We’ve all seen it happen. Heck, you’ve probably been there and done that— tons of money lost because of wrong decisions, trying to scrimp on important business investments, and a whole lot of mistakes.
It’s okay, though, because we always say it’s part of the learning process and the growth of entrepreneurs and businesses. However, it’s much better if you can avoid costly mistakes and thus save money on your ecommerce operations and strategies.
This brings us to the fast practical tips below. Because you’re reading this article now, you can skip losing money and save more bucks instead!
Tip #1: Plan and Utilize Discounts Wisely.
Yes, discounts can really be great incentives for customers. But don’t get carried away. You can’t just grab any figure from thin air or do a wild guess without computing for your profit margin.
Research show that a good percentage of consumers often buy with coupons and discounts. You should just plan these offers wisely, making sure you don’t end up losing a lot when they suddenly become very popular.
One way to go about it is to offer the discount at a limited time or better yet, with limited slots, so you can easily compute and ensure that you’re still going to profit.
Tip #2: Assess Marketing Channels and Allocate Properly.
Many ecommerce businesses go on several different social media networks as well as utilize various third party apps and subscriptions. Perhaps you’re spending a fortune on paid ads too! Not all these may actually be helpful to you.
Learn to use your web analytics tool in order to find out where most of the website traffic you have are coming from. Examine which items you may have to let go and which you need to focus on or invest more in. This is a wiser strategy than simply being present in as many as possible when you’re not making as much profit in the long run.
Check out your ads and campaigns whether they are converting well. If not, then perhaps you ought to rethink these platforms and tactics. Google Universal Analytics can certainly help you analyze your current marketing channels.
Tip #3: Choose Initial Business Investments Well.
At the start of any business, there are some things you have to invest in which could help you run things more smoothly or perhaps allow you to expand your reach more.
These days, a lot of ecommerce owners and managers try to save money by hiring outsourced freelancers which may not be as skilled and experienced as you want them to be. Or you may have chosen DIY stuff over getting professionals for essentials of your business, such as SEO and website design. This is okay if it’s your expertise. If not, it might cost you more later on if you make mistakes and have to start over. Furthermore, your efforts could have been placed somewhere more useful.
Tip #4: Learn to Do Campaign Segmentation.
What if you’re selling different categories of products and you have just one campaign with a single link? That means everybody who clicks on the link will be led to only one page. You might be wasting more money this way because most of your visitors aren’t getting converted into buyers.
Now try imagining a different scenario. What if you have a specific campaign targeted toward young moms for your fashionable maternity clothes and the link leads them to the specific product page or category? Then you may have another campaign that aims to sell items for the grandmas and grandpas. Surely these two campaigns will have varying designs and texts. They should also have separate links.
Campaign segmentation is certainly very important, as many ecommerce experts and online marketing pros would say. Doing it will help you maximize conversion and earnings.
Tip #5: Adjust Your Mobile and Desktop Ads.
So many e-stores have been focusing more on mobile because this is supposedly the trend now. Indeed most people actually browse with their mobile phones even when on the go. However, not many know that according to studies, more conversions happen through desktop sites. This is probably because those who are sure buyers are more likely to use their desktops and laptops to purchase items online, while mobile users just like to “window shop” or do research.
Given this info, it is best that you focus more of your paid ads on desktop especially if you want to rake in customers who are already willing and able to pay for your goods. This is definitely more practical than attracting shoppers who are still in the research phase. Nevertheless, if you have the budget for both, why not do the ads at the same time on different venues? Your Store Wizards also offers trusted account management from Andy Splichal from True Online Presence.
Tip #6: Carefully Think Through Offering Freebies.
You’ve probably heard of this tip many times before— give freebies! Yes, it’s self-explanatory. We have to admit we all love getting freebies. These are proven magnets.
Just know how to make use of this marketing strategy. Be aware of the purpose and plan it well. For instance, if you want to attract new customers, you could offer a freebie for first-time purchasers on your website. If you want to encourage people to buy more or buy again, you could offer the freebie when they reach an accumulated amount of purchases. And if you wish to expand your reach, you could offer the freebie when a friend or referral signs up for your email list or buys from your site.
Apart from this, it’s essential to offer freebies that have been carefully thought of. Your free item should naturally be appealing to your target market. What’s more, it would be good to make it related to your niche or industry so that you attract only those who are likely customers for your online store.
For example, you sell upscale planners and notebooks for executives. Then a stuffed toy wouldn’t work out as an attractive freebie. Meanwhile, an elegant pen or paper weight for the office desk could work as a better incentive.
Tip #7: Utilize the Frequently Used Payment Methods.
Yes, it sounds enticing and impressive when you can claim that you offer a lot of payment methods. However, this could mean that you’re paying more than what’s necessary for the payment gateway provider.
Only pick the most popular gateways like Mastercard, Visa, PayPal, and American Express. It doesn’t have to be limited to what’s mentioned here, but what is most popularly used among your customers. Let’s say you also offer Google Wallet at the moment. Hardly anyone uses it, so you can opt to take it out of your list and thus save more in the process.
Don’t worry, you won’t lose anything significant if you do this. After all, those people who actually make use of Google Wallet are likely to also have credit and debit cards that they can use instead. It also matters when you have a great merchant processing account with low fees. Your Store Wizards offers the best merchant processing for ecommerce. Visit Magic Merchant Services.
Tip #8: Focus More on Customer Loyalty.
Do you know that it’s more practical to build on customer loyalty and market for repeat business instead of always trying to gain new customers?
It’s around 70% more costly to acquire a new buyer rather than to work on keeping your existing customers. This entails you to improve your customer retention strategies such as via email marketing and a bonus points or rewards system.
What’s more, when you gain loyalty of your customers, they will surely promote you to others without anything in return. Word of mouth can be very powerful, so don’t underestimate the power of customer loyalty.
With these 8 fast tips on saving money, you’ll end up with more bucks in your business bank account!
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