Improve sales through effective e-commerce

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Driving qualified prospects to your Web site and keeping them there until they complete a transaction is a challenge.

Too often organizations have invested in e-commerce platforms without considering all the elements that make up an effective e-commerce strategy. As a result, they often fail to generate the expected online sales.

You need a sound strategy and marketing plan, and seamless integration with back-end systems, to make it all work. Then you need to analyze the results to ensure your program is delivering on your business objectives.

Establish an effective branding strategy – Ensure your Web presence is not just an adjunct to your media and retail branding strategies. Make it the centerpiece of your entire branding strategy.

Attract qualified traffic – Put in place a sound Internet marketing plan that includes tactics covering the different stages of the customer engagement cycle, such as search engine marketing (SEM), search engine optimization (SEO), banner ads, email, mobile marketing, and social media strategies.

Create a rewarding experience for your prospects – Your ultimate goal should be to offer your prospects the most relevant and satisfying experience, getting them what they want as quickly as possible. Usability testing and accessibility audits will lead to a better user interface and improved Web site design.

Leverage cross-channel strategies – More consumers than ever are shopping across channels. A compelling cross-channel strategy will influence both online and offline sales. Furthermore, sales completions can increase dramatically by offering special options to shoppers in real time. For instance, click-to-call and click-to-chat programs can increase sales conversion rates by up to 50%.

Layer in analytics – With Web analytics tools, organizations can track the behaviour of shoppers, test new strategies, and then optimize their Web site for better sales conversions.

Move beyond the usual e-commerce functions – An e-commerce system can improve sales conversions in many ways. Some organizations underutilize the capabilities of their systems. Advanced capabilities allow you to:

Present merchandise in a richly-engaging fashion – often in an even more compelling way than stores can provide
Use advanced personalization techniques such as "searchandising" to present products in a way that is tailored to the prospect conducting the search
Make automated recommendations or merchant-driven cross-sell offers based on what you know about the shopper
Ensure integration of your Web store with various information systems and data sources

These are just some of the ways you can improve sales through an effective e-commerce program. Bell can help you develop a complete e-commerce solution, from application development through to ongoing optimization and more.