For many ecommerce businesses, especially start-ups, the thought of high growth sales and revenues is a great dream that remains just that. Most believe that the only way to ensure sustained growth is to become bigger and better, until you figure out the perfect mix of resources that will help you expand now and in the future. However, the success depends on many factors. Including the innovative technologies developed for the digital era. Let's take a look at the facts and scenarios that supports this approach.
Modern ecommerce depends on a number of relations and tendencies such as:
- Tech-savvy consumers are spending more money online now than they ever did before.
- On the go purchases made through smartphones and other mobile devices has consistently increased by about 50 percent every year, over the past 6 years.
- 3rd party and in-house logistics systems and services became more efficient than ever.
- End to end logistics providers have emerged as vehicles for the international market expansion.
- Niche retailing is on the rise and product differentiation is gaining momentum.
- Process driven CRM services are in demand.
Business intelligence moguls, RJMetrics has recently published their 2015 E-commerce Growth Benchmark report, which analyzed non-encrypted data from numerous e-commerce websites and ascertained various trends for sales, revenues and overall growth. The report has revealed some eye opening data. This includes the fact that small companies with less than $1 million worth of yearly revenue grow nearly one and a half times every year, about 150%! It has also found that annual growth steeply decreases once a company enters a new revenue bracket. So, how can you take advantage of this pivotal turning point in the history of retailing? The answer lays in the perfect combination of advertising, SEO optimization and customer engagement: things that you probably can't manage efficiently on your own. So, here is a list of the best ecommerce tools that you can use to grow your business or maintain consistency in your current pattern:
1. Twilio
Based on a cloud-based platform, Twilio is an infrastructure-as-a-service provider that can boost ecommerce via an enhanced customer service system by automating phone workflows and offering businesses a short messaging system to allow marketing texts. It is a cost-effective and fully-customizable business solution that offers ads texting at a fraction of the cost of other solutions, which adds to your business's growth.
2. MailChimp
Even in this day and age, email marketing remains an essential component in ensuring the success of any website that does business online, especially since email is still the preferred method of communication among the majority of consumers worldwide. With the conversion rate above 70% which is 300% higher than search and social media marketing, any e-tailer that isn't using email marketing in the marketing portfolio is missing out on lots of growth opportunities. MailChimp is the platform of choice as it will manage your entire email marketing campaign for you.
3. AdRoll
What many consider to be the world's leading retargeting platform, AdRoll is a must-have tool for any e-retailer that wants to reconnect with previous customers and recapture lost opportunities in the form of customers who abandoned their shopping cart. Although you could use the common AdWords platform, AdRoll is definitely worth using for your remarketing efforts as it offers cross-platform and cross-device display advertising functionality.
4. Bpm'online
Bpm'online is a world-class vendor of process-driven cloud software for marketing, sales and service automation. Bpm'online crm products include a set of best practice processes to manage the complete customer journey - from lead to order, and to ongoing account maintenance. Users love bpm'online's engaging interface that is free from redundant information and keeps them focused on what's relevant. Applying its deep industry-level experience, bpm'online created a wide range of industry-tailored solutions for customer relationships and business process management. This approach enables companies to have their CRM+BPM solution up and running quickly which ensures the ongoing success.
5. 99designs
99designs is a leading crowd sourcing virtual marketplace tool that users can download for their creative design projects, including graphic design, website design, logo or emblem design, business card and letterhead layout, and even marketing content design. It is a virtual business model where enterprises showcase their pre-set design layouts, set a fixed price, and contract the work to freelance web designers, who will compete for your business. Satisfaction is 100% guaranteed as the terms of the design contract is that the business pays nothing for a rejected design.
6. ClearSaleing
ClearSaleing is an effective advertising analytics platform that can seriously boost your ecommerce growth. The tool is designed to analyze and determine what parts of your marketing campaign are the most effective, or identify areas for improvement. ClearSaleing is an automated expert that will optimize your advertising and marketing campaigns, maximizing profits and securing business growth.
7. Invodo
If a picture says a thousand words, a video probably says a million. And after being proven to significantly increase conversion rates, Invodo is a tool that will boost your website's appeal and help expand your reach. The professionally produced videos from Invodo will highlight how your products or services will benefit customers, providing you with the perfect solution of slacking marketing performance.
While you probably already have a business growth plan for your ecommerce venture, having the right tools to achieve your goals is a major issue for many e-retailers. The above mentioned resources are great for helping your brand to get the exposure and support it needs to become an online success. So just choose the tools that are best suited to your needs, and watch your business grow!
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