Product descriptions. What are they? Product descriptions are one of the most important elements of a product page. However, most online store owners do not put the effort into writing product descriptions. We get it. It’s time-consuming and tiring to write product descriptions particularly if you have thousands of products.
This is why the majority of store owners skipped this part. What are they doing is just copying the description provided by the supplier. If you aim for higher conversions and sales, you should not copy and paste from your supplier or Aliexpress. A lot of dropshippers do that, expecting they will get rich the next day. The result? Low traffic and little to no sales.
Things to Consider when Writing a Product Description
1. Define your Target Buyers
Your buyer persona dictates your writing tone. What is your niche and who are your ideal buyers? If you are selling to professional people, it is better to have an authoritative writing voice. If your audience is teens and average people, you can consider writing informal and adding a bit of humor to spark interest and attention.
2. Be Informative
Don’t make potential buyers crave more info. Consumers need to know important information about the product they want to purchase. If you are not providing that, you are leaving them with tons of unanswered questions in mind.
Include all the specifications and features of the product you are selling. There is nothing wrong with writing a detailed product description. What are the dimensions and measurements of the products? What problems does it fix? What are the benefits that it provides to the buyers? Make sure you outline this information in your product description.
3. Make it Easy to Read
Choose a writing format that is scannable. Divide paragraphs into small chunks for easier readability. Instead of writing long paragraphs, you can use bullet points when explaining product features and benefits. Make proper use of sentence breaks and spacing.
When possible, keep your product description format consistent. Avoid long sentences and always check grammar and spelling. Run some advertisement tests and see how your product description performs. You can always tweak and change it based on the conversion rates.
4. Remember SEO
Take note that when writing product descriptions, you are writing both for the customers and search engines. Optimize your product page and include target keywords that your customers are searching for.
This will help your products increase online visibility and appear high on search results pages. By understanding Google’s algorithm and optimizing both content and product images, there’s a huge potential that you will get high traffic to your dropshipping store.
5. Use Social Proof
If you have social proof or a product review to share, be proud to include it on your product page. 89% of consumers worldwide are reading product reviews before making a product purchase. By sharing social proof, you are building more trust and credibility with your store visitors. This also leads to an increase in sales and customer base. With thousands of competitors today, having customer reviews on your product page can make you stand out against the competition.
If you are running an online store, a website will keep it open 24/7. An e-commerce store without a website is like a brick-and-mortar store without signage and billboard. Your customers will not know that your business exists.
A business website is vital for your online success. Thus, you must put effort and proper planning to use its advantage to the maximum. If you already have a website for your e-commerce store, track your traffic and conversion rates.
If you think your website is not performing well, then you should check if you have done website design mistakes. A poorly-built website that does not provide you enough sales might consider a revamp.
Here are the web design mistakes you should avoid:
1. Lack of responsive design
A responsive website means that it is adaptable to multiple devices. If your website is designed for desktops only, you are missing a lot of potential customers. Did you know that internet search queries are dominated by mobile phones?
Ensure that your website’s user experience is consistent across mobile phones, tablets, and other devices. 60% of online shoppers use their smartphones when looking for a product. If your website is not responsive, you are not expanding your audience reach.
2. Poor Design Elements
The first impression lasts. If you want to capture the attention of your visitors, you need to create a recognizable brand image. Choose a clean and professional-looking theme and be consistent with the look and style.
Avoid using too many colors and choose fonts that are easy to read. Playing with complicated and mismatched designs will confuse your web visitors and give them reasons to not come back.
3. Complicated Navigation
Navigation means giving convenience to your visitors when surfing your website. If a customer lands on your website and has a hard time finding your product pages, clicking several buttons, and going to the wrong places, it will build a bad user experience.
As much as possible, reduce your user’s scrolling and clicks just to find your product and read information. Do you have product categories and advanced search options? Not anticipating your visitor’s expectations can divert them from shopping and purchasing.
4. Boring Images
Images speak a lot about your product. If you are using low-quality and boring images, your customer will feel that your product is not worth giving attention to.
Bear in mind that when shopping online, your customers cannot physically touch the product. They rely on pictures and videos. It may seem okay to use the product images provided by the manufacturer but if you can photograph the products and optimize them yourself, that could be better.
Bad images allow your customers to think twice, making them leave your website – a loss on your potential sale.
5. Not Enough Customer Support
In this digital world, people demand an immediate response. We do not want to wait for hours just to get information or assistance about a product. It is not enough to post your email address on the website and have customers email you if they have a question or problem.
An FAQ section answering the most common questions is helpful. You can also integrate a chatbot to handle specific queries or even have a live chat to support your customers in their purchasing journey. Customer convenience is critical. Providing them with the help and assistance they need improve the credibility of your business.
6. Inefficient Shopping Cart Design
One of the primary reasons why online shoppers abandoned their carts is becuase of the complicated checkout process. The shopping cart design should allow your customers to easily add/remove products, change quantities and variations.
An effective checkout process should include:
1. Checkout
2. Delivery Details
3. Payment Details
4. Confirmation
7. Lack of Payment Options
Offer multiple payment options to your diversified customers. Shoppers dislike too many steps and screen pop-ups at checkout. This is annoying and uncomfortable. If possible, do not redirect the payment option to a third-party site. Customers feel more secure making payments on your site.
Provide payment solutions that give flexibility to the users – whether they want to pay via PayPal, Visa, Mastercard, AmEx, and other options. Catering to your customers’ different preferences leads to a hassle-free checkout.
Although dropshipping is one of the simplest business models to follow, the path to success is not always easy. Everyone makes mistakes along the way and they are not inevitable. Thankfully, you can reflect on the experiences of others and avoid repeating the same mistakes.
Many online entrepreneurs assume that dropshipping business is a low-risk business. However, like any other business, one poor decision can be costly. To minimize risk and avoid suffering pitfalls, below is a list of common dropshipping mistakes to learn from.
1. Picking the Wrong Niche
A niche is a specialized segment of the market for a particular kind of product or service. Several dropshippers made this mistake early on as they thought that it was best to sell trending items. They sell hot products from different categories which ended up marketing to a broad audience. You can’t be selling electronics and baby’s clothing at the same time (unless it’s a general store).
Pick a niche, stick to it, and test it. If you are selling kitchen accessories, sell complementary items such as baking tools rather than adding women’s jewelry to the mix.
2. Spending too much time choosing a product
You have to keep up with the market trend and use time wisely. A certain product may be selling now but in a few months, not. Spending too much time choosing the best product can put you in a state of analysis paralysis.
By being too indecisive and seeking more information, you are letting go of the days that you could have made a sale. Once you’ve done enough product research, it’s time to take action and commit to the product.
3. Relying on one Supplier
So you’ve found a great product in Aliexpress and contacted the supplier. Then you both agreed to the dropshipping agreement and then you leave your entire business to them. That can spell a lot of issues.
There’s a high tendency that suppliers can run out of stock, go out of business, or have some difficulties. This can lead to a loss of sales on your part. You will be dealing with a lot of cancelled orders and fulfilment issues and left scrambling to find a replacement supplier. To avoid this scenario, partner with multiple suppliers for your products when possible.
4. Bad Website Design
Think of a website as your primary salesperson online. What do your customers see when they visit your website? Since your website is your storefront on the internet, it should be properly structured to attract customers.
Shopify is one of the best e-commerce platforms that dropshippers use to create an online store. Imagine your customers landing on your website only to be annoyed by pop-ups, complicated design, and incomplete information. A simple and professional-looking website gives credibility and a good shopping experience.
5. No Marketing Plan
Don’t assume that once you have built your website, customers will come instantly. With hundreds and thousands of stores out there, you need to create ways to stand out from the competition. Social media is a powerful channel to reach a target audience.
You can set up Facebook and Instagram pages for your online store. Set up a budget for paid ads and run promotions and advertisements for your business. Make sure that your audience can find you not just on your website but other channels as well.
6. Pricing Problems
It is a bad idea to underprice and overprice your products. It is important to keep an eye on your competitor’s prices and keep your pricing competitive. Determine the right mark-up and profit margin. The pricing should be comfortable for the seller and the buyer. In this way, you won’t push customers away while ensuring you have enough profit.
7. Not caring about SEO.
There are no shortcuts to online success. Many dropshippers invest little time to optimize their stores. SEO may require massive time and effort, but it will pay off in the long run. The information you put on your website must be unique and relevant.
When writing product descriptions, try not to copy them from the manufacturer’s provided data. Instead, spend time writing engaging descriptions and include keywords that your customers are searching for.
8. Poor Customer Service
You may have a winning product but if your customer service is poor, your sales will go down. Are you responsive to your customer’s queries? In a saturated e-commerce market, providing good customer service can give you an edge.
Providing necessary information about a customer’s needs on time makes them feel that you care about them. That experience will keep your customers to keep coming to your store and patronizing your products. Customer referrals work better than paid ads.
9. Poor Branding
Branding your store is crucial to getting people to trust your brand and buy your products. Since you have competitors who are selling the same product as yours, adding branding to your packaging and labels can make a big difference.
This makes your customer remember your brand. They recognize you as a reputable seller who handles their products with care and attention. You can contact your supplier to arrange a private label and create your own brand that people will not forget.
10. Having Unrealistic Expectation
Dropshipping is not a “get rich quick” scheme. If you are not patient, it is not for you. Understand that dropshipping is a long game and it requires a lot of learning experience. Some people who failed are the ones who just set up their website and wait for something to happen. They made a few sales and then quit the next month.
Dropshipping from a single supplier may seem good for beginners but if you want to expand your products, you might need multiple suppliers. However, the more suppliers you have, the more logistics problems you can encounter. It has its pros and cons but with a proper understanding of the dropshipping process, you can eliminate potential risks and headaches.
Having multiple suppliers can be challenging. You have to build relationships with many people, coordinate with inventory, order data, and navigate tracking to ensure a successful online store.
Here are the best ways to manage your online store when dealing with multiple suppliers.
1. Choose the Right Supplier
This initial step is the most crucial if you want to manage your online store seamlessly. Before you decide to stock the item, vet your suppliers based on their credibility and reputation.
There are two ideal scenarios here:
1. You already have a main supplier but need a plan B or backup suppliers in case there are availability issues.
2. You are connecting with other suppliers that complement your products.
Do your homework and check the reviews about the supplier. Speak to them or the sales representative about their availability and fulfilment deadlines. Make sure that your suppliers have at least a 95% positive feedback rating. They should also be responsive and have excellent customer service.
Bonus tip:
Try to pick a supplier that offers a wide range of products that you want to sell instead of finding suppliers to each of your problems. This will minimize your headaches in the future.
Drophippo works directly with manufacturers so you can save more money and focus on the important part of your business. You don’t have to worry about sourcing from China because they already did the heavy lifting for you – reliable suppliers, best prices, and excellent customer service.
2. Streamlining Communication Process
Once you have picked the right suppliers, it’s time to arrange a communication process with them. What communication channels will work best for both of you? Do you need 24/7 support if you have some questions and concerns?
With strong customer service from the supplier, you can feel confident about your orders and with handling any situation that may arise.
Drophippo, a leading product sourcing company offers multi-lingual support and fantastic customer service. They use an AI tracking system that monitors your order 24/7 and provides you with transparent updates.
3. SKU Differentiation
One common mistake that online sellers make is poor SKU management. Though your multiple suppliers are supplying you with the same products, it is vital to have a unique SKU.
This will allow you accurately track your orders, and not wonder which supplier delivered the product. With SKU differentiation, you can easily identify which suppliers hold the inventory and which supplier have you sent the product order to.
Tip:
Let’s assume that you are selling air humidifiers and you have two suppliers: Kevin and Stef. You can simply add the supplier’s name as a prefix to differentiate the two and avoid confusion.
Kevin’s air humidifier: KSKU456
Stef’s air humidifier: SSKU456
Create an excel sheet for each of your suppliers and import product data. Unique SKUs will also allow you to see what product from a specific supplier sells the most.
4. Data Synchronization
In addition to SKU management, you also need to deal with inventory, prices, availability, and order status. With a growing number of dropship suppliers, expect that your product orders and product lists will also grow.
Without the right tools and apps, it will be difficult to manage it all. This is why it’s essential to synchronize the data from multiple suppliers instead of dealing with them manually one by one. Data management platforms and automation are the best ways to go.
Drophippo has an app that provides you with a detailed dashboard that allows you to see orders, prices, tracking, profits, and all sorts of important data. The data connects to your store automatically; enabling order processing, fulfillment, billing, checkout, and payment without a sweat.
The internet is the heart of e-commerce. Since commercial transactions are conducted electronically on the internet, it is vital to building a strong online presence.
E-commerce marketing does not stop after you built your website. The e-commerce landscape is so competitive that you need to implement various strategies to make your brand stand out.
With more business owners jumping to the e-commerce trend, the competition is going tougher. There are several methods that will help you build brand awareness and generate sales but there are also pitfalls that you should watch out for.
Below are the best and most proven tips for a sound e-commerce marketing strategy.
1. Have an Impressive E-commerce Store
Your online store is a representation of your business. The way it looks and feels can attract or turn your customers away. Make sure that your website is built perfectly – the branding, content, and design elements are well organized.
Leave a strong first impression on your visitors so that they will likely come back. Make it easy for your customers to view products, make a purchase, and interact with you.
2. Build a Good Reputation
With thousands of online stores in the market, you need to have something that will make you credible and stand out from the competition. Reputation is one of the most important things if you want people to trust your business.
Customers look for reviews before they decide to make a purchase. If you have positive feedback from your customers, proudly display it on your website and social media pages. Share how happy are your customers when they do business with you.
3. Upsell your Products
Upselling is an effective way to get more sales and profits from your customers. By offering a more premium product or a product that can complement the products that your customers have ordered, you are giving them better options fit for their needs.
When doing upsells, keep in mind that the additional cost is worth it. Your customers need to understand the considerations of the upgrade, the different price points, and how the products differ from each other.
4. Launch Facebook and Instagram Store
Facebook does not only allow you to create and post content but to build a store as well. This feature is called, “Facebook Shop” where you can feature and display your product collections to the Facebook page and connect it to your online store.
This enhances the mobile shopping experience, driving social media users to your store, and interacting with them. They can view and save products on your page and place an order. Since the average person spends 2-3 hrs on social media every day, your social media presence can leverage your business.
You can apply the same strategies on Instagram by sharing high-quality images and using hashtags strategically. Engage with followers who might be interested in your products. Share your products on Instagram stories and add links to purchase.
5. Use Google Shopping Ads
Online shoppers go to search engines when they are looking for products. They consult Google, the biggest search engine. Google Shopping Ads, also known as Product Listing Ads (PLAs) are an effective way to reach your customers based on specific-search queries.
The product-based ads are displayed on top of Google organic search results. This puts your business in front of your target audience. A Google Ad consists of a product image, price, brand, and even reviews, shipping information, and promotions. It helps you drive traffic to your website fast and reach more customers.
6. Integrate Live Chat
Good customer service leaves a strong impression on your online visitors. A great way to handle this is through live chat. Customers who have inquiries and request information about a product demand a quick response.
A live chat integration does the trick. This allows you to engage with your shoppers, answer their questions, inform order status, and provide customer support.
7. Tap into the Power of Referral Marketing
You can use your most loyal customers to become ambassadors of your products. This is called “referral marketing”. It is a marketing practice where you offer incentives to your customers in exchange for promoting your products and their experience.
The idea is people buy from people they know and trust. When your customers promote your products, their family and friends will likely also buy because they trust them. Customer reviews can create a buzz and with the irresistible offer, you can attract more prospective buyers.
8. Get Creative with Offers
When it comes to e-commerce marketing, being generic will not give you an optimum advantage. There are many stores selling the same product as yours so it’s vital to get creative.
Offer discounts and offers to your customers. You can offer product bundles and packages with a % discount to attract your customers to make a purchase. Another effective strategy is to run contests and giveaways. This creates a sense of urgency to check you out and participate in the hope of winning the prize. And even if the others don’t become the lucky winners, they will likely remember your brand and keep you on their radar.
If you are running an e-commerce business, you want to get always in front of your target customers. You want to be where they are. In this digitally-competitive world, it is not enough to build a website for your online store.
An average person spends 3 hours a day on social media networks. Being present in those social media spaces can boost brand awareness and attract sales. Social media marketing, when implemented correctly, can increase your customer acquisition and take you to the next level.
Below are some important tips on how to use social media to grow your e-commerce business.
1. Choose the Right Platforms
If you are selling products like toothbrushes, t-shirts, etc., it is ideal to post them on Facebook and Instagram rather than on LinkedIn and Twitter. Pick the right channels to reach your customers.
Create professional-looking social media profiles and build out a content strategy. You can’t just post here and there without a plan behind it. Successful e-commerce brands create content that builds relationships and engages their customers.
2. Branding is Important
When it comes to posting and sharing content, consistency is key. Potential customers will trust you more once they recognize your brand’s unique identity. If you are not consistent with the look of your brand and the tone of your message, you can’t expect optimal success.
Your logo, color scheme, graphic format, and brand message you use show off your brand’s personality. The number of times you post per week should also be consistent. It’s ideal to have a content calendar to avoid wondering what you should post on a given day.
3. Don’t be Pushy and Salesy
Understandably, your main goal is to generate sales. It is vital to interact and establish a strong connection with your followers. Bombarding your audience with too many promotions and advertisements can bring a bad impression to your brand.
Don’t put customers to buy your products. Instead, post educational and informative content that relates them to your brand. Avoid sharing links to your products every day as people will assume that your sole reason for building social media presence is to grab purchases and sales. Be human and build a conversation with your customers.
4. Be Creative
Create content that sparks attention. People love to see a content variety. This means that you can’t just stick to posting texts and images alone. Utilize videos when introducing and marketing your products. Unleash your creativity and identify content that people want to see.
Here are some content ideas you can implement:
Customer reviews
User-generated content
Demo product videos
Social contests or giveaways
Product features and benefits
Sales and Promotion
5. Use analytics
You cannot track the performance of your marketing efforts without analytics. Track and monitor important key performance indicators (KPIs) to identify what strategy is working and not. This will help you find the gaps and see ways to improve your marketing campaigns.
Here are some of the key social media metrics that you should keep an eye of:
Post reach
Audience growth rate
Impressions
Shares
Clicks/traffic
Engagement rate
Conversion
Leads generated
Video views
6. Allocate a budget in Social Media Ads
To optimize your marketing efforts, you also need to invest in paid ads. This allows you to specifically target your audience and get your products in front of their social media feed. Customize campaigns to reach more audience and connect with potential shoppers.
Paid ads are helpful particularly if you have just started and don’t have a huge social media following. You can also reach out to popular thought leaders and influencers to promote your brand.
These influencers have already a wide customer base and a strong reputation. Getting your products recommended by them can significantly affect your customer’s buying decisions. This can lead to increased credibility, conversions, and sales.
Final Thoughts
If you are not adding social media to your marketing strategy, you are missing to catch a lot of fish in the sea. Start building your social media pages and connect with your target audience.
By following the tips above and carefully planning your content, you can lead more people to your online shop. With a solid social media presence, your sales can go up and you can stand out from the competition.
If you are an entrepreneur who wants to venture into an online business, you probably thought of dropshipping. As you try to weigh the pros and cons, you may ask yourself, “Is dropshipping worth it this year 2022?” Well, the short answer is YES. Dropshipping is not dead – it is continuously growing!
Dropshipping is a business model that suits small entrepreneurs who do not have enough finances to invest. This allows their store to thrive without spending money on inventories. All they need is a functional website, a partnership with a reliable supplier, and a marketing strategy.
The Future is Online
Nowadays, people can shop online from the comfort of their sofa. Thanks to technology and e-commerce platforms, consumers can buy and sell products without the commute and hassles.
According to Statista, 87% of UK consumers make purchases online and 34.5% of total retail sales are accounted for internet sales. This means that the online shopping trend is going up. Consumers find it more convenient to shop online because it can save time and effort and ensure their health and safety (especially in times of pandemic).
Is Dropshipping Saturated?
“I want to start dropshipping but many are now doing it.” Well, almost all businesses have competition. The recipe for success is not just about being unique but being able to manage and grow your business the right way.
Dropshipping is an easy business model that one can easily start with. But here is the truth – not because it is easy, success is also easy. 80% of dropshippers fail. The reason is not about dropshipping being saturated but lazy entrepreneurs who don’t put any effort into their dropshipping store.
Is Dropshipping worth it?
The richest man in the world is from online shopping, Jeff Bezos – founder of Amazon. Dropshipping will remain popular and profitable in 2022 and onwards. The e-commerce market is growing and there is no sign of it slowing down.
Physical stores and small retailers are seeing a 30% increase in sales through smartphones. People are becoming comfortable making purchases online and this growth is a good indicator for entrepreneurs to start an online shop.
A dropshipping business offers you a ton of benefits. You can do it full-time or as a side hustle. With low investment and nothing to worry about inventory, you can easily adapt to the market trend. All you need is to research winning products and keep an eye on what is trending in your chosen niche.
Another advantage of dropshipping is you can manage your online store anywhere in the world. It gives you full control in running your business. You can also reach a wider audience through social media and interact with your customers. With solid marketing and creative advertising, you can increase sales and bring in more profits.
Is Dropshipping Scalable?
Like any other business, dropshipping demands patience, planning, and determination. Once you successfully build your online reputation and get consistent traffic and sales, you can expand your product and customer service.
Dropshipping is scalable. Unlike traditional business models where you have to buy more stocks and hire more people for the increased workload, dropshipping can be automated. With the use of CRM integrations and apps, you can streamline the work process smoothly.
You can just hire a virtual assistant who will help you with administrative support and customer service as well as a social media person to help with advertising.
Conclusion
Dropshipping will continue to rise in the next 5-10 years. It is easy to set up, low risk, and profitable. As most businesses are shifting to the digital platform, it’s time to make a jump to e-commerce. Do your research, study the market, find the right supplier, choose the best e-commerce platform, and set up your store! If you want a business with low capital, dropshipping is the perfect option.
The times where you have to drive to your local convenience store or to a city mall to buy products you need are declining. As technology advances, online shopping is on the rise.
Many entrepreneurs are taking advantage of this market trend. With most products and services available in just a click of a button, it makes the buying and selling process easier and more convenient.
While physical stores expand their business online and other business owners create their own products, some entrepreneurs are riding the dropshipping model in the e-commerce business.
Because dropshipping is easy to start and requires less capital, millions of people are interested to try it. But even though you can sell items without dealing with products stock, it is not as easy as you think.
To make the most profit, you have to learn how to operate a dropshipping online store properly.
Below are ten essential tips that you should know:
1. Find the Right Supplier.
All successful dropshipping businesses start with a reliable supplier. No matter how good your marketing is, if the quality of your product is poor, you will not get any customers and sales.
The problem is there are thousands of supplier options on the internet. Finding the right one can be a daunting task. It is crucial to find the right supplier who will help build your brand image by delivering high-quality products with good packaging and shipping time.
Drophippo is a reliable supplier which deals directly with manufacturers and takes the pain out of sourcing products from China. Their quality control and customer support are top-notch, leaving you without worries about your orders.
2. Avoid selling the same product.
Not because a certain product is trending, you will immediately want to sell it too. It’s a simple law of supply and demand. If many businesses and online sellers are selling the same “hot product”, the prices will go down because of the growing competition.
As a result, your profit margin will become slim; and you waste valuable time and energy. Instead of jumping to the hype, pick a more sustainable strategy like a niche item with low competition and a decent profit margin.
3. Price wisely.
Not because your products are lower in price than your competitors, customers will flood you. Underpricing your products will lead you nowhere in the long run. Consider your profit margin when pricing your products.
Calculate marketing expense, staff, overhead, and other relevant factors. If your competitors are lowering their prices, don’t try to imitate them however tempting it might be. Also, don’t price ridiculously high as it will turn away your store visitors.
Pricing your products fairly by keeping them within the market value is the right way to go. Providing an excellent customer experience is also crucial to increasing sales. Factors such as swift customer support, hassle-free returns and refund policies, and personalized packaging lead to an enhanced customer journey.
4. Focus on Niche Products.
One common reason why online business owners fail is they sell a wide variety of products. To be successful at dropshipping, it is important to research and study your niche. Instead of selling many products, try narrowing them down to the products that you are interested in.
Sell products that you are knowledgeable of. Let’s say you’re a mom who loves cooking. You can pick home and kitchen appliances as your niche. Since you understand your products, you can market them well.
Then, conduct market research on your niche and find products that have a good profit margin. A focused niche can give you an edge instead of products in random categories.
5. Use an e-commerce platform for your Dropshipping Store.
If a physical store is made up of brick and mortar, an online store is built on an e-commerce platform. Some of the popular options are Shopify, WooCommerce, BigCommerce, Magento, Wix, and Squarespace. Each of them differs in pricing, features, and capabilities so make sure to do your research before deciding on one.
When choosing an e-commerce platform, keep these factors in mind:
Integration with distributor’s product feed: It allows you to automatically import products from your distributor to your store.
CRM Integration: It allows you to connect important software to ensure a seamless workflow and process.
Freight and Taxes Automation: It allows you to automate order checkout and guarantees trust and transparency to your customers.
Support: Whenever you encounter a problem or issue, the platform should be accessible for support 24/7 and be contacted through phone, email, or webchat.
Scalability: As your business grows, the e-commerce platform you choose should also grow. Does the platform charge more fees and additional costs as you expand? If so, consider other options.
Mobile-friendliness: Your e-commerce platform should be responsive to multiple devices as mobile shopping is on the rise.
Security: Data security is one of the biggest concerns in online shopping these days. Make sure that your e-commerce provider has strong data security to safeguard customers’ data and information.
6. Optimize Product Descriptions.
A good product description makes use of high-quality images and detailed information about the product. To make your listing effective, use clear photos with a clean background.
When putting product descriptions, avoid copying the text provided by the manufacturer. Duplicating content affects SEO so if you want your website to rank higher in search engines, creating unique and relevant content is advisable.
7. Create an amazing Offer.
Offers and deals can help your store stand out from the crowd. Special deals and bundles affect consumers’ buying behaviour. Saving motivates them to buy and the price advantage makes you shine out from the competition.
This fundamental marketing strategy makes your customer see that you’re offering a great bargain and they’re getting more value from it. Utilize promotions and deals as well as upsells and cross-sells – anything that can persuade people to pull their credit cards out.
8. Create a Marketing Plan.
Most dropshipping business owners fail in this part. They found a reliable supplier, set up their online store, and just left it there – assuming that customers will magically come and buy their products.
Magic doesn’t happen in any business. You need to have a solid marketing plan to get your first order. Advertising drives your customers to your store so it’s vital to promote effectively.
In this digital age, you can take advantage of social media and online directories. Successful dropship merchants do not stick to one selling platform but utilize all resources available.
You can market directly through your website or other channels such as Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, eBay, and other marketplaces. Create strategies on how you will reach your potential customers. You can try organic SEO and paid advertising to spread the message and let the world know that you exist.
9. Provide Excellent Customer Service.
Bear in mind that people buy online for the convenience it offers. This means that they expect a satisfying shopping experience from you. The best way to retain and attract customers is by providing customer interaction.
Offer tracking information and be clear about the delivery times. Not being transparent to your customers and not addressing their concerns can lead to negative feedback and bad reviews.
Always meet your customer’s expectations. Keep them up to date with what’s going on with their order, confirm shipping dates, receipts, etc., and build trust. Excellent customer service reflects your brand image, encourages repeat business and puts you on top over your competitor.
10. Don’t give up too early.
Dropshipping is not a sprint but a marathon. Starting an online business requires patience, dedication, and hard work. Many entrepreneurs enter the e-commerce business thinking that it is the easiest road to wealth yet most of them quit when bombarded with challenges.
If you want to succeed as an online entrepreneur, you must learn how to face failures and disappointments. Dropshipping involves a lot of trial and error and only the brave ones with realistic goals succeed.
When facing adversity, figure out the solution, learn new skills, and understand how the business works. Don’t throw in the towel early – all big businesses start small.
The power of the internet impacts our lives in many ways. Not just for research, work, and communication, we also use it for shopping. As people continue to use technology and shop online, e-commerce will continue to grow.
This is why most physical stores are expanding their presence online to reach more audiences and cater to their customers. If you are an entrepreneur who wants to ride the e-commerce wave, you need to have an online store.
An e-commerce website is your marketplace – just like an attractive window display in the mall. A well-built online shop is a gamechanger – it builds brand recognition, attracts buyers, provides a great user experience, and facilitates customer service.
What are the essential elements of an effective e-commerce website?
1. Choose the Right Platform
The initial step is to choose a proven platform for your e-commerce business. There are a lot of e-commerce options out there but some of the most popular choices are Shopify, BigCommerce, Wix, WooCommerce, Squarespace, and Magento.
When choosing a platform, consider these factors:
Monthly fees
Customer Support
Payment gateway options
Standard features
Limitations around product numbers
CRM and App integrations
Before you sign up, you can do quick research, read customer reviews, and even take demos to find out which platform is best for you.
2. Choose the perfect theme
Visual appearance is extremely important. The first impression lasts. Pick a theme that matches your e-commerce vision. Themes or templates are ready-built pages that you can customize without the need for design or coding skills.
Pick a theme that complements your brand. When designing your website, keep it clean and professional-looking. Too many elements and pop-ups can turn away your web visitors.
3. Keep it Simple and Easy to Navigate
If your site has too much going on, it can confuse your customers. To provide an excellent customer experience, smooth website navigation is a must. The texts, fonts, and product information should be easy to read and not distracting.
Is your homepage reflecting your brand and telling a story? Make sure that the images, slideshows, and videos are placed properly. The navigation bar should not be complicated to access.
The font, colour scheme, and buttons should match your branding. It is also vital to have a search feature that allows customers to filter results to easily find the product they are looking for, instead of digging through hundreds of products.
4. Add Your Products and Content
Product pages are the most important pages of your website. Customers come to your site because of these items and if they are not presented well, it can lead to a lost sale.
Take the time to add eye-catching images. Whenever possible, use high-quality pictures and perform product photography. You may want to grab the generic images from the product manufacturer but that will not work out great. Showing the products from all angles make your products stand out.
Although writing your own product descriptions take time, it is better than copying the information given by the supplier. Duplicate content affects SEO and your customers will find you at the bottom of search pages.
Describe the product and detail its features, benefits, textures, measurements, and the value it provides to your customers.
5. Set Up Payment Methods
You need payment methods to close a sale and receive payments. Your customer’s data and information should be kept safe and secure when they process payment. In the competitive online marketplace, having multiple payment options gives you an edge.
Your website’s checkout process can make and break a sale. A good payment option should be simple, making the purchase process fast and convenient. The last thing you want is to lead your customer to a checkout page that takes too long to process payments.
6. Sort out your Shipping and Fulfillment Policies
Expensive shipping costs make customers leave your site or abandon their cart. This is why it’s best to find a reliable logistics and fulfilment service to partner with. Customers want a seamless shopping experience and they expect to receive their orders promptly.
Are you shipping locally or internationally? What types of shipping fees are you offering: flat rate, variable rate, or free shipping? Inform your customers about these details and offer a tracking option so that customers can get updates about their orders. Integrate a shipping software that automates the workflow so that your customers won’t be frustrated upon checkout.
Many businesses have started creating web Shopify stores to sell products and services. With growing numbers of companies opening their Shopify stores, it’s hard to create a unique and different theme from the crowd.
Opening a business today is relatively easy, but expanding your clientele is difficult, especially if you’re a home-based business. Finding a place to set up shop can be tricky, but starting online might help out a lot. Shopify is an excellent place to sell your products; it’s one of the best e-commerce platforms in the world, trusted by more than 1.7 million stores worldwide.
If starting a business and you’re looking for a place to build your store on Shopify, EcomSolid is a good place for you to start. Helping you make your custom theme and pages quick and easy.
What is EcomSolid?
EcomSolid is an affordable and unrivaled Theme and Page Builder on Shopify. It helps sellers set up shop, create their unique pages and conversations easily and quickly.
It is an All-in-One store design solution built to help create and boost your store on Shopify. Numerous customizable styles, themes, templates, etc., creating your very own business page is made easy and affordable with EcomSolid. With its multiple customizable elements and all kinds of sale-boosting add-ons, this Theme and Page Builder has it all and more.
EcomSolid boasts a lot of positive reviews and over 5000 Shopify Sellers Empowered with its design system. Excellent reviews on Trustpilot and the trust of multiple Shopify Sellers, You can see just how awesome EcomSolid is.
Why EcomSolid?
If a seasoned businessman/businesswoman or just starting, EcomSolid is a great place to start making your pages. With EcomSolid, you can choose from its different plans, themes, and designs to create your very own business website. Their beginner-friendly User Interface (UI) is easy to learn and understand.
Creating your custom pages is easy with EcomSolid. Creating that unique and special page for your store is as simple as writing your name with its multiple themes and features.
Building a page can be difficult if you don’t know anything about coding and graphic design, but with EcomSolid, you won’t need any of them. Perfect for beginners, EcomSolid can help you design the perfect page and themes for the business you own.
Theme and Pages Full Package
Creating Storefronts is a hassle when designing is in mind, with this package gives you full access to its library of themes and pages. It helps you with choosing the perfect theme and pages to create your Storefront.
Being unique is always essential, and you don’t want to fit in the crowd. EcomSolid’s wide variety of themes and pages is impressive and could help your page be unique from the rest of the stores on Shopify.
Showcase your brand with a fantastic store it deserves with these themes and page templates on EcomSolid. Simply pick your page, change your theme, configure your products, and you’re ready to go.
Intuitive Visual Editor
Finding that ideal look that your brand deserves is easy to make with EcomSolids Intuitive Visual Editor. No need to hire a designer. It’s easy to use!
Creating the perfect look that you want for your store would be easy. Making your brands look and feel with over 100 different customizable layouts and content blocks.
EcomSolid’s beginner-friendly system, it’s built for everyone to use and learn. Page design can’t be made any more straightforward.
With EcomSolid’s system, even a beginner with no experience and skill can master it. Any design tweaks that you make get applied to the design of your store.
A Rich Library of Templates and Layouts
Creating that signature look for your page would be easy with a wide variety of templates and layouts. EcomSolids Library of thousands of different and unique templates, sections, and layouts, you can mix and match for your liking.
With EcomSolid, you won’t need other templates and layout websites. Everything you need is here and at a very affordable price. Don’t worry if the theme you use is different from the template you like; everything is compatible with EcomSolid.
Various Built-in and Third-party Add-ons
Conversations with customers are essential when in the business industry. Having add-ons could help you boost not only the conversations with customers but also your sales. Boosting can help you with selling products and having conversations with customers. It could be a good choice to find an excellent add-on to help you out.
But with EcomSolid has got you covered. Built-in add-ons won’t be an issue, and if you’d like, it’s partnered with multiple third-party add-ons, giving you the boost that your store might need.
Optimized SEO and Mobile Integration
In some cases, designing a page for Laptops and Desktops is different from creating one for mobile phones. Some even make a separate page for their mobile customers. Designing different pages for the diverse needs of your customers is time-consuming and might cost you more money, but with EcomSolid, it’s a different story.
With its versatile themes and templates, creating a page to cater to other people is easy. The page you made on your desktop is compatible with mobile devices, no need to develop other dedicated pages for your consumers.
Not only does it help you boost your sales, but it also optimizes your SEO. Helping you gain fast speeds loading pages, so the customers don’t have to wait.
Absolutely Codeless (unless you want to!)
Coding can be a hassle, especially if you’re just trying to make your page. If you don’t know how to code, it’ll take longer if you want everything to be perfect just the way you like it.
Using EcomSolid, you don’t need to learn a single thing about coding. The system they created already comes with the codes you need. If you know your way around codes and want a few tweaks, the system will allow you to make those changes by yourself or with the help of the system.
What’s the price?
EcomSolid is affordable, even starting businesses can gain its services for cheap. It also offers a 20-day Free Trial and a Free Forever Plan.
Launch (Free)
With this plan, you can use the basic features that EcomSolid to get your business up and ready.
Growth ($19/Month)
It’s the cheapest paid plan EcomSolid offers. You can access all the Must-have features to allow you to create your design better and scale them faster.
Advanced ($39/Month)
Gaining exclusive features and support and takes your sales to the next level. Giving you more access to better features not available from the plans.
Enterprise (Customized)
This plan gives you a customized plan based on the needs of your business.
These prices are low if you have a business, and it’s customizable to your liking.
EcomSolid is now on Shopify App Store, giving you a better method to access their unrivaled services. It also got recognized on Product Hunt last September 28. Gaining these achievements, they’re offering amazing promotions for their customers.
For all New Users, You get 50% off from all plans for the first 200 upgrades! Grab your chance now before it sells out!
For Development Stores, You gain a Free Growth plan to experience the app.
EcomSolid is a great app to start your Shopify Seller Page. It gives you access to their amazing services and helps. Don’t miss a beat and try them out for yourself; you might love the service it provides.
Starting a business is already hard, and if you need any technical or creative support, EcomSolid’s support team will help you with any of your concerns.
EcomSolid is a fantastic app you can use for your business. It is versatile, hosts various features, and provides you with the best experience you want. Try it now for free!
