Have a great product, but don’t know how to begin selling it online?
Whether you are running a rewards-based crowdfunding campaign on platforms like Kickstarter or Indiegogo, an equity campaign on Seedrs, or selling your product on your website or an e-commerce platform post-campaign, there is plenty of advice out there to help you get started.
Many ecommerce startups don’t have an experienced sales teams when starting out and they have to do a lot of adapting at first to find out what works.
Ultimately it comes down to committed effort over time. You must experiment with different pitches, distribution channels, and identify objections until you figure out a solid sales strategy. Until then, here are a few proven sales tips for that you can follow to help boost sales and keep things running smoothly:
1. Sell a solution, not a product
In your marketing materials and advertising efforts, remember that you’ll have more success selling a solution, not a product. Explain to potential customers (or investors) what painstaking problem your startup has the solution to and why your solution is the best one available.
Bunch O’ Balloons on Kickstarter wasn’t just selling a product that let you blow up 100 water balloons in under a minute, the creator of this project was solving the problem of water balloons being tedious and time consuming to fill and tie, leading to more summer fun everybody!
2. Keep communication channels open
After making a sale, the transaction isn’t over. One way that successful startups add value is by maintaining communication and anticipating how customers’ needs may change along the way. This means gathering feedback and continuously learning how you can better serve your customers’ interests.
Your behavior towards the customer after the sale will make all the difference. They could end up telling their friends about you and becoming a lifelong repeat customer. But, they could also forget about you the next day or worse, leave a bad review online.
According to the Pew Research Center, 74% of adults who are online use social networking sites (with 71% of online adults using Facebook). Social media is an amazing tool that startups should be taking advantage of. Not only do platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Instagram, etc. give us access to large active audiences, they also often provide us with additional tools and resources to learn from so we can improve our efforts.
A well-rounded social media strategy can inspire happy customers to share your startup on social media and recommend you to their friends and family. Building a good online reputation is a great way to let your fans and customers sell for you!
A little known fact about social media is that it’s a great way to listen to what your customers are saying about their pain points and problems. You can use that information when you are crafting the copy on your website or doing a sales pitch.
4. Have a plan
If your startup is planning any type of crowdfunding project (equity, rewards, debt, etc.), it is expected that you are passed the idea stage and have a plan as to how you’re going to deliver what you are promising in your pitch.
Having a solid business plan, budget, timeline and realistic goals can help ensure your success by showing potential customers, backers or investors that you are well-prepared.
Also, remember that even when you have your plan in place you need to maintain some flexibility – startups should always be open to learning and improvement.
When you have a plan, you come off as far more confident and credible than a company that is simply throwing products at the wall and seeing if they stick.
5. Make the customer #1
This point was briefly mentioned in tip #2, but it’s important enough to expand on a little more here.
As an ecommerce startup, being aware of the competition and learning from other people’s mistakes is good. However, until you differentiate yourself and grow your market share you won’t last long by trying to compete with the big guns. Focus instead on the bigger picture. As one creator notes:
“The crowd funding community has a lot of people who wish to support not just specific projects, but to support the business model overall. By backing several projects they have had a front row seat to see what works best and what falls short with different types of projects and their expertise is very valuable.”
Empowered and appreciated customers will be loyal and an asset in the future. Be sure to answer frequently asked questions, be responsive to backer concerns and provide a good overall service if you want your customers to stick with your business instead of looking for alternatives.
Conclusion
I hope some of these tips are helpful when growing your ecommerce store!
There are so many other ways to improve the growth of your startup, like optimizing your store for search engines.
Discovering the best way to get your message across during a crowdfunding campaign or afterwards in a way results in more pledges can be tricky.
But, if you keep at it, measure your progress with data, and keep an eye on customer satisfaction, you’ll be successful!
