Habits are the defining quality of every person. Whether they are a result of by genetic instincts, cognitive learning or environmental conditioning, habits not only make an essential part of life, they also determine the success and failure of it. While bad habits can yield unfavorable outcomes, good ones can reward your health, reputation and fortune.
How does a good entrepreneur sway the balance of success? Being an online entrepreneur, every aspect of your thinking, dealing and implementation demands effectiveness to produce results. Effectiveness is not only a key determinant to your decision-making process, but it also holds a central role in the core of your business operations, allowing you to streamline your tasks, monitor your progress and improve the efficiency of your business.
Most importantly, a smart entrepreneur learns from other successful businesses who have already walked down the path and made notes on their experiences.
1. Online entrepreneurs are continually improving their e-commerce experience.
Successful web entrepreneurs are always passionate about delivering the best possible user experience to the customer. Since e-commerce site owners cannot directly interact with their customers like traditional brick-and-mortar shops, the website does the job of guiding the customers and assisting them throughout the shopping process.
A successful web entrepreneur understands the importance of utilizing resources for improving key aspects of the website that control customer touchpoints. This includes major features such as web design, visual content, navigation, text, checkout process, mobile responsiveness and return policies, etc. This gives customers a great value proposition when they land and interact with the store.
The best way to find what customers like about your store is by talking to them and getting feedback. This does not mean you have to call them individually; you can use emails, popup notifications, chatbots and social media pages to link up and build a connection with them.
While there are many questions you can ask, here are some ideas top e-commerce websites use to get customer feedback:
- How can we make your experience better?
- Are you satisfied with your purchase? We are always looking for more improvements.
- Mention how you found us?
- Is there anything you thought could be better, we are always open to suggestions.
- What influenced you to buy from us?
- Is there anything less in our products than what others are offering?
- If you could eliminate one thing that we were doing what would it be?
2. They are aware of every facet of their business.
Being an online entrepreneur, you must remain attentive and aware of what goes on your website. No matter how fast your e-commerce business builds, matures and grows, you must never let complacency get the best of you, particularly when it comes to operational processes.
Successful web entrepreneurs do not become complacent or allow disorganization in their business. They remain proactive, organized and fully informed about their online operations. They monitor their website's operational effectiveness, including how well it functions, whether customers can easily search for products, are there any tickets being generated, is the checkout process working smoothly and if customers experience any trouble receiving their orders.
Through consistent evaluations, you can identify, improve and maintain a smooth flow of operations, ensuring your customers benefit from the best quality service a website can give.
3. They know the metrics.
To grow your business, you must know the metrics that indicate the health of your business. KPIs, or key performance indicators, help you track your business’s progress, build effective strategies and enhance your ROI. This includes cost per acquisition (CPA), average/monthly sales, conversion rate, average order value, cart abandonment rate, repeat purchase rate, customer lifetime value and revenue per visit. T
hough most KPIs are factored around business cost and revenue generation, many other KPIs are frequently used to determine buying potential and success rate of different forms of digital marketing campaigns. By knowing your numbers, you make better decisions and avoid the major pitfalls that inexperienced web entrepreneurs fall prey to.
4. They choose the right partners.
Many e-commerce businesses that achieved early success credit their accomplishments to the partners they chose during their infancy. From hosting, web development, and marketing to logistics, security, and support, each of these factors play a critical role in helping the website achieve its business goals effectively. Without a good hosting provider, you may not get the speed and reliability you need to retain your customers.
A bad development and design partner will not give your store user-friendly features and the aesthetic appeal needed to attract customers. Similarly, you need a good digital marketing agency to bring exposure to your products and services, raise your rankings and generate leads.
According to recent survey, 84% of customers will not purchase from a site if it is unsecured. Effective web entrepreneurs never gamble with their website; they make informed decisions when picking their partners. This involves reading reviews, customer testimonials, word of mouth or even a trial run to know if the partner is up to mark or not.
Researching before hiring a partner can make a huge difference in your e-commerce store's day-to-day operations.
5. Successful web entrepreneurs test every aspect of their website.
A web entrepreneur who appreciates the importance of ingenuity and customer psychology in e-commerce always experiments on different parts of the website. This allows webmasters to explore their store's marketing potential, improve their conversion funnel, fix sales leakages and ultimately generate more revenue.
Getting into the habit of testing ideas and assumptions is a lifelong process in your e-commerce business that keep evolving. While there are many things you can start off with, here are some essential areas where successful web entrepreneurs target first.
1. Product Page Template: Often the most neglected part of the website, product pages hold great conversion potential if they are presented optimally. Trying neater and feature-focused themes can highlight your product's unique selling proposition more effectively to the customer.
2. Checkout Page: Successful e-commerce stores use one-page checkout forms and reduce unnecessary fields to ensure the buying process is swift and uncomplicated for customers.
3. Testimonials: Featuring testimonials where they matter the most, such as the homepage, can help engage customers and encourage them to purchase your products. Customers value feedback, especially from other customers who have used the same products they are interested in.
4. Price: Testing different price ranges on your popular products can benefit your online business immensely, especially when you have different regional stores to look after. Learning customer demographics and preferences can help in variegating pricing and offering discounts and bundles
I also recommend using different tools that can provide you with accurate findings when you are planning to make changes. Tools such as Google Analytics Experiments, ahrefs and visual website optimizer can help you get a more detailed overview of your website.
By incorporating these five habits into your online business, you can come closer to achieving your ultimate business goals and growing your business exponentially.