Online enterprises are ten a penny; after all, what attracted you to sell products or services online will also appeal to your competitors for the same reasons. While advances in technology have made it possible to pursue your entrepreneurial dreams, they have also opened the marketplace to the world increasing the numbers of potential customers you can target, but also the number of competitors.
How Do You Give Your Business The Competitive Edge?
Whether you are a new business or reviewing your current online presence, one thing that you have in common is the need to make your wares as accessible as possible to your customers. Customers are likely to change and need much guidance to your checkout as possible.
“Innovation is the new competitive advantage”
Julie Sweet, Chief Executive Officer of Accenture in North America
You have access to the innovative tried and tested templates developed by Shopify designers. A site that is optimized to navigate the visitor from your home page through to the checkout. However, you also need to be able to offer your visitors other choices to heighten your e-commerce success.
1. Make Your Content Active
Everything that you display on your website should add value to your business. The content that you have on your site should be geared towards helping you achieve your business goals. Shopify SEO (search engine optimization) gives a comprehensive guide, in how to make every word actively work to make your site more visible to potential consumers.
Your content should: BE UNIQUE, FOCUSED, ACTIONABLE, ACCURATE, ENGAGING, CONCISE, AND RESOLVE A PROBLEM
SEO
SEO is not limited to just the visible text, Image Gallery, Shopify product tags, and meta descriptions. It can also be enhanced to help your site rank higher in the search engine results pages.
2. Think Like a Customer
Being familiar with online shopping for your personal use and already know what makes certain sites appeal to you. What makes you avoid others. Think about what influences your own shopping decisions. Chances are that you frequently choose sites that have the following attributes, and you should include them in your own site:
• Discounts
While costumers want its value for money. Offer them a discount, making them feel that they had a bargain. You will be building on their loyalty to your brand. Apply discounts to individual products, checkouts with a Shopify discount code. Customize them to be accessible by customers who have been redirected to your site, either from social media or a shareable link.
Control discounts to apply whenever you choose to; perhaps in response to seasonal lulls in a trade or to move excess stock by implementing Shopify Wholesale options.
• Abandoned Shopping Cart
When you have spent time selecting products to buy, you want the payment process to be simple, effective and quick. A high rate of abandoned shopping carts can be a sign that you need to review your e-commerce site. Reasons for abandoned shopping carts include:
a) Unexpected delivery costs – they make a customer feel that they are not getting value for money for the products.
b) Having to create a new account – speed is of the essence, customers are using an online store for convenience. When the process is labored and lacks efficiency it will outweigh the benefits of buying your product.
c) payment security concerns– customers need to have trust. The transaction has to be secure and reputable while also being swift. The Shopify PayPal allows transactions to be completed with confidence and speed.
3. Competitor Reviews
First you need to understand who your competitors are, otherwise, you have lost the battle before it has even started. Analyzing competitors is a great way to gain insight into the success and failures. There are several ways you can investigate your competitors, but the first port of call should be to their reviews.
In years gone by you would have had to instruct friends and family to surreptitiously pretend to be a legitimate customer; now though all it takes is a short amount of time and a keyboard to uncover the successes and failures of your competitors.
• Positive reviews – the positives need to become the benchmark so that your customers’ experiences can expect outstanding every time.
• Negative reviews – you will be able to evaluate the issues that your competition regularly fails to meet the expected standard, and this is where you can take advantage
When you spend time reviewing your competition, see where they have gaps in their business model and the best way that you can fill them.
“If you’re competitor-focused, you have to wait until there is a competitor doing something. Being customer-focused allows you to be more pioneering” Jeff Bezos, CEO and founder of Amazon
It Is Essential For Your E-Commerce Business’s Success
Review your website to make sure that it is working hard for you to achieve its full potential. The SEO innovations and changes in Google’s algorithms. The changes in consumer habits and your competitors’ tactics need to be identified and addressed. This will keep you ahead of the field.
Thank you for keeping up to date with our Shopify Insider Blog @ Blackbelt Commerce. We invite you to check out our portfolio and other terrific blog articles on Social Media, Learn about SEO, how to boost your popularity in your e-commerce store, and utilities such as how to Improve Customer Experience or Backup your store — We are Blackbelt Commerce, a TOP Shopify & BigCommerce developer.