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101eCOMMERCE TIPS BY MICHAEL FOLLING @101eCommerceTips | @101eComTips | 101 ECOMMERCE TIPS BY MICHAEL FOLLING 1 INTRODUCTION I’ve worked really hard to write what I feel is the best guide for growing an Thank you for ecommerce business. Altogether it consists of over 1,100 tools, resources, purchasing 101 real world examples, and actionable steps to help take your business to the next level. I know you’re ready to get started, but before you do, please take eCommerce Tips! some time to learn how to get the most value from this book. WHY I WROTE THIS BOOK WHO THIS BOOK IS FOR As a marketer I’ve worked on many ecommerce projects for I wrote this book for anyone who is just starting out in clients and for my personal businesses, and throughout the ecommerce or already has an ecommerce business and is years I’ve noticed that it can be difficult to keep track of all the looking for new ideas to see growth. best practices to follow. The tips in this book vary between easy and hard to implement. So I thought I’d put them all in one place. Some of the tips could have an entire book dedicated to them, but for the sake of keeping the book actionable I decided to I made a list of my best tips for ecommerce website owners keep the tips short and to the point. to put into practice and I organized them alongside the most helpful resources, tools, and examples available. If you’re an experienced marketer some of these tips might seem obvious to you. If that’s the case, use this book as a And while I could have written more than 101 tips I tried to checklist to keep track of everything that goes into growing limit this book to tips that are easy to implement and those an online business. that will have a significant impact on growing your brand and revenue. If you don’t have much experience marketing an ecommerce business some of these tips might seem complex. In that case, So whether you’re just starting out or if you have a well- use what I’ve written as a starting point to learn those more established business, I hope this book helps you reach the complex marketing methods. goals that you’ve set for yourself. @101eCommerceTips | @101eComTips | 101 ECOMMERCE TIPS BY MICHAEL FOLLING 2 HOW TO USE THIS BOOK I recommend that you read through each tip individually. If you come across a tip that you’ve already implemented, look at the helpful resources and real-world examples to get ideas to build on the work you’ve already done. If a tip is new to you, make a note to revisit it then prioritize how you’ll implement each tip based on your estimate of how it will impact your store’s growth. INTRODUCTION 1 TIP A brief introduction of the tip and an explanation of how it can help your ecommerce business. 1 5 RECOMMENDED TOOLS 1 A collection of some of my favorite 2 tools to help you implement this tip. 3 4 HELPFUL RESOURCES Helpful guides and blog posts from elsewhere on the web to give you even more ideas. 2 HOW TO GET STARTED Ideas and actionable steps on how to implement this tip using best practices. @101eCommerceTips | @101eComTips | 101 ECOMMERCE TIPS BY MICHAEL FOLLING 3 3 REAL WORLD EXAMPLES Examples of other ecommerce websites that are implementing this same tip so you can see it in action. @101eCommerceTips | @101eComTips | 101 ECOMMERCE TIPS BY MICHAEL FOLLING 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS OFFER FREE IMPROVE WEBSITE CREATE A REFERRAL START A PODCAST 1 SHIPPING 2 3 SPEED 4 PROGRAM ADD LIVE CHAT GUEST POST ON BLOGS BE TRANSPARENT ANSWER QUESTIONS 5 6 IN YOUR TARGET MARKET 7 8 ON QUORA ALERT CUSTOMERS INSTALL ANALYTICS OFFER RECURRING AUTOMATE FAILED WHEN PRODUCTS ARE SUBSCRIPTIONS PAYMENT RECOVERY 9 10 BACK IN STOCK 11 12 ADD BROWSER PUSH RUN A SOCIAL RUN AN EMAIL IMPLEMENT RICH 13 NOTIFICATIONS 14 MEDIA CONTEST 15 CONTEST 16 SNIPPETS RUN AN INFLUENCER THANK YOUR SEND ABANDONED CART USE CROSS-SELLS & UP- 17 CAMPAIGN 18 CUSTOMERS 19 RECOVERY EMAILS 20 SELLS TO SELL MORE GET AN SSL OPTIMIZE YOUR GET HELP DESK HAVE A SATISFACTION 21 CERTIFICATE 22 FORMS 23 SOFTWARE 24 GUARANTEE SEND A COLD EMAIL ADD BADGES TO YOUR OPTIMIZE YOUR PRODUCT SELL ON AMAZON 25 CAMPAIGN 26 27 PRODUCT IMAGES 28 CATEGORY PAGES USE PRICE MARKET YOUR RUN A RETARGETING BUSINESS ON RUN AN A/B TEST ANCHORING CAMPAIGN 29 30 WHATSAPP 31 32 OUTSOURCE CREATE A SOCIAL STREAMLINE THE CREATE GIFT GUIDES 33 FULFILLMENT 34 MEDIA CALENDAR 35 36 CHECKOUT PROCESS OFFER CUSTOMERS ADD A CALL TO SEND A FOLLOW UP COMMENT ON BLOGS MULTIPLE PAYMENT ACTION IN YOUR EMAIL ASKING FOR THAT YOUR TARGET 37 OPTIONS 38 EMAIL SIGNATURE 39 REVIEWS 40 CUSTOMERS READ HAVE A CLEAR VALUE CREATE UNBOXING CREATE AN “ABOUT ADD SOCIAL PROOF 41 PROPOSITION 42 VIDEOS 43 US” PAGE 44 TO YOUR WEBSITE HOST A MARKET YOUR BUSINESS CREATE AN AFFILIATE SET UP MARKETING 45 TWITTER CHAT 46 ON SNAPCHAT 47 PROGRAM 48 AUTOMATION DISPLAY SALES SEND YOUR SEND A CUSTOMER TRADE RETARGETING & PROMOS CUSTOMERS SWAG SATISFACTION SURVEY 49 PROMINENTLY 50 51 52 CODES @101eCommerceTips | @101eComTips | 101 ECOMMERCE TIPS BY MICHAEL FOLLING 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS TRANSLATE YOUR RECORD YOUR CREATE CUSTOM BUILD A WEBSITE INTO OTHER 53 WEBSITE VISITORS 54 PACKAGING 55 KNOWLEDGE BASE 56 LANGUAGES RUN A GOOGLE WRITE AMAZING UTILIZE YOUR START A BLOG 57 SHOPPING CAMPAIGN 58 PRODUCT DESCRIPTIONS 59 60 THANK YOU PAGE OPTIMIZE YOUR WEBSITE FOR MOBILE CREATE CUSTOMER ADVERTISE ON BING ADVERTISE ON 61 DEVICES 62 PERSONAS 63 64 YOUTUBE ADVERTISE ON ADVERTISE ON ADVERTISE ON ADVERTISE ON 65 QUORA 66 TWITTER 67 FACEBOOK 68 INSTAGRAM ADVERTISE ON ADVERTISE ON ADVERTISE ON ADVERTISE ON 69 GOOGLE 70 PINTEREST 71 LINKEDIN 72 REDDIT LET SHOPPERS GIFT USE SCARCITY & REMOVE HIDDEN DO ON 73 YOUR PRODUCTS 74 URGENCY TO SELL MORE 75 FEES 76 PAGE SEO DO OFF LET CUSTOMERS LOGIN USE HIGH QUALITY OFFER AN INCENTIVE WITH THEIR SOCIAL TO ENCOURAGE EMAIL PAGE SEO IMAGES 77 78 MEDIA ACCOUNTS 79 80 OPT-INS SCHEDULE YOUR SOCIAL RUN A PUBLIC OFFER FREE ADD VIDEO TO YOUR MEDIA POSTS FOR RELATIONS CAMPAIGN RESOURCES PRODUCT PAGES 81 MAXIMUM ENGAGEMENT 82 83 84 ADD UTM TRACKING OPTIMIZE YOUR OPTIMIZE YOUR OPTIMIZE YOUR 85 CODES TO EVERYTHING 86 FACEBOOK PAGE 87 INSTAGRAM PROFILE 88 TWITTER PROFILE OPTIMIZE YOUR OPTIMIZE YOUR ADD TRUST SEALS TO CREATE A BRAND 89 PINTEREST PROFILE 90 LINKEDIN PAGE 91 YOUR WEBSITE 92 GUIDE DISPLAY YOUR PHONE GIVE CUSTOMERS THE OFFER A REWARDS CREATE ENGAGING NUMBER ON YOUR ABILITY TO TRACK PROGRAM BLOG POST HEADLINES 93 WEBSITE 94 THEIR SHIPMENT 95 96 HAVE A PROMINENT ADD A WISHLIST OPTIMIZE YOUR EMAIL 97 SUPPORT A CAUSE 98 CALL TO ACTION 99 FEATURE 100 UNSUBSCRIBE PROCESS CREATE A 101 FACEBOOK GROUP @101eCommerceTips | @101eComTips | 101 ECOMMERCE TIPS BY MICHAEL FOLLING 5 TIP OFFER FREE SHIPPING Many online retailers like Amazon have socialized consumers to expect free shipping when shopping online. Whether you’re an Amazon competitor or not (most online retailers are) you should offer free shipping in order to improve conversions on your website. One study found that 36% of online shoppers abandon their shopping carts because the shipping costs are too high. If you want to avoid having your customers abandon their carts as well, try offering free shipping to see how it affects conversions. Since shipping costs can be expensive depending on where your customers are located you might want to consider raising your retail prices to compensate for, or at least subsidize, the cost of shipping so you can maintain your profit margins. 1HOW TO GET STARTED RECOMMENDED TOOLS ShipStation Figure out the average cost of shipping among all destinations USPS Shipping Calculator 1 that you offer shipping to. ShippingEasy Consider adding the average cost of shipping to the retail 2 price of your products to offset the cost of offering free shipping or try offering free shipping with a minimum order amount to encourage higher revenue per transaction. HELPFUL RESOURCES How to Make “Free Shipping” Profitable Place banners and content throughout your website to make 3 it clear to your customers that you offer free shipping. Lastly, How To Offer Free Shipping Without Going Broke adjust your shopping cart software to reflect that there aren’t ‘Free Shipping’ Should Not Only Be In A any additional charges during the checkout process. Site-Wide Banner (32% Get It Wrong) REAL WORLD Free Shipping From August.com EXAMPLES Free Shipping From HulaSoap.com @101eCommerceTips | @101eComTips | 101 ECOMMERCE TIPS BY MICHAEL FOLLING 6 TIP START A PODCAST A podcast can be a great way to raise awareness about your brand. One benefit to creating a podcast is it can be easier to create content if writing isn’t your thing, and if you have guests whom you can interview or chat with it makes the process even easier. Another benefit to having a podcast is any guests you have will likely share your podcast with their audience, which will help expose them to your brand. Ideally you would run a podcast alongside your blog because more content equals more exposure, but if managing both is too time consuming consider starting off with a podcast first as it can be easier to get up and running and easier to maintain. 2HOW TO GET STARTED RECOMMENDED TOOLS SoundCloud To begin, you should have a specific audience in mind.