Make Your Online Business STAND OUT

When running a business in the modern world, you have to ask yourself how you plan to stand out in amongst all those websites selling the same product as you? Out on the street you could control the competition to a certain extent. There was location, design, display, pricing and then customer service. Now however, your company is intangible and you are competing with ideas rather than material goods. This makes the transfer from a brick and mortar business to the online world more complicated.
Don’t Stress. We have some good news for you. This is not a dead end like it may seem. There are a number of things (tricks of the trade – if you will) you can do to ensure your business’ online success.
No matter what you are selling, whether that is a product or a service, you have got to make sure all customers feel important and appreciation by your business. Let us not also forget the feeling of comfort with your company. The following tips are going to help you achieve this and thus ensure that you have a healthy, profitable business that STANDS OUT in amongst your competition.

Know your Customers


Know them better than they know themselves. Study their habits so that you might understand not only what they are buying but the how and the why they are buying. Do these patterns change depending on the season? Does your competition start pushing specific types of merchandise?
Conducting thorough research is so important because it allows you to really know how to provide the best service for your customers. Most importantly however, it allows you to be one step ahead of your competitors. Cater to your target market before everyone else does. You will win, innovation points, loyalty and trust points.

Be daring, Be different
What many people do when starting out their own business is look at the market leaders’ business model and pattern it. Guaranteed success right? Wrong. These businesses already have a reputation, which your new business does not have. Give your customers time to get comfortable before doing business with you. Building your online reputation has a lot to do with credibility.
Having the same model and a similar look to your competitors is not going to convince anyone that you are better. Do a bit of research on your competition and find out ways in which you can personally differentiate your business from the hundreds who are offering the same or a similar service.

Look at your Website through Customer’s eyes
If you had a clothes store, you would walk into your space, imagining yourself as a customer. You would ask yourself all the questions and run yourself through all the tests that your customers would go through. Well, it is the same with your online business. Try and have a look at your site from an objective point of view. How would they view your website from the very first time they click on it? An even better idea is to get a third party to have a look over your website and give you feedback. Have some questions ready for the viewer, like: Is the purpose clear from the first glance? Did you know how to navigate around the site easily? Is there a clear and simple goal to the website? Did you get a feeling of comfort at the professionalism of the business? You will get some very important critiques by doing this.
Use simple language that your customers are going to understand. There is no use in using ‘corporate speak’. In other words, explain things to your customers in a language that will make communication effective.

Have a New and Fresh Look
Yes, the major Search Engines favor text-based information websites which are tuned to the keywords selected. But you do not want such a website, organized into sections of reading material. If your customers wanted to read plain text, they would have taken a trip to a library.
The internet is a visual experience, that is what your customers want and that is what your customers are attracted to. The graphics on your website is the way customers will remember you. Now, doing the exact opposite is not good either. Textual content is very important but it should be nicely embedded within your memorable graphic design. Going overboard with text will get you a high ranking with the Search Engines but will not get you any customers.

Make your Super Deals Stand out!
Everybody loves a good bargain! Although you might not be looking forward to losing money on clearance products, you should not hide them away. By offering some discount prices, your customers will see what else you are offering and might purchase other items at a higher price. These discount items are called loss leaders.
Make sure you make your great deals visible and prominent on your website, to grab their attention and lure them in.
VodaHost Web Hosting for example sends out a newsletter to its customers when we have a Celebratory Coupon Discount on our services. Whether that may be at Christmas time or on the 18 or February, President’s Day, our customers are all informed of this opportunity.

Be Recognizable
Whether your customers hear it or see it, your name must be immediately recognized. When just starting out, your efforts are not only going to be online. There are three elements which must be present everywhere; your logo, your tag line and your internet address. No matter what you do you need to get people seeing your name more and more in order to begin to recognize it. You could sponsor a local soccer team, or put an ad in the newspaper. When your customers see your business name or logo, they will immediately think of you. In that way, comfort is built. When they next visit your site, they will have seen the logo and already have a certain familiarity in place.

Learn from your mistakes

Make sure that you do not lose customers because of your mistakes. There is no harm in apologizing for the mishap, and admitting to an error. Being upfront and honest will gain you trust and respect points. Furthermore, by admitting you are not a machine and being willing to make up for your mistake, you will gain a friend rather than an ex-customer!

Lets not forget that with every mistake, there is potential for growth.

Be punctual with back-end operations
Let’s go back into that virtual clothes store of yours. Focus on the experience your customers have in your space and pamper them! The checkout experience is also extremely important. If they have to wait in line for ages in order to purchase their chosen items, they may end up walking out empty handed! And if they do end up waiting and purchasing those items, they may well not come back. Similarly, if your online clients have to go through numerous pages, searching for ages to find out how in the world they pay for the items they desire, they probably will not even make the first purchase. Make the whole process from beginning to end easy and enjoyable or you will lose them.

Meet and Surpass Customer Expectations

 

Take your customer support one step further and you will keep your valuable clients.
Make sure that your clients understand that you will make an effort to help them out, no matter what they may need. Ask them “What can I do for you today?” . I had purchased a coffee pot once from an online shop. The pot arrived and within a day, the handle had unhinged itself and I was very unsatisfied and frustrated. I contacted them immediately and spoke to the customer service representative. They were so accommodating and willing to help in any way they could, I was astounded. Two days later, I had a brand new coffee pot sent to me with an Express Courier service. This kind of customer support makes for loyal customers that will only purchase their desired items from you, because they know they are safe, you are reliable and helpful.
Treat each of your customers as if they are the most important and valued client you have. By doing this and keeping it up, you are building a lifelong company to consumer relationship. Do not get hung up on losing the price of that coffee pot you will end up sending in place of a faulty one, because that same customer WILL come back to purchase more!
Make sure you take into consideration the feedback you get from your customers.
With so many online businesses providing the exact same service as you, it is a challenge to constantly compete. The above steps to consider will help you create the desired relationship between your company and your customers to keep them coming back for more indefinitely and choosing YOU over all those other service providers! STAND OUT!

Article from Vodahost.