Running a website is not an easy task; it’s quite difficult to run both a website and company at the same time. With lots of different opinions regarding how to improve your sales it can be complicated to find out whose advice to actually worthy. Thankfully good information is available from sources that actually have experience running their own website. This insight is essential when understanding how to attract more customers, after all who better to ask than a salesman himself. The insight you can gather is crucial as many web owners will speak about things such as split testing, live chat, and social media. When a webmaster is able to merge these concepts together in a harmonious way they reap the benefits almost immediately. Hopefully I can disperse the information I have learned in a simple and understandable way and more so hopefully I can help you with your web business.
Live Chat
Many things in the business world are complicated but there is one thing that remains simple and grounded and it’s that the customer is always right. When constructing your business the utmost precedence must be given to creating a functional and simple customer support network. This is necessary simply because it’s become so ingrained in consumers. The average consumer associates a well-designed customer support system with a reputable business; this is something we can all relate to. No one wants to take a chance on a company that doesn’t seem willing to help let alone be very helpful. So the more customer service options you provide the more likely someone will be willing to conduct business with you.
Now one of the more popular trends in customer support has been immediate live chat built directly into websites. This will decrease a consumer’s reluctance to do business with you because any questions they have can be answered by a real human being. Don’t believe me? Just take a look at some of the numbers that Forrester Consulting found through its own research. Take for example the ROI (return on investment) companies get after they implement live chat. The research concludes that most business experiences a 305% ROI due to live chat and they note that this result was seen only with paid chat services. That alone should compel any web owner that hasn’t already implemented live chat to do so immediately. The research finds that this impressive number is due to the positive effect that live chat has on sales. Not only will you be earning more money but you will also be experience a drop in customer service calls you receive. In their study Forrester Consulting found that most web sites experienced a 59% call deflection rate. If these numbers don’t get you up and running to improve your site then maybe you don’t belong in the business.
Split Testing
Split Testing is a common tactic employed by millions of business in order to better inform them as to the effectiveness of certain design layouts. Split testing can be done for many different things not just limited to your website. Before continuing on about what areas of business this can impact let me give a lesson on the topic. Split testing is the process of creating two entirely different designs for whatever it may be and then sampling them among your consumers. Often times two different site layouts are created and then a split is created in which a set amount of customers experience each version. Through careful study about how your customers react to each site you can make much more informed choices when creating a web layout. This needn’t be limited to just websites either, often times companies split test their email newsletters in order to find the format consumers seem to enjoy the most. What this teaches us is that the age old adage that first impressions are the most important remains true even in the digital realm.
Social Media Presence
By now most would figure that this should be common practice among business owners operating online let alone taught in business classes around the world. The reason being is that social media is a proven way to increase traffic to your website as well as sales. Creating a company Facebook page or even a company Twitter account allows you to more directly interact with your customers. It doesn’t stop their either as Facebook allows your customers to essentially recommend your product to friends and family. They don’t have to post a status update praising your company either, they just have to simply like your page and in an instant their friends will know that Jane Doe loves so and so company. Creating these social media presences also allows you to proactively protect your company name by being the first to create social media accounts using your company name. It shouldn’t be forgotten that this is a cost free way to increase brand awareness as well as sales.
Conclusion
Operating your own business can be tricky and operating your own web business only makes it harder, but it doesn’t have to be so overwhelming. Entrepreneurs that are serious have to be willing to research and digest all the information they can and then implement it as quickly as possible. Those other entrepreneurs understand that a single missing component can be a cause for lost sales. So I reiterate that split testing, quality customer support, and social media are paramount to your continued successful operation as an online presence.
