With the advent of the Internet and technology, online businesses are thriving. By using some web tools and Fintech business transaction methods, anyone can buy or sell anything online. Business transactions have become more accessible than ever before. No matter where you are, you can run a successful business.
Just like every other business, you need your capital, the niche of business you want to start, and the 4p’s of Marketing- Price, Place, Product, and Promotion. Now that you have all these things taken care of, there are still a few things you need to avoid when starting and running an online store.
These mistakes can reduce your sales and even wreck your business like it never existed. Here are a few costly mistakes you must avoid when starting up an online business in Nigeria.
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Being Ordinary
As an online business in Nigeria, one costly mistake you can make Is to be ordinary. Being ordinary means your business lacks uniqueness or difference from other businesses in your industry. There are thousands of online businesses in every industry, and your business needs to stand out to be successful. Although you and your competitors may be selling the same product, you can be creative and innovative in your mode of communication and branding of the product. Think of ways to be unique. Your competitors may already have loyal customers, but your creativity would pave the way for you in your niche. Stand out!
Not Identifying the Right Target Audience
Another costly mistake in e-commerce is to assume that everyone is your target audience/consumer. Knowing your target audience would help you focus your marketing strategies directly at them. Imagine selling female shoes, and your marketing audience is majorly men, it would be hard for your business to become successful. Identify the right demography of your target audience including the gender, age group, interest, and personality. You would be surprised by how much sales your business would have when using a targeted marketing strategy.
Bad Customer Service
For both online and offline businesses, having a bad customer service can be detrimental to your business. However, the effects of bad customer service on an online service could destroy your business. The common saying ‘Customer is always right’ applies to online stores as well. Every customer or potential customer should be treated with respect and value. Even when it’s not a paying customer, your communication and service could change your prospects into paying customers. Treating customers like they don’t matter would affect the reputation of your brand. On social media and the Internet in general, bad reviews are taken very seriously. People will begin to avoid your business if your service is bad. Have an excellent customer service that makes every customer happy. A positive review will also bring more paying customers. Thank your customers for patronage, request for feedback, and take them seriously, respond to inquiries appropriately, and you’ll see positive changes in your business.
Bad Webpage
For an online business in Nigeria, your website is as good as a physical store. It is the face of your business. Your website and social media accounts need to be easily accessible and have quality content at all times. Optimize your website to be easy-to-load and navigate. A slow-loading website would cause frustration to your prospects and make them leave your site. Your website should also be updated regularly with quality content on every page. You can have a good SEO plan to increase your visibility as well. Content is essential for both your website and social media accounts. Your content is what makes your business unique and attracts more paying customers. Chorddigital can take care of all your content marketing and, SEO needs to give your brand more visibility and ranking on search engine pages.
The Spirit of DIY
One mistake most online business owners make is to think they can do it all by themselves since it’s online. Just as a physical store needs employees to help the business, an online store also needs people. You can’t be a web designer, salesperson, delivery service, content creator, customer service rep, and social media handler. Handling everything all by yourself would be exhausting and would create lapses in every area of your business. You can’t do everything all by yourself. Have a delivery company and a digital marketing agency like Chorddigital work closely with you, so your business can run smoothly.
Chorddigital is a digital marketing agency in Nigeria that offers professional services in content creation/marketing, social media marketing & management, PPC, email marketing, SEO, Public relations, and other online marketing strategies. Visit us on www.chorddigital.com to get started today.
