If you’re planning to scale your online business, the first thing you need to do is make sure your website can handle it. It’s easy to focus on the design, layout, and overall feel of your site which are also important but you’ll also want to plan for long-term success. Most successful e-commerce sites are built in a way that makes scaling up easy, but if your site isn’t there yet – no need to panic. You just need to be prepared for some extra work and research before taking things further.
Research Your Target Market
- Thoroughly research your primary and secondary target markets.
- Understand their needs and desires.
- Learn how they think, what they do, and where they go.
Understanding your customers and their needs is the foundation of any online business; the more you know about them, the better chance you have to keep them satisfied and return for more—and recommend your service to others.
Invite Customer Feedback
Customer feedback, both positive and negative, is essential to your online business. It helps you learn what customers like and dislike about your products or services. It also gives you insight into how they use them so that you can make changes that better serve their needs. One effective way to get customer feedback is by inviting them to provide it on your website or in a live chat system like Olark Live Chat or Zendesk Intercom Chat.
- Offer an incentive for responding (such as a discount on future purchases)
- Give people time restrictions for completion (e.g., one week)
Whether it’s through a survey tool like SurveyMonkey, a live chat system such as Olark Live Chat or an in-app review option like Yelp’s Check-in System, getting customers’ opinions about what works well for them when using your product or service will help guide future improvements that will give you an edge over competitors who don’t have this kind of information at their disposal!
Invest in a Live Chat System
Live chat is a great way to answer questions and engage with customers. Depending on the industry, live chat can also help you build trust and increase sales. Your customers will not only feel more comfortable asking questions or making purchases but also be able to do so in real-time, which is especially useful if they’re looking for a quick answer or don’t want to spend 10 minutes on hold with customer support. In addition, live chat allows you to improve your customer experience by providing extra help and ensuring that everyone receives personalized service at all times.
In fact, according to research by UserTesting (a user testing platform), 82% of consumers would rather hold a conversation than fill out forms when they’re trying to solve their problems online—and that number increases when people feel like they’re talking directly with someone who cares about them as opposed to having their issue passed around through several layers of employees before someone gets back to them days later!
Migrate to the Cloud
One of the easiest ways to scale your online business is by migrating to cloud hosting. Cloud hosting has many advantages, including:
- Scalability – You can launch new products or services quickly and easily.
- Load balancing – Your customers will always be able to access your website, regardless of how much traffic you receive.
- Cost-effectiveness – You won’t have the high costs associated with maintaining hardware or software in-house.
Use Your Website
Use your website to its fullest potential as an extension of your online business. Provide informative content about what you do and how you do it, and make it easy for people to contact you with questions or requests.
A blog is a great way to get in front of potential clients and generate leads by providing information on topics related to your industry. Your blog can include anything from helpful articles about how to use social media correctly, tips for successful marketing campaigns, or even posts about the latest trends in your line of work.
It’s also important not only that you provide information on your website but also that visitors can easily find it. If they’re having trouble finding certain pages or sections on your site (i.e., if they don’t see any links anywhere), then they’ll become frustrated and leave without engaging with your content.
It’s important to think ahead when growing your online business
To make sure that you’re scaling your online business in the right direction, it’s important to do some research and planning.
- Research Your Competition: As you grow, you will start to see other companies in the same field as yours. You need to know who these competitors are and what they offer so that you can stay ahead of them. What does their website look like? Do they have a blog or newsletter? Are there any partnerships with other websites or online businesses? The more information about your competitors’ companies, the better prepared you’ll be when approaching customers for new online business opportunities.
- Customer Feedback: There are many ways for customers to provide feedback on any given product or service—from social media comments through review sites like Yelp or Facebook reviews down through support emails from clients having issues using products purchased through Amazon Marketplace (a third-party site where sellers sell products without having an actual storefront). If someone has had a positive experience with something related.
It’s important to think ahead when growing your online business, so you can make sure that you have all your bases covered. This will help you scale up quickly and efficiently once the time comes!
Keetria is an entrepreneur, wellness advocate, and brand strategy coach for creatives & entrepreneurs with 16 years of public relations expertise working with some of the world’s leading brands, startups, media personalities, and entertainers. If you would like to work together, don’t hesitate to reach out!
