Building Customers Online

Success online depends on how well you understand people. I mean sure you have a great product / service, but is this what your target audience need? Before anything else it is imperative that you know and understand what customers want on the Web. If you want to build customers online you have to formulate the right strategy and determine the best goals and objectives. Building customers online is essential because your customers can also point you as to when you should start looking to change direction.

Here are some ideas to keep in mind when building customers online:

1. Understand what the internet can do for you.
The internet as a whole is a very powerful channel and building customers online is one advantage you get. And since we all have different goals in mind as an entrepreneur we need to understand what the internet can do for our business.

Some entrepreneurs opt to start an online business because they cannot afford the demands of a physical store. The good thing about an online shop is that everything can be done from your computer and of course it is less expensive. With an online store you are also able to market to the global community, for a little cost or at times none at all.

2. Give customers pertinent and valuable information
The internet has become a necessity and is a good source of information to users. A lot of people nowadays use the internet to find the information they need, whether shopping for books, looking for directions, etc.

If you want to build customers online you should be able to provide the best information. If you are publishing an e-newsletter on online marketing, make sure it is the best resource the customer will ever read. If you are selling information products like eBooks, take note that people look for information first meaning they want a background on what you are selling. So instead of doing full-on sales pitch, it is ideal that you provide an excerpt of your information product which will make visitors stay longer.

This is just like promoting a new movie. Producers provide a “trailer” so you will get an idea of what the movie is about. In doing so the audience become curious and hence builds interest.

3. Harness the familiar
Many people fear the unknown, which is of course normal. True, that shopping online is way different from actual shopping (traditional); there are numerous ways wherein you can make the experience less scary for your prospects.You are on your way to building customers online once you have eliminated this apprehension.

If you are selling products online, your major challenge will be show to show the products clearly on the computer. Since customers won’t be able to see it up close nor touch it providing them with big, clear and detailed pictures are necessary. Many returns and exchanges over goods purchased occur because customer expectations are different from the actual product.

One great technique of building customers online is by providing them with online assistance. Through this customers can be easily assisted with products, ordering, returns and exchanges or any problems with your website.

4. Listen to your customers
In building customers online, you have to listen and understand their needs. Why is the customer shopping online? Convenience and price, as well as product assortment, are just a few reasons why people shop online. Understanding the customer also entails understanding their concerns which prevents them from shopping in your site.

Take time to listen to your customers. Remember that building customers online is crucial to your online business's success.

Expanding Your Business Online

There would come a time that an offline entrepreneur would think of expanding his business online. But something stops them because they think expanding their business online is a cost consuming thing, but this should not be the case. Expanding your business online will provide you with a lot of advantages. These advantages are not possible or unlikely if you are selling using conventional methods.

Here are some advantages you will get by expanding your business online:

- Widens market potential
- Immediate interaction with prospects
- Lessens the "time to market" for new products
- Enables you to reach globally
- Compete with larger businesses and operate 24 / 7, sharing information about your business, your products and services accessible anytime, even days, nights and holidays.
- Give customers direct access to sales literature at no additional cost.

Expanding your business online is not as easy if you do not have any experience as well as knowledge on the right things. To make your business expansion online a success, you need to have a deep understanding of the intricacies of selling on the Internet. You have to consider things from product presentation to customer fulfillment, doing business on the internet can add some complexity to your existing operations.

Below are the some steps you need to take to make the transition or your expansion online as smooth (and as successful) as possible:

1. Envision your goals and set them.
If you plan on expanding your business online you also have to decide on how you want to use the Web. The internet has a lot of purpose; it can serve as an online brochure for your company or product presentation. Your prospects and existing customers can go to your online shop and get information about your product and services, and they can either call you, visit your store or office to place the order. A simple informational site is good if you just want to tell your customers of the products that you offer. You do not have to think of the complexities of an e-commerce operation.

Once you have decided on expanding your business online you should have a clear goal of what you want to achieve.

2. Think differently
Remember that a traditional business is way different from an online business. In a retail store, a likely client who enters and looks around your display shelves may stay for a few minutes, allowing your sales clerks enough time to talk to the customer, address their concerns or respond any questions they may have.
With an online shop, however, a prospective customer can hit the “back” button immediately or as soon as they decide that your site is not at par with their expectations – e.g. perhaps your site is loading up too slow for dial-up, too cluttered to navigate, etc. A worst case scenario is that they are already shopping on you site but then they abandon their cart without giving you any reason for their decision to stop the purchase.

3. Make sure that your product is suitable for an online store.
Before you go spending a fortune in developing your web site (which is a requirement when you expand your business online), you need to know that not all products or services sell well on the Internet. What sells well on the Web? Studies have shown that the following are the characteristics of products that are suitable for the Web:
• Digital products
• Products requiring lots of information
• Products that do not need to be handled or tried on
• Products that are difficult to find locally

Expanding your business online from the traditional type must be planned carefully, implemented and monitored to enable continued efficiency. The profile of a business that is best suited to the online environment includes those that have a distinct product or service portfolio that requires little manual invention to facilitate a sale. Ideally they will have a fixed pricing policy that applies to all customers and have products or services that have a predictable lead time in terms of delivery.

The Marketing Plan

A good marketing plan is like a game plan; it should act as a road map and a blueprint for the procedures you will follow to grow and make your enterprise successful. It should also have some flexibility because as you move to testing and measuring your tactics, you will be required to change strategies from time to time, to capture or gain a share in a specific market.

Jay Conrad Levinson (known for his Guerilla Marketing tactics) says you can create a great marketing plan in just seven sentences. This makes us think, “Can such a concise document be effective?” Remember that a good marketing plan does not have to be complicated.

Keep in mind that a prizewinning marketing plan has the right combination of good strategy and tactics, and you cannot do either one effectively without the other. Do not be tempted to wander from these fundamentals.There are some things, however, you should avoid when putting together your own marketing plan for your business.

1. Not doing the numbers.
If you don't know your numbers, you will not succeed in business. A good marketing plan is about math, and math is about figures. Taken a step further--business has a lot do with numbers. Creating some marketing plan without knowing how much it will cost to gain your customer, what your average sale needs to be, what your profit margins need to be and how many times your average customer needs to buy will set you up for failure If you plan to run on a $1,000 advertisement, how much leads and sales do you need to cover the cost of your advertisement and how much profit will you make?

2. Relying heavily on creativity
Creativity is okay, I do not find anything wrong with it. However, if you focus or rely too much on it at the expense of tactics it can hurt your business.

A great example of this is the difference between the once-famous and now-defunct brand Pets.com and the still famous and thriving brand eBay. Pets.com relied heavily on its famous sock puppet icon and television ads to drive its brand, eBay on the other hand used a tactical approach to business. eBay moved from its original model of being known as a collectibles auction site to something more upscale. This is why knowing the right figures are important because that will ultimately drive your business.

3. Thinking marketing is JUST advertising
Advertising is an integral part of any marketing plan that is true. Your marketing plan is not limited to how you sell your products or services, but it is also how your receptionist answers the phone and how you set up your company culture. Marketing is also the strategic and tactical aspects of identifying and segmenting your customer base, figuring out your competitive edge and USP (Unique Selling Proposition), setting your pricing strategy, sales strategy , etc. All of these things come into play if you want to maximize your ROI.

4. Forgetting to market to existing customers and prospects.
For businesses that have moved beyond the start phase, there is no better or quicker way to massive growth than your underway customers and prospects. In truth, it costs more to acquire new customers than to sell something to an existing customer. Your marketing plan should always include your current customers; they are your business’s biggest resource.

Your existing customers are your goldmine, which is something that many marketers tend to forget because they are so busy chasing after new markets or customers. A good marketing plan should include strategies to tap into what could be your business’s most valuable resource.

Pitching to Investors (Learn to succeed with investors)

Shortly after my academy graduation, some of my friends started a small business which of course includes me. Within a few weeks we fleshed out the concept, formulated a business plan and set out to seek financing. With a little hustle, we managed to get an appointment with an acclaimed investment firm to discuss the opportunity. Admittedly our business had yet to earn profit, and none of us had been the CEO of any clothes boutique more so a multi-million dollar enterprise, but we were all assured that we had an abiding affair on our hands. Afterwards all our banking projections forecasted gross revenues of $200 million. What broker could say no to that? But of course we were wrong. I realized we as entrepreneurs need to learn more about real-world fund raising. To this day, whenever I pitch investors for capital, I always remember these hard-learned lessons:

1. Remember that less is always more.
Filling your presentations with flowery words and extensive explanations will not affect investors, and most likely it will turn them off. Present your business in an approach that is short, candied and straight to the point. Investors need the assurance that your business will attract and absorb customers. If they do not get or understand your concept in a short time span, they may assume that your prospects will not accept it either.

2. It is better to execute than hypothesize.
A good pitch should inspire. Provide them with pertinent facts, not fiction. Most investors seek out low-risk businesses with people who have proven themselves successful in other ventures. A company with cash flow, a track record and real-world experience has a better chance of getting investors than a business plan forecasting large returns. Find means to test your business’s capability on a limited budget, and turn your idea into a functional business before you seek investment.

3. Leave the hockey sticks on the ice.

Stimulate investors with a big picture, but be rational and responsible. Avoid hockey stick projections. Respectable investors will not believe you or take you seriously if you present them with banking graphs that shows your company’s revenues will abound from $100,000 to $50 million in three years.

Show investors that you have a grasp on reality with three versions of financial projections: best case, reasonable case and worst case. A good pitch contains facts coming from past and present performance, industry and competitor analyses and of course a series of well-thought out assumptions.

4. It takes time, perfect necessary skills.
Perfect your marketing tactics, sales strategies and operational procedures. Demonstrate that your business can crawl before you say it can walk. Investors appreciate companies with sustainable step-and-repeat business models that are poised for exponential growth. Remember, even Google’s success is based on a single product. Investors are wary of funding over-eager businesses that seem destined to bite off more than they can chew.

Before asking for millions of dollars to fund 50 divisions and hundreds of product lines, prove how well you can create, manage and fulfill demand for a single product.

Start A Business Debt-free

The original Hewlett-Packard headquarters

Starting a business be off line or online is no easy feat, most especially in a very unstable economy. As of the moment the unemployment rate in the United States has reached 9.7 per cent, and foreclosures are at an all time high. In short starting and profiting from an online business is quite hopeless and impossible.

However, for the optimist an opportunity is always available even in a situation such as this. There are still advantages if you decide to start your online business during a recession, and yes it can be done without being too-deep in debt. Okay you may not believe me, so let me cite the best example for you guys. Hewlett Packard, or simply referred to as HP started during the Great Depression. Would you ever guess that HP started in a garage? Yes it indeed started in a garage near Palo Alto wherein the founders William Hewlett and David Packard raised $538 as their starting capital. Now look at HP, it is the first company to exceed the $100 billion in revenue and it is at present operating in various countries worldwide.

Starting a business when the economy is okay is already risky, what more if it’s unstable then it is more so right? The high risk of failing should be considered so make sure to keep the start-up costs as low as possible. Businesses that start and survive during a recession are in the best position to take advantage of the inevitable economic upturn. Of course it is not going to be down the entire time, there would come a time that the economy will improve. If you are one of those people who would rather postpone launching until the economy recovers then by the time you do, you are already behind. Here are some things you can do to keep the start-up low:

1. Keep your day job. If you still have a job today you are lucky because you can actually start an online business while working fulltime for someone else. The steady income that you receive from you regular job should be sufficient enough to prevent yourself from borrowing money. The income you get should also be able to pay for your living expenses and hence you can start business without much risk.
   
2. Use your own space. The beauty of an online business is that you do not have to invest money on office space. You can actually make do with what you currently have: your home. It all requires a dependable internet connection and an up to date computer with the necessary software.
   
3. No need to hire employees. Another advantage of an online business is that you really do not need employees. Unlike with a brick and mortar business wherein you designate tasks, in an online business you can do it all on your own it just takes the right time management.
   
4. No advertising involved. Yes, you do not have to waste precious money on advertising your online business. There are numerous ways wherein you can tell people about your company. You can actually start by informing your friends, family and co-workers about the products / service that you offer online. Marketing online is not only expensive it also has a global reach.

If you decide to start your online business whether it is product or service that you offer, you need something that will set you at par with other companies. In short you need to have your own signature when it comes to selling online. Your long-term success is defined by your ability to make your company unique and far better than your competitors; by adhering to these things you will fill a void in the marketplace.

A Loyal Customer Base

What does it take to make your online business a success? The key to a successful business be it offline or online is the steady flow of customers. Indeed attracting new customers is good for business but it can also be costly for you as the entrepreneur. I mean you have to invest on new marketing programs that are specially designed to attract new customers. Have you ever thought that it is more logical to keep your existing customer base? Keeping your current customer base is more cost effective.

Here is an article showing the importance of loyal customers:

“The survey also found that 70% of online shoppers belong to loyalty or frequent buyer programs and 42% use comparison engines to compare prices before buying. Online shoppers feel that member discounts and members-only specials are very important to online shopping (53%). Online shoppers are also apt to shop several stores, looking for the best price, before buying.”From: bizreport

Do not misunderstand me, there is nothing with wanting to attract new customers, there is nothing wrong with that. What I am trying to suggest is that you make do with what you currently have. If you provide special attention to your current customers they will feel appreciated and they will tend to be more loyal to your business. Always remember that loyal customers are those people who are willing to spend more and they will for sure tell other people about the shopping experience they had with you. So how do we build customer loyalty? Here are some tips for you:

1. Your customers are on the lookout for something special. If that is the case then you should be able to provide them with what they need. This is reason enough for them to return for more.

2. Go beyond what they expect. It is always good that you go the extra mile for your customers; they will feel that their business is very much appreciated. In short they will feel special. Let us face it, it is human nature that people want to feel special and as an entrepreneur you have the opportunity to provide this to your customers.

3. Be knowledgeable about your product or service. As the owner of the business you should know your product like the back of your hand. Of course your customers perceive you as the expert when it comes to the product they intend to buy. But what if they ask you a question and you are unable to answer it? How would they feel? They will of course feel that you are like a fraud, because you do not know your own product. They will probably think, “Are you sure you own this business?” For sure that is not good for business right?

4. Make the shopping experience enjoyable and pleasant. When a customer feels that they had a great time shopping at your website, you can be sure that they will be back for more.

In building a loyal customer base, think about your own experience as a customer, and what made your shopping experience special? Building a loyal customer base will surely pay off in the years to come. After all your customers is the core of your business.

The Abandonment Of Shopping Carts

Was there are time that you went shopping in your local supermarket, you pick the stuff you want to buy and then at the last minute you abandon your cart. That explains why there are plenty of items left on the counter, ever noticed that? This particular situation happens not only in supermarkets but also with online stores.

People flock a web site, find something they really like but then end up leaving the stuff they put on their cart. Basically, shopping cart abandonment happens when a visitor initiates your checkout process but leaves before completing their purchase. Shopping cart abandonment suggests not just a loss of orders but it also means a loss to your business. If you have higher shopping cart abandonment rate, it suggests a lower conversion rate and you will have to work harder to achieve your business goals.

The main goal of an online business is to sell goods / services, and shopping cart abandonment can mean the difference between profitability and loss. So, it is important for an entrepreneur to know the reasons why a customer abandons their cart.'

Here are some reasons why they do so:

• Expensive shipping prices or long delivery times

• Total cost of purchased items is high

• Checkout process is tedious

• Site requires registration before purchase

• The site is unstable

• Checkout process is confusing

I have narrowed down the list of reasons to those which are controllable. Meaning as the entrepreneur you can do something about these things and hence avoid cart abandonment. Always remember that cart abandonment is a definite NO for any business be it offline or online.