eCommerce Furniture Industry Trends 2021
As more and more retailers go online, the eCommerce furniture industry is growing leaps and bounds. Therefore, brands are embracing technology to maintain competitive advantages. In this article, we discuss some of the emerging trends in 2021 within the industry that every business should watch out for. 1. Augmented Reality Changes Purchasing Behaviour Using augmented reality, virtual reality, AI, and 3D design visuals create a first-hand experience of what the store looks like. Thus, it helps generate higher interest and drive more sales. Specifically, augmented reality has become essential for the eCommerce furniture industry for stimulating more vivid product visualization. The technology allows customers to view products, choose colours and patterns, rotate, customize the furniture images according to their taste before purchasing. This provides them with a chance to see whether it matches their home decor. In other words, augmented reality helps them to make better decisions without moving out of their houses. That’s why it can influence purchasing decisions. 2. Product Customization Product customization possesses a key differentiator that helps fuel sales. People these days are very vocal about their tastes and preferences, and they want everything accordingly, right from the fabric to the colour. Besides a mix-and-match look, consumers are also opting for green/sustainable furniture designs. Therefore, rather than prebuilt stocks, furniture companies need to adopt a large number of made-to-order workflow. Product customization has emerged beyond a trend. Owing to customization, the buying journey within the furniture industry has become more interesting and convenient 3. Social Commerce Shopping on social networks are becoming more popular. Because of millions number of users, platforms like Tiktok or Instagram is considered as a potential channel for product marketing. Social media enhances the customer experience by enabling them to make a purchase on the platform without being redirected to different pages. 4. Younger Generation Prefer Cash and Carry Future eCommerce companies are focusing on winning the interest of the Millennials. This young generation is looking for quality products accompanied by good customer service and quick delivery. They also don’t want to make extra effort to assemble every piece together. Thus companies have to come up with new business models or product designs to meet up such demands. 5. Use automation Brands are heading on to serve the best of their customers. For instance, reengaged emails are sent out every day accompanied by on-site recommendations and many more. These are automation applications that can be integrated into your website to leverage your customer experience. Thanks to automation, store owners can focus their time and efforts on improving their products and services instead of executing repetitive tasks. If you are opening a store on BigCommerce, Atom8 will significantly help you! Try it now: The app will automatically solve repetitive store management tasks. Final note The furniture e-commerce market is growing at a steady pace. This industry is no more confined to traditional brick-and-mortar stores and is becoming omnichannel. To maintain a competitive advantage, heads up to the coming trends and make the best use of them.
Backorder Management Strategies for Peak Seasons
Not only in the festive period do we experience peak seasons in online business. Many retailers see a high volume of sales before Christmas or summer, whereas sports vendors get higher demands during sports seasons. This has urged businesses to leverage their backorder management strategies to keep up with expectations. No matter what time the peak season is, the importance is whether you are ready for it. The eCommerce industry is fully competitive, and you need to understand the best backorder management strategies to employ during high seasons. Here are a few tactics that might effectively assist you during peak seasons. Staff training Your staff poses a significant issue for your value chain every day, let alone during the peak seasons. Therefore, you need to prepare your staff for every unexpected situation with sufficient training and cross-trainings. Furthermore, have a distinctive plan for temporary staff so that you don’t waste so much time while still making the best out of your people. Nevertheless, you need to invest quality time to train your staff if you don’t want a negative review on your performance Most eCommerce businesses cross-train full-time associates through all departments, especially those involved with using equipment like forklifts. Review and Revise Sometimes, it is hard to address every order during peak seasons as you will be rushing all over the place. Nevertheless, once the volume decrease, you can review and revise the performance across departments. The goal is to identify your weaknesses to improve in the future. One of the worst situations is being out of stock, especially for hot-selling items. This not only drives your customers away but also devastates your credibility. To avoid this, review your backorder management strategies with your team to point out challenges and how to address them. This will enable you to improve sales later. Evaluate outsourcing Think about your business equipment and facilities, whether there’s sufficient room for more product during the high season. At times, you might need additional storage. One solution is to sell large inbound shipments, increasing warehouse spacing levels. Another option to consider is dropshipping or leasing additional storage for your products. After all, you have to ascertain if you have the necessary equipment to accommodate increased inventory stock. Keep customers updated about order status The delivery time is one of the most important factors affecting customer satisfaction. Therefore, don’t forget to keep an eye on the delivery status during peak seasons. Try to provide as many delivery options as possible, making it more convenient for your customer to purchase in your store. If you’re using multiple distribution centers, analyze the route so that the order would arrive at the fastest pace and the minimized costs. Use automation Managing backorder has never been easy, especially while having tons of orders that need to be fulfilled constantly. Hence a lot of businesses have relied on automation to work on the inventory. Through workflow with predetermined rules, the system will tell you when an item is low on supply. Then you might consider reordering if the demands are still high. This way, you don’t have to keep an eye on the inventory every time. What’s more, you can integrate this backorder system into your currently used workflow automation platform. This combination allows for centralizing your management, saving you the time and efforts to invest in more impactful activities. Conclusion Being out of stock is an absolute nightmare. Strategizing for a peak season for any eCommerce business is essential if you want to retain and improve your revenue. The key is to find out the backorder management strategies that work best for your store.
Top eCommerce ERP for Online Stores
ERP eCommerce features are revolutionizing the way online stores conduct businesses. Integrating an ERP system into your store helps improve customer retention, productivity and boost sales revenue. Today, we have different ERP software that eCommerce merchants are using in their day-to-day business. Top ERP features eCommerce stores need ERP vendors provide different features for eCommerce stores. With the increasing number of eCommerce ERP software, finding the best system can be daunting. As long as you understand the essentials of your business, you can go a long way in making a decision. Here are a few options to be considered when it comes to ERP eCommerce software. CRM Customer relationship management is an integral aspect of any business. A CRM software would help nurture your leads and turn them into loyal customers. It’s also important to preserve a high rate of customer retention as it costs five times to get and retain a new customer compared to maintaining your previous customers. Let’s compare two online stores. Do you feel safe purchasing from a retailer that fails to provide accurate shipping information? Most likely no. You never want your package to get lost somewhere across the country. Then with an automated CRM, merchants can get access to customer information within a few clicks, resulting in higher quality customer service. Finance Your software solution will operate in a vacuum if you don’t have real-time data. This is why financial management and accounting tools are important features of ERPs. Financial data is paramount to centralizing processing and developing an efficient forecasting model to allow you to plan, reorder, and anticipate delivery. Additionally, you can use financial data to decide which vendors to work with and follow. If your eCommerce business doesn’t have the best ERP software, it is time to consider integrating it into your website. Shipping/Distribution Several eCommerce stores participate in dropshipping – a process where products sold by a company are transferred by a third-party delivery service to the end customers. It allows businesses to offer numerous items without owning a big storage facility. Furthermore, it helps reduce the cost of acquiring a large warehouse to store these items. Product management Another important feature of an ERP eCommerce platform is product management. It is an essential feature that separates it from the brick-and-mortar retail store. The main reason is that it allows merchants to know the real-time number of products available in your store. Therefore, it takes away mistakes caused by the high volume supply, especially during the holiday season. Top eCommerce ERP When it comes to choosing the best eCommerce ERP software for your business, you can never run out of options. There are several reliable ERP software with overwhelming features to choose from for your business. Here are a few we consider efficient in delivering quality results. Fishbowl Fishbowl offers its own ERP system, which combines advanced inventory management software with other solutions for your eCommerce store. It offers features such as wholesale distribution, point of sale equipment, shipping solutions, and a complete accounting package. Acumatica It is a flexible ERP system; it uses a modular process to enable business owners to add new features. Its features include packaging, shipping, customer management, and inventory management. Furthermore, it has six cloud-based solutions for you to choose from depending on your need.
Magento and BigCommerce: Which is Better?
Magento and BigCommerce are two leading eCommerce platforms used in various quarters. It’s never been easy to choose which one to operate on. In this article, we will explore the essential features of BigCommerce and Magento to demonstrate how they would serve different needs of yours. In detail, we’ll focus on 3 criteria including pricing structures, functionality, and ease of integration. Magento and BigCommerce: Which is Better? 1. Pricing Structures When it comes to pricing, you should consider the total cost of owning each platform before opting to buy it. The monthly subscription for BigCommerce starts at $29.90 per month. The platform allows for any integration into other systems. However, these apps and extensions often come with an additional fee. Meanwhile, Magento has a licensing fee along with hosting provider fees. Moreover, you have to pay agency fees for fixing patches or bugs whenever there is an update. 2. Functionality Both platforms offer good functionality as you can customize your theme, manage products, create checkout pages, perform email marketing, and so on. However, these uses vary dependent on your business model (B2B or B2C), the type of product you’re providing, and your targeted market. Make sure that the platform you choose is compatible with your business goal. 3. Ease of Integration Another essential feature to consider is the ease of integration with other systems. The platform serves as a foundation for your eCommerce store. However, to operate effectively, you’ll need to integrate your website with several apps and extensions. For example, you might want to market your products on external sales channels such as eBay and Amazon for better promotion. Without integration, you’ll have to manually upload and manage orders on 2 different platforms, which is extremely frustrating. Furthermore, when you’re providing products of multiple variances, it’s helpful to install fulfillment software such as 3PL, POS, and ERP. Overall, both Magento and BigCommerce allow for integration. However, it’s much more complex to customize your website on Magento. This is because Magento does not provide an on-site developer to help you. In other words, you’ll need to find a hosting partner to host your site and your own developers to integrate your tech stack. If you are contemplating using an eCommerce platform, you should consider integrating to sales channels such as eBay and Amazon. Additionally, it should blend with fulfillment software such as 3PL, POS, and ERP. Furthermore, look out for integration features such as customers, product information, shipping, and tracking. Overall, both software can integrate well with other systems. Another indispensable parts are the automation tool. To help you minimize your work capacity and optimize the store management process, the app is essential. One of them could be Atom8 – the automation workflow integration. You can check out Atom8’s functions here, it’s available on the BigCommerce platform, and the Magento version will be coming very soon: Atom8 on BigCommerce: BigCommerce vs. Magento The eCommerce market is becoming more and more competitive. Holding a website doesn’t mean you’ll see customers running to your store. Rather, your store should be the foundation for higher-level inventory, marketing, and sales strategies. This is why choosing the right platform is exceedingly important. You need a platform that will process orders swiftly and full orders accurately, that allows for seamless storage and retrieval of information, that is free of bugs and flaws, and so on. Now you know the difference between BigCommerce and Magento. We hope you choose the most suitable platform for your business!
Best Backorder Practices for Online Business
One of the significant challenges of dropshipping is dealing with backorders. Failure to offer the best backorder practices can cost any eCommerce owner to lose customers, which might lead to a dip in sales. In the long run, it can also devastate your brand credibility. If you are new in online business and don’t know the best backorder practices to implement, this article will expound more. What is a backorder? A backorder is an order where you assure your customers to fulfill their orders despite not having them in your inventory. The store usually makes a compromise that the order will be fulfilled and delivered later. For instance, you receive an order for four T-shirts from two different customers while there’re only 2 left. This means you are unable to treat all the customers the same. However, it’s not a good idea to leave the one customer disappointed. Instead, you can send two items to each of the customers, assuring them of fulfilling the remaining order in the future. This process is known as back-ordering. Today, backorder has become a prevalent practice that most eCommerce stores use. Best Backorder Practices for your eCommerce Store Inform the customers You should always inform your customer whether a product is available at the moment. Furthermore, give them the choice to wait or cancel the product order. Here, you can use a pop-up that allows the customers to fill in their decision when a product is out of stock. Get an estimated time of arrival One of the best backorder practices you can implement is to give your customers an estimated time of arrival. Modern automation tools can help you estimate the arrival time for every product the customer has placed. With this, consumers know when their product will be available and delivered to their address. Create a follow-up system Don’t ever forget to follow up on a backorder request. You need to keep your customer updated about the order status, the estimated arrival time, and any related problem that occurs along the way. Set up an ending date Besides having a follow-up system, you need to provide a time frame for the backorder process. For instance, if you can’t provide the back-ordered item within 21 days, you should place a refund and apologize for the inconvenience. Of course, the time frame depends on your product and the sales season. However, as you’re making money on a back-ordered item, you are under obligation to refund the money or deliver the product to the customer. Conclusion All in all, backorder adds tremendous value to your business. However, a small mistake can spell doom. That’s why most eCommerce stores take the issue of backorder very important. If you want to experience customer retention, ensure you adhere to the best backorder practices in this article.
Backorder Management Step By Step
Backorder management takes care of goods that the company cannot fulfill because the demand is beyond the supply. Today, we use different complex terms to describe how companies keep goods flowing to their customers—for instance, LIFT, FIFO, MRP, ERP, and supply chain and demand. Yet there is one important term most people overlook and misunderstand, which is backorders. Unlike preorder, which is to order a product that has never been on the market, backorder referred to a currently running out item that can be fulfilled later. Backorder involves a process where goods are about to be reproduced, meaning that they can always be delivered in the future. Causes of Backorders Backorders from Gritglobal can do you well given a thorough understanding of the concept. In the later part of this article, you will learn the simple process to address your backorder issues. Before we start, let’s go through different reasons for backorders to happen. Unusual Demand An unusual demand might occur during the holiday or festive time. It might also be due to natural events such as hurricanes and disasters where a large number of goods are required in a short period of time. A lot of factors can contribute to a product getting an unusual demand from the public. Supplier issues We live in a supply chain that is stretched throughout the world, and at times there will be supplier issues. While it might not be intentional, nature can have its cause. Additionally, regulatory compliance, strikes, or shipping can cause suppliers to delay products. The disparity in order patterns Natural disasters, weather events, and holiday seasons can cause variations in order patterns. Companies might depend on demand planning models to foresee the total orders and customers. However, a sudden change in people’s demands can disrupt or throw manufacturers off-balance. Steps of Backorder Management process To avoid disappointing your customers because of your inability to fulfill their expectations, you need to follow a good backorder management process. Here are the steps of the backorder management process to implement for your business. Be transparent about product availability and shipment date In dealing with backorders, you need to indicate product availability and shipment date. With this, customers can decide if they want to wait for the product or not. Furthermore, it helps build trust with your customers that you value their time. Fulfill available items if possible Peradventure you have a limited amount of the product, you can perform partial fulfillment. For instance, you have three mobile phones in stock while there are two customers, each of whom wants two phones. Here, you can decide to fulfill half of the order while backordering the other. In other words, customers will receive a partial shipment of the product with an estimated time for the remaining to arrive. Place order for unavailable items In case of dropshipping, you can order the unavailable product from your supplier or manufacturer. It is essential to keep the customers informed about the current state of the product. Update customer on order status After a customer has placed an order for an item, they have the right to be informed about the current delivery status promptly. In the event that the product is no longer available for manufacturing, it’s crucial to notify them and initiate a refund. Effective backorder management ensures timely updates and appropriate actions in such scenarios. Receive restocked items and fulfill Once you receive the items, you can restock and fulfill the backorders. Remember to stick to the estimated time you indicated in your first message. If You’re on BigCommerce See How BackOrder Solves Your Pain Points Eliminate Lost Sales Due to Stockouts Many businesses struggle with losing sales when items are out of stock. BackOrder ensures you never miss a sale by automatically enabling backorders when inventory reaches zero, keeping your revenue steady. Streamline Inventory Management Managing backorders manually can be time-consuming and error-prone. BigCommerce BackOrder automates this process, integrating seamlessly with your IMS/ERP to schedule workflow smooth and accurate. Enhance Customer Satisfaction Uninformed customers can lead to frustration and lost business. BackOrder allows you to customize notifications and BigCommerce automate emails, ensuring your customers are always informed about stock status and expected restock dates. This transparency improves the customer experience and builds trust. By addressing these pain points, BackOrder helps businesses maintain consistent sales, streamline operations, and keep customers satisfied. If you have further question, please contact us!
What is a Drip Campaign?
Email newsletters are always effective in keeping your subscribers alert to informed about your recent update. While customer engagement has become a norm, it comes with one setback. New subscribers see only the latest email announcements without access to older emails. How can you ensure your new subscribers have access to old emails? All you need is a drip campaign. A drip campaign enhances sales from your new customers. It is also known as an automated email marketing campaign, autoresponders, or lifecycle emails. In short, a drip campaign sends prewritten messages to customers and prospects within a particular period of time. What is a drip campaign? Drip campaigns are automated emails that allow businesses to stay connected with different groups of people based on their behavior and stages within the customer journey. A drip email often comes in a prewritten form. There is nothing like manually writing distributing these emails. Rather, the message can be customized to include the contact’s name, company information, address, and more. Why do you need a drip campaign? The primary goal of a drip marketing campaign is to keep users engaged with your product and services. Here are a few ways you can use drip campaigns for your business. Welcome campaigns Welcome emails can be very strategic. It serves as a quick way to introduce your company and the products you offer. Remember, the first impression means everything, and welcome emails allow you to strike the perfect first impression in your customer’s mind. When doing this, ensure you address them personally. Nurture leads Your leads are the prospective customers that are likely to buy your product in the future. You need to keep in touch to stay on their top of mind when they’re doing shopping. To nurture these leads, use various blog posts, free trial offer, reviews, and help with specific features. Abandoned cart Your uniquely crafted newsletters can convince a customer to add the product you offer to their cart. However, something unexpected happens, and they leave without completing a purchase. All of your hard-earned efforts just got dished. How do you get these customers back? With an automated drip campaign, you can re-engage them to complete the order by placing the buy button. A drip email can help confirm if they are still available to complete the purchase. Note that this applies to any type of product you’re selling, be it tangible or intangible. Run a drip campaign with automation Though necessary, it is extremely frustrating to run every campaign manually. That’s why automation works best with drip campaigns. All you need to do is to set up a workflow telling the system when to send which customer which type of email. Then you can focus your resources on optimizing the content rather than the repetitive distribution task. For example: Besides executing email marketing campaigns, workflow automation application can also: Auto-publish products Auto-categorize orders (based on value, locations, etc) Auto-segment customer (based on demographics, spending, the total number of order, etc) Auto-tag customers on CRM, email marketing, and delivery platforms Auto-generate reports & lists on Google Sheet Auto-notify of low-stock items, abandoned cart, or high-value orders Auto-detect and halt high-risk orders On BigCommerce store, we have Atom8 – an ultimate automation tool to help you. Explore here: With multiple intelligent functions, Atom8 will enhance your business effectiveness and boost up profit.
A Quick Guide To Partial Shipment
It is not always possible to ship all orders at once, especially with products made of multiple pieces. Therefore, some businesses often ship them separately. The arrival time might vary for a few days depends on the warehouse location. This is called partial shipment. Before executing, it is crucial to know the process, the best approach, and whether you are doing it right. Although this may be necessary for certain situations, it is pretty hard to monitor the operation. How do you monitor a partial shipment in your system? What criteria will you set in place to ensure a completed order only when fulfilled? What is a partial shipment? A partial shipment involves delivering one single order in several shipments. One of the common use of partial shipments is when one of the items within the order is on backorder. It is also necessary to make partial shipment when a delay occurs or items are stored in different warehouses. For instance, you manufacture XYZ phones and get an order of 200 phones. When you check your warehouse, you discovered you only had 140 XYZ phones. How do you deal with such an order when you can’t fulfill it instantly? The best solution is to contact the customer to make a partial shipment of available products. You can ship 140 in your store first and deliver the rest later once you get them from the manufacturer Why are partial orders necessary? Partial shipment helps create an excellent customer experience. In the example above, the merchant may lose the entire order if they don’t perform a partial shipment. This will also gift their competitors with a generous customer. In other words, partial order can ensure both customer experience and sales increase. Challenges of having partial orders Though necessary, some business owners still struggle to offer partial shipments properly due to the backend management. This is because the partial shipment process is relatively complicated. You’ll have to track the delivery status of each order, notify customers when each package arrives, and fulfill an open order. Furthermore, you also have to deal with creating multiple receipts for one order. Partial orders best practices Use tools to split orders eCommerce automation tools make it easier to treat individual items separately. The platform can split orders into different line items in order to create a distinguished tracking code and label for each item. Remarkably, it ensures you don’t lose the main item from a single order. Therefore, once all items are fulfilled, you can mark the order as completed. Use automation to update status Automation tools such as nChannel allow you to get updates on partial shipments. You can integrate it into your eCommerce platform to schedule workflow, track partial shipments and leave a mark when the order is completed. Perform partial shipment with Backorder Clearly, this type of delivery is extremely beneficial for your Bigcommerce Backorder. With partial shipments, your customer can receive part of the order first and the rest later with a higher guarantee. Integrate both platforms in your store today and start an order backup strategy for better performance! If you are opening a store on BigCommerce, our BackOrder app will help you rescue revenue. Contact us now! The app allows your customer to purchase even at 0 inventory, with customizable notifications and ETAs.
Capture and Void Payment in BigCommerce
The global loss caused by payment fraud peaked at $32.29 billion in 2020. Current technological development has made it easier than ever for payment fraud to take place. To release merchants from this nightmare, the Atom8 team has come up with 2 new app features: to capture or void payment before the money is transferred. To understand how it works, let’s first look at the payment process. When the customer places an order and enters their card information, the authorization process starts. The issuing bank will guarantee that the user’s account has a sufficient sum of funds to cover the price of that order. If it is, the money will be withdrawn from their account and transferred to the vendor. Once the merchant receives the money, the payment is completed. Otherwise, it might be rejected or marked as pending. What is a capture payment? In short, capture payment is the act of authorizing the fund before it is actually approved and withdrawn from the customer’s account. Once being captured, this amount of money will be reserved for payment and cannot be spent anywhere else. It often takes from 7 to 30 days for a capture request to be processed. What is a void payment? Meanwhile, void payment refers to a fund being canceled by the merchant before authorizing. Unlike a refund request where the vendor has to return the money, with void payment, no fund has actually been withdrawn from the user’s account. The request for payment is simply disapproved. Until the void request is processed, which might take 2 to 3 days, the payment status will be set as pending. A void payment can be called by both the customer and the vendor. In a brick-and-mortar store, the cashier can void any payment that was incorrectly charged, rescan the item and resend the receipt. Likewise, some eCommerce stores allow a certain window of time to cancel the payment. Once the purchase is canceled, the merchant will void a payment and no money will be charged to the user’s account. How to use capture and void payment in BigCommerce? In Bigcommerce, you can only void transactions made through authorized-only compatible payment gateways. The authorize-only function allows for authorizing the fund without actually withdrawing it from the customer’s account until the merchant approves it. Benefits of authorize-only include: Preventing fraudulent orders Reducing the processing cost Increasing customer satisfaction Preventing cardholders from disputing or issuing a chargeback until the fund is captured by the vendor Check out the BigCommerce available gateway list to make sure yours support this function. Fortunately, you can always capture and void payment while running on other tasks with Atom8 Automation. This helps centralize your store operation without you switching between multiple platforms all at once. For example, you suspect a customer whose email includes @fre.com to commit fraud. Then set up a workflow to void any future payment from this account. Then you’re free from the risk. Final note No matter how good you are at inventory management, customer support, and marketing, a flaw in payment will devastate your business. Therefore, a capture and void payment are highly essential to protect your store from potential fraud. Install Atom8 today and enjoy streamlining all the operations in one app.
Integrate Workflow Automation into eCommerce Stores
The eCommerce industry is a thriving one with a worth of over $3.4 billion. This market will continue to grow given current opportunities. A smart way to get a firm grip on such a competition is to integrate workflow automation in your web store. eCommerce websites operate all-round the clock. You can process orders every hour and day of the week without any obstruction. If you are just starting, you can’t acquire the number of staff as large companies have. In this sense, automation can keep your business running when the human resource is tight. Peradventure you don’t know how to integrate workflow automation in your eCommerce store, we will share essential steps to achieve them. What is Workflow Automation? Workflow automation refers to ways of streamlining your business processes. The primary premise is to identify any manual or repetitive task, which can be handled by a software application. You then assign these tasks to the software rather than your employees. Steps to integrate workflow automation Implementing workflow automation software could make or mar your business productivity. However, for most businesses, the issue is how to do it effectively. Well, it is pretty more straightforward than you think. Here is how to get your workflow automation done. 1. Identify repetitive tasks The first step toward workflow automation is identifying repetitive tasks. Look at your business’s current operation and find any bottlenecks in your daily activities that reduce your productivity. You need to deal with these issues by introducing the relevant automation process. 2. Set goals After identifying what reduces your productivity in your business, you can think of ways to improve them. It is important to think through the extent to which you want to improve these things and the subsequent effects they will have on your business. For instance, an employee wastes a lot of time picking stock manually; your objective can be to dispatch 30% more orders daily by automating the process. 3. Find a suitable automation tool The workflow automation tool you choose to integrate should be in line with your goal. For instance, you need an automation solution that will focus on managing stock and order fulfillment when picking a stock. Here, you can analyze and compare various automation tools by checking their features and prices. Furthermore, don’t forget to check their testimonials and customer reviews to know how the app is working for similar businesses. 4. Staff training No matter how effective automation software is, it will be underutilized if the user doesn’t understand its capability. Once you get the software that fits your need, you should invest time, finance, and effort into training workers. At times, some business owners learn how to use it without teaching their workers. You need to train everyone in the firm on how to use it to get the best out of the automation tool. 5. Evaluation There is nothing static in the business world. You need to test and assess the impact of the automation tool. Do you need to find out if the change to an automated system allowed you to achieve your goals? If it didn’t, then you have to find a way to rectify the issue. However, if it does achieve your goal, you can also improve the current system. Integrate Atom8 automation into your website Now you know the importance of workflow automation and how to integrate it. If you’re operating on BigCommere, we have Atom8 Automation as the one and only workflow automation for the platform. The app allows for: Auto-categorize orders (based on value, locations, etc) Auto-segment customer (based on demographics, spending, the total number of order, etc) Auto-tag customers on CRM, email marketing, and delivery platforms Auto-generate reports & lists on Google Sheet Auto-publish products Auto-notify of low-stock items, abandoned cart, or high-value orders Auto-detect and halt high-risk orders In this turbulent time, having the right eCommerce automation tool not only helps you save time and resources but also significantly increases your revenue. Therefore, it’s no waste investing in one.
Upsell vs Cross-sell: Meaning and Benefits
Upsell and cross-sell are as important as reaching out to new customers. Yet, if you are new to the eCommerce industry, you might not know much about it. Don’t fret. This article will expound on cross-sell vs. upsell and the benefit of cross-selling and up-sell for your business growth. Upsell and cross-sell are the art of suggesting upgrades or additional items for a purchase which can enable the growth of average order value (AOV) with relatively small marketing efforts. The customers are already interested in your brand and products. Therefore, it is simply your job to present relevant products or upgrades at the right time and right place. If the technique is done poorly, you can come across as an aggressive salesperson. What is upsell and cross-sell? Upsell meaning Upselling is the sales tactic in which an eCommerce seller convinces customers to buy a product at a higher volume, size, or other related adds-on. The most common method is to suggest an option that was perhaps not considered by the customer before with the aim of making more revenue out of an existing customer. Cross-sell meaning Cross-selling is the method of selling additional products or services to an existing customer when they are shopping. This generates more revenue by showcasing products related to what the customer is currently looking for. While it is a good technique, it comes with the risk of disrupting the current product is trying to buy. Furthermore, your cross-selling offer shouldn’t be too pressing and intrusive. Remember, your primary objective is to retain your customer and for them to come back to your store. The benefit of upsell and cross-sell Increase revenue The revenue rises from implementing cross-sell and up-sell can be clearly seen while doing your accounting. If you initiate an effective upsell and cross-sell strategy, you can increase your revenue and profit remarkably. However, remember to moderate whatever strategy you decide to implement. Create a better customer experience We are in the era of personalization, and customers want businesses to proactively offer relevant product recommendations when they shop. However, human agents can’t always make product recommendations and answer customer queries. In other words, it’s almost impossible to maintain a 24/7 assistance system with humans only. Therefore, you can leverage live chat software to provide a better customer experience. Recent studies show that companies that offer live chat experience an annual increase in upselling and cross-sell revenue. Another solution is to employ an automation platform to gather information and personalize every message without you looking at each individual customer. Increase Customer Lifetime Value The rationality behind the upselling and cross-selling technique is based two-fold. Firstly, it enhances customer loyalty and your brand credibility. A customer who agrees to buy your upsell or cross-sell item is more likely to become your loyal customer and even customer advocate. Secondly, it makes your store the one-stop-shop solution for whatever product they need. Upselling and cross-selling allow your customer to look through different effects on your store and choose those they want to buy. In other words, they can get all products in a convenient and centralized place. It is essential to choose the right eCommerce app that can improve customer buying experiences while boosting average order value (AOV). There are tons of free BigCommerce apps executing cross-selling and upselling to your customers such as Order Booster. The all-in-one solution that can increase your store AOV with pre-purchase cross-sell and upsell, product recommendation, quantity, volume upsell, etc. It is best for you to try out many apps to find the best one. Conclusion Are you thinking of upselling or cross-selling? The primary reason for cross-selling or upselling is to increase the revenue and profit of your store. In short, it can help you: Increase your conversion rates Improve your customer experience Promote product innovation Retain existing customers
Tips To Increase Sales Page Conversion Rate
The average eCommerce conversion rate is 2% on every sales page. It means for every 100 visitors that come to your website, you can expect to get 2 customers. However, most websites have a much lower conversion rate, approximately 0.1 to 0.2%. What this means is that for every 1000 visitors to your website, you get 1 customer. The question now becomes how do you boost the conversion rate of your sales page? To help you, we will unveil some ways to boost the conversion rate. In-depth customer understanding Your customers are the core component of our business growth. To improve your conversion rate, you need to understand your customers and build a relationship with them. This not only includes their demographic information but also their psychological states and behavior intention. You should also segment your customer into different groups with distinctive advertising and nurturing treatments. Once you understand what can trigger certain kinds of behaviour, you’ll be able to drive more effective campaigns to build trust. Create attention-grabbing headlines and images The first thing anyone would see on your website is the headlines and images. A good first impression can guarantee that customers continue scrolling through your site and might find something interesting. Therefore, it is highly recommended to have attention-grabbing headlines and high-quality images to illustrate your brand and products. Add testimonials Any strong argument about your product would probably be considered fraud without real evidence. Testimonials, case studies, third-party reviews, and social proof are all good examples of how people perceive your brand. Hence, don’t forget to create a unique page or at least a section for this type of content. Use responsive layouts The number of online shopping via mobile devices has increased by 74% these days. That’s why it’s even more important for your website to be responsive. Otherwise, you’ll risk losing many customers. Use responsive layouts, especially those that involve sales pages. You don’t want your customer to abandon their cart because of unattractive design. Showcase additional benefits Another simple way to boost your sales page conversion rate is to provide additional benefits to your customers. A discount on the next purchase or related product is also a chance to promote cross-selling. An alternative choice is the referral program. One company that does it perfectly is Uber – refer a friend, and you get a free ride. Use multiple CTAs If your website runs a long-form sales page, you can use multiple CTAs. There is nothing wrong with doing that. Nevertheless, make sure that all CTAs lead to the same end behaviour. The purpose is to reinforce what you want your customers to do continually. Using multiple CTAs reminds them why they are on the page. They can decide when to take the bait – at the start or end of the page. Implement automation Another way to accelerate conversion rate is through constant engagement with your customers on the sales page, which can be perfectly done by integrating your store with an automation platform. The app will make sure that your customers receive the right information in the right place at the right time. All you need to do is preparing the best content possible and leave the distribution to the platform. For example, once noticed that a customer is likely to abandon their cart, the app will automatically send a reminder, probably with a personalized discount code. This not only reminds them of their shopping experience but also successfully incentivizes them to make a purchase. Final note Boosting your conversion rate is an essential part of getting more sales for your eCommerce store. Yet, optimizing your website requires a lot of work. Furthermore, there are several ways you can boost your sales page conversion rate. In this article, you have every piece of information you need to improve and increase your conversion rate without investing much.
