reviews ruin their reputation. That may be true if reviews are primarily negative, but best practices are not to hide them. Instead, a mixture of both positive and negative reviews can still benefit your business, if you handle them properly.

Hiding and deleting reviews is the worst way to deal with negative reviews If you are censoring the comments, then you’re losing 62% of the consumers who check for reviews before purchasing, according to research.  

Another study from Baymard states that 53% of users seek out negative comments before making any decisions. Instead of hiding or removing them, you must know how to respond appropriately to negative comments. Even if they are sometimes cruel.

Your positive approach to negative reviews can highlight your commitment to your customers. 53% of reviewers expect that a business will respond to their queries. Many businesses lack this crucial step and don’t get back to unsatisfied customers, which is more damaging in the long run.

How Could Negative Reviews be a Game-Changer For You? 

Social media has changed the paradigms of how businesses operate. Social platforms are playing a crucial part in helping companies develop brand identities and interact with the audience in real-time. 

Let’s see how negative comments can be a real game-changer for your business:

• Negative Reviews Can Generate Leads 

On average, a customer spends around 13-14 minutes reading reviews on different platforms before purchasing. Some negative or lower-star reviews will decrease the average star rating. But, negative reviews can result in higher conversion rate because they breed a sense of authenticity and trust. Negative reviews can influence purchase behavior.

• They Build Trust

One thing is for sure that nothing is perfect in the world. If your website is filled with 5-stars ratings and positive reviews, it can look suspicious. Moreover, negative reviews can be fruitful in some ways. They give you the chance to rebuild the broken trust and show a strong connection with your customers. 

The best practice to build trust with the customers is to communicate with them. Try to address their issues by offering them some incentives, such as a discount voucher or gift. 

This shows the new readers that your brand values its customers. You might retain lost customers and throw the impression out to the 67% consumers who value trusted brands for shopping. 

• Mixed Reviews Are What Customers Look For

Mixed reviews show authenticity. The average customer reads 10 reviews before finalizing a brand for making a purchase. If you have faked the positive reviews or deleted reviews, your business could look too good to be true.

Negative reviews show customers’ real reactions to your products or services. It’s natural for people to have a range of reactions to a product or service, so you shouldn’t try to hide it when people respond unfavorably. Obviously, you should try to promote as many good reviews as possible, but a few negative ones in the mix won’t damage your reputation.  

• They Bring Greater Transparency

Businesses must realize the importance of mixed reviews before deleting or censoring negative ones. Your review strategy has to be transparent. You must show your online audience that you are open, believe in improvement, and respond well to criticism. This practice improves your brand loyalty.

If you reach out to reviewers to resolve issues they bring up, it shows that you are transparent and committed to their satisfaction.

• They Push You To Improve Quality & Service 

Both positive and negative reviews enhance quality and service. Positive reviews boost your passion and motivate you to deliver exceptional products and services. 

But, bad reviews help you know where your business lacks and what areas need immediate attention. Connecting with an unsatisfied consumer is a great chance to improve your company’s online reputation.

How Should You Respond to Negative Reviews?

Read on to know some tips that can surely help you deal with bad reviews in a positive way. 

• Respond Quickly To Build A Positive Brand Image 

53% of customers expect businesses to respond to their negative reviews within a week. What you should do is address the person nicely and try to track down what happened.

• Apologize Generously   

Try using the reviewer’s first name instead of ‘Dear guest’ or ‘Dear customer.’ Make sure to start with simple greetings and show that you’re sorry for the inconvenience caused and willing to work with them to find a solution.

• Take Responsibility

The best gesture is to take responsibility when things go wrong instead of making excuses. A defensive approach will incite a never-ending chain of arguments.

For instance, if you offer assignment assistance but fail to fulfill the request of a student, then it would be best to accept your mistake for the bad experience. 

In this case, you can compensate for the damages with a free revision or discount on the next purchase. 

• Ask for Another Chance 

Communicate with reviewers, extend a hand, and invite them to shop again. Show reviewers that you care and are striving to do better.

Wrapping Up!

Negative reviews can lead to increased sales if you respond to them appropriately. I have presented several ideas about what could be done to leverage negative reviews for a positive outcome. Don’t hide and delete bad reviews; address them effectively to maximize leads.

Author Bio: Stella Lincoln is a Digital Marketing Analyst at Dissertation Assistance, a platform for cheap dissertation writing services. She has been in the digital field for almost a decade. She loves writing knowledgeable content on digitalism and marketing. In this blog, she presents her views on important lead generation tactics.

The post The Positive Psychology Behind Negative Reviews appeared first on Beanstalk Web Solutions.

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic situation has impacted retail shops, hotels, vegetable and fruit vendors, and many other businesses. The global supply chain ecosystem has been adversely affected, causing a shortage of certain products. With various governments and authorities around the globe implementing a lockdown in their respective countries and localities, a public panic has arisen. This pandemic has forced consumers to stay in their houses. The virus has triggered consumers to explore the world of eCommerce for their purchases. Traditional brick-and-mortar stores are switching on to eCommerce platforms and have found new and innovative ways to sell their goods. Here are a few reasons why you should have an eCommerce platform for your store:

Convenience

Various shops and stores are adopting eCommerce platforms to sell their products online. This increases the ease of a customer to buy products from their homes while ensuring social distancing. The E-commerce platforms provide online payment gateways and options like contactless delivery to reduce human interaction during these crucial times.

Attractive

What matters the most to a business is attracting customers. As various local businesses are marking their online presence through an E-commerce platform, it gives their business an upper hand over the shops which are closed temporarily during the crisis. Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) strategies can be implemented to these eCommerce stores, boosting the business even further. With most of the consumers depending on search engines to find what they need, SEO plays a huge role in the success of a company. 

The first step for the products to be listed in the searches is having a website. Tactics like SEO, PPC, and other strategies can boost the rankings of your pages in the searches. SEO implementation using keywords and phrases can boost the search result, attracting more customers.

Earn Online

In business, money matters. The more products listed, the more sales. With your shop being open online during the ongoing pandemic, you earn more than the closed ones. Creating an eCommerce store grants your business a greater opportunity. The sales generated for an eCommerce store is greater than the traditional brick-and-mortar stores.

E-commerce stores create a whole new world of opportunities. These platforms are highly popular among the Millenials as the younger generation accounts for over 50% of the time spent on the internet when compared with the older generation. Over 56% of the new generation prefers shopping online than physical stores. 

New Opportunities

One of the benefits of an eCommerce store is the vast expansion of your business. While the traditional brick-and-mortar stores are restricted by square footage and hours of operation, the online store can be seen in a wider area and can be interacted during any point of time. An eCommerce store can help a business explore new markets, creating endless possibilities and cultivating new sales and revenue opportunities.

Brand Awareness

A leading-edge that an eCommerce platform gives you is an increase in brand awareness. As sharing the products through various social media platforms is easy, the products will reach a wider audience, naturally increasing your brand reputation. As your brand awareness increases, the chance for people to interact with your store increases. This brand awareness increases the chance of sales conversion.

The best way to serve your customers now is through online platforms. Why keep your stores shut? Get an efficient eCommerce platform and take your stores to a wider audience.

Author Bio: Levi Vaguez is a Content Writer at 2Base Technologies, fuelled with ample tech experience. He loves to read books, comics, articles, listens to music, and is a hardcore Swifte.

The post Why Does Your Store Need an eCommerce Platform?  appeared first on Beanstalk Web Solutions.

1. What Are the Effects of Coronavirus On the Online Market?
2. The Importance of Online Marketing During the Crisis!
3. Why Do Professional SEO Produce the Best ROI?
4. What Benefits Can You Get from Professional SEO Services?
5. Why Should You Act Now, Not Later?

1. What Are the Effects of Coronavirus on the Online Market?

Many businesses are temporarily closed, thus forcing people to make their shopping online. But at the same time, many people are forced to stay at home, without being able to work. For these reasons, it is very important for any online business to use online marketing methods, like professional SEO, to prevent making losses, maybe even increasing their profits.

Some businesses will suffer massive losses. On the other hand, businesses that transition sales to an online space have the opportunity to increase their profits. Keep in mind that more and more people will be forced to turn to the internet to buy things.

In the beginning, online sales skyrocketed. But if you want a share of the pie then you must be ready to fight with many competitors. Useful information on this topic is also presented in this Coronavirus SEO Article which can help you get a better grip on what will happen in the online world during this pandemic. 

Another important factor that you should keep in mind is the fact that after a period of massive sales made online, the online market will crash as well. If the virus continues to force the governments to maintain these precautions, then the power of spending of the population will drop massively. Meaning, that people will not have money to spend because they are forced to stay at home and not work. The best way for a business to pass this period without any losses, maybe even making profits, is to use online marketing methods.

2. The Importance of Online Marketing During the Crisis!

Online marketing can be grouped into two categories. They are:

Paid Marketing 

This type of marketing is the most expensive one. It has the benefit of bringing very fast results. But once you stop pushing money, the results will stop as well. Because of this, we recommend to not use this method as a long-term marketing method. And, under any circumstances, you must not permanently use this method as a primary way to acquire clients. You can find a thorough comparison between paid and organic marketing in Neil Patel’s post. 

Let us give you a comprehensive example. Google Ads is a PPC (Pay Per Click) method where you buy visitors directly from the search engine. Once you start paying, your website will be in the first 4 results on the SERP ( Search Engine Result Page) for the chosen keywords. But once you stop paying, your website will disappear from the first page as well.

Organic Marketing 

The most known method from this category is professional SEO. It is a very affordable method, especially in comparison with PPC, that has the potential of bringing you a much higher ROI than paid marketing. But this method has the disadvantage of being slower in bringing results. SEO services have a similar goal to PPC. The goal is to make your website reach the first page of SERP without paying Google any money.

The biggest difference between professional SEO and PPC is the fact that once you stop investing in SEO services, your website will still retain the results for some months, or even years before falling in ranks. Also, professional SEO is based on the premise that your site should be the perfect place for your visitors.

3. Why Do Professional SEO Services Produce the Best ROI?

The most asked question which I heard lately is this: Will professional SEO services produce the best ROI for my online business? Many reasons will make you reach a positive answer to this question. But the most important ones are:

• Costs
  Unlike PPC, spending money is not mandatory. You can implement many SEO strategies without the need to spend any money. You can instead use your time and effort as a replacement. But, keep in mind that you will not be able to obtain as many results as you would get from the SEO services offered by a good SEO agency.
• Volume
  If we separate the first page of results between the organic websites and the ones that paid to be there, we will have the surprise of observing that over 70% of search users choose organic results. This happens because they realize that the quality of these sites is higher than the paid ones.
• Long-term
  As mentioned above, professional SEO is a long-term strategy. This means that the results will come slower than other marketing methods but they will come in higher quality. On the other hand, the profit obtained from PPC methods will remain constant while you spend money and stop once you stop spending. This is why we suggest the use of this method as a short-term strategy. 

Another important piece of information that you need to keep in mind is that you can use the period of inflated online sales to implement professional SEO strategies. This will help you enormously. The results will appear much faster than normal, thus reducing the disadvantage that this method has in the short-term.

4.  What Benefits Can You Get from Professional SEO Services?

Of course, a better ROI is a very important advantage, but it is not the only one. There are three more important advantages that you can obtain from SEO:

• Follower Base
  You should understand that the best way to make money online is to create your follower base and constantly help them with products and services. As mentioned above, SEO has the goal to make the visitors pleased ( thus making search engines as well). This will make it much easier for you to create a follower base.
• Branding
  Branding is very important in the online market. You need to understand that trust is a very valuable commodity in the online market. It is much harder to gain through a website than face to face. The best method to gain trust online is through a very good branding strategy. The good news is that branding and SEO can be combined and they will improve each other.
• Independence
  Most strategies are dependent on other channels. If the channel disappears so do their marketing efforts. SEO is the only one that focuses on your website and around it. Thus giving you independence from any other channel. You may argue that the site will depend on search engines. Well, for your SEO efforts to disappear would mean that all the relevant channels must disappear, not just one. Moreover, many parts of the SEO services have the role of attracting and pleasing the visitors, thus pleasing search engines as well.

5. Why Should You Act Now, Not Later?

It is very important to be resolute and not wait anymore. Why? As mentioned above, the period in which online sales will rise is limited. As more players turn to online spaces as a source of revenue, the competition will become stiffer.

To avoid this problem, and to profit as much as possible from this period where online sales are still very high, you must look for a good SEO agency as fast as possible. 

It is imperative to make sure that you have the required knowledge to choose a good SEO agency, otherwise, you will risk choosing a mediocre one, thus making your ROI much lower. This is why we recommend that you use the content on our site to educate yourself about the industry and be able to find a good SEO company. Here you can find more reasons for the use of SEO.

Another important factor that you should check is the prices of our SEO services. If you make a comparison with other agencies, you will find out that our services are more affordable and together with the quality of our services your ROI will skyrocket.

The post How Can Professional SEO Services Increase Your Online Business Profits During the Coronavirus Pandemic? appeared first on Beanstalk Web Solutions.

How Adding an Online Plant Shop Helped Sugar Creek Gardens Stay Open During COVID-19

With Stay At Home Orders affecting people across the country, businesses have had to modify their operations significantly to adapt to a new normal. Such was the case for Sugar Creek Gardens, a Kirkwood nursery that has temporarily shut down their store to customers. Instead of halting business completely, Sugar Creek Gardens turned to Beanstalk to help develop an online store.

Sugar Creek Gardens offers 2500+ plant varieties, specializing in exceptional and rare perennials and shrubs. After selling her excess plants at the Kirkwood Farmer’s Market, Ann Lapides developed her passion for plants into a local business. Sugar Creek Gardens has been a part of the community for 30 years.

When Sugar Creek temporarily closed their storefront to protect their customers, calls asking to purchase plants came flooding in. The number of calls they received was overwhelming, so they asked us to help them create their Online Plant Shop where customers can purchase plants from the comfort of their homes. 

The online shop allows customers to browse plants, pots, and gardening supplies and place orders for curbside pickup. Upon placing their order online, customers schedule a time to come pick up their plants. Sugar Creek Garden places the orders onto tables right outside their doors; then, customers can safely find and pick up their orders.

Since the shop went live, Sugar Creek Gardens has been fielding many new orders from customers. And Sugar Creek will be able to continue utilizing its online store after its doors reopen for in-house shopping. Customers love the convenience of being able to find the plants they need quickly online and have them ready to load into their trunk when they roll up to Sugar Creek Gardens.

Beanstalk has worked with several other companies, like Sugar Creek, to begin offering products, gift cards, and services online. Online shopping capabilities have proved enormously helpful to small businesses seeking to boost revenue during the coronavirus outbreak. They also provide an opportunity for long-term success, even after regular, in-store operations resume. If you’d like to add shopping functionality to your website, talk to an expert today.

The post Sugar Creek Gardens Success Story: The Online Plant Shop appeared first on Beanstalk Web Solutions.

The reality is that the global pandemic is affecting most businesses, whether directly or indirectly. Whether you are just a consumer, a B2C business, or a B2B business odds are you have been affected in some way by COVID-19. Many small businesses need to find new ways to make money and stay afloat. There are various ways that you may not have thought of, but we hope to provide you with some ideas to boost your business during uncertain times.

For B2C businesses, one thing you can do is make gift cards available for purchase online. Offering gift cards for your customers gives your business a small cash infusion immediately to make it through these uncharted times and also allows your customers to feel included.

Gift cards basically work as a no-interest loan from a consumer to business. Consumers, in turn, feel as if they have helped, even if it is just in the form of a simple gift card that they will eventually use at your business, whether that be now or post-pandemic. If they use the gift card, they are helping bring business to you, and may even bring others with them. Or they might forget about the gift card and never even use it, making it a loan that you never have to pay back. Unfortunately, or fortunately, in this case, $1 billion in gift cards go unused every year.

Support Small Businesses

Another way that you can support fellow businesses is by supporting them online. Shout out other small businesses whether they are in your industry or in another industry. We are all in this together. We need to support each other and let any rivalries go. Don’t be afraid to reach out to businesses, collaborate, and be creative together. Small businesses more than ever need to stick together and lift each other up. Is there a product or service that you could provide that will help another small business prosper?

The bottom line is, whether you are selling gift cards, supporting other businesses, or working together with other businesses, you will make it through to the other side and be better than ever before. This pandemic does have a silver lining, and many businesses will come back even more efficiently than before, with new strategies for gaining revenue and growth. Keep working hard and doing your part to help businesses around you.

If you are interested in adding gift cards for purchase on your website, contact us!

The post Boost Your Business By Offering Gift Cards appeared first on Beanstalk Web Solutions.

Digital marketing isn’t optional these days. 

If you want your business to thrive, you have to establish a strong online presence, and the only way you can do that is through a well-designed digital marketing strategy. 

It seems pretty straightforward – build a website, manage your social media channels, create content, leverage paid ads, but in reality, it can be a minefield. 

That’s why you need to understand the digital marketing landscape well in order to avoid its numerous pitfalls. 

The truth is that you’ll most certainly make some mistakes, but try to learn from them. 

Here are a couple of mistakes that could hinder your digital marketing efforts. 

1. Not Optimizing for Mobile 

Mobile devices generate almost 53% of global website traffic. 

But people don’t use their smartphones only to browse the internet, read news, and scroll social media. They also use their mobile devices in order to shop. Moreover, stats say that 58% of people shop on their smartphones. 

If your website doesn’t display well on all devices, you risk being penalized by Google with lower rankings and punished by your visitors with an increased bounce rate. 

There’s no excuse for having a website that’s not mobile-friendly nowadays. If your visitors have to pinch and zoom every time they want to read a piece of content or type their password on your website, you can’t expect them to come back. 

2. Neglecting Your Existing Customers 

Acquiring new customers is tremendously important, but you shouldn’t do that at the expense of neglecting your existing customers. 

This practice isn’t financially savvy for two reasons:

• You already have established a positive connection with your existing customers. It would be much easier to sell them a new product or suggest a service upgrade. You can reward your existing clients for their loyalty and reach out to them with a customized offer. 
• Acquiring a new customer is somewhere between five and 25 times more expensive than keeping an existing one. There are numerous ways to retain your customers. Implementing retention chatbots that will be available to answer their questions and solve their problems is among the most effective strategies you can adopt. 

3. Failing to Use Videos 

Informational and educative blog posts are a great way to help your target audience and show them how to solve their pain points. 

But, blog posts shouldn’t be the only type of content that you leverage. 

Namely, nowadays people are busy and bombarded with huge amounts of information every day. This means that they don’t have enough time and energy to sit down and read your content. 

That’s why it’s important to adapt to this mobile, take-away mentality and allow your users to consume your content when they’re taking a walk, commuting to work, or waiting in a long line. The best way to do so is by recording videos. 

This format is more interesting, engaging, and easy to digest than your average lengthy blog post. 

Besides, videos are more likely to be shared on social media channels, which is another perk of this strategy. 

4. Targeting Everyone

Small business owners make the mistake of believing that the more people come to their website/store, the better. 

Traffic does matter, but only if it’s qualified. 

In other words, there’s no use to reach out to someone who doesn’t have any interest in reading your blog posts or purchasing your products, so targeting everyone is wasting money. Not to mention that such a practice can result in a high bounce rate, as the visitors who don’t find what they’re looking for will leave your website after a couple of seconds. Google will spot this and conclude that your content isn’t relevant and downgrade your rankings. 

So, it’s very important to be very precise and accurate with your targeting efforts and attract only people who can benefit from visiting your website. 

5. Having a Sluggish Website 

No matter how good your content is, it can’t make up for your slow website loading times. 

We’ve already established that people have become increasingly busy and impatient, and they have no intention of waiting for your web page to load. 

Every second matters when it comes to this, so make sure to speed up your website by reducing its loading time to no more than 3 seconds. 

There are numerous reasons why a website might be slow – hosting, big images, redundant code, etc. Identify what causes this issue and have it fixed as soon as possible if you don’t want to stop losing traffic and business opportunities. 

6. Spamming Your Prospects 

Email marketing is a very effective digital marketing strategy. But only if properly used. 

Those who use email as an opportunity to flood their prospects’ inboxes with tons of promotional material that don’t add any value will be perceived as spammers. This will result in a number of unsubscribes and damage their online reputation. 

Instead of hitting the send button unselectively and spam your entire audience with the same, one-size-fits-all, generic content, have a more meticulous approach to your email marketing strategy. 

First of all, clean your database on a regular basis, get rid of hard bounces, and update your contact information. 

Then, it’s essential to segment your list based on your prospects’ demographics and other characteristics, interests, and needs. That way it will be possible to tailor your outreach and send them personalized emails that won’t be spammy. 

Finally, send your audience only relevant content and offers that they will find useful.

7. Ignoring Your Shopping Cart Abandonment Rate 

The fact that you know the identity of a customer who abandoned their shopping cart and failed to make a purchase on your website is something that you should use to your advantage. 

Namely, there are various reasons why people never make it to the checkout, and since you have all the necessary information about them such as their email address, insights into what items they viewed, how often they visit your website, as well as the past purchases history, you can take action and lure them back. 

You can send them a reminder about the items they left in their shopping cart, or even offer them a discount. 

Improve your checkout process by simplifying it and adding trust badges that will make your customers feel safe when providing sensitive information such as a credit card number. 

These 7 digital marketing mistakes can cost you losing your customers and numerous business opportunities. And yet, they can be easily fixed and significantly contribute to the success of your business. 

Michael has been working in marketing for almost a decade and has worked with a huge range of clients, which has made him knowledgeable on many different subjects. He has recently rediscovered a passion for writing and hopes to make it a daily habit. You can read more of Michael’s work at Qeedle.

The post Digital Marketing Mistakes to Avoid appeared first on Beanstalk Web Solutions.

SEO or Search Engine Optimization has risen to be one of the most important marketing tools for your e-commerce brand.

In today’s highly competitive and digital world, it’s imperative to keep up with the algorithms of search engines that are changing constantly. However, as a business professional or a business organization, you might unknowingly make certain mistakes during your SEO optimization that makes it difficult for search engines to find, index, and rank your website anywhere near the first page of the search results.

SEO essentially is a process of obtaining unpaid, organic, and natural traffic from a search engine results page. In order to appear in the first positions for a particular search term, you must enhance your e-commerce website by making certain changes to its design. This enables your site to appear more attractive to any search engine and increases the visibility of your website as it appears as a top result on the results page in any search engine.

Here are a few common SEO mistakes that you should watch out for:

1. You’re Targeting the Wrong Keywords

Keywords are one of the most important aspects of SEO that are too pivotal to be neglected. It is essential to make sure that you do not skip the keyword research process while learning SEO because it is very crucial to any strategy. Many businesses unknowingly use wrong or improper keywords that inevitably affects the way search engine crawlers analyze their website to understand its content and purpose. An effective solution is to use tools like Google Keyword Planner or SEM Rush’s Keyword Gap tool to track your competitor’s work.

2. Duplicate or Plagiarized Content

Plagiarism is very popularly regarded as prohibited, however, people lacking creativity or motivation towards providing fresh content prefer the usual copy-pasting from random websites on the internet. The problem at hand here is that when there are too many sets on the internet which display the same content, the website that posted it first usually is the only one that ranks in the search engines. Plagiarizers can get penalized. The best solution here is to customize your content by keeping the headings and product descriptions as relevant to your product as possible, and perhaps add incentives or an emotional appeal to attract more consumers.

3. Lack of Mobile-Friendliness

In today’s era of smartphones and portability, smartphones are more widely used than any other device. The constant need to stay on-the-go and browsing through webpages on your smartphone is more common than anything else on a daily basis. It has been clearly stated by Google that an important SEO ranking factor that can no longer be neglected is mobile optimization. If your website is not mobile-optimized, you’re closing yourself off from plenty of mobile-only customers, which vastly affects the traffic on your site. You can use sites like WordPress, general HTML coding or approach a professional to ensure the mobile optimization of your website.

4. Slow Functioning Webpages

The speed at which your website loads matters a lot more than you think. A website with very bulky files or images that take a long time to load can really lag in terms of speed. A situation like this is very unattractive to a general user who probably will not wait on your site for more than 20 seconds on average. Website speed has also been a significant part of Google’s ranking system for a long time and hence, the quicker your webpages load, the better signals are received by Google and your page gets ranked higher.

5. Establishing a Terrific Social Media Presence

It’s safe to say that social media rules our lives today. It has a great influence on the way we see and perceive things, and it massively affects our behaviors and lifestyles. Promoting your business or organization through social media like Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter highly affects the traffic on your website. It should be noted that a successful social media marketing strategy overcomes some common SEO mistakes. Building good social media profiles, interacting with consumers on it, and getting their reviews and feedback will bring more people to your website as search engines analyze how much consumers network with your brand on social handles. The more social engagement you get on these digital platforms, the more your brand will benefit.

Conclusion

In conclusion, as a business professional you should understand the importance of SEO on your e-commerce brand and how much it can impact the visibility of your brand. To make progress and take your brand to a new level, you must concentrate on site speediness, offer high-quality content and target the correct keywords. In these ways, you’ll ensure that people are attracted and willing enough to visit your site, and you’ll embark upon the path of digital success. 

The post 5 Common E-Commerce SEO Mistakes appeared first on Beanstalk Web Solutions.

Every business wants to have an online presence and beat competitors. Major brands like eBay and Amazon have a massive footfall of customers that give smaller enterprises a chance to provide exclusive products and services through an online store.

Ecommerce is the future of sales, and you need an attractive website. Your eCommerce business website should be intuitive, responsive, and user-friendly, too. The website design should resonate with the brand and encourage users to explore the site. 

Attractive eCommerce website design and development turns visitors into customers. The design of the website has to be engaging and make the purchase process quick, easy, and stress-free. 

Advertisement campaigns are useless if customers are experiencing glitches and a website is not optimized for sales.

Here are 9 great tips and tricks to craft a beautiful eCommerce website for your business.

Keep The User In Mind

Every detail contributes to user experience. From product pages to contact forms and everything in between, every factor plays a significant role in the purchase of any product and services.

Ecommerce web design should be made, keeping the user in mind as it plays a vital role in turning visitors into customers and customers into loyal and frequent clientele. So, keep in mind ease of use, navigation, visual appeal, and overall aesthetics.

Simple and Functional Web Design

A website having a design that is simple and easy to navigate is better than a complex design with strong visual appeal. Yes, there is no doubt that visual appeal is a crucial factor, but complex websites can turn away potential customers.  

If you have a visually complex website, simplify the website design by eliminating unwanted information. This includes unwanted video snippets, links, images, etc. Create a clear call to action and don’t create a landing page solely for the sake of SEO purposes. 

Don’t Distract Users

The ultimate goal of your eCommerce website is to generate sales. Keep this as your prime concern: your goal should be reflected in the website design. It is a good practice that includes additional information like blogs, newsletter option, etc. These extra features must not drive away your visitors from the site and impact the conversion rate. 

For instance, place these extra features at the bottom of the website’s homepage. Pop-up windows break the engagement of a user, and it might lead to abandoning the site altogether. The art is to invite the customer for additional features, not to shove those features down their throat!

Quality photos

The only fact that makes brick and mortar store more exciting is that you can review and experience the product practically. Virtual shopping can present barriers for shoppers, which can be resolved if you have high-resolution photos of each product displayed. 

A short video of a product is an added advantage, as it builds trust and credibility of a product towards a customer. Because of this, any pixelation seems unprofessional.  

A pop-up window feature with a magnifying view of a product to see minute details and examine it before making a final purchase can also be added.

Easy Navigation Menu

A menu bar helps users easily navigate to the desired category and product with a couple of clicks. It is essential to keep the menu bar universal across all the webpages. 

Keep the menu bar simple and organized. Don’t try to put too much information on the menu as it will look cluttered and overloaded.

If you need to provide navigation to second or third-tier pages, make the menu bar as a pop-up window, i.e., when a cursor hovers over the menu options on the menu bar unfold. 

Keep your products organized

Product organization is essential, and a user should be able to find a desired product easily. Therefore, it is important to categorize products into specific categories. 

Products seamlessly incorporated into the organized menu bar helps to streamline the search and shopping mechanism.

When the products are specifically organized into the categories, users can discover different products and classes they were not aware of.

Search Bar

Some users already have a product in mind, and they type in the search bar for a particular product. It makes it easier for a user to get the product of their choice rather than taking a long road and scrolling through the menu. 

A search bar must be at the top right corner of the home page as it is easier to find.

Grid Layout

Organized rows and columns give an organized look to the website. This idea makes product browsing a cakewalk for customers. Don’t try to haphazardly add too many products in the grid, as it does not looks visually appealing. 

Keeping ample space between two products helps a user to understand distinctively. 

Mobile Optimization

An eCommerce website should be optimized for smartphones. As the majority of the customers are using mobile for shopping, it is, therefore, essential to have a website that opens efficiently on a mobile web browser.

Responsive web design can adapt to any screen resolution and operating system. It eliminates the need for a separate mobile version of a website for different devices. 

Ready to Implement These Tips and Tricks?

There is a probability that users came to your eCommerce website because a particular product persuaded them to surf. Whenever a user browses your website, it is essential to give your traffic an enjoyable experience. So, keep the website dynamics user-friendly, simple, organized, responsive, and engaging. Keep the customer your ultimate priority.  

These subtle yet significant things can go a long way in the success story of your eCommerce store. 

What are the other strategies you would like to have and implement into your website? Did we miss something? Let us know the comments sections. Have a great day, fellas!

About the Author

Morris Edwards is a web developer & marketing strategist who works with Awebstar, a mobile app development company in Singapore. Apart from this, he loves to write blogs on web design, SEO & internet marketings. Follow him on Facebook and Twitter to get his new articles and updates instantly.

The post Tips and Tricks to Build an appealing eCommerce Website  appeared first on Beanstalk Web Solutions.

In modern marketing, trends change all the time. Marketers are used to such swift changes. Shoppers and retailers, on the other hand often find themselves dumbstruck by a trend that hits them from the blindsided by new trends. Here are 7 eCommerce business trends that should be on your radar for the upcoming year.

1. Shopping directly in social networks

Every solid SEO strategy stresses the importance of maintaining social media profiles. This helps marketers put a human face to their client’s business but it also creates an alternative shopping platform. Setting up a shop on a Facebook page revolutionizes social media in the sense that you no longer need to click an external link that will take you to a separate shopping platform.

Ordering can be completed directly from the social media page, which helps shoppers decide faster if they want an item or not. Utilizing in-app purchasing platforms like Instagram can provide huge benefits since they already feature thousands of images, which appeal to shoppers.

2. The trend to automate everything

We already know the power of automation in the transport and storage industry, which lies at the heart of operations of the eCommerce business. However, the automation’s reach can be extended into the online sphere as well.

From the point of a marketer, you can use automation to quickly communicate with the client using chatbots or algorithms. Where promotional campaigns are concerned, using automation, you can simultaneously post new offers in all social media and accompanying channels. Such an increase in speed and coordination can scale your ad campaign.

Finally, automation allows you to track customer’s actions in real-time. This will help you gain insight into the pages they find most interesting. Furthermore, you’ll get a chance to segment your clients based on their interests.

3. Search engines are losing the battle against marketplaces

More and more shoppers who know exactly what they are looking for head directly to a marketplace, such as Amazon, and search for products there. Such online behavior is slowly changing the odds in the product queries market, as search engines are slowly but surely losing ground they’ve gained during the past couple of decades.

Right now, the ratio is roughly 50:50 but like Amazon, eBay, and other online marketplaces up their game, their share of product queries will increase.

4. Voice search is becoming a new SEO standard

Whether you are searching for a product on Google or Amazon, you will need to input data. For decades, the only input method was text but voice search is becoming increasingly popular. Voice recording technology has finally caught up to search engines. Even people who mutter can still be understood and their words turned into a successful search query.

Although popular today, voice search is expected to take off in 2020, accounting for 50% of all searches. This means the best SEO practices will have to change because websites with the voice control function will start ranking higher. Retailers will start streamlining thousands of products to be voice search compatible.

5. Embracing augmented reality

2020 will mark the age of augmented reality (AR). The blurring of the boundaries between the real and the virtual world is perfect for eCommerce. Buyers get a chance to try on or try out products that would be impossible to test in real life.

If your eCommerce business platform uses augmented reality, then customers are less likely to return a product, even if they have never touched it before. The most obvious benefit is for the clothing industry, but there are also applications in the makeup industry as well. Even the furniture company IKEA has launched an AR app that allows prospective users to see how their room will look when furnished with IKEA’s products.

6. Mobile commerce will continue to boom

Out of all eCommerce industries, mobile commerce is still firmly at the helm. Creating and running a company app has become just as important as maintaining a brick and mortar business. Everything we have listed so far should make its way into mobile versions of eCommerce platforms as well. Simplifying the ordering process, adding voice control, and experimenting with AR are now a standard when it comes to mobile apps.

Mobile apps make it easier and more convenient to browse and purchase products while on the go. People spend less time in front of their personal computers, so it is more likely they will make a mobile purchase while at work, in the gym, or at school.

7. Improving the delivery process

We have already mentioned that producing, storing, and transporting everything ordered online is crucial to a profitable eCommerce franchise. In fact, the offline bit of the business means just as much to the average customer, as a speedy delivery is what they really expect. An increasing number of deliveries are carried out on the same day.

In 2020, “same day deliveries” are expected to really take off, making for about half of all the deliveries made. In order to meet these demands, the delivery industry basically has two options. Firstly, they can apply the model promulgated by Amazon Flex that includes on-demand drivers that will take care of the last section of a package’s travel. Freelance drivers can do door-to-door deliveries, which is the costliest part of shipping.

Secondly, an eCommerce business can establish nationwide pickup points. These simplify the delivery system and make it cheaper for end users. Instead of waiting for the shipment to come to them, buyers can drive out to a predesignated pickup point to collect their package.

The trends in the online retail industry change so fast. Right now, it only is possible to list the ones for the next year. In 2020 we will see automation, shopping on social networks, voice searching, and who knows, maybe even trailblazing delivery drones.

Sarah Jessica Smith is a young blogger from Sydney. She is in love with life and all the things that can make her daily routine easier. She loves to write about business, marketing, productivity and workspace décor.

The post 7 Refreshing eCommerce Business Trends That Will Dominate in 2020 appeared first on Beanstalk Web Solutions.