After more than a decade working and advising companies on e-commerce issues, we have discovered that there are key points that usually go unnoticed by new online businesses. The main reason for this is that when entering e-commerce, naturally, entrepreneurs and executives focus on the technology to be used, the bank that will carry out the card validations, the logistics company, the marketing and the security of the systems. These bases should definitely be covered before proceeding with the launch of an eCommerce website.
If you already have the bases covered, I suggest you review the following five points that usually provide better results for commercial management by electronic means, especially towards Latin American buyers.
1- Describe your product completely.
It is common that when publishing the first catalog online, businesses publish products in a similar way to what they do in a physical store or warehouse, that is, with few attributes.
Let's think about a wine store, normally the attributes would be color, type of grape, year, region, brand and price. But when selling on the Internet, we are also interested in publishing associated keywords, commercial description of the wine, information on the vineyard, price per box, rating of other buyers, rating of experts, publications in which the wine has been featured, weight and dimensions. for shipping purposes, foods with which it combines best, similar wines and complementary products, to mention some data.
Having each product with all its attributes helps to achieve a better positioning of that product in search engines, facilitate the purchase decision, motivate a higher ticket and definitely customer service tasks.
2- Know your buyer.
Initially, businesses request basic information from their buyers (name, surname, place of origin, birthday, and contact forms). This is all very well at first, but the customer database must be ready to continue to know each buyer. In a second moment, it will be necessary to enter data about your buying habits, for example, favorite wine brand, price range, frequency of purchase, type of wine, etc. Finally, it is now necessary to know the scope that each client has. At this time we want to know how popular and influential each client is on social networks and how many people will tell them if we treat them well or badly.
Knowing in these three aspects to the client allows a better service that leads to greater loyalty, cross selling, better average ticket and many better references.
3- Secure your data.
When it comes to security, companies' technology staff almost always speak up and detail how their network works, their firewalls, data encryption, backup scheme, and security certificates. All this is necessary and a professional job that deserves to be highlighted.
However, it is non-technical users that generate security risks for the electronic commerce platform.
Some recommendations at this point go towards limiting the number of people and computers that have access to the administration panel of the online store, verifying that each person has strong and periodically modified passwords. In addition, ensure that each connected computer has updated antivirus software and that nobody enters external media (USB Memory drives, for example) to computers that connect to the online store. Doing this prevents the store from falling victim to attacks and viruses.
Finally, from an administrative point of view, it is advisable to write a disaster action plan, validated by each of the people in the organization and suppliers who must take part in the plan in order to never lose sales, data or buyers' trust.
4- Keep your organization informed.
Several years ago we collaborated with an organization in publishing their catalog online. The company was placing promotional shirts in the catalog with designs that were popular in the 1980s. The company's marketing team was confident that this online store would revive the brand among "contemporary adults" and compatriots abroad.
The store was published in a "beta" mode and in less than 24 hours it closed forever. The reason: A person had purchased a product that no longer existed online and it was not up to the marketing department to manufacture the product again.
If you are in charge of the e-commerce project, it is healthy to integrate into the logistics flow and information flow all those areas that can positively or negatively impact your results. Some key players include warehouse people or suppliers of raw materials, accounting, sales, and customer service. If these areas are involved (ideally committed), your project has less probability of internal failures and better probability that each client via the web is treated well.
5- Invest in customer service.
Depending on each culture, Latin Americans have more or less expectation of service and more or less anxiety about buying online. One reason is not being able to ask all the questions that we want the dependent or being able to touch the good that we want to acquire.
At this point, we recommend a three-touch strategy.
The first touch is made by online sales consultants through live chats and follow-up by call or email. Online chat is used when a person is on the website and needs assistance finding the product or making the purchase. Follow-up by call or email is done when the person starts the purchase process and does not finish it or send an email requesting more information about a product or service. This touch should be done by a sales focused person with a closing commission.
The second touch is made by a customer service person. This person takes the case of each client after the sale, confirms data and delivery conditions and keeps the client informed of their purchase until delivery. In case the client has complaints or doubts about her purchase, this person must attend to her and ensure that the experience has been good or excellent.
The third touch must be given by the person in charge of the community. This person must "follow" all relevant buyers and product or industry keywords. The person must work so that well-served clients speak publicly and those with whom there has been a problem or are not happy communicate it directly to the company and it is resolved as soon as possible.
Following a three-touch strategy ensures more loyal, close and willing customers to promote our products or services.
We hope that the previous points collaborate in some way for you to achieve better results selling online and now, yes, we are going to sell online!
