The Complete Ecommerce Startup Guide: Common Mistakes to Avoid
Table of Contents:
The Complete Ecommerce Startup Guide
- An Introduction to Ecommerce
- Defining Your Niche, Strategy, and Goals
- Picking an Ecommerce Platform
- Setting Up Your Store
- Designing Your Website
- All About Ecommerce SEO
- Offering Amazing Customer Service
- Time to Launch!
- 电子商务营销方式
- Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Long-Term Ecommerce Website Maintenance
- Further Reading & Additional Resources
Not Taking Customer Service Seriously
If you don’t understand the importance of customer service, please go back and read chapter 7 again. Word travels fast online, and an unresolved complaint on social media or a negative experience on the phone can quickly spiral out of control and do serious damage to your reputation.
If you’re leaving your customer service in the hands of other employees or an outsourced call center, do regular check-ins to ensure that they’re handling things correctly. Consider meeting once a month or so to discuss any large problems or common complaints that you may be able to resolve, or to brief them on new launches or website changes so they can be prepared to answer questions and provide quality help.
Not Monitoring Your Reputation Online
您应该始终聆听对品牌的评价 - 好与坏。主动提及可以使您知道自己的声誉是什么，并帮助您在升级或永久损害您的声誉之前确定任何潜在的问题。
这并不意味着每天搜寻互联网在社交媒体上提及或其他网站上的评论。您可以为您的品牌名称或网站URL设置一个简单的Google警报，任何时候都会给您发送电子邮件：
How might this help you? Let’s say someone complains on a forum about a product you sold. Once you get the alert, you can register and publicly respond, both addressing their complaint and showing others that you are willing to make things right. Similarly, if someone compliments you on a blog, it would be nice to leave a comment thanking them for their kindness!
Ignoring Negative (or Neutral) Reviews
如果您的网站上启用了评论，则可能会不时收到负面评论。你应该怎么做？答案不是“什么都没有”。负面评论使您有机会将糟糕的情况变成一个伟大的情况，只需稍作工作即可。
评论通常要求客户提供其电子邮件地址。通过电子邮件与客户联系，并询问您可以做什么以使情况变得更好。如果他们不喜欢该物品，请让他们换它。如果他们的订单出现了其他问题，请提供部分退款或其他善意手势。顾客通常会对这样的手势感到惊喜，即使是主动和乐于助人，您也可能会扭转最糟糕的情况。
Note that you shouldn’t ignore neutral reviews, either. A review of “I liked the product, but the shipping speed was horrible” is something you should address with the customer. The same applies for something like a manufacturing defect in a product you aren’t responsible for: acknowledge it, and ask what you can do to help.
Want to get rid of that negative review? After you’ve resolved the problem, ask the customer if they would like to remove or modify it. They may allow you to add a note of your own at the bottom of the review (usually by editing some simple HTML) stating how the problem was resolved, and how they felt about your service.
Not Keeping Up With Your Marketing Activities
Don’t have time for your blog? Getting tired of Twitter? Sick of writing content that doesn’t get views? Giving up is not the answer – in fact, it’s the worst thing you can do.
It takes time and effort to get noticed online. Even the most popular bloggers spent months or even years writing without any sort of following. Their success didn’t happen overnight, either: their audience was built slowly, through hard work and dedication. So while it can be disheartening to put up yet another blog post that doesn’t get shared, or create a great guide that no one seems to read, don’t give up! You need to give yourself a chance before you stop altogether.
Keep in mind that you don’t have to do anything alone. If you don’t have time for your blog, but know it’s going to be important for your overall marketing strategy, look for a marketing company or even a freelance writer who you can pay to keep up with it for you.
Getting help with your marketing is far better than simply stopping: potential customers who see a blog or social media profile that hasn’t been updated in weeks might reconsider doing business with you. If you’re unresponsive or not present on your blog or social media network, what do you think the perception will be of your customer service?
We’re nearing the end of our guide! Our last chapter will talk about long-term maintenance for your ecommerce store, and a few common questions that may come up in the months and years that follow.
