If you want your online business to succeed, you’ll need to set everything up properly from the start. If you leave things to chance and just hope for the best, you probably won’t make that much of a good impression, and if anyone is willing to try out your services, they may not come back. It’s far better to take more time before you launch to put everything in place and do all your market research so you can start positively than it is to risk getting things wrong and making a poor first impression that you can’t return from.
One thing you’ll certainly need to think about is the tech you need for your online business. Without this, you might not be able to do everything you need to do to succeed. Yet there’s so much to choose from that it can feel overwhelming, and you might not know where to start. With that in mind, here are some of the top pieces of tech you’ll need for your online business to ensure you’ve got everything covered.
A Website
If you’re selling anything online, you’re going to need a website to sell it from. No matter whether you’re selling something physical, such as perfumes from directfragrances.online, or a service like tutoring, if you don’t have a website, no one is going to know you exist, let alone be able to buy from you.
It’s easy to say you need a website, but once you start looking into the different possibilities, it can get confusing again, as there are many options for you. You might go for an eCommerce platform like Amazon, where everything is set up for you but where you lose a portion of your profits for the privilege.
Or perhaps you’ll buy a domain from specialists in eCommerce like WooCommerce or Shopify; here, part of the work is done for you, but you’ll need to customize the site how you want it. Another option is to start from scratch and not be linked to any other business. Take some time to think about what’s best for you – your website is crucial, and you don’t want to get it wrong.
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Software
If there’s one thing you’ll definitely want to do when you run an online business, it’s to connect with your customers, make a good impression, and keep them as loyal as possible for as long as possible. If you can do that, not only will they be happy to buy from you for the first time, but they’ll keep coming back to buy more, and they’ll ideally tell their friends and family about you, so your customer base will grow without you having to spend a fortune on marketing.
In order to do this, you’ll need to deliver exceptional customer service, but that’s not always easy when you’re not working face to face with someone. Instead, everything is done online, fairly anonymously. To help, you should invest in good customer relationship management (CRM) software.
With this software, you can keep everyone’s information and data on one platform, helping you to find the information you need when someone contacts you. You can store their contact details, payment information, and details of any conversations or correspondence you’ve had in the past.
That way, you’ll never have to waste time looking for information when discussing something with them. Even better, since everything is in one place, any of your team who has the correct log in details can get that information, meaning that no matter who the customer speaks to, they’ll be helped in the same way.
On top of this, when you use a CRM in the right way and collate as much information as possible, you’ll be able to create targeted marketing campaigns that speak directly to the customers you want to reach, as you’ll know as much about them as possible.
Social Media
Creating social media profiles and regularly adding content to them might seem like a chore you just don’t want to take on or don’t feel you have time for when you’re running an online business, but the truth is that social media can be a big help when it comes to growing your business and finding customers, so it’s something you really shouldn’t ignore.
When you can engage with customers and potential customers online through social media, they’ll get a much better idea of who you are and what you do, so it’s well worth putting aside time for.
Of course, to make things easier you can use scheduling software, meaning you can write all your posts in one go and have them posted throughout the week. You’ll still need to engage with people who comment or ask questions, but the main bulk of the work can be done well in advance.