When adding ecommerce to your business, there are some tried and tested steps and processes that are handy to know before you begin. We’ve collected a list of the most important things to consider when you add an ecommerce store to your business.
- Involve your field sales team!
Why the senior management might be all excited about this new addition, your field team might have major reservations or fear the change. Make sure your implementation process includes staff along the way and include time for ample training and information sharing. Getting your team to be advocates for your ecommerce and to help teach customers to engage with it, will impact your rate of success.
- Understand your customer’s pain and positive points.
Consult with your team and your customers on what they think of ecommerce and what, if any, concerns they might have. Map your customers on a scale of 1 – 10 in terms of eagerness for ecommerce and develop strategies for each group that will help smooth the way. Some clients will need no support – just a link, while those still phoning orders to you, might need more.
- Don’t forget to market the new addition to the family.
Whilst you’ve spent a lot of time thinking about the new portal and you are ready to go, be sure to also spend time planning and resourcing strong, clear and engaging communications to your customers about the change, what it means, how it will benefit them and what the implementation process will be like for them. You may consider a client launch event, recording a webinar or developing easy to use guides.
- Know your adoption rate.
Not all your customers will want to order online – and that is fine! However, to ensure that you are getting strong ROI from your investment, it is important to measure your adoption rate, so you can track your progress over time. Set goals for the business and work back from there to develop your strategies to increase your adoption rate.
- Keep an eye on your one-time adoption rate.
This relates to the customers who have only used your portal once. This is a good indicator that they need a call or email from your company to talk to them about why they haven’t been back. It is a great way to show you care by offering tailored service and you are with them all the way.
Adding ecommerce to your business will help drive your bottom line as your customers can discover your products, order when they need and have access to all their previous orders, invoices and delivery information in one place. If you are interested in learning how your business can benefit from Opmetrix’s ecommerce solution, contact us now. Click here for more information.