Business Advice

When it comes to your employees, avoid these two common business mistakes.

4 ways to navigate launching a new business with a family member.

Today’s social media platforms represent enormous opportunity as well as enormous risk, as users increasingly share their opinions about businesses they frequent. If you aren’t paying attention to what your customers are saying about you online, then you’re leaving yourself open to their negative comments, while also potentially losing opportunities to react to positive reviews. To help manage your online reputation proactively, it’s imperative that you reach out to customers and ask for their testimonials. You can then use these positive reviews to implement reputation management strategies that attract positive attention for your brand. For instance, incorporate user review features on your Website that allow your customers to review products they purchase from your company. When a customer makes a purchase, send a follow-up email, allowing enough time for the item to ship and the customer to receive it, and ask for a review. You can then post the reviews on Facebook and Twitter as well as incorporate social features on your site that let users share their reviews, “like” your products and so on. If you fail to nab these opportunities, then you’re leaving it to your customers to post their opinions in their own social pages, where you likely won’t have an opportunity to respond to their comments. You also risk having these comments dominate in search engine results, as opposed to having the positive outweigh the negative. With proactive reputation management, you’ll create a positive impression with your customers. You’ll also have a better chance of getting more customers, as prospects read the good reviews and make their buying decisions.

Getting buyers to your Website is only half the battle in terms of your online marketing efforts. Once they’re there, you want them to buy — not click elsewhere or, worse, get nanoseconds away from a purchase only to abandon their shopping carts. It’s these abandoned carts that can be the most baffling. How could they get so close to buying and then simply click away? The answers are complex, but there is hope. Try out these five simple strategies, and start increasing your ecommerce conversions today: 1. Keep it simple. How many people do you know who like filling out long forms? Probably not many. Limit the first page of your checkout page to requesting the customer’s first name and email address. The reason is twofold: You’ll keep the customer engaged and moving quickly through the checkout process, and you’ll also have his or her contact information in case that customer abandons the cart. That way, you can initiate an abandoned cart nurturing campaign via email if necessary. 2. Follow up quickly. Re-engage with abandoned-cart customers right away, at least within 24 hours, to reinforce the reasons they wanted to buy your product in the first place. The more you can remind them of the connections they had with your brand and your products, the more likely they will be to revisit your site and complete their checkout. 3. Be helpful. Don’t assume your customer abandoned the cart because of price. Instead, follow up with an email expressing concern that a technical error may have prevented the customer from completing the order. Use it as an opportunity to highlight your competitive advantages, such as above-and-beyond customer service and unbeatable quality. Include a customer service phone number in case the customer wants to speak with someone or needs help completing the checkout. 4. Make a special offer. Your first or second follow-up email can include a coupon as an incentive to complete the purchase. Doing so will increase your conversions, particularly if the customer abandoned the cart based on pricing.  5. Be persistent, but not pesky. If your initial first or second emails don’t result in conversions, try offering more information about the product or your company. For instance, it’s a good idea to have some customer case studies and testimonials in your back pocket from customers who have raved about your products. Gently remind customers about your business without overwhelming them, as too many emails could mean opt-outs. By addressing multiple concerns in your abandoned-cart email campaigns, including shipping concerns, product benefits, pricing considerations and more, you’ll be more likely to touch on the reasons that a customer clicked away. These automated messages can prove priceless for your conversions.