How to build a great online store (presentation)
Contents · 8 sections
There are millions of online stores around the world, and many of them are good. The problem is that with so much competition, a good online store just isn’t enough anymore. To succeed, your store has to offer something exceptional, something that sets it apart. This article grew out of a talk I prepared for the BizzIT event in Pleven in May.
BizzIT Pleven 2015
On May 9, 2015, brothers Simeon and Georgi Prusiyski invited me to speak at the first event of its kind in Pleven: BizzIT, an IT conference. The goal is to promote the IT industry and introduce it to the public in Bulgaria’s seventh-largest city. The organizers believe Bulgaria has huge growth potential and an incredible number of talented people who can build careers in IT and, along the way, help Bulgarian business grow.
The event was held at the Hotel Rostov in downtown Pleven and drew about 120 people of all ages, from a wide range of fields and interests. Even though the city had never hosted anything like it, the audience was sharp and engaged all day long. Besides me and the Prusiyski brothers, the speakers included Dimitar Savov (Fasa), Lyubomir Stoyanov of Events Bakery, Stefan Ivanov and Kristiyan Mihaylov. Sponsors included my company Tendrik, Webrika, Startup Foundation, Start-It-Smart, StartAPP, StartUP Masters and SuperHosting.
At the conference, Simeon and Georgi announced that after several years in Sofia, they were moving back to Pleven to open the city’s first academy for web design, programming and online marketing: Webrika. With this bold move, they’ve set themselves the ambitious goal of making Pleven one of Bulgaria’s main IT hubs, and I sincerely wish them success!
In my talk, I set out to explain how to build not just a good online store, but a great one. I drew on my seven years in online sales and walked the audience through real examples from my own work.
Who are our customers?
I opened by stressing how important it is to know your customers: their interests and preferences, the devices they use, how they behave online, which social networks they’re on and what they need. Then I shared the two methods I rely on most to figure out who my customers are.
The first is Google Analytics, which tells you everything about your site’s traffic and the visitors themselves. With e-commerce tracking (a tracking code), you get a full picture of your store’s sales (conversions), so you can see which visitors actually became customers.
The second method, and one I personally value a lot, is the “Portrait.” Using your existing customers as a base, you build a general profile (or several) that captures the most common traits of your perfect customer. As an example, I described the perfect customer of my online store http://fragrances.bg/: 28-year-old Maria Petrova from Sofia, who owns an iPhone, browses with Google Chrome, loves online shopping, healthy living and fashion, and is a big Facebook fan. Of course, Maria doesn’t exist. Her profile is built entirely from my store’s customer data.
How do I build an online store?
Next, I laid out the three ways to build an online store: a custom platform, an open source platform, or software as a service (SaaS). After weighing the pros and cons, I argued that the best choice is a popular, proven open source e-commerce platform like OpenCart (which I use for most of my projects) or Magento. There are plenty of ready-made extensions for them, and it’s easy to find a developer in Bulgaria who can work on them or make changes when needed.
I also stressed the importance of interface design and a smooth user experience. Good online stores stick to familiar conventions, simple design and easy navigation. At a glance, visitors should understand what you sell and how to order what they want. And you have to win them over on the first visit, because if they don’t like your site, they may leave for a competitor and never come back.
Promotion and SEO
After covering the building blocks of a good online store, I moved on to one of my favorite topics: search engine optimization, or SEO. To explain why businesses in Bulgaria need to take Google seriously, I put it bluntly: “Google doesn’t care about you!” The point was that Google has no interest in your online store or website. All it cares about is finding the most relevant results for its users, and every one of us has to keep that in mind.
“Content is the King, Brand is the Queen”Inspired by the latest SEO trends and riffing on the popular phrase “Content is the King,” I offered my own version: “Content is the King, Brand is the Queen.” Online, just as offline, brand plays an ever bigger role in how a product or service is positioned. With a strong, positive brand and high-quality, original, interesting content, your store has a great shot at success. Without either one, it will stay just another of the millions of mediocre online stores out there.
Mobile version or responsive design?
Another point I focused on was the rapid growth of smartphones and tablets worldwide. It means websites and online stores need a mobile version, and Google’s recent mobile update, nicknamed “Mobilegeddon,” confirms it. In my view, a responsive design is easier and faster for an online store than a separate mobile site, which would eat up a lot of time and money. Responsive design lets your site work on any device and any screen size without changing how it functions. Plus, search engines see the same content on desktop and mobile, which helps your SEO.
Social networks
Social networks are another important way to promote an online store and reach its customers. The rule is simple: be where your customers are. If that’s Facebook, be active there. If they prefer Pinterest, focus your efforts there. The most effective way to reach a bigger audience is to use several networks but make one your main focus. One point I hammered home was that “Facebook is NOT an online store, it’s a channel for communicating with customers!” If you’ve added a store plugin to your Facebook page and think selling through it means you have an online store, you’re badly mistaken.
My recommendation is to use an SSL certificate (a cryptographic protocol that secures the connection between server and client) to connect your online store to your Facebook page. That way customers can shop and use every feature of your store without ever leaving Facebook.
Good practices
One of the hardest things is getting others to write about your online store and create quality content that brings in new customers. One tactic I use is sending gifts or free products to active bloggers so they can review them. All I ask is a link to my store in their post. I make no demands about what the article says. It works extremely well: the blogger gets a gift, and you get recognition from an expert in the field who can send lots of future customers your way (and it’s good for SEO, too).
Get people to leave reviews in your store. Run a “best review” contest with prizes, or send customers a polite email asking for feedback on what they bought. Studies show that many people choose products based on other shoppers’ reviews, so the more reviews you have, the better your chances of a sale. But don’t write the reviews yourself! Or if you do, at least make them convincing, because customers aren’t that easy to fool.
People love games, and a Facebook game works well for online stores. Players earn points in real time by liking and sharing products and inviting friends to like pages. They get a chance to win a product for free, and your store gets shares on Facebook and lots of new visits.
People trust experts. Show them you’re one, and they’ll buy from you. Start a blog (as part of your online store) where you share advice, opinions, reviews and useful information. Educate your customers and give them the extra value that makes them choose you over the competition. Quality content can draw casual visitors to your store and turn them into customers down the line.
One of the cheapest and most effective ways to stay in touch with customers is email marketing. Customers who have given you their details (and agreed to receive news and updates) can get a monthly newsletter featuring your newest products or current deals. You can personalize every email so it speaks to exactly the right person. For example, if a product is out of stock, you can send an automatic email to the people who wanted it once it’s back. That way you boost sales without spending an extra cent on advertising.
Don’t forget special days! Christmas, Valentine’s Day, Easter and other holidays are a perfect excuse to invite customers to buy something new for the occasion. April Fools’ Day is a great chance to play a prank on your customers and give them something to remember. Show customers they’re special (after all, your business depends on them). Send them greeting cards on their birthdays or name days (in Bulgaria, many people celebrate the feast day of the saint they’re named after). How do you know when those are? Simple: customers gave you their details willingly, so all you have to do is use that data well. Just don’t abuse it.
Make shoppers feel safe in your store. Give them a guarantee, the right to return items, the option to inspect a package before paying, a 100% money-back promise and so on. Offer secure online payment by debit and credit card. Show them they can trust you.
The bottom line
If you’re still deciding whether to launch a new online store, ask yourself one question first: “Is there anything I can do better than my existing competitors?” If the answer is “no,” think hard about whether e-commerce is worth it at all, because building a great online store takes an enormous amount of work, effort and money.
To succeed, your store has to give customers an unforgettable experience, and that takes creativity and a real edge over the competition. Most important of all: think big and never stop improving, because the competition never sleeps!
Petar Dyaksov
Entrepreneur and founder of a digital agency, in e-commerce since 2009. He grows online businesses such as Fragrances.bg and Timedix and shares his experience as a speaker, moderator and mentor at nearly 80 conferences and trainings.
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