How to Grow Your Ecommerce business to New Heights in 2022 (without spending a dime)
We are nearing the end of 2021 (that went by FAST didn’t it?)
For me, this time of the year is as much for reflecting back as it is
for analysing trends and strategising for 2022.
During the past few days, I’ve been getting questions from clients
and colleagues alike regarding the Ecommerce landscape for 2022.
From colleagues particularly, different variations of the same
question have been coming up over and over again.
The question:
‘
what is the number one most important thing an
Ecommerce business should do to grow in 2022?’
As a ‘marketing guy’ or ‘growth hacker’, you would think I would
resort to speaking about the latest marketing hack or advertising
fad…
‘
a chatbot’, ‘a F+S funnel’, ‘SMS & Messenger advertising’ (??)
Yet for seemly big problems (as is business growth), the answer
always lies in simple core business principles – it’s funny but this
ALWAYS holds true.
And so instead, my answer has been ‘Customer Obsession’.
It’s really amazing to me the number of entrepreneurs who will
spend weeks, months, years (!!) building a product and THEN go
looking for a problem to solve with it.
It happens ALL the time and it’s the n.1 cause for startup failure
But perhaps more amazing… the number of marketers who will put
their head down for weeks on end, launch a new marketing
campaign without any feedback from potential customers… and
THEN cross their fingers, close their eyes and hope it converts.
It’s all backwards.
What if instead of spending hours building a campaign, launching it
and hoping it works… …we just asked our customers what they
wanted to see, hear and buy… and THEN gave that to them?
As entrepreneurs and business owners, we must always remember
that we are NOT creating products for our business ❌
We’re doing everything for the customer.
For example, let’s take a look at the most successful internet
business, Amazon.
Many people attribute their success to logistics supremacy, fast-
shipping, their Prime strategy, their ultra wide selection… the list
goes on.
But these people are missing the point.
Amazon’s secret sauce to success is their obsessive compulsive focus
with the customer.
Jeff Bezos has been preaching customer obsession since the very
early days. Don’t believe me? Check this video out (his laugh always
gets me haha)
Everything else was simply a result of that over-aching
focus.
Many businesses have been able to get away and see decent success
up to now by focusing their attention elsewhere… maybe the
competitor, profit margins, or number of sales…
But my team and I wholeheartedly believe that these businesses will
come to a big reckoning if they don’t drastically shift their
attention to the customer in 2022.
Even from an advertising standpoint, huge platforms like Google &
Facebook are shifting their whole focus there and want their
advertisers to do so too (read more about this here)
Okay so now that we know customer obsession is the #1 most
important thing for Ecommerce growth in 2022, what are some
steps that you can take to ensure you make it a priority?
The first thing is getting clear on who your Customer really
is.
Any part of the marketing and sales process that ‘touches’ the
customer (pretty much EVERYTHING) will improve when you get
clear on your customer avatar.
After all, it’s the person that buys our products and services. It
pays to get clear on the characteristics of that person, so you can
find and present them with a message that moves them to action.
What most business owners do when they hear this is say ‘oh, I
already know that’.
But trust me when I say that the idea most business owners have
regarding their customer avatar barely ever matches reality.
Especially, if they haven’t gone deep with it.
There are 5 major components to the customer avatar.
In some cases, you’ll need to survey or have conversations with
existing customers to accurately flesh out your customer avatar.
In other cases, you’ll be intimately familiar with the characteristics
of your ideal customer. Make assumptions where you have no data
or feedback – keep moving forward and just put it on your short
list of to do’s to complete the research.
Goals and Values
We begin with the goals and values of your ideal customer. Make
note of the goals and values that are relevant to the products and
services you offer.
You’ll use this information to drive product creation, copywriting,
content marketing and email marketing.
Sources of Information
Where do your customers consume their information and from
whom?
Consider things like Books, Magazines, Blogs/Websites, Conferences,
Gurus etc.
By doing this, you will determine the best places to advertise and
the targeting options you’ll use to reach your avatar by listing their
sources of information.
You can use a little trick known as the ‘But no one else would’ for
this sections.
For example: My ideal customer would read [BOOK] but no one else
would.
When buying traffic from ad platforms like Facebook, you’ll often
be able to laser target your audience by focusing on these niche
interests — while excluding less than ideal prospects.
Demographic Information
The demographics are another useful part of the Customer Avatar
when choosing targeting options in ad platforms like Facebook.
And, when writing content, email or sales copy it can be beneficial
to simply write as though your avatar were sitting across the table
from you.
Demographic information like age, gender, marital status, # of
Children, Job Title, Annual Income, Level of Education, Occupation,
and Location will give your persona a look and feel.
Challenges & Pain Points
Get clear on the Challenges your customer faces, their fears, what
keeps them up at night…
This section will drive new product/service development as well as
the copywriting and ad creative you’ll use to compel your ideal
customer to action.
Objections & Roles
Why would your customer avatar choose NOT to buy your product
or service? These are called “objections” and they must be
addressed in your marketing.
You must also determine your avatar’s role in the purchasing
process. Are they the primary decision maker? Are they a decision
influencer?
For example, is your product something that would need a two-
way conversation between husband & wife?
Understanding your ideal customers decision making process is
paramount to the success of your marketing and sales campaigns.
Those are some of the best ways to find your customer avatar –
they have worked wonders for us and they are a big stepping stone
for adopting a customer obsessed approach.
Armed with the knowledge, you’re ready to put it to work for your
business! But why stop here?
If you’re looking to kick it up a notch and take your business to the
next level in 2022, you need a team that can:
•
Create a seamless sales process and marketing funnel to
transform awareness into customers. • Write compelling email copy
that gets the user to buy your product or service • Create paid
traffic campaigns that nurture your lead through the Customer
Value Journey.
That’s where Moguls comes in. If this is something that interests
you, let’s jump on a quick 30-min no-obligation discovery call to
see how we could help you and if you’re the right fit: You can book
a place here (subject to availability).
