Businesses are operating in an increasingly fast-changing world where standing still and sticking to outdated strategies are no longer options. They need a growth strategy that both corresponds to and anticipates industry changes, generating efficiency and improvements to boost profit margins and achieve long-term success.
Here are six steps you can take to future-proof your small business for 2022 and beyond and stay ahead of the curve:
1) A good marketing strategy
Customers have picked your product to the detriment of all other options, and you should reward them. There are many simple ways to demonstrate to each customer that you value their business, in addition to targeted email marketing.
On a modern website, customers should be able to create profiles, and businesses can optimise search options so they can find things quickly. Websites can even provide unique loyalty incentives tailored perhaps to previous purchases. Every little piece of personalisation helps, and using a platform like Stor can help you with all of the above while also allowing you to take pre-orders.
2) Robust payment systems
Finding the ideal payment provider to meet your payment needs is one of the most difficult challenges for an online business. The payment gateway you choose for your eCommerce store is just as crucial as the design.
Customers want a pleasant shopping experience thus, having a payment gateway that frustrates them during the checkout process might lead to a large number of abandoned carts.
Partner with a payment provider like TRU Connect, who can provide the most up-to-date payment options so that your customers can always pay the way they choose, whether it’s with debit or credit cards, eWallets, checks, or Apple and Google Pay. It also includes a dashboard that shows you how your payments are progressing, as well as international payment methods and over 100 processing currencies.
3) Adopt AI
AI can be used to make the whole payment process on your website frictionless and extremely accurate. It can help process data variables such as payment amount, beneficiary, and account details quickly to allow for a more seamless, automated payments process.
Our TRU Connect platform offers these features as standard, as well as utilising advanced AI to track purchases and help maintain security for both sellers and consumers. These processes take only a fraction of the time previously required when entered manually, all while transforming how you support your customers.
4) Use automation to drive down costs
Using automation for your sales and marketing processes will drive costs down while helping you increase your conversions and sales. Customers need to be nurtured and guided through their purchases – automated processes like abandoned cart reminders help streamline this journey.
Similarly, tracking how clients navigate your website and programming it to offer discounts for undecided customers can also be automated with the right tool. Use an out of the box eCommerce platform like Stor that will give you extra automated functionality like related products, bonus items or FTP uploads to allow your customers to shop in just a few clicks.
5) Get Data Visualisations
Data should be at the core of all your business decisions to help you understand where your potential for growth really is. The easiest way to get a good picture of your data is to look for a provider that can provide visual data insights both from Google Analytics and your eCommerce tracking.
While there are a lot of providers that offer solutions for data visualisation, finding one that can offer insights into your payments processes is vital. Learning how your customers prefer to pay or what triggers them to abandon their baskets will help you pinpoint areas that can be improved within your payment processes. Our Tru Insight platform gives you a monthly report that breaks down all of your payments data in a simple, easy to understand manner, so you can get on with running your small business.
6) Build customer trust and loyalty
Data-driven marketing is a powerful tool if used strategically. Using a platform that doesn’t only offer you data insights but also data-driven recommendations is key to building more profitable relationships and ensuring customer loyalty. Set up your customer retention strategy with special deals or prices by offering discount codes and promotions to your customers, offering them bonus items when they make a purchase and enabling them to sign up for newsletters that are tailored to their needs.
Tru Insight comes with actionable recommendations based on customer information as standard, so you don’t have to try and figure out what to do with the data.
Ready for action?
There has been a lot of change during the past year, and small businesses have been quite affected. Now, more than ever, it is important to focus on your growth and choose the right partners that will help you take advantage of the positive changes ahead. This way, you can future-proof your business no matter how the market fares.
Contact us today to learn more about how we can help future-proof your business.
