Drive Your Customers Back To Your Website With These Effective Email Marketing Campaigns

Email campaigns are an effective way of engaging with customers on a regular basis. All online businesses today are using emails to maintain healthy relationships with their customers. The emails they send are not just sales promotions, but are simply “hello” or “how you doing?” emails. These personalized emails are proving to be very effective in driving traffic back to websites. Here are a few examples of the sort of effective email campaigns that online businesses are using today.

Source: Pexels

Welcome Emails

A welcome email is the first email that your brand or business sends to a person after they have just joined your mailing list. You can also send out welcome emails to customers who have just purchased a product from your store for the first time. Statistics show that welcome emails are known to have a massive open rate of 45% when compared to an open rate of 18% for promotional emails.

People who join a mailing list are new subscribers while people who buy your product for the first time are new customers. The purpose of a welcome email should be to thank these people for joining your mailing list or for joining your customer base.

Welcome emails also serve as a means to formally introduce your brand to these people who have shown considerable interest in it so far. Because welcome emails have such great open rates and are somewhat expected from new clients, many brands are now using this opportunity to slip in a clear and valuable call to action that brings the customer back to the website.

It’s also a good idea to send follow up emails to your welcome email. An example would be an email requesting a product review. This is great for a few reasons. Not only will you possibly get more repeat traffic by bringing the customer back to your website, but their review can help recommend your products to other customers.

Abandoned Cart Emails

Research has shown that more than 80% of online shopping carts are abandoned. This means that there is an enormous amount of potential sales being missed due to customers losing interest in products at the very last moment.

Optimizing the website and the entire checkout process to ensure that customers make their purchase isn’t enough to stop cart abandonment. There are plenty of other reasons (some unrelated) why people may abandon their carts. It’s best to formulate a cart abandonment strategy that can be used to win back customers and increase website traffic.

It is estimated that websites that take an interest in their abandoned carts can recover about 63% of the revenue lost due to cart abandonment. Abandoned cart emails are as simple as kindly reminded customers of the goods that they may have left behind in their shopping cart.

Lead Nurturing Emails

Every online store or business must have a proper sales process (also known as sales funnel/cycle) in place on their website. The sales process must be relevant and effective in regards to converting traffic into sales. Directing targeted traffic to the start of a sales process means that a percentage of that traffic will turn into sales.

Lead nurturing is meant for customers that are not moving through the sales process as effectively as planned. Yes, the sales process has all the steps available and ready to convert leads into sales. However, some leads need to be guided through the sales process. An excellent way to achieve this is by email.

Only a small percentage (as low as 10%) of website visitors will buy your product. For the rest of the visitors, you will have to produce a series of nurture emails to entice them further to purchase your products or services. Here are a few types of emails that you can send to customers.

According to Ecango, emails allow your customers the opportunity to get to know your brand. Educate customers by recommending blog posts they may like or merely share useful knowledge related to your products.

Continue to tell a story of your brand and how it is currently helping people. Examples being a product that assists people to lose weight or get fit.

Repeat Customer Emails

All businesses should work just as hard to keep their customers as they did when finding them. Reports have shown that repeat customers are responsible for around a quarter of revenue. You might find it easier to maintain and strengthen relationships with current customers through email campaigns than instead of acquiring new customers.

One of the best ways to keep the business relationship going on between you and your customer is to check in continually. Send an email a few days after the product has arrived. Find out if the delivery went well and if they are happy with the product. If it is a simple product, then maybe request a review.

The good thing about repeat customers is that you already know their preferences. Their purchase history could help you personalize your recommendations. For example, If they did purchase a specific smartphone, then recommend compatible cases, chargers, power banks, and Bluetooth accessories.

Re-Engagement Emails

Your subscribers and customers may wander off into the abyss and not respond to any of the emails above. This could be for a few reasons, but the point of email marketing is to continue to grow a healthy business relationship between the customer and the store.

Such a healthy relationship cannot exist if the customer does not respond at all to any type of email from you. The idea is to spark some sort of engagement and action from your customer. Re-engagement emails give you the opportunity to ignite that spark.

To re-engage, its best to remind them of your store and the relationship you guys have. Making them aware of the fact that you miss them may help bring them back. If there is no response, then offer a discount on their next purchase. The discount can be seen as a small sacrifice in getting back an old customer.

Still no response? Inform customers that you are in the process of unsubscribing them from your email list. They may respond due to not wanting to have to subscribe at a later stage. If they don’t get back to you, then they are considered as inactive and should be removed from your mailing list.

There is plenty of research and time put into active mailing lists. It’s best to continue to keep a healthy and engaging list going. It’s also important to remember that the best time to begin a re-engagement campaign is after about 60 days if inactivity.

When designing effective automated emails, it’s best to continue testing different font, subject line, picture, and media combinations. People react differently to emails, that’s why it is best to find emails best suited for your niche of customers. It is also important to note that your emails must always be optimized for mobile. Most people today would rather quickly view their email inbox on their mobile smartphone instead of booting up their PC.

Boost Your Sales With Instagram Stories

Online brands have had some great success with Instagram Stories and Instagram Advertising. This compelling way to consume media is taking the platform by storm. Users are more focused on creating content for Instagram Stories than they are for their own feed. Users are just as passionate about watching other users stories on Instagram. Now is the right time for your brand to be apart of Instagram Stories.

Source: Pexels

Instagram Stories is ideal for established brands who wish to lead Instagram users to their website. Instagram blocks website links throughout most of its content. The only way you can post links to your website is on your profile page, ads, and Instagram Stories.

However, You will require a business profile with more than ten thousand followers before you can post links. Before you get started on your Instagram Stories journey, there are a few key factors that you should consider to market your brand successfully on Instagram Stories.

Locate Your Target Audience

This is one of the most crucial factor in regards to generating leads through Instagram stories. You will need to first determine if your target audience is, in fact, part of the Instagram platform. This is entirely dependent on your product, services, and brand.

Instagram does cater to a younger audience, most of which are in their twenties. There is a decent portion of thirty-year-olds on the platform, but the figures drop drastically after the forty year mark. If your brand’s products are aimed towards people over the age of fifty, then Instagram may not be for you.

Source: Statista

If your brand wishes to market itself to a younger audience who visit their Instagram feed regularly, then you should consider creating content that suits this audience. Remember, Instagram has recently hit a billion users, making them one of the largest social media platforms in the world. Getting into that market is a no-brainer.

Source: Statista

Prepare Your Website For Instagram Traffic

One of the primary purposes of marketing on Instagram Stories is to be able to lead traffic back to your website. If done correctly, then you would have discovered a great way to direct relevant traffic to your brand for free.

The thing is, all your efforts will not be justified if your website is not optimized for Instagram visitors. This is why you should spend some time and effort first on building a website and a sales process that is geared towards converting visitors from your Instagram marketing campaign.

People who view your Instagram story will swipe up to go to your website. Your actual site will open up natively within the Instagram mobile app. The mobile app is the best way to experience Instagram. This is why most users will see your stories on their mobile phone.

Because of this, you should ensure that your website is mobile friendly and that all your call to actions and navigation options are apparent on a mobile device. If you are using Instagram to sell your product, then chances are your customers will purchase your product on their mobile device.

Crafting a Great Landing Page and Sales Process.

So, to recap, the entire process is as follows:-

An Instagram user sees your story post.
They swipe up to be redirected to your website (in most cases, within the mobile Instagram app).
They view the landing page for your product which has clear call-to-action buttons like “buy now” or “sign up.”
They are directed to check out or sign up process that requires further input from them
Purchase/sign up complete! This can be an opportunity to say thank you as well.

As a website owner, it is up to you to make the above process as enjoyable and as easy as possible for the customer. As far as enjoyability goes, mobile optimization and design are crucial. Having your website open up within the Instagram app is brilliant as the customer will not need to leave the app to reach your online store.

This means that they can either exit your website to go back to browse more stories, or complete the sales process and purchase your product. This is your opportunity to deliver a powerful message that will keep them invested in the sales journey. Your landing page has to try and keep them on your website and lead them to a sale before they decide to go back to the app.

Easy Does It!

Concerning ease of use, it is actually a great idea to allow users to buy without signing up. In general. People prefer as little steps as possible in regards to purchasing items online. The signup process can be a hassle as it requires to fill in an extra form.

Allowing customers to purchase without signup means that they can jump to your website within Instagram and then just buy. There’s a considerable chance that even your stores registered users will not even be logged into your store when accessing it through the Instagram app. Even these users will appreciate purchasing without registering or logging in.

It is also a great idea to customize the content on your website for Instagram users. This is because Instagram users will be viewing this content through the Instagram app. Include Instagram related words or sayings in your copy.

Create Your Story

Anything goes here really. However, including content that will make people shy away from your stories is a common mistake. Regularly sales pitching and even product pushing are some examples.

Your story has to be intriguing and engaging. You have to tell a story that will make the viewer take action, and the effect is to swipe up. Video works really well here as you are able to speak out directly to your audience.

As far as pictures go, brands are beginning to do some awe-inspiring work with images. Instead of uploading a single picture, they are uploading multiple photos that combine to tell an entire story. Each picture is but a part of the story which comes to a climactic end that requires you to swipe up to find out more on the story.

It is almost like the end of an episode of your favorite drama series or soap opera. You felt so compelled and exhilarated that you need to watch the next episode right now!

Instagram Stories is undoubtedly a hot commodity at the moment. However, it is important to note that because your stories only last for 24 hours, the number of people who view your stories may vary. This is why you must post stories at relevant times and consistently grow your followers if you wish to reach out to more people through Instagram Stories.

The Habits of Successful Entrepreneurs

All of the most successful people in the world today have one major thing in common. They all dedicate about an hour a day reading and learning. This simple daily aspect, also known as the 5-hour rule, is one of the reasons they are successful and remain successful. Let’s take a closer look at what makes this 5-hour rule so crucial to people like Barack Obama, Warren Buffet, and Oprah Winfrey. This is indeed something that you can implement into your life as well as your business.

Why implement the 5-hour rule?

The sheer importance behind the 5-hour rule is learning. This means learning for you, your staff, and your company. The idea is to develop and grow yourself and your business. It’s easy to confuse work with learning, as business owners tend to work long hours to achieve maximum effort and to progress further.

This may feel productive and intuitive, but the truth is, you don’t learn. And when you don’t learn, you won’t progress further the way you should. You must dedicate time to understanding other aspects of life that are not necessarily linked to your business. In doing so, it is possible that you may gain valuable knowledge and lessons from other industries that you can use in yours.

Learning also facilitates growth as you figure out new ways to efficiently automate your business and expand into other markets, online and offline. Spending all your time merely working your craft won’t be enough to survive the everchanging and volatile markets of today.

You must experiment with new ideas to remain innovative among your competitors and customers. To begin, all you have to do is take part in these three basic activities on a daily basis. The best minds in the world today spend at least an hour reading, reflecting, and experimenting. What’s stopping you?

Reading

Reading is a habit that is commonly shared between some of the most successful people of our generation and before. People such as Bill Gates and Elon Musk have confessed to spending a significant amount of their time reading.

Bill Gates is famous for reading around 50 books a year. Elon Musk is also famous for stating that he once went through an entire Encyclopedia Britannica when he was nine years old. He used to spend around ten hours a day reading.

The most common reason behind why Gates, Ecango and Musk love to read is because reading is one of their primary ways of learning. They and dozens of other successful entrepreneurs such as Tony Robbins and Richard Branson read to learn. Which is why they love to read!

Elon Musk has also stated that he learned to build rockets from reading. This is how he was able to develop his successful SpaceX company. An hour a day for reading is ideal. This will help you progress quickly through your books. It is advisable to start off with around 20 to 30 minutes a day first before upping it to an hour.

Reflection

Reflection is considered to be an integral part of learning. You need to spend some time reflecting upon the content that you may have read. Not doing so while just continuing to read over and over again will deprive you of picking up the necessary skills that can be realized through reflection.

In other words, when you do finish reading a book, article, or blog post, spend some time thinking about how you would put this information to use. The content that you have read doesn’t have to be related to your work, nor do you have to go and action it 100% in the real world.

However, reflection gives you the opportunity to play out various scenarios in your head, related to the content you just read. This means that you can practice what you have learned through imagination. This is also a great way to build up your thought process which will help you when brainstorming ideas related to your business.

No one wants to be a prisoner of the past, but spending some time looking back and reflecting on your mistakes will help you to learn from them. Try to spend about 15 to 20 minutes a day reflecting upon some of the most important lessons you have read, experienced, or have planned for the future.

Experimentation

Experimentation is needed to progress. Innovation will never be achieved by doing the same thing every day. You will have to put to the test the things you have learned from reading as well as the ideas you would have come across after reflecting upon them.

Experiments turn assumptions into facts. Experimenting means taking innovative aspects from other industries and implementing them into your industry, even if those aspects are unheard of by your peers. In doing so, it is possible that you might just change the game.

It’s important to remember that it is perfectly fine if your experiments don’t work out. The primary objective is to learn from your mistakes and to gather as much information as possible from your experiments. Your ideas might be very advanced, so your findings may not be relevant now, but maybe in the near future.

Companies spend large sums of money on staff and manager training. There isn’t anything wrong with this, but reading on subjects of your choice at your leisure is much different. This allows you the opportunity to become more innovative in your thinking, which can lead to more opportunities. It doesn’t take much time and effort to implement the 5-hour rule. Go ahead, start today!

10 Reasons Why You Should Implement SAAS into Your Business

Almost every business has some piece of software that is central to its operations. This software could come in the form of an accounting, invoicing, or CRM package. It is the software that drives the business forward. However, this important software isn’t very versatile and can be very expensive. Now, things have changed. The very same software is easily available via web browsers at affordable prices. A new era has dawned upon us with cloud-based software as a service.

What is SAAS?

Software As A Service (SAAS) is software that is managed remotely by a provider which is then leased out to companies. SAAS software usually run in the cloud and can be accessed via an internet browser.

An example of SAAS is Google Sheets. In order to make use of the app, all you would need to do is log into google sheet. The software and all of its features will be readily available within the browser. On the other hand, Sheets competitor MS Excel has to be installed onto your computer.

More Examples of industries using SAAS:-

- Gaming
- Music production
- Video editing
- Accounting
- Administration
- Sales
- CRM
- Marketing

SAAS eliminates many of the drawbacks that users experience with traditional software systems. SAAS also has plenty of advantages for its users, especially corporate business. Below are 10 examples of why SAAS is making such a large impact on the world today.

1. Pay As You Go

Most SAAS software companies offer month to month payment plans and an optional yearly plan. This allows you to accurately predict any monthly fees that are associated with the software. There’s no real need to fully commit here as you can simply choose to put the service on hold or terminate the service completely.

2. No Installation and Transition Costs

Traditional software requires a huge upfront investment before you can even start using the software. Apart from the cost of the actual software, you will need to provide for other additional costs as well.

There are expenses attached to everything like the following:-

Physical installation discs
Upgrading computer hardware in order to be compatible to the software
Purchase of a new server PC may be required
The hiring of IT staff to assist with networking and installation
Training and migration costs

Most SAAS software works simply within a compatible browser. No need to make any major changes to your company’s infrastructure. SAAS companies also do a great job of including tutorials and support within the software.

Source: quora

3. Upgrades and Updates

Traditional commercial software required businesses to manually install updates with a CD. In most cases, they would have to purchase the CD which is then couriered to the office. This is a slow, costly, and primitive means of staying up to date. If the software you bought has a major update, you will in most cases be required to repurchase the latest version.

With SAAS, everything is taken care off by the vendor. Updates and upgrades are all done in-house. All you need to do is continue to log into the software via your web browser.

4. Customization

Some SAAS companies allow each individual users to customize the software to suit their needs and business processes. All this is done while not interfering with the common software infrastructure. The customization options you make will be preserved within the software, even after scheduled updates.

5. Stronger Global Access

International companies will love the fact that you will be able to seamlessly collaborate with other team members that are abroad. No need for complicated networking, privileges, and encrypted data over secure networks. Everyone can operate on a system that is currently running on the same most up to date version of the software.

6. Work Anywhere!

This is an absolute game changer. The ability to work as normal from anywhere you please is something that was unheard of just a few years ago.

Most corporate accounting packages require a server PC in which to install the host data. This data is accessed by the employees of the company with PCs that are on the same network as the server PC. This meant you had to be physically logged into the company network in order to process ledger entries.

With SAAS, you can view and edit your journal entries from any PC with a browser that is compatible with the software. Some SAAS companies offer mobile apps which allow you to view and manipulate data straight from your smartphone.

7. High Software Adoption Rate

As mentioned earlier, it is a costly affair for companies that wish to migrate over to new software that is at the heart of the business. These software systems are very specialized and are difficult to learn. Training will most likely be required. This is why staff members hate adopting such software.

However, SAAS apps are easily accessible via web browsers and have a generally lower learning curve than traditional software. Most SAAS companies create their software with the intention of reaching a broad audience.

In order to do so, they make sure that the software is as user-friendly as possible. This makes it easier for companies to migrate to new software as employees will be able to master the new software quickly.

8. Support for Multiple Devices

SAAS software that runs in web browsers such as Google Chrome and Firefox already have a world of possibilities open for their users. Users can now access their software anywhere via multiple devices that have internet browsers.

There are also plenty of SAAS companies that are porting their software into popular app stores for both Apple and Android users. This increases the versatility of the software in a big way as you can now access your data quickly all the time from your smartphone or tablet.

9. No Need for IT Administrators

As mentioned earlier, all updates, maintained everything, and other technical tasks are taken care of by the SAAS provider. There is no need for companies to have an IT technician on standby to troubleshoot when there is a problem. No need to manually run patches or upgrades as well, all gets done internally by the software provider.

10. Software Management

A SAAS app will be completely managed by its vendor or host. Service level agreements (SLA) govern the support commitment that a provider should make to a subscriber. This is why a provider is compelled to ensure that their software is managed properly and meets all the requirements of the SLA.

The transition to SAAS will not be easy due to the market currently dominated by traditional software systems. However, more companies (especially small businesses) are beginning to adopt SAAS and integrate it into the business. Software as a service is certainly the future of commercial software.

7 Tips To Help You Raise Cash and Grow Your Startup

The initial stages of a startup can be truly challenging. Most entrepreneurs love that challenge. They are addicted to the hustle. One of the reasons for such confidence is the fact that they know how to go from startup to a fully fledged business. Below are some important tips to help you raise cash and build up your startup.

Source: unsplash

Tip 1: Start With Your Own Cash

When you are in the initial stages of your startup, make use of your own cash. This could be money from savings and investment accounts. You could even take out a loan on your house. This is an incredible risk, but it will be one of the things that will drive you to success. Succeeding in order to pay yourself back the capital you invested can be a great motivating factor.

Using your own cash is also a great way to show people that you have full confidence in your own business. This is especially useful when seeking outside investors for extra funding. These investors will appreciate the fact that the founder of the business used his own money to get to the point that he is at now.

Tip 2: Strategic Partnerships

If your business has a solution that is admired by someone, you could propose a partnership with that person in order to keep things going. You can partner with large corporations, suppliers, wholesalers, and even customers.

If a customer loves the work you do and wants to see your business expand, they could be willing to help fund that expansion for the greater good. The important thing to remember is that the game completely changes once the business has a new partner. You will be required to work according to fair practices that benefit both of you.

There won’t be room for doing things your way, every process and transaction must be properly adhered to and recorded. Your company must remain transparent to the new partner. And the same goes for the new partner, they cannot expect you to start committing unfair and unethical practices.

Tip 3: Bootstrapping

Bootstrapping is the art of running a successful startup with little or no financial resources. The main idea here is to keep the company afloat in its initial stages while it acquires the right amount of clientele to make the business profitable. In this scenario, every dime counts as you stretch your business’ financial resources.

It is also important to note that the company’s fixed costs have to be kept to a minimum. Some examples are, using equipment and computers that you already own, sharing office space, and negotiate fees with suppliers within your network.

A great way to negotiate with inventory suppliers is to agree on an early settlement discount. This will allow you to receive a further rebate on your inventory. You can pay these suppliers as cash comes in from the sales you make.

Tip 4: Work Towards a Great Credit Rating

Always ensure that your business has a good credit rating. Even if you don’t wish to take out any loans. It’s good to prepare for future events. You never know, your company might grow to the point that you may require to buy more equipment and vehicles.

The best way to acquire such assets is through a bank loan. You could focus on raising cash for these assets. However, this can seriously place a damper on your cash flow and can affect your inventory as well.

The best way to keep a steady credit record is to ensure all of your creditors are paid on time. When applying for loans, financial institutions run background checks. You wouldn’t want to be that person who is known for late payments.

Some creditors are very strict in regards to late payments and can reduce your credit limit or pass judgments on your business name. This can seriously hurt your credit score.

Tip 5: Start Delegating Your Work

In the initial stages of your business, you would have played a role in every aspect of the business. You definitely know how to handle everything because you have managed to achieve so much success so far.

However, continuing to run a business with no employees means no growth. Your company could reach a stage where you either have to hire someone or turn down work. Failing to accommodate the work you turn down can cost you more in the long run than it would cost you to hire someone.

Passing over your work to someone else can give you the opportunity to find more work and grow the business. This is the smart way to increase income in any business. Most staff members bring more value that you can imagine. Apart from their regular duties, people can carry out other tasks while offering their own advice and experience.

Tip 6: Re-Work the Company’s Tagline

People know you for saying “I own a small clothing store”. Start telling people “I own a unique clothing store that offers quality fashion at affordable prices”. Making a significant claim makes it seem like you are confident in your business and its products. This can assist in getting people to take interest in your brand.

You will, however, be required to back up the claims that you make. Going against your own claims will create a negative effect towards your company’s brand. It may seem difficult to make such claims and promises. Though, doing so could motivate you to push yourself and your company towards its goal. Your customers will appreciate that too.

Tip 7: Urgency

Not only is reaching your goals important but handling these tasks with urgency is the key to success of any business venture. The ability to achieve goals with urgency will create a great deal of momentum within that company.

This momentum can set the standard for your company, which is an efficient and powerful standard. Putting pressure on people to deliver results quickly doesn’t necessarily mean you will get a terrible product or service. It could mean that you will definitely get the job done.

Entrepreneurs love the hustle and the challenges that come with it. You should try and look at things this way too. Don’t get discouraged by any sort of hurdles that you may face when growing your business. Always remain positive when trying to achieve your goals.

5 Steps To Creating a Facebook Sales Funnel

Facebook isn’t on the top of everyone’s favorite social networks list. But it’s hard to deny the power of the platform. Especially from a sales and marketing perspective. The platform offers valuable insights and resources that can assist businesses in acquiring the right kind of audience that they seek. Incorporating these tools into a sales funnel that is linked to your products website is a no-brainer.

According to the Statistia website, as of quarter 1 of 2018, Facebook has 2.19 billion users (and growing). The platform continues to grow at a consistent rate. Advertising on Facebook is also very well priced. Their average cost per click advert is as low as $0.64. Just imagine the number of marketing opportunities available on Facebook. If you have a website that sells products and a valid Facebook Page, you can then create a sales funnel that will allow you to tap into Facebook’s audience and sell your product. It’s a 5 step process to start your Facebook sales funnel.

Step 1: Create Content

People on Facebook love great content. Content that appeals to them directly in some way or the other. This content should be engaging to your audience and must be relevant to the product that you are promoting. The content that you produce should also be available on your website in the form of a blog post, eBook, or video. You can then share the content from your website onto Facebook. An example would be your websites most popular blog post or video.

Having high-quality content on both your website and Facebook means that you now have a focus point for your audience. This focus point can be a way of attracting traffic towards your facebook page and website. Creating freebies and giveaways is another great way to attract visitors. This creates a buzz around your Facebook page which leads to further engagement and likes from fans.

Step 2: Collect Traffic

Gaining likes on Facebook can take time and money. The quickest way to get an audience on Facebook is to advertise on the platform. They can get you “likes” from a targeted audience that has interests similar to your products. It’s important to remember that you should only do this once you have a well built and active Facebook page that is filled with engaging posts and content.

Facebook Widgets

You can also add Facebook widgets to your website. These widgets can help direct some of your websites existing traffic to your Facebook page. Some widgets allow visitors who are logged into Facebook to instantly click on the like button displayed on your website without having to go to Facebook.

The Facebook Messenger widget is becoming more popular with businesses. People who visit your website can start chatting with you via Facebook directly through the widget. This allows your company to directly interact with its leads who can also hit the page like button displayed in the widget.

Facebook Pixel

Probably the most important advanced feature available for Facebook Marketers is the Facebook Pixel. The Pixel allows websites to track Facebook users who visit their website. If someone is logged into Facebook and they visit your website, their profile and behavior are then recorded by Facebook. You will then be able to serve these people with ads relevant to your website. So the next time they are logged into Facebook, they will come across your ads.

This feature is great for retargeting ads and building an audience for your Facebook page. The Facebook Pixel can also be customized to track specific behavior on your website. So it is possible for a person to view a product on your website, only to leave without making a purchase. The next time that person logs into Facebook, Facebook will deliver ads related to the product that they abandoned.

Step 3: Establish a Warm Audience

A warm audience is traffic that has already been exposed to your business and its products. Warm traffic is people with an interest relevant to your products. Warm traffic isn’t only people who liked your Facebook page, it’s also people included in the data that the Facebook Pixel collected.

As mentioned earlier, you can use the data from the Pixel to serve your warm traffic with more ads on Facebook related to your content. Continuously exposing a warm audience with your content will increase the chances of them remembering you.

This can also increase the chances of them clicking on your ads which will lead them back to your website. A warm audience is more likely to give their email address and buy a product from your website.

Step 4: Create a “Look-A-Like” Audience

After you have setup and understood your warm audience, you can then move towards creating a LAL (lookalike) audience. A LAL audience is people who share similar interests with your warm audience. Acquiring a LAL audience is great news as they will most likely be just as interested in buying your product as a warm audience member would be.

In this case, Facebook already has all the data you need (warm audience data from the Facebook Pixel) and can determine your LAL audience easily. You can also upload an email list of warm audiences that you have already collected. Facebook can generate LAL audiences based on that list. You can then begin to target these users in the hopes of expanding your customer base.

The chances of LAL audience members engaging with your ads and linking out to your website is high because of their preferred interests towards your niche. That is why this method is considered absolutely valuable as it eliminates the whole trial and error part of trying to figure out your audience.

Step 5: Remarketing

As you continue to grow your warm audience by acquiring lookalike users, you can then begin to remarket your message to these groups of people. Remarketing (or retargeting) is when you begin to track people who have visited links to your website but have never joined an email list or bought anything.

These people know your brand and product. They probably love your content, which is why they keep going back to your website. However, they just don’t seem to be convinced enough to go ahead with the purchase.

Retargeting ads gives you an opportunity to push the sale even further. The customer may just be someone who is a hard sell and needs a bit more motivation or convincing. This is when you can create custom adds to further entice them to choose your product.

It’s important to remember that the message in this ad may have higher persuasion tactics when compared to standard ads. It’s best to keep these retargeting ads separate from your standard ad units.

The steps listed above are a simple yet effective way to increase followers to your Facebook page while increasing the traffic to your website. This can lead to more opportunities on your website as well. It is important to develop a website with a solid product as well as a well-designed sales funnel and strategy first before you begin tapping into Facebook’s endless pool of leads. It’s no use doing all this work when your content and website is not optimized to engage and convert traffic into sales.

How To Increase Customer Engagement For Your Online Business

Traditional businesses rely on sales and management staff to properly engage with their customers. If there are any queries on products then a sales representative will be more than happy to explain. Product issues are also taken care off in the customer service department. This scenario isn’t quite the same in the world of e-commerce. Since everything is online, store owners will have to improvise, as well as use technology to engage and assist their customers.

Customer engagement is one of the most proven methods of successful online stores. Allowing customers to interact directly with a store will give them a sense of control whilst establishing trust with them. If done correctly, customers will be able to feel right at home when browsing an online store’s pages. Trust isn’t gained overnight. This is something that store owners will have to focus on in order to enjoy a loyal following of customers. So where can you start? Try chatting

Live Chat

No matter how much information a store can have in a products description, it still isn’t enough. Customers will always want to know more about a product or service that they intend on purchasing. The information they require could be warranty related, or it could just be some further reassurance on the quality of the product. Whatever the case may be, you need to try and get in there and close the deal. For e-commerce stores, online chat within the store is the way to go.

Ideally, a customer will have to call you for more information on a particular product. Most shoppers online don’t tend to seek information from calling stores. They would rather move to another website for more details on the product or initiate an online chat. Starting a chat with an online store doesn’t cost anything and in most cases, the store clerk (chat agent) will successfully serve the customer with answers relevant to their needs.

Chatbots are becoming increasingly popular with e-commerce websites. A chatbot can engage with a customer immediately at any given time or moment. Chatbots will ask customers a series of questions in order to serve them with the most relevant answer. If the query is complex, then the chatbot will forward the customer to a human agent for further troubleshooting. This is perfect for after-hours chat as well as chatting globally with consumers from different time zones.

Another chat feature worth mentioning is Facebook Messenger. More online megastores today are taking proper advantage of this platform. In doing so, stores are now able to chat directly with prospective customers on Facebook. This makes communication convenient for those who don’t wish to leave Facebook.

Comments Section

Accepting comments and reviews for your products is an excellent way to create consumer engagement on an online store. This can possibly be the start of interaction that can take place between a single customer and other potential buyers. The owner of the store can also reply with positive comments by leaving a “thank you” comment as a token of appreciation. This will indicate to customers that the store is paying attention to their needs. A gesture like this can assist the store in gaining trust with its customers.

Customer engagement

Online comments sections can also be the source for many heated debates and arguments. People who run websites tend to have much difficulty dealing with hate comments. When it does come down to a situation like this, its best not to blow things out of proportion by responding inappropriately.

A stores response will be scrutinized to the fullest. It’s best to handle hate comments on a store product in the most decent and helpful way possible. Try to get the upset customers details so that you can contact them in private in order to resolve the issue. Future visitors can still go through these older comments and will be satisfied to know that this particular store handles problems efficiently and with care.

Working with Comments outside a store

Some unsatisfied customers will go beyond a stores comments section. They can choose to post negative reviews of your products onto sites like Google and Yelp. It isn’t easy trying to get these comments taken down. Instead, respond to the customer’s needs and try and resolve the complaint. It is very possible that a complaining customer will come back and buy more goods.

Social media can be a great place to strip away some of the formal interactions and replace it with a casual and light-hearted approach. Many companies have stuck to likeable online personas that truly represent their brand. But overdosing it can sometimes lead to poor taste. Distasteful tweets and posts are taken very seriously by the public and can cause more of a negative impact on your companies engagement with its customers.

Offer Rewards

Loyalty programs and incentives are a great way to express appreciation towards customer engagement. Freebies such as free trials and e-books can do the trick. You can still take things further by implementing a proper rewards program that awards faithful customers with points which can be converted to discount or free shipping.

Points can be allocated to customers not only through purchases made but through them engaging in various activities across the website. Activities such as reviewing and commenting on products, social shares, getting friends to register, and filling out questionnaires. Offering new customers with free items early on is a great way to start a loyal and engaging relationship with them.

Another great tactic is to reward the best customers with further special rewards. These customers are usually worth the most to the businesses. Making a small investment in keeping them happy can go a long way in terms of word of mouth marketing. Stores can take part in further promotions with these top-tier customers by featuring them in reviews on the website.

Directly engaging with online shoppers is the future of e-commerce. Being able to connect with potential buyers in a meaningful way has the potential to increase an online stores conversion rate. Consistently pushing engagement in a positive way can also lead to customer loyalty. This means consistent repeat business, which is what all business strives for.