Going Digital with Your Business.

     According to a report from Internet Retailer, total e-commerce sales are towering over $340 Billion in 2015, up 14.6% since 2014. With no signs of slowing down, it’s a clear example as to why more and more businesses are feeling the urgency to go digital and move products and services onto an online platform before losing too much market share to their competitors. When potential customers are always just a couple clicks away from purchasing your product or passing the sale over to your rivals, it should be worrisome about how much money is lost every day by not being able to fulfill your customers online requests with an e-commerce store when they look for you.

Going digital with your business can sound like an expensive investment initially, especially if this is the first time a business is considering the actual worth of an e commerce platform in their industry. When calculating costs of domain names, website hosting, sitemaps, visual designs and the cost of a competent developer to build and optimize your website on a solid content management system, it is easy to lose track of the benefits that will be gained bringing your company into the digital age.

Making good business decisions about going digital becomes even more complex if the company doesn’t employ a digital strategist to advise on marketing spend. Some of the most commonly used methods are search engine optimization, CPM marketing, CPC marketing and SEM marketing; it’s worth noting that some of these high level categorizations have a good deal of operational overlap. Decision makers who speak with digital strategists should at a minimum be able to have a good understanding of the differences between SEO vs SEM.

Companies that use innovative and data-driven analytical approaches to marketing are found to have the highest success rate of conversions on their website. Inbound marketing with the addition of A/B testing landing pages to drive conversion rate optimization, and applying search engine optimization strategies are among the best ways to target build a digital pipeline of segmented prospective buyers.

Digital Success

There are many different factors that contribute to the success of going digital. The mobile optimization, overall design of the e commerce site, clear large images of products, along with good descriptions will help create a comfortable experience for your users. When customers are happy with the e commerce platform along with products listed then they can be counted on being repeat customers. Working with internet consultants to create flow and method to your website can have a huge positive impact on driving digital customer acquisition models. Internet Consultants know that marketing to strangers can cost anywhere between 66%-85% more than it costs to market to someone who has purchased with your e commerce website before. They use this knowledge to increase inbound efforts and user experience as opposed to spending budgets on simply bringing the site more traffic. A thoughtfully organized, well designed and active digital platform that a team operates off of a documented digital strategy could be the difference between growing profits to record highs or falling behind all of your competitors.