What does it take for an eCommerce company to become profitable? Well, the answer to this question is fairly simple. In order for a company to be considered profitable, it needs to earn more than it spends. Although the answer may sound simple, making it happen is as complex as it gets.
You need to cover the expenses of your startup’s launch and still have enough money to cover the costs of running a business.
Seeing how the expenses usually are you won’t have a lot of maneuvering space around them. You need to focus on increasing your income as quickly as possible. Here are a few tips on how to set your eCommerce startup on the right path towards becoming profitable as soon as possible.
The Rule of Seven
The first thing you need to know about digital marketing is that the traditional rule of seven applies even here. In order to make a customer buy from you, they need to encounter your brand at least seven times. In other words, what you want is to make a lot of noise in your niche and become virtually omnipresent.
You should work on your online presence by investing in social media marketing, working on your SEO rank, and perhaps even contacting some influencers to help you out.
The most important thing is to establish your marketing budget as soon as possible and try to stick to it. Naturally, as a startup, you won’t be able to pay as much as most of your competitors. Instead, you need to focus on the methods that will provide you with a better ROI.
Look for Qualified Leads
One of the greatest problems that most eCommerce startups face is finding a way to generate qualified leads. You see, not everyone needs or wants your product. The primary focus of your outreach needs to be finding people who have the greatest chance of actually becoming paying customers.
The referral reward is one of the techniques you can use in order to get qualified leads. Another idea would be to start a blog to interest people in your content and your business niche as well.
Offer a Guarantee
The great thing about the Internet is that anonymity gives people more freedom than they have in the real world. This anonymity has a downside as well, seeing how gaining the trust of your future customers may seem like fighting an uphill battle.
People online are quite suspicious of spending their money in the digital environment. So before they become willing to do so, they need to have at least some sort of guarantee that your business is legit.
The easiest way to do so would be to contact experts in the field of financial fraud advisory. Consult with them on how to present yourself in the most reassuring and reliable manner.
Focus on Making Return eCommerce Customers
In the initial stages of your startup, most of your marketing will be oriented towards obtaining new customers. However, in order to make your company profitable as quickly as possible, you need to focus on return customers.
The reason behind this is a fairly simple one; according to one survey, just 8 percent of your regular customers are responsible for over 40 percent of all your profit. In order to boost the number of returns to your e-store, you need to learn how to make a winning post-purchase email. Here, you could try suggesting related products, asking for some feedback, or even offering support and tracking services.
Conclusion
In order to make your company self-sustainable and profitable, you need to find the right way to communicate with your clients. Building a relationship based on trust takes some time. You just need to find the right crowd, speak to them in the right voice and make your business as reliable as possible. Once you manage to do this, the first stage of the process will be finally over.
Finally, if your prices are high and your service isn’t good, no tip, or hack is going to help you. All these tips are giving you a fighting chance against those who would otherwise be your industry peers. This, however, usually turns out to be more than enough.
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