It represents the fine line between having a one-time customer and having a repeat customer who is happy to spread the news of your brand’s products and services. 

Customer service bridges the gap between a purchase and a return customer by providing help, answering questions, and handling complaints or issues. 

Unfortunately, departments often prioritize other marketing or sales activities, leaving them understaffed and unhappy. 

Thankfully, Artificial Intelligence, or AI, is changing the name of the game regarding customer service. 

AI makes new tools, platforms, and techniques for managing customer requests possible. 

In this article, we’ll discuss how AI is changing customer service, how it benefits customer service teams, and how to use AI in customer service applications today.

How AI is Changing the Face of Customer Service

For generations, the quality of customer service behind a brand has been determined by employee headcount and bandwidth. 

Customer service representatives struggled to manage workloads with the influx of questions and calls from customers. 

AI has completely changed the way customer service runs in a business setting. 

With extra time, customer service representatives have time to do more and improve the customer experience. 

When customers feel like they have more connections to your brand and that their concerns are quickly and efficiently addressed, they are more likely to return. 

Encouraging repeat customers is the most effective method to manage marketing expenses, garner favorable brand feedback, and boost sales.

What are the Top Benefits of Knowing How to Use AI in Customer Service?

Understanding how to use AI in customer service can help your brand grow and keep your customers delighted. 

AI offers numerous benefits to customer service teams by assisting them in tasks they may not have the time or ability to manage independently. This fosters a better work culture and ensures that efforts are on important tasks.

Personalization

Personalization is a common buzzword in marketing. 

In short, personalization refers to the practice of tailoring messaging, offers, content and experiences for audience segments based on key identifying factors. 

It ahelps to increase customer satisfaction and deliver what each customer is looking for, rather than treating every person the same. 

AI helps in personalization efforts by taking data and generating buyer personas which it can then connect products and services with, making each customer’s experience unique. 

A common example of this is a recommended viewing list from a streaming service or a related products list email from a retailer.

Rich Productivity

Employee productivity and efficiency are key elements of any successful business. 

Not only does it ensure that everyone is doing their job, it means that employees feel satisfied in their positions. 

AI automates the daily recurring or repetitive tasks that take up much of our productive time. 

When certain tasks can be taken off the plates of customer service teams, they have more time to focus their productivity on more important tasks that grow the business.

Speedy and Always-Available Response

Is there anything worse than calling a customer service line and spending hours on hold? 

Or typing in a live chat box to speak with a salesperson and being left waiting for a response? 

Customers expect speedy responses at any time of the day. 

AI helps to improve the customer experience with always-available bots that have immediate answers. 

While these are obviously more limited than a real personal conversation, they still provide a wide array of possibilities to answer questions and let customers know they are being heard.

Multichannel Support

People want to reach your brand on their favored platforms. 

Just having a Facebook bot or a website plug-in isn’t enough to satisfy today’s customers. 

Thankfully, many chatbots and customer support AI platforms have built-in multichannel capabilities, meaning you don’t have to recreate your experience across different platforms. 

After setting up your bot, the same program will be implemented across your network.

Reduction in Churn Rate

“Churn” refers to the number of customers that leave your brand to go to a competitor.

While there are many reasons for churn, like a better product or price, there is a significant amount of churn as a result of a bad customer experience. 

AI can improve the overall quality of experience your customers have while on your website or social platforms, which in turn reduces the churn rate in your company.

Examples of AI Tools to Improve the Customer Experience

Today, you have access to several AI tools which can help improve the customer experience, including the five discussed below.

1. Zowie

You can easily get started answering users’ most frequently asked questions by automating the process with the aid of Zowie, the AI-powered software and chatbot provider.

Zowie allows you to easily scan your current FAQ page, creating a knowledge base that the chatbot will use for your customers.

As an additional bonus, the AI software can analyze your questions and apply the resulting answers to differently worded variations.

The chatbot will provide answers quickly to customers and can do so in over forty languages. It is easy to set up and can be integrated with various software, including Instagram, Facebook Messenger, and Shopify.

2. Aisera AI

The Aisera AI chatbot integrates with the various systems you may already have in place to deliver top-notch customer service. You can use it to help effectively cut down on wait times with its automatic interaction with customers.

Aisera AI integrates with various case management, ticketing, or CRM systems, including Salesforce and Zendesk, to escalate a customer to a live agent. This, in turn, can empower your support agents, allowing them to focus on the more unique issues that require direct interaction.

3. Yuma AI

A variety of AI tools are available today to help speed up response times, including self-service chatbots and voicebots, agent-assist solutions, conversational analytics, and AI-driven coaching.

One tool, in particular, that is beneficial for those on Shopify is Yuma, which provides an AI Ticket Assistant to help speed up procedures for responding to customers.

This software can reply in writing to customers’ inquiries, adjust writing styles when perceived to be necessary, automatically translate into 15 different languages, and also connect with your help-desk software.

4. Freshdesk

If you are searching for a tool to help you manage your customer service process across different channels, including any combination of live chat, emails, mobile apps, and social platforms, Freshdesk can be advantageous and time-saving.

With it, you can better automate your customer service workflow and provide your agents with a 360-degree view of each customer to better facilitate resolutions. It can also route tasks to where they can best be supported more efficiently, helping reduce call wait times for your customers.

5. Eddy AI

To streamline your customer support process, Eddy AI Assistant may be all you need. Its AI-powered chatbot can be integrated seamlessly with your different channels, including websites, social media pages, messaging apps, and mobile applications.

The Eddy AI Assistant meets customers at the initial point of contact, answering already established FAQs. For those questions not on that list, Eddy AI transfers the customer to a live customer service agent.

This platform also gathers detailed analytics on customer engagement and more, providing you with clues as to how to improve your customer service, marketing, and sales efforts.

Factors to Consider When Choosing an AI Solution for Customer Service

When deciding on an AI customer service solution, it’s crucial to weigh various factors to ensure you make the best choice for your business.

Compatibility

Firstly, compatibility with your existing systems is paramount. Look for a solution that seamlessly integrates with your current software and infrastructure to avoid disruptions and maximize efficiency.

Scalability

Scalability is another essential consideration. Your chosen solution should have the capacity to grow alongside your business, accommodating increasing volumes of customer interactions without sacrificing performance or reliability.

Ease of implementation

Ease of implementation and configuration is key to getting up and running quickly. Pick a solution that offers straightforward setup processes and intuitive user interfaces, minimizing the time and resources required for deployment.

Customization options

Customization options are also important. Your AI customer service solution should be flexible enough to adapt to your unique business requirements and workflows.

Look for features that allow you to tailor the solution to meet your specific needs, whether it’s customizing chatbot responses or configuring automated workflows.

Pricing

When evaluating pricing, consider the overall value proposition. While cost is certainly a factor, it’s essential to weigh it against the features, functionality, and benefits offered by the solution.

Look for transparent pricing structures and consider the long-term return on investment.

Customer support

Finally, robust customer support is crucial. Pick a vendor that provides excellent customer service and support resources, including responsive technical support, comprehensive documentation, and user training.

Having reliable support ensures that any issues or concerns can be addressed promptly, minimizing disruptions to your customer service operations.

By carefully considering these factors, you can select an AI customer service solution that aligns with your business goals and delivers tangible benefits in efficiency, productivity, and customer satisfaction.

Here’s a table that summarizes the main factors to consider:

5 Ways to Use AI in Customer Service Experiences

Now that you understand the benefits of knowing how to use AI in customer service experiences, let’s take a deep dive into some of the ways your business can utilize machine learning. 

Outsiders to AI might think that it requires dedicated teams of developers and engineers, but the opposite is true. 

AI can be woven into your marketing strategies in many ways with simple tools you might already have access to with your software.

1. Solving Users’ Most Frequent Questions

Customers will often have similar or even the same questions regarding your brand, your products, and services, or your policies. 

While creating a FAQ page on your brand’s website is always a best practice, sometimes customers want to get that information in other ways. 

Chatbots and AI communication tools can connect customers to the answers they are looking for in a friendly, interactive, and engaging format. 

Many customers prefer the experience of a conversation, even if it’s with a bot.

When your customer service teams aren’t fielding the same questions every day, it frees up a lot of time in the day to focus on other, high-level tasks. 

Both customers and your customer service team will benefit from bots.

2. Learning Customer Behavior Patterns

While your marketing and sales efforts are taking in a large amount of data, parsing through all that data and gaining actionable insights isn’t as easy. 

AI can go through massive data sets and pull out information related to customer behavior patterns. 

When you understand the patterns exhibited by your customers, you can better predict the solutions or alternatives that will appeal to your audiences, as well as be able to predict important events and trends.

One way to accomplish this is with the use of an AI-powered solution called Ion.

While this platform provides you with the ability to easily create interactive content for your potential and existing customers, it can also do more.

Ion is an AI-powered solution for learning, measuring, and generating insights into your customers’ behavior patterns. With it, you can learn how your customers are engaging with your interactive customer service content by way of the platform’s clear and accurate reporting abilities.

It also easily integrates with your CRM or automation tool, and you can export the data for review and use by your sales and marketing teams.

3. Speeding Up Response Times

In today’s fast-paced world, customers don’t want to wait for answers. 

When a customer sends a message through a chatbot or a customer service form, they want an immediate response to their concern. 

If you can’t respond promptly to customer needs, they may quickly become frustrated with the experience and either switch to a competitor or lose faith in your team’s customer service capabilities.

Responding quickly is key to increasing customer satisfaction and AI can help with that.

Whether it’s a chatbot that talks to the customer in place of a representative or an automated response that directs customers to an after-service line, there are many ways AI helps speed up response times.

4. Measuring Customer Wait Times

Companies can use AI not just for shortening the gap between responses in chatbots — it can also use AI to measure wait times for customers online, on the phone, or even in person. 

AI can measure how long your customers wait for responses in live chats, calculate hold times, and determine the time it takes for a customer to be seen after checking in for an in-person appointment.

When you understand how long customers are waiting, you can start to strategize on how to improve and expedite to make the experience better for your audience.

5. Capturing Large Amounts of Data

While forms or purchase histories can provide some data, AI can dive much deeper and capture large amounts of data. 

AI tools can mine complex data that most team members wouldn’t know how to interpret or even collect. 

Even more so than capturing data, AI can comprehend and organize the data into actionable steps and clear insights. 

AI finds patterns that people won’t notice and transforms complicated data sets into easy reports.

Challenges of Using AI In Customer Service

Before getting started on incorporating AI into your customer service process, it will also be beneficial to gain a sense of the various existing challenges. The most common ones are listed below.

Identifying where to insert AI

Before adding AI solutions into your customer service process, you must first fully understand your customers and determine where to insert AI most effectively.

You’ll need to determine these first, finding where to introduce AI solutions to help both you and them without going overboard.

Anticipating escalation of customer needs

Over the last few years, customers have become increasingly comfortable with self-service options on digital channels. Automated first points of contact are increasingly being accepted as the norm.

However, when it comes to additional or more complex customer needs, customers prefer human interaction, whether through a call center or assisted chats online.

Where the challenge comes in is that companies today must anticipate where the escalation of customer needs occurs and how to transition. This adds a degree of complexity, as the mix of AI and human solutions must intertwine at some point.

Handling increasing customer expectations

As with shopping online or using the self-checkout at the local grocery store, consumers today are becoming more comfortable and reliant on quick, straightforward, self-service options and fast response times.

The downside to all of this is that it can result in rising expectations of other self-service options or faster responses from human agents within your company.

If you don’t continue to progress in how your AI-powered or assisted solutions function, you will be unable to meet those increasing customer expectations and suffer the consequences.

It’s the double-edged sword of providing too much vs. providing too little, with the potential for failing to meet your customers’ needs and expectations either way.

Meeting the expenses of implementation

For implementing AI-powered or AI-assisted solutions, costs can be high and, for some, even prohibitive.

Every company will need to consider this, measuring potential costs against the expected benefits.

Another factor that will contribute to the cost of implementing and using AI in customer service is the need for the required infrastructure. Since AI solutions require high volumes of data to be efficient, your business must have the infrastructure to facilitate this.

Maintaining a trained workforce for AI-assisted customer service

While AI may be the wave of the future, it is not at a point where companies can dismiss human oversight. You will need to ensure you maintain enough customer service employees to keep everything in check and keep the service efficient and acceptable.

Yet, with such bold changes in the workplace, you now face the dilemma of potentially lacking enough experienced customer service employees. These essential workers will need to continue to monitor customer service outcomes while also supporting the AI programs and tools you are using.

Today, the labor market is tight when it comes to finding workers for these roles. For those you hire, you’ll likely need to train them to understand how your customer service process integrates AI and human solutions. This training will naturally incur costs and can be highly time-consuming, especially if you experience a high turnover rate.

Wrap-Up: AI is Changing the World of Customer Service 

And it’s also making things easier and more efficient for customer representatives and teams. 

With new tools, techniques, and applications for AI and machine learning, marketing teams are changing the ways in which they operate and moving forward with digital transformations.

If you are wondering how AI can help improve your marketing efforts and the overall customer service experience, start with a look at what Ion can offer. Request a demo today!

The post Learn How to Use AI in Customer Service appeared first on Rock Content.

If a business prices a product lower than it should be, its revenue and profit are out of date. The problem also happens when something is sold at a fair price.

Certainly, it will sell little, and it won’t make any sense for the consumer to pay what is being charged. Did you see how important it is to have balance in this relationship?

This post will show you how to achieve this, pointing out which factors need to be considered when putting a sales price on something. Continue reading!

What is the selling price of a product?

The selling price of a product is how much the company wants to receive for it. In other words, a product that costs a lot is not exactly good, much less the best on the market. The same logic applies to items that cost less.

The price only determines, from a commercial point of view, how much it is interesting for the company to charge, thinking about costs and revenue. Every company that aims to make a profit needs to have a return for what it offers as merchandise. Therefore, the concept of price exists.

Within this number that is linked to a product, there are some factors included, the main ones being:

• Cost of production or acquisition of the product (in the case of a retail reseller);
• Added value of the product;
• Company maintenance costs;
• Average market value;
• The intended profit margin for each unit sold.

Most of the time, inadequate pricing happens when a company is unable to identify everything that makes up the price. In these cases, the only factor considered is the market average.

However, even though it is a good basis for comparison, it does not mean that the price will be the best. The reason? Each company has its costs, and strategic objectives, among other particularities.

How important is it to calculate it correctly?

Knowing how to prepare the sales price makes a difference in helping a company achieve goals and objectives. Good results are linked to planning that considers many issues, mainly those linked to the company’s survival.

There are also some other good reasons to calculate the sales price correctly. We explain!

Product valuation

Have you ever thought that selling a good product for a price well below the market is a way of devaluing it? After all, if something is worth much more, why won’t your company do what is currently being charged? Acting this way is almost shooting yourself in the foot, which no one wants. But sometimes, a mistake can lead to this situation.

All a business needs is to show its consumers that everything it sells is the best possible product. So, prices that vary a bit and follow the market average show that the item is valuable. But of course, small variations will happen. The important thing is to know clearly how much you can increase or increase this price.

Fair competitiveness

Market competitiveness exists, and a company always wants to relentlessly beat its competitors. This is completely acceptable and fair. However, it is different from a lack of ethics.

The consumer will never buy from your business if another company is selling the same product at an extremely lower price. This is why keeping to the average is ideal.

There must be this difference between prices so that each company can find its space within the market. However, very high disparities will generate discomfort among competitors and can leave the market unequal and unfair. From an economic point of view, it is very difficult for you to be able to lower the price that much and still make a profit on your trade.

Business sustainability

Companies have costs and expenses that are essential for their operation. It is necessary to pay employees, pay taxes, invest in advertising, and continue producing or purchasing products from suppliers.

This all costs you money, and what will cover all that amount is the return on your sales. Therefore, the price must take into account each of these points.

A sustainable company, that is, capable of maintaining itself in the long term, has a solid basis in product pricing. After all, it is from revenue that the money comes from to keep the business running continuously.

Therefore, when knowing how to prepare the sales price, you cannot fail to consider the costs that keep the company financially healthy.

How to calculate the selling price of a product?

In this topic, we will show you what factors you need to evaluate to define the ideal selling price for your products. Discover!

Calculate expenses

Time to put everything on the tip of a pencil! Your company has well-defined costs, and you can know what they are. Therefore, list all your monthly financial obligations and evaluate how much you spend on each of them.

Therefore, you will know what percentage, per product, you need to withdraw to direct each of these expenses that make the business work. To help you identify and calculate your expenses, here are some examples:

• payroll;
• raw material costs;
• costs of purchasing products from suppliers;
• expenses for water, electricity, internet, and other fixed providers;
• the monthly cost of renting offices and stores;
• fixed taxes that need to be collected monthly and annually;
• product taxes.

Evaluate competitors’ prices

Always keep an eye on the prices charged by competitors. Understand not only how much these other companies are charging, but the variation in these numbers.

It is important to know whether the product in question is on the rise or in decline. This will also be of great help in having a revenue perspective, something that will make your planning more solid.

It is worth evaluating what company this is and what target audience it covers. You won’t always be looking at a direct competitor, meaning your price won’t be the same.

Still, it’s a great observation to make so you understand who you’re competing with. This study must be carried out continuously to guarantee a qualified analysis.

Do market research

Market research should be aimed at understanding your consumer’s behavior. For example, it is important to maintain an attractive price for a product that is in high demand and always has high sales rates. Having this perception, through numbers, will always allow your business to have a good revenue margin within the appropriate price.

Another point to be observed in these surveys is seasonality. Some products tend to vary in price according to the time of year or even the week within the month.

These changes are used to ensure that an item is not left stranded, or to take advantage of a period when demand is greater and, in this case, sell it more expensively to have a greater profit margin.

Understand your competitive differentiators

Do you not only believe but know that your product has quality and is highly competitive with other companies? Therefore, this must be reflected in the price charged for it.

This means recognizing the value and ensuring that the price is fair, according to the differences that it is capable of bringing to the market. If you don’t do this, you risk devaluing what you sell.

Every product conveys a clear message in its price. If it is much cheaper than the same item, but from another brand, this means that its value is not that high. In other words, its quality is not competitive.

Therefore, always know how to analyze these differences that make your product worth more. This way, you won’t price lower than you should!

Set the profit margin

Your company certainly knows precisely how much profit it wants to make per month. However, this profit is obtained for the value of thousands of sales, not just for one product.

Therefore, the profit calculation must be applied to each item. In other words, the price charged must cover all costs and, in addition, the profit margin per item.

It turns out that there is no rule for this profit amount. Everything will depend on your commercial strategy and your company’s need to generate profit.

For example, some businesses achieve high-profit margins on a single product. In this case, they are not concerned with selling a lot, but with selling well. It is important to know your place in the market and, therefore, define your strategy and profit margin.

What are the advantages of following these tips on how to prepare the sales price?

Recommendations on how to prepare the sales price can put your company in a prominent place. Among the main advantages you will enjoy are:

• secure strategic growth;
• gaining customers in the medium term;
• market competitiveness;
• strategic profit margins;
• financial security;
• business sustainability.

Knowing how to prepare the sales price does not need to be a challenge if the company understands exactly what should make up these numbers. Thus, strategically and with a focus on sustainability and business development, it is possible to know how much to charge for what you sell.

How about, now, understanding in more depth the difference between the price and value of a product? Clear your doubts about these two concepts!

The post How to calculate and prepare the sales price of a product? appeared first on Rock Content.

It is very common to have questions at this point, which you can solve by evaluating the name of the online store that best fits your profile.

To do this, you must assess how it sounds, the target audience, and what your domain will look like, among other factors. A crucial choice that needs to be well-thought-out to find the most appropriate name.

In this article, we provide some tips on how to choose the most commercial name for your business. Check it out below.

How to choose a name for your online store?

First, don’t choose a name for your online store that restricts the expansion of your product mix, or that determines your business geographically.

This could harm the company’s expansion. Therefore, invest in words that allow you to grow. See other important guidelines.

Check the competition

Do some research into competitors’ names, how they are structured, and how they impact customers. Avoid similar names, as they can bring back memories of other brands and become a problem when registering the brand.

This research is relevant for you to understand what has worked to attract the customers’ attention and why.

Think about your target audience

Knowing who your ideal client is is essential to finding a name that reaches the people who matter to your business. One that aligns with their interests, knowledge, and buying habits.

For example, if it is a pet supplies store, the name needs to be involved with the world of pets so that it touches the hearts of its owners.

Find a name that is short and direct

Another essential requirement is to find a short name so that it can be easily pronounced and remembered — and to make it easier to register a website domain for your company.

There are rules on the number of letters, but common sense must be exercised — as it is not ideal to change it afterward.

Be careful with the use of foreign words. They have to be very well known within your target audience and easy to pronounce. But it can also be a differentiating factor.

Talking about different, try to avoid very unusual names, or using characters that can’t be in your domain’s URL, such as accents, #, @, etc.

Check its online availability

With a preliminary list of the possible words you want to use, check if they are available as web domains by googling them or using websites like name.com.

Here, it’s nice to do some combination and rearranging testing to see if similar options have already been registered. Also, take the opportunity to analyze social networks before creating your pages.

Use a relevant keyword

Try to include a relevant keyword in the name of your business, or use it in a slogan. For example, using the word “pet” for a pet shop. This will help position the site when someone searches for this specific topic.

Associate the name with e-commerce jargon

Another advice is to use known prefixes to quickly identify that you are an online store, such as e-, shop, virtual, or web.

For our example, one possibility would be to adopt e-pet. It has been a strategy widely used in successful companies.

Do a brainstorming

Write down all the words that have to do with your market, use nouns and adjectives, etc. Then, separate those that are used by competitors and those that are limiting.

With what’s left, make combinations until you find the ones that best represent your business and have the potential to be a stand-out.

Avoid typos and double entendre

If you choose to use a name in another language, check the spelling, grammar, and what it means. Don’t do this through free translators, but look for professionals who speak the language and can clarify correctly.

Even if it is in English, check the correct spelling and that there is no double entendre: a double meaning that can stigmatize your brand from the start.

Be original

The name you choose needs to be original for your store to stand out. So play with words a little bit and look for inspiration even in other countries.

Remember to study your audience well to achieve their interest in purchasing products in your online store.

What to take into account when choosing a name for an online store?

To get to know your consumers, you can benchmark the competition and research your ideal customer’s traits. Another important point is to define your niche, even if your store has a mix of different products.

This segmentation can be a driver for boosting your sales. Additionally, check other requirements.

Go for a timeless name

Look for timeless names and avoid fads, so that they can resist the test of time. Things about brands that lasted for a long time: Coca-Cola, Nike, Antarctica, Louis Vuitton, among others. None of them has dated words or expressions.

Answer the right questions

Ask yourself important questions about points that will guide your choice:

• What is your target audience? (stating: demographic profile, where they live, age, gender, marital status, education, profession, etc.)
• What is your buyer persona’s psychological profile? (tastes, values, how you have fun, idols, causes you defend, etc.)
• What are your products, services, and solutions?
• What place do you want to occupy in the hearts and minds of this audience?
• What do you offer your audience that is different? What can lead to them choosing your brand when purchasing a product or service?
• What is your mission, vision, and values?

What are the steps to register the company name?

In the United States, it is obligatory to have a legal name that can be registered along with the business. Fortunately, it is an easy process to follow. See the overall steps you have to take:

• Check the availability of the name in the state you are opening the online store
• Form the business following your state’s procedures and type of company (like LLC)
• If you want to use different names for registration and branding, you can register for a DBA (Doing Business As), a legal nickname that you can legally use in the market.

When you register your business name, you are the only company that can use it for commercial purposes in that area. So it is a step to take only when you are certain that you found the right option to thrive in the market.

What are 21 examples of names for online stores?

To inspire your initial brainstorming, check out 21 names for your online store in different segments: women’s, men’s, and children’s clothing, accessories, perfumes, crafts, and varieties.

Note that they take into account the market niche and target audience:

1. Bella Fit Fashion
2. Vestiti
3. The Fashion Lab
4. L’Uomo Fashion
5. Tiger Men’s Wear
6. Mr. Handsome
7. Kings Fashion
8. Rock for Men
9. Watercolor Store
10. Enchanted World
11. Little Fashion
12. Meeny Miny Mo Kids Wear
13. Glow up Accessories
14. Presence Bijou
15. Mademoiselle Accessories and Handbags
16. Chic & Cheap Accessories
17. Brotherhood Perfumery
18. Fine Flower Cosmetics
19. Roots Atelier
20. Stitch to Stitch Handcraft
21. Handmade Gifts

In this guide, you discovered several tips, so you don’t make mistakes when creating the name for your online store.

Follow all the tips you learned today so that your e-commerce starts with a differentiated and valuable brand to attract target consumers. Also, don’t forget to register your business so you don’t have any future problems.

Want to use your new business name to start strong in the market? Take a look at our guide on the Social SEO Revolution!

The post How to choose a name for your online store? See 21 examples for inspiration! appeared first on Rock Content.

This is not uncommon: unfortunately, many innovative people give up on their projects because they lack the necessary skills or the knowledge required to put their plans into action.

We created this exclusive content to ensure you don’t become part of that statistic and to help you discover how to kickstart your idea. Keep reading!

What is entrepreneurship?

Entrepreneurship is nothing more than the development of skills to create a project that turns an idea into action, whether it’s scientific, technical, or business-related.

The entrepreneur, business person, or enterpriser, is a person who has the drive to take ideas from paper, getting hands-on to learn everything necessary to realize it.

How to be an entrepreneur from scratch?

Being an entrepreneur is not an easy task. It demands focus, drive, and will to learn. But, with some practical tips and courage, it is possible to turn any good idea into a successful endeavor. Here are the main 11.

1. Feel the market

The first step to a successful business is to know the market it will be a part of. You need to map what challenges and opportunities to expect from now on.

An amazing tip is to do a SWOT analysis periodically, both at the beginning of your planning phase and during the business restructuring and optimization processes in the future.

The SWOT analysis will help you identify points of interest such as:

• Strengths of your business;
• Weaknesses of your business;
• Opportunities for your business in the market;
• Threats that can hinder your path to success.

All this information will help you design a business plan much more efficiently, so you can find the best alternatives and approaches to kickstart a company.

2. Set a goal

Before starting your business, you need to define its goals. Semester goals are a good path many entrepreneurs follow, as they give you a decent time frame to plan, execute, and measure.

Before that, though, it is better to determine what the general objective of your business is. A successful business is structured based on short, medium, and long terms that correlate.

That way, you will know exactly what steps you need to take to get where you plan, with much more precision and chances of success!

3. Know your audience

This is where many entrepreneurs end up sinning. You need to know your audience and know exactly who their personas are, what their objections are, and their main needs.

Unfortunately, it is not uncommon to find an entrepreneur who has no real knowledge of their audience. Many are still guided by the “target audience” and end up having a very generalized definition of who these people are and how they behave.

When you research your buyer personas, you have a more accurate vision of who those people are and how your business can help them. You start raising the following points:

• who is your ideal customer;
• what are their goals;
• what are their needs;
• what are the buying obstacles for different profiles;
• what are their everyday challenges;
• what are the best selling points to approach each of those profiles;
• how your products and/or services can help your ideal customers in the face of their desires and needs.

4. Create content

Once you know your audience and their objectives, and have your goals set, it’s time to produce content.

At this point, it is interesting that you consider the needs and objections of your personas and, based on that, write content that answers the questions that these people present.

This content will help you educate your market and improve your SEO ranking, turning your company into a reference on which your audience relies.

5. Develop a mailing list

Even though some people say that e-mail is dead, that’s not true: e-mail marketing has become an excellent online strategy alternative for talking to consumers and creating lasting relationships.

To do this, you need to build a consistent address list: offer exclusive content, and capture qualified leads. Then you will be able to work on this e-mail base, focusing on converting them into customers.

Once customers are converted, you can take advantage of this strategy to nurture a loyal relationship with them, boosting repurchases and, in turn, your business’s profits.

6. Invest in good products and service

Having good products and services is not an option: today, with increased competition and new purchasing opportunities, it is essential that you invest in continuous improvements to the solutions you offer to the public.

To do this, keep investing in market research and customer satisfaction surveys to develop your products further and deliver customers exactly what they need.

7. Attend business events

Fairs, conferences, and talks about your market are an excellent way to meet relevant people and even find new business opportunities.

Networking is crucial and needs to be developed as soon as possible. More than meeting potential new clients, you will also meet potential partners, who will increase your opportunities for success.

8. Benchmark your competitors

By benchmarking the competition, you will be able to uncover the challenges you will face, as well as the opportunities you will have to grow and consolidate.

Start by mapping both direct and indirect competitors, evaluating their weaknesses and strengths, their market strategies, and performance data.

This way, you will know how your brand and product can be positioned to get your market share.

9. Identify what makes you unique

If you want to be an entrepreneur driven by innovation, you can’t start as just another business in the market. You have to find your unique approach to affect clients in a way they want to keep buying from you. Here are some ways of differentiating your brand:

• quality and excellence of the product or service;
• lower price or a better cost-benefit;
• a cohesive and attractive mix of products;
• better customer service for building loyalty;
• unique after-sales strategies assuring the importance of the customer to the brand;
• digital brand awareness and content for added value.

10. Don’t wait until tomorrow

After all those steps, it’s time to start taking action. Another very common mistake is waiting for things to be perfect before starting to work on your ideas.

An entrepreneur needs to learn to persevere with the idea even if everything is not going well yet.

A very common saying in this area is “Better done than perfect”. This means it’s better to do it now, where you are and with what you have than to wait for things to align perfectly. They never do, not without real-life practice.

Over time, with practical data and experience, you will be able to optimize and make adjustments.

Take note of some business examples to get inspired

Do you want to get your entrepreneurship career but don’t know which activity to start from? Take a look at some examples of having a business right at home.

Food

Starting a business in the food market is a nice option for those who have talent and drive. Following some rules and standards, you can cook from home, have a shop, or offer services for events.

If you like bakeries, you can learn a lot from the internet and experiment with unique recipes that will always have demand, such as:

• cakes and cupcakes;
• muffins;
• brownies;
• cookies;
• bagels;
• donuts;
• cheesecake;
• pies;
• breads.

If you want to focus on cuisine, you can be a personal chef, have a small restaurant, a buffet, or offer pre-made food for customers who value non-processed, healthy meals.

Pet shop

Pets such as dogs and cats are only growing in popularity in the last few years. Especially after the pandemic, which makes a lot of people value physical interactions.

You can have a pet shop in your own house with grooming services and a daycare. Start with your neighborhood, investing in a calm and adequate place for pets to stay safe and happy.

Make a list of tools and processes a pet shop needs and invest in reaching an optimal operational level before starting to promote it.

Online sales

The internet will be your office, so choose a product or service that you identify with, so you can sell it. Check whether you will have to set up an online store or whether there is a suitable marketplace for your business.

Study a lot about e-commerce and its marketing strategies to obtain good sales, including SEO, Content Marketing, and Social Media.

Now that you know how to start a business from scratch and what to do to achieve your goals, it’s time to plan and execute!

Want to know more about how to set up an e-commerce and start your business from home? Take a look at our exclusive e-commerce guide!

The post Learn 10 crucial tips to start a business from scratch! appeared first on Rock Content.

If your business has tried an e-commerce website and failed, the problem might not be your brand or products. It might be the tools you used to build and maintain the virtual store. Today’s consumers are looking for more than just some nice product pictures and a blurb about the company.

They want to buy from websites that are easy to use and navigate. They look for key features such as search engines, chat customer service, options, and state-of-the-art security. According to Tech Jury, mobile buyers make up 67.2% of all online purchases, so they want responsiveness, too.

Setting up and managing a successful e-commerce website is a big hill to climb, but it is necessary. Brands must meet customers where they spend their time, and that is online. E-commerce websites generated 856.8 billion dollars in revenue in 2022.

An e-commerce platform is an effective tool to help you find success in the digital marketplace. This article will discuss e-commerce platforms, their use, and why you need one.

Decoding e-Commerce Platforms: A Comprehensive Guide

A practical place to start is with a basic definition.

What is an e-commerce platform?

An e-commerce platform is software that facilitates the process of buying and selling goods and services online. It is an application that manages a business’s websites, online sales, and omnichannel marketing.

What does an e-commerce platform do?

It is responsible for coordinating the consumer’s relationship with the online seller.

If that all sounds vague, it’s because different e-commerce platforms offer additional features. At the basic level, this software will:

• Allow site users to search for products
• Provide a digital shopping cart
• Handle the payment process

Many platforms do much more than that, though. They might offer data analytics, for example. When shopping for an e-commerce platform, you need to find one that fits the company’s budget. At the same time, it must offer the features necessary to allow your customers to order products and services seamlessly.

Understanding the Role of e-Commerce Platforms in Your Business

An e-commerce platform serves as the operational hub for online sales and marketing. It provides the basic infrastructure to run an online business.

The ultimate goal is to streamline the process of selling products and services where many people shop. Businesses could do this without an e-commerce platform, but the process would be more difficult. The administrator would have to handle the components of the virtual store individually, often using third-party vendors. For example:

• Inventory management
• Payment gateways
• Customer service
• Product fulfillment
• Content marketing

These are pieces that fit together to make an e-commerce website work. They are necessary components available individually, but an e-commerce platform puts them under one roof to simplify the management.

Key Features to Look for in an e-Commerce Platform

Choosing the right e-commerce platform can be a challenge. Finding a platform that fits your business needs will allow you to:

• Control costs – This includes the set-up fees and any maintenance costs.
• Allow growth – Once the websites are up and running, the next step is to allow them to grow. Some platforms make that difficult or expensive.
• Enhance customer engagement – Many brands make this a primary focus because engagement can bring a customer back repeatedly.
• Prioritize customer service – Providing customer support means better conversions and enhanced loyalty.

What are some key features to look for on an e-commerce platform?

Hosting and platform type

There are two types of platforms: self-hosted and cloud-based. With a self-hosted or on-premise platform, you do much of the legwork. For example, you would need to find a host for the website, manage the installation, and do the administration. That will give you more control but requires more time and technical knowledge. One person would be responsible for things like source coding and software updates.

A cloud-hosted platform means you work via the cloud. Cloud-based platforms can be further broken down as SaaS or PaaS. A SaaS platform such as Shopify is all-inclusive. You simply pay for a website, provide the content, and choose a look for the site. You have access to additional apps, themes, and data analytics.

A PaaS cloud-based platform adds a hardware element. It falls between shared hosting and SaaS. The platform manages the operating system and software. You provide content, some code, and databases. A PaaS platform separates the business from the server administration.

The significant difference between the two is the coding. With SaaS, you don’t provide custom source code. It is more of a WYSIWYG option. PaaS gives you more control over the coding aspect.

Pricing

Pricing is an obvious consideration. You can expect most platforms to have a monthly fee. The exception to this might be open-source. The cost varies from platform to platform and may differ based on the features you choose and how much bandwidth and storage you require.

Integrations

Businesses must think ahead when choosing a platform. What systems might you want to integrate with the e-commerce platform initially and in the future? Some options would include:

• Accounting
• Email marketing
• Shipping
• Payment
• Marketing
• Customer loyalty programs

Not all platforms allow for integrations.

Extensibility

A typical e-commerce platform provides the basis necessary to launch a website. They often come with ready-made integrations. You might need a more advanced PaaS platform if you want more than that.

Scalability

The other side of that coin is scalability. You want to be able to grow your website or scale it down during slower seasons.

Administration

How easy is it to add or delete products or establish inventory counts? What about changing prices? How do you upload images? You need to know how much effort it takes to make changes to your website.

Comparing Websites and e-Commerce Platforms: What Sets Them Apart?

E-commerce platforms and websites are terms sometimes used interchangeably, but they are quite different.

About an e-commerce platform

An e-commerce platform is a software-based platform that lets businesses sell products and services online. There are three main styles:

• Open-source – gives you complete access to the source codes and more control over how shopping is done through the site. Some examples of open-source platforms include Square Online, WooCommerce, and Joomla.
• SaaS is a cloud–based platform that is an all-in-one service. The platform handles everything; the business chooses a theme and provides the information. Examples of SaaS platforms include Shopify Plus and Salesforce Commerce Cloud.
• Headless – A headless platform separates the back end from the front end of customer-facing operations. You create the website using programs like WordPress or Drupal. The e-commerce platform provides cart and payment services. Examples of headless platforms include Spryker and BigCommerce.

That is different from an e-commerce website.

About an e-commerce website

An e-commerce website is any site with e-commerce features. In other words, any website where you can purchase something off it.

Many brands allow you to create an e-commerce website without the versatility of an e-commerce platform. They may offer a plug-in that serves as a payment gateway to allow for purchasing.

Having a basic website lacks the capabilities of an e-commerce platform, though. It won’t be scalable, for instance, or customizable. It will likely have very few features to choose from. The theme will be set in stone with no room for changes.

A simple website may be enough for small businesses with little online sales. For many companies, though, it will be too limiting.

Choosing the Right e-Commerce Platform: A Step-by-Step Process

The first step is to determine what feature the business needs. The platform should meet your needs for:

• Inventory size and management
• Payment methods
• Level of support
• Integration

Next, focus on your budget. Many e-commerce platforms offer pricing structures based on things like storage and bandwidth use. If you find one that meets your needs, see what pricing plan you can afford.

Ease of use

This applies not only to the business but also to its customers. How easy is the client interface to use? What about the website navigation and purchasing system? Is it easy to navigate?

Search for reviews on the internet to see what current and past users say about the platform. This will give you insight into whether it is the right pick for your brand.

Payment security

This is another consideration critical to both the business and the customers. Find out what payment methods the platform supports and what security features they offer. For example, is there a two-factor authorization system in place?

Does it meet your scalability requirements?

Perhaps you amp up your product selection during the holidays and then scale back? Is there room to grow on this platform?

Customer support

If you have questions, is there customer service available? Do you talk to a person? Does the company display a phone number to call?

Also, consider whether there is a contract you must sign to get an optimal price. For example, is the billing done yearly or monthly? Is there a choice between them? If so, you can test the platform for a month and then opt for the less expensive annual billing if you are happy.

Exploring the #1 e-Commerce Platform in 2024: What Makes It Stand Out?

For small and medium-sized businesses, the best e-commerce site is likely Shopify. Shopify is scalable and provides features that come in handy, although you might have to pay more for them. For instance, Shopify Fulfillment offers faster and more affordable shipping but comes at an added cost.

Shopify has a number of these ala carte features. That allows businesses to pick and choose what they need instead of paying for something they won’t use.

The Top 15 e-Commerce Platforms for Your Online Store

If Shopify doesn’t fit your needs, here are 15 others that might:

1. Wix
2. BigCommerce
3. Adobe Commerce
4. WooCommerce
5. Squarespace
6. Big Cartel
7. Square Online
8. Shift4Shop
9. Volusion
10. OpenCart
11. Hostinger Site Builder
12. PrestaShop
13. AbanteCart
14. Ecwid
15. Salesforce Commerce Cloud

Building Your Online Store: Best Practices and Strategies

The top priority for online and offline businesses should be the customer. Create a website that is easy to navigate and engaging. Choose a color palette and fonts that are also easy on the eyes.

When developing your website strategy, SEO is king. Do keyword research to see what will increase organic searches and drive traffic to the site.

Finally, think beyond the basic website. What content marketing can you do to increase the brand presence and add more traffic? For example:

• Make sure you have a blog.
• Use social media and post regularly.
• Create email strategies for things like cart abandonment

The e-commerce platform is the main component of your marketing strategy. Create a tight connection with other marketing assets, so everything draws the right audience back to your site.

Also, consider ways to add urgency to your pages. For example, you might have a page for flash sales or provide coupons on social media with short lifespans.

Optimizing Your e-Commerce Website: Tips and Tricks for Success

Consider other ways to optimize once you have a website that will engage the customer and draw in traffic, including:

• Add a title on each page, and include a target keyword.
• Add headings to pages using the proper HTML tags and include more keywords in them.
• Create a meta description for each page with a target keyword.

ION by Rock: Transform Your Online Experience with Advanced e-Commerce Tools

Using the right tools, like an e-commerce platform, is the best strategy for website success. ION by Rock Content lets you build personalized interactive content that will improve your website quickly and easily. Create interactive content with ION today without writing one line of code.

The post Elevate Your Online Business: Exploring the Top e-Commerce Platforms of 2024 appeared first on Rock Content.

Succeeding in this endeavor also requires the ability to attract the right audience.

As we embark on this journey, let’s dive into the world of product launches to make sure your venture starts off on the right foot with impact and finesse.

Explore the Go-to-Market strategy concept.

What Is a Go-to-Market (GTM) Strategy?

A Go-to-Market (GTM) strategy is a strategic plan developed to position your new service or product for launch.

Within this plan, you’ll identify your target audience and coordinate messaging to reach them effectively. Additionally, the GTM strategy is used to determine the distribution channels and generate demand for your product or service.

In summary, your GTM strategy should encompass:

• Target audience profiles
• A comprehensive marketing plan
• A well-crafted distribution and sales strategy.

It offers a detailed guide to help you establish your position and outperform your competition.

Is It Important to Have a GTM Strategy?

The short answer is: most definitely. Without it, you might target the wrong audience, enter the market at the wrong time, or struggle to stand out in a crowded market.

The benefits of a GTM strategy are numerous. When done correctly, it can:

• Reduce launch costs
• Speed up time-to-market by prioritizing tasks
• Increase revenue potential
• Enhance brand identity and recognition
• Provide a competitive edge

Furthermore, achieving alignment across the organization and delivering value to customers is essential.

Alignment is crucial, ensuring everyone in your organization is well-informed and moving in the same direction. Review your established business goals to ensure your launch strategy aligns with and even exceeds them.

As for customer value, a well-developed GTM plan builds trust with customers, boosting brand image and customer loyalty.

When to Create a Go-to-Market Strategy

With any launch, you need a go-to-market strategy, regardless of whether you are a new entrepreneur, a start-up, or an already established company.

Examples of when you need a GTM strategy include:

• Launching a completely new product or service.
• Entering a new market with an existing product.
• Relaunching your brand.
• Introducing a new feature or component for an existing product.
• Launching a new business or new company branch.

Go-to-Market Strategy Essentials

As we said before, a GTM strategy serves as a roadmap to align various aspects of the business toward common goals. The core elements of a GTM strategy include market research, product positioning, and customer engagement.

Market research involves identifying your ideal customer and market. You want a comprehensive knowledge of the marketplace, your target audience, and how your product or service fits.

Product positioning guides how to address your target customer’s pain points with your product. Understand these pain points to tailor your content, engage potential customers, and drive purchases.

Customer engagement strategies must increase engagement with your new product or service. Identify where your audience seeks information, the best ways to engage in each channel, and create relevant content to entice interaction.

Why Internal Alignment Matters

Launch success depends on how well the organization understands, embraces, and collaborates to execute the strategy. So, internal alignment is crucial.

Every team member should comprehend business goals, know the plan, and understand how to execute it. Effective internal communication is paramount to prevent miscommunication that can lead to mistakes and missed deadlines.

To be effective and avoid wasted effort, establish clear channels for internal communication, monitor them regularly, and adjust when issues arise. Internal alignment ensures a smooth launch and helps your organization stay on track.

How to Create a Go-to-Market Strategy in 7 Steps

Your GTM strategy is the roadmap, showing you where to start and the end destination you have in mind. On the internet, you can usually find templates to help you with the planning process.

In general, the answer to how to build a go-to-market strategy includes the following steps:

• Identify your target audience
• Conduct Competitive Research
• Discern Your Messaging Strategy
• Create a Roadmap for the Buyer’s Journey
• Devise a Tailored GTM Content Marketing Plan
• Collaborate with Sales and Customer Service Teams
• Outline Marketing Objectives and Track KPIs

1. Identify and Understand Your Target Audience

Identifying and understanding who your target audience is will drive your marketing strategy and the approaches you take before, during, and after the launch.

A target audience is a specific group of consumers or businesses who share certain characteristics or features and can be identified through customer segmentation.

Start by asking who will benefit from your product or service. In other words, who experiences the problem or pain point that it will solve?

Once identified, get to know them. What are their pain points, problems, needs, wants, and interests? What are they willing to pay out for solutions?

To drill down even further, create buyer personas or ideal customer profiles.

In addition, if you are a B2B, you will want to identify the buying center or decision-makers for your target audience.

2. Conduct Competitive Research

You need to determine a way to stand out from all the noise and capture the interest of your target audience.

Competitive research, then, is your friend. Identify who the top competitors are and analyze each one. 

Sources for this include:

• Product portfolios or service offerings.
• Capability statements.
• Presentations to the marketplace.
• Accomplishments.
• Competitor websites, newsletters, and social media postings.
• Annual reports.
• Pricing structure.
• Content strategies.
• Social media strategies.
• Content engagement (likes, shares, comments).
• Customer reviews.

Determine what your competitors lack in the way of offerings and marketing strategies. 

Use this information to carve your own strategy and even add additional features to what you offer so you can differentiate yourself.

3. Discern Your Messaging Strategy

Messaging strategies allow you to:

• Communicate what your company stands for.
• Convey the value of your product or service.
• Show how your offering is different from your competitors or other businesses.
• Identify the problems you solve.
• Build emotional connections with customers.
• Position a product or service as the best solution.

To start, ask yourself:

• What objectives do you wish to achieve with your messaging?
• Which keywords are associated best with your product, service, or company?

Once defined and crafted, incorporate your messaging into everything you do, from slogans to press releases to marketing materials.

For example, your message might be something like “Delicious snacks with none of the guilt.”

Position your product or service as THE solution to your audience’s specific problem or pain point, a solution not currently offered by anyone else in the marketplace.

4. Create a Roadmap for the Buyer’s Journey

With inbound marketing, you first understand your target audience and then create your strategy to meet customer needs along the buyer’s journey.

For your GTM Strategy, you must create a roadmap to address each stage of that buyer’s journey for maximum impact.

The three stages are:

• Awareness
• Consideration
• Decision

By understanding the buyer’s journey and each stage along the way, you are better able to predict the actions and behavior of your customer.

With this knowledge, you can create a roadmap, anticipating questions and preferences for each stage.

Strategize various ways to tap into your already existing customer base. This approach can save you time and money, build more trust, boost customer loyalty, and improve customer relationships and retention.

5. Devise a Tailored GTM Content Marketing Plan

Creating a content marketing plan for your GTM strategy comes next. Determine the best ways to promote your launch, then generate the content to get you there.

A few hints include:

• Incorporate your unique messaging.
• Personalize your approach.
• Use storytelling techniques to connect with your target audience.

Examples of content types to consider using include:

• Blog posts
• Videos
• Social media postings
• Interactive content
• eBooks
• Webinars
• Demos
• Free trials

6. Collaborate with Sales and Customer Service Teams

Marketing doesn’t work in a vacuum, and with a launch, you want everyone to be on the same page.

Collaborate with your sales team, identifying distribution and sales channels. Devise pricing and sales strategies to go along with the launch.

A GTM strategy also involves collaboration with your customer support team to ensure an overall good experience for customers.

7. Outline Marketing Objectives and Track KPIs

Establish key performance indicators (KPIs). Monitor these KPIs and adjust your strategy when warranted. Never remain rigid in your approach if your audience is telling you something different.

The most common metrics to track include:

• Customer acquisition costs.
• ROI of your sales strategy (cost per dollar of sales expense).
• Conversion rates.
• Length of sales cycle.
• Customer lifetime value.

The Role of Content in a Go-to-Market Strategy

Now that you’ve identified your target audience and chosen your approach, it’s time to focus on creating content that attracts, enchants, engages, and drives traffic to your brand.

In the realm of content marketing, the first step is to identify the right keywords. However, the content surrounding those keywords truly captures your audience and converts them into customers.

Content creation serves at least two critical purposes: building brand awareness and engaging with your target audience. By consistently delivering relevant and helpful content tailored to a specific audience, you raise brand awareness and encourage repeat visits.

Further, your content can provide ways to better engage with your ideal customer, whether it be through relevant website content, blog posts, or social media.

To optimize your content strategy, diversify your content types. Understand your target market and audience preferences to determine the most effective content formats. These options range from traditional blogs to engaging videos, informative eBooks, and more.

Specific ways to increase customer engagement with your content include:

• Blog posts on desired topics
• Social media posts that provoke likes, comments, or shares
• Interactive content that provides them with relevant information and provides you with data to better refine your approaches. Interactive content includes polls, questionnaires, calculators, and more.

Your content marketing strategy, then, will be an essential part of your overall GTM plan. If you lack the team, time, or confidence to create this all-important content, reach out to the professionals on WriterAccess. 

Find experienced writers on this user-friendly platform to create what you need to attract, engage, and win customers over during your launch and beyond.

Go-to-Market Strategy Examples

To help you in your quest to craft an effective Go-to-Market strategy for sustainable growth, consider the approach of the following three B2B companies.

Oatly

When Oatly, a Swedish company, decided to expand its products into the US market, competition wasn’t a factor because oat milk wasn’t yet on the must-have list of American consumers.

For the GTM strategy, they chose to forego the ad route and instead go directly to the retail coffee shops frequented by their targeted audience.

The goal was to introduce the product at the precise moment customers were ready to buy a coffee or other hot beverage, letting them try it for themselves.

Within a year, between 2017 and 2018, revenue increased ten-fold, fueling an oat milk craze across the country.

Cognism

Cognism, a SaaS company, is all about verifying contact data for customers, so they can be more efficient in their business development efforts. To launch its new addition to the marketplace, Diamond Data®, the company focused on showing how it adds value to customers.

In addition, they sweetened the offering by including an option for customers to ask for verification of contacts on-demand, responding within a 48-hour timeframe.

In other words, they identified particular pain points of the target market, focused on them, and created a GTM strategy that spoke directly to customer value.

Baggu

Baggu decided to enter an already crowded market, introducing its reusable bags to a wide audience. 

The launch required a unique GTM strategy with its messaging revolving around sustainability.

In addition, the company collaborated with influencers, such as Jamaican artist Joonbug, to turn the otherwise boring product into a functional yet stylish fashion statement, using Instagram as the main marketing channel.

Upscope

Upscope offers technically-oriented customers an interactive screen-sharing resource unmet by competitors and identified IT specialists, support, and onboarding teams as their target audience.

The shared pain point of this audience was the difficulty of attempting to share screens as they walk customers, employees, or even prospects through discussions involving technical matters.

Focusing on that issue, Upscope showed how their solution solves this, making the process much easier and more efficient.

At the heart of their GTM strategy was their content, both on their website and blog.

Fitbit Smart Coach

Activity tracker manufacturer Fitbit already had a following when it launched its personal training app designed to integrate with the Fitbit devices.

Messaging revolved around the slogan “Get More with Fitbit.”

One of the first steps of its GTM strategy, however, was to establish objectives. These objectives included building brand awareness, increasing subscription revenue, and boosting subscription attach rate.

Acorio (now NTT Data)

Prior to becoming part of NTT Data, Acorio was determined to strengthen its positioning with a go-to-market strategy that utilized research and data to help boost its credentials.

The company divided the insights gleaned from this research and data, separating them according to how they related to key decision-makers, and then created targeted content.

Create an Effective GTM Strategy for Your Next Launch With WriterAccess’ Help

Creating a successful Go-to-Market strategy offers numerous benefits. Not only does it provide the essential roadmap for your organization, but it also plays a pivotal role in shaping the content that draws, engages, and converts more customers.

That’s where the WriterAccess team comes in. With our expertise, you can unlock these advantages and more.

Sign up for a free 14-day trial today to explore how our writers or teams can contribute to the seamless launch and long-term success of your new product, service, or brand. Discover the difference we can make in your go-to-market strategy.

The post Crafting an Effective Go-to-Market Strategy for Sustainable Growth appeared first on Rock Content.

Today, around 23% of all online sales go through a dropshippper. Retail experts expect the industry to grow by 28.8% by 2025. 

The hardest part about becoming a dropshipper is setting up your business. This guide will provide you with crucial information on how to start dropshipping. 

What Is Dropshipping? 

Before choosing this path, make sure you understand precisely what it involves.

You partner with a third party who supplies and ships the product based on your order. The third-party supplier could be a manufacturer or a distributor. Consider these five steps that will help you to get started. 

#1 Lay the Foundation: Niche Selection and Supplier Relationships

As with most things in business, choosing a niche is the best place to start.

Technically, anything you can buy online, you could sell as a dropshipper. Some industries, such as electronics and toys, do better than others in this format. 

Understanding market trends

You also want to consider the market trends before selecting a niche. Setting up a dropshipping platform for an industry with very little activity may affect your profit margin. 

As a businessperson, your job is to figure out what your audience wants. To do that, you must know who your audience is and what they buy most. Pick a target audience you understand, then choose an industry that caters to them. For example, if your ideal demographic is parents, you might select educational toys as your niche. 

Establishing strong supplier relationships

Once you establish what products you want to sell, finding the right supplies and building those relationships will likely be your biggest challenge. Dropshipping is a system that benefits both the seller and the supplier, though. 

Working with a dropshipper can significantly increase sales for a manufacturer. And, of course, you have nothing to sell without the supplier. Finding suitable suppliers will define your business. 

What to consider when looking for suppliers

Some things to consider include:

• Location 
• Product pricing
• Customer service
• Product quality

The final consideration in our dropshipping tips for choosing suppliers is their pricing plan. Not all manufacturers will let you dropship their products for free. Some may charge a monthly subscription plan. It’s up to you to decide if a fee is worth it. 

#2 Build Your Business Base: Crafting Your Online Presence

The next stage of your business development is establishing yourself online. Dropshipping is an e-commerce modality, so you need an online store. 

Creating a well-structured website

Your website is what attracts both customers and suppliers to your business. It is not something you should just throw up haphazardly. It should be easy to navigate, aesthetically appealing, and informative. 

Some basics you need are:

• Effective and easy-to-use navigation that includes product categorization – You want your customers to access products without jumping through a lot of hoops. 
• Quality images and multimedia – Nothing pushes customers away faster than poor-quality page design and graphics. The images should load quickly and be clear. Those for products must be accurate and not misleading. 
• Contact information – This is something both customers and Google will look for. Provide contact information on every page. 
• eCommerce payment gateway – This allows the customers to pay for products on your site. It should be user-friendly and provide details such as the cost of shipping and handling plus taxes. 

The website is your store, so give it the same respect you would a brick-and-mortar location. 

Utilizing high-quality blog content

The other thing your website needs is an informative and well-written blog. Adding a blog to your website is good SEO and increases your online presence. 

The key to a successful blog is in the writing and content strategy. The topics should interest your target audience to drive them to your website. For example, if you sell toys, you might create blog topics that interest parents. 

Blogging is an essential part of doing business, but not the easiest. It’s not something you have to do on your own, though. WriterAccess connects you to content marketing professionals like strategists, editors, and some of the top writing talent in the world. 

It also gives you the tools to create topics, research keywords, and develop a pool of writers. With proper support, the blog will be well-written and steer potential customers to your website. 

#3 Ensuring Compliance and Financial Preparedness

Dropshipping is a business venture, so you must know about tax responsibilities and compliance issues. 

Navigating tax implications

There are tax obligations you may encounter as a dropshipper:

• Income
• Sales
• Source
• Customs

Income tax refers to the profit you make as a business person. Ideally, you will pay estimated income tax quarterly. That will keep you from paying a penalty when you file your federal return. 

Like any retailer, you will be responsible for paying sales tax on products you sell. You’ll need to know what the sales tax is in the state in which your customer resides if there is a nexus. 

Nexus refers to a business connection to the state. You automatically have a nexus if you have a physical presence in a state. You also have a nexus if you do a set amount of business in a state. The threshold varies by state. This means you could pay sales tax in multiple states if you have a nexus in each. 

Source tax is the sales tax the supplier charges you. Custom duty tax is what it costs to bring goods into one country from another one. So, if you ship products from China, for instance, you would pay a tax for that product to enter the U.S.

Establishing legal compliance

In some states, you need a license to sell to residents there. That is true even if you work out of another state. This does not apply to all states or all products. 

Start by researching the regulations in your state, county, and city. Next, consult an online list by state of legal requirements for dropshipping. Make sure your list is timely, and double-check the information on the state government website. 

Financial considerations: Budgeting for success

Once you have all the operating and legal costs in front of you, make a budget. The initial cost of dropshipping isn’t high, but you must pay for a domain name, website, marketing, and initial products. 

Figure out your start-up costs, and then create a budget for yourself. It will take time to see income from your business, so have a plan for managing your finances. 

#4 Strategize for Growth: Competitive Research and Marketing

The most significant part of your job as a dropshipper is marketing. 

Conducting thorough competitive research

You must see what other businesses are doing to market your products effectively. That is what marketing experts refer to as competitive research.

By checking out the competition in your market, you can see what they do right and what doesn’t work well for them. You also get an idea of how your pricing lines up with theirs. 

Make a list of keywords that apply to your products and target audience. As you do searches on them, write down the brand names that pop up most. Those are the websites you want to visit. 

Crafting a robust marketing strategy

With that information, you can create a strategy that will help you develop an online presence and drive traffic to your e-commerce store. You don’t have to spend a lot on marketing. Many options, like social media, blogging, and email newsletters, won’t cost anything. Focus on these first. 

#5 Analyze and Adapt: Sustainable Business Strategies

Dropshipping is a convenient and relatively low-risk way to start a business. There are downsides, though. It can take time to see a profit, and the margins are slim. It is also highly competitive.

Iterative growth and adaptation

To make it work, you need to assess your standing and look for ways to improve constantly. Analyze metrics closely to determine what is working and what isn’t. 

What is your top seller? What product doesn’t sell? Will better marketing matter? What is trending in your niche? What feedback are you getting from customers? The better you research before and after you start the company, the higher your chances of success. 

Final Remarks

Like all business ventures, dropshipping starts with a concept, grows in stages, and works when you put in the effort. Remember this guide to dropshipping when creating your path: 

• Target your audience
• Choose a product niche
• Find suppliers
• Create a website
• Develop a marketing strategy
• Assess your progress and make changes as needed

And remember: when it comes time for content production, let us help.

Try WriterAccess for free and see what effective content creation looks like for your dropshipping business. 

The post How To Start Dropshipping: A 5-Step Dropshipping Guide appeared first on Rock Content.

Most B2B sales teams, if not all, constantly hunt for solutions to improve their sales funnel and optimize pipeline efforts.

But how do you build a funnel to fuel growth?

In this article, we’ll dive into what B2B sales funnels are all about, how to create a tight funnel, and what mistakes to avoid while building one.

What Is a B2B Sales Funnel?

A B2B sales funnel is a stage-wise representation of a typical B2B customer’s journey, from being aware of your solution to actually purchasing it. It walks you through the sequence of steps an ideal prospect takes to become a customer. 

A sales funnel for B2B has five primary stages: awareness, interest, evaluation, engagement, and action.

The biggest benefit? B2B sales funnels break down the sales process into smaller chunks so you can easily detect prospects’ pain points and challenges in moving to the next stage, thus giving you a sense of direction in moving them across the funnel.

What’s The Difference Between a B2B Sales Funnel And a B2B Sales Pipeline?

Sales funnels and sales pipelines are used interchangeably, which is a big misunderstanding. They are different entities representing distinct steps in a typical sales process.

Sales funnel stages represent a buyer’s journey from when you’ve captured their attention to them taking action on your offering. Meanwhile, pipelines represent internal sales processes, for example, the exact steps SDRs take to convert leads, from building prospecting lists to negotiating and closing the sale.

A typical B2B sales funnel stages: Awareness ➔ Interest ➔ Evaluation ➔ Engagement ➔ Action.

A typical B2B sales pipeline stages: Prospecting ➔ lead qualification ➔ Pitching ➔ Negotiation ➔ Deal closing ➔ Retention.  

To wrap up: a B2B sales funnel broadly depicts a buyer’s journey, and a pipeline depicts the sales teams’ internal processes involved in prospect conversion.

What Are the Stages of a B2B Sales Funnel?

Let’s discuss the five basic stages of the sales funnel involved in converting a lead to a customer:

Stage 1: The awareness 

In this stage, the prospect faces a challenge or a pain point they’d love solutions to. They may search the web for answers through inbound marketing mediums and happen to spot a few solutions that fit their use case. 

This is also the stage where prospects are the most curious and look for answers persistently.

For sales and marketing teams, the awareness stage is where they work to attract prospects to their solution by promoting how it solves their initial pain point. 

Stage 2: The interest

In this stage, you’ve successfully attracted a prospect’s attention by subtly placing your product or service as the solution to fixing their woes.

And this is when prospects research your products or services deeply, get in touch with your support team for a product demo, etc., to see if your offering suits their needs.

Stage 3: The evaluation 

In the evaluation stage, the potential customer weighs their options and moves closer to finalizing or rejecting the deal.

So as sales teams, you must help the prospect take the final call by stirring their interest and letting them access the right information across touchpoints. A pipeline stage similar to the evaluation stage is where you negotiate and close the deal through discovery calls, introductory meetings, etc.

Stage 4: The engagement 

In the engagement stage, the qualified lead interacts with the sales team through presentations, product demonstration calls, and more.

The motive behind this stage is to move the potential customer closer to finalizing the deal by thoroughly understanding their pain points and explaining how your solution helps fix them over competitors.

Stage 5: The action

The action or the purchase stage is where the deal is closed, and you’ve successfully converted a lead. 

However, this does not mean the sales funnel ends abruptly. To let your hard work pay off, ensure you continuously work toward building a strong relationship with customers and retain them using targeted follow-ups.  

DataCaptive

How to Create a Leak-Proof B2B Sales Funnel?

Let’s discuss how to build an effective, leak-proof B2B sales funnel for your business:

1. Understand your customers’ demands

Establishing any sales process needs a thorough understanding of who your customers are and what they need. And building a B2B sales funnel is not any different.

To understand customers’ and prospects’ demands and needs, you must:

• Keep an eye out for comments on competitors’ social media pages and review sites.
• Track your target audience’s activity, such as social media shares, likes, and email and website activity.
• Analyze your website using tools like Google Analytics to find trends, such as top-performing pages, most-clicked CTA, audience demographics, etc.
• Stay open to communication. Interview your current customers to know their expectations.  

2. Ensure ease of communication with prospects at every stage of the sales funnel

It’s impossible for prospects to move down the consecutive sales funnel stages without proper advice to expedite their buying decision. And they may look for information using the below sources:

• Your sales team.
• Free resources on your website, social media, emails, etc.
• Review sites for unbiased opinions. 

For example, you can use reviews or case studies to engage potential clients in the evaluation stage, SDR-run qualifying questions in the interest stage, and product-focused blog posts in the awareness stage.

3. Keep in touch with customers or follow up with prospects

How can you ensure prospects stick with you until the end of the sales funnel’s stage? It’s by nurturing them with targeted follow-ups and building strong connections.

And the same goes for your customers. Keep in touch with them and seek feedback to know what worked, what didn’t, and what needed improvements during their purchase journey. 

A well-thought-through follow-up strategy is key to building a B2B sales funnel. Ensure your follow-up process is consistent and relevant so more leads easily go through the evaluation stage.

Here are a few statistics to prove follow-up effectiveness:

Fit Small Business

Some tips to build follow-ups into your funnel:

• Set up meeting reminders.
• Train your sales reps in outreach strategies and offer them cold emailing and cold-calling tips.
• Clean unresponsive prospects from your contact list to keep it healthy.

4. Organize your sales operational processes 

Well-organized operational processes make it easier for your sales teams to track leads, know what they’re up to, fill your sales pipeline, and increase conversions.  

Here’s how to stay organized without losing your sanity:

• Visualize your sales pipeline and interlink with sales funnel stages, as it helps to show where exactly your prospects are in the sales process.
• Use a powerful CRM system to organize contacts, send alerts, and keep every lead data in a single source of truth.
• Score leads to ensure you prioritize the most qualified ones. 

5. Align your sales and marketing teams

There’s no either-or with sales and marketing in B2B processes. And the secret to building a leak-proof B2B sales funnel is the combined efforts of both sales and marketing teams.  

Ensure both teams collaborate on essential tasks like lead generation and conversions. Ultimately, they must work in tandem toward achieving a common goal – generating and nurturing leads to fill up the sales pipeline. 

5 Mistakes to Avoid for Growth 

We’ve gathered 5 common mistakes marketing and sales teams make while trying to achieve growth with their sales funnel:

• Lack of strong calls to action 

A strong call to action (CTA) should tell prospects exactly what to do. Although this may seem like a no-brainer, most B2B companies miss adding an effective CTA. 

Moreover, studies suggest personalized CTAs convert 42% more prospects into leads than weak CTAs. A good CTA should be dynamically personalized and create a strong sense of urgency.

• Using unimpressive website design and copy

In B2B, websites are key in attracting potential customers in the awareness stage. So if your home and landing pages have bad navigation, design, and unattractive copy, it’s time to rework your website design and copy. 

• Having a funnel with too many steps 

A lengthy funnel with too many steps to conversion could lead to prospects losing track of your process and eventually opting out. Try to minimize steps and make the process simple and straightforward. 

• Not following up with leads

Not all leads are conversion-ready from the word go. They may need a little push with follow-ups and a strong reason to convert. So you’re leaving money on the table if you’re not following up with your leads.

• Neglecting analytics data 

B2B brands deal with enormous data waiting to be explored. Sales funnel conversion data is one such statistic that needs to be analyzed to optimize future campaigns. But most companies fail to use an analytical tool to recognize and study data to improve their funnels. 

Conclusion

A leak-proof B2B sales funnel is founded on careful customer research, well-connected communication, and aligned teams and processes.  

Monitoring and optimizing the B2B sales funnel should be proactive at every stage to avoid leaks and wasted efforts. Failing to do this can make your sales cycle longer than it already is.

Matej Mešár is a copywriter with a journalistic background based out of Bratislava, Slovakia. Currently, he has his sights set on the SaaS sphere. He works for CloudTalk, helping to create compelling messaging supporting the next generation of cloud communication.

The post Building a Successful B2B Sales Funnel: Step-by-Step Guide for Growth appeared first on Rock Content.

Black Friday stands out as one of the largest annual sales events, during which consumers actively seek their desired products at discounted rates. The emergence of COVID-19 has notably shifted consumer behaviors, with a preference for online holiday shopping over in-store purchases.

If you’re unsure about how to approach Black Friday email strategies, we’re here to delve into the fundamentals of email marketing for Black Friday, sharing valuable tips, tricks and tactics to enhance your existing marketing strategies.

Black Friday Email Marketing Essentials

To begin, capitalizing on the holiday season presents an opportunity to increase sales and website traffic. To provide you with a deeper insight into why it’s crucial to mark Black Friday on your business calendar, let’s examine some noteworthy statistics:

• A significant 59% of consumers aged 18-44 express a preference for online shopping.
• An overwhelming 83% of shoppers are in agreement that they intend to steer clear of in-store shopping.
• Black Friday stands out as the day with the highest email activity, witnessing the sending of 116.5 million campaigns.
• During the holiday season, cart abandonment emails achieve a commendable 34% open rate and an impressive 9% click-through rate.

Given that Black Friday holds immense importance for e-commerce, particularly due to consumers’ strong inclination toward online shopping, the development of a robust Black Friday email strategy becomes paramount. 

The extended Black Friday period

The period preceding Black Friday can start as early as mid-October. This offers an opportunity to create enticing emails or provide advance discount codes to generate enthusiasm among your audience and ignite their desire for more remarkable bargains from your enterprise.

If you choose to initiate your promotions in advance, it’s crucial to strategize on how to sustain enthusiasm and maintain interest throughout the weekend leading up to Cyber Monday. 

Personalization and its role

Enhancing the effectiveness of your email marketing strategies involves tailoring your content to match the products that have piqued the interest of your customers.

Modern shoppers desire personalization. Instead of promoting generic bestsellers or unrelated items, businesses can captivate their customers by announcing discounts on products that have been added to their shopping cart, browsed or purchased in the past.

Many brands send identical discount emails to all their customers. By recommending products relevant to each individual shopper, you establish a deeper connection and craft a distinctive shopping experience. Use email segmentation and customer data to identify products that have previously sparked the interest of your customers. 

Effective Black Friday Email Strategies 

E-commerce marketers often become engrossed in promotional planning and creative execution, neglecting the importance of crafting compelling Black Friday email subject lines, anticipation and urgency. Effective Black Friday email subject lines have the power to instill urgency, convey discounts and generate excitement.

Engagement-boosting tactics

Short, catchy, and humorous text can grab the audience’s attention. A company can, for example, create an email for Black Friday like:

Eye-catching visuals play a big role in engagement as well, as unique imagery can appeal to your audience and incorporate your brand identity. 

Creating anticipation and urgency 

Several email marketing platforms offer countdown timers that can instill a sense of urgency in your emails. This can enhance the impact of your Black Friday promotions, organize time-limited sales events or count down to Cyber Monday.

Because the period leading up to Black Friday typically starts in mid-October, giving you the opportunity to create teaser emails or share early-bird discount codes to generate excitement among your audience and fuel their anticipation for incredible deals from your company.

Here’s an example of an email that creates a sense of urgency (it was made up for illustrative purposes):

Data-Driven Approaches 

By utilizing data, businesses can extract valuable insights about the effectiveness of their strategies and pinpoint areas that require improvement, empowering them to make more well-informed choices.

Audience insights through Black Friday email campaigns can help businesses better understand their customers, tailor future marketing strategies and improve overall sales and customer satisfaction.

Audience insights through email 

One of the most significant advantages of data-driven strategies is the profound understanding they provide of your audience.

By carefully analyzing data from past Black Friday email campaigns, you can unveil valuable insights into your audience’s preferences, behaviors, and expectations.

This newfound knowledge is instrumental in shaping your Black Friday strategies to align perfectly with what your audience desires.

Optimizing inventory management

Effective inventory management is a critical factor in Black Friday’s success. Data-driven strategies offer a lifeline in this regard.

By scrutinizing historical sales data and customer preferences, you can make informed decisions about stock levels.

This ensures you have adequate quantities of the products your audience craves while minimizing the risk of running out of stock and maximizing your sales potential.

Content automation

Black Friday can be a hectic period with numerous tasks, including preparations for Cyber Monday and upcoming holiday campaigns. To simplify your operations and reduce stress, consider integrating email automation into your strategy.

By doing so, you not only eliminate the need for last-minute rushes but also increase your chances of making sales during the busy shopping weekend by reaching out to customers at the most opportune times.

Here are some recommendations to get you started:

• First purchase upsell email: Send automated follow-up emails with tempting upsell offers after a Black Friday purchase.
• Product browse automation: Set up automated emails for those who have shown interest in a product but haven’t completed a purchase.
• Abandoned cart automation: Utilize abandoned cart templates to re-engage shoppers who have previously expressed interest but haven’t finalized their purchase.
• Welcome Email: Extend a warm welcome email to new customers joining your marketing list.

Streamline Your Black Friday Email Marketing Strategies With WriterAccess

At Rock Content, our expertise lies in developing state-of-the-art marketing solutions and tailored offerings aimed at fostering scalable content experiences.

If you’re ready to hire the best freelancers and streamline your Black Friday email marketing, try WriterAccess for free for 14 days.

If you have any questions after reading this blog, know that our support team and help center are here to help you anytime.

The post Mastering Black Friday Email Strategies: Engage, Convert, and Thrive appeared first on Rock Content.