As an e-commerce business owner, it pays to keep tabs on the newest tech-related changes: Innovating is how you cater to customer expectations, not to mention keep up with the competition (Hint: Amazon).
In 2022, that means getting on board the digital transformation train. In this mini-guide, Kjerstan Designs talks about digital transformation, why you should care, and ends with 7 meaningful upgrades you should consider for your e-store:
Digital Transformation Could Make a Meaningful Difference
Digital transformation is using technology to make improvements to your business processes. The goal is to be more efficient, serve customers better, and, of course, sell more. How is this different from the usual way of doing business? As HBR puts it, digital transformation isn’t about technology but a business strategy that leverages technology to gain better results. Of course, technology is still a core part of the process.
Below, we offer 7 tech upgrades that could push your e-commerce store to new heights:
1. Data Analysis for Better Business Processes
Data analysis is the practice of gathering relevant data, deriving insights, and then making decisions based on those insights. You can use data analysis to optimize every process, boosting efficiency, increasing sales, mitigating risk, and locating hidden opportunities.
Process mining is a technique worth exploring. The best tools for process mining utilize data to discover, validate, and improve workflows for your whole business. To get started, find potential data sources, map out a timeline, and delineate key stakeholders.
2. Mobile Experience
The current mobile e-commerce share stands at 72.9 percent, reports Oberlo. Not only are customers using their phones to shop but also to look up information, engage with brands, and even navigate brick-and-mortar stores while shopping. Making a mobile app and a mobile-friendly website can help you engage with these customers better and also improve your reputation. Kjerstan Designs can create a beautiful, small-screen-friendly e-store (or give an existing one a makeover).
3. Digital Marketing
Modern-day digital marketing is a combination of various strategies and campaigns, often accomplished with the help of marketing automation tech. Some examples are SEO, PPC, affiliate marketing, social media, and content marketing. Email marketing with the help of an email automation tool, for instance, can be a very effective lead generation and loyalty boosting tool. Email marketing has a 4400 percent ROI.
4. Personalization and Product Customization
With Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine learning, you can offer customers a personalized shopping experience. For instance, you can offer personalized product recommendations, send reminders, and share previous purchase information with customer teams. Through chatbots, you can quickly solve customer problems. You can even create a personal offer based on a user’s behavior like some brands are doing.
5. Facilitating ROBO – Research Online Buy Offline
There are a lot of options out there. The most convenient way to find the best one out of them all is invariably through online research. And after the best option has been located, the fastest way to obtain that option is to pick it up at a local store instead of waiting for it to be delivered. Many e-commerce stores now offer the option to buy online and pick up offline or have the product delivered instantly from a local store (or something along these lines).
6. Augmented Reality
Augmented Reality (AR) is arguably the most promising technology for e-commerce. Through AR, you can offer customers a 3D preview of your product or service without them having to visit you on-site. Customers are better able to make more informed purchase decisions and less likely to experience buyer’s remorse (or return items).
7. Remote IT help
Finally, you don’t necessarily have to maintain an in-house IT team. You can outsource many IT functions, from customer support to website maintenance and everything in between. Amazon, for instance, outsources customer care. Furthermore, you can hire all kinds of IT infrastructure, including site hosting servers, and scale up as needed.
Conclusion
Having a solid business strategy in place before you implement these technologies, whether that’s a new mobile app or a process mining framework, will give you the best returns on your investment. You’ll be better able to avoid non-viable technologies, anticipate problems, and generally make better choices.
Image via Unsplash
