Making A Big Impression Through Your Small eCommerce Store

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Just because the world of ecommerce is big, doesn’t mean there isn’t space for small businesses. In fact, small businesses have a lot to offer online shoppers. Whether you’re dealing with the B2C market or B2B, small doesn’t have to mean insignificant. With the right strategy, your ecommerce site can make a big impression on its customers, bringing personality and professionalism to turn your store into a success story. Read on to learn how you can stand out from the crowd to develop your small but mighty online store.

Show off your personality

People love to connect with brands. Creating a personality around your brand can make a big difference to how people perceive you, and help set you apart from your competition. It’s all about building an emotional connection – why should people care about your brand? Setting your brand up to be authentic, trustworthy and maybe even fun, could prove to be a big hit with your customers. Some great examples of brands with personality include Innocent, Lululemon and Glossier. These may be big companies now, they all started somewhere, and having strong, likeable personalities has been a significant element of their growth.

Deciding on your brand personality from the beginning can influence your branding customer service style and more, helping to show the world what your business is all about. Consider your personality through every stage of your brand development, including:

• Logo
• Colours
• Tone of voice
• Typography
• Photography and imagery
• Packaging

It can all help create a solid brand that becomes recognisable to others, having just as much impact in your local area as a national or global brand. 

Dress your window

There’s one crucial element of any ecommerce business – a good website. Building the right website is a must to ensure your brand not only looks good, but provides the best shopping experience for your customers.

A stand-out design is a great place to start – it is your shop window, after all! Examples of the best ecommerce store designs demonstrate how simple but effective designs can make a fantastic first impression. Nail your visuals and layout, and you stand a better chance of drawing people in. If you clutter your front page, you run the risk of your website running too slowly – causing many people to abandon their journey and go elsewhere. 

But a good website isn’t just about how it looks – it needs to perform too. If you ran a physical store, you wouldn’t design it so that people would be falling over boxes and rails to find what they’re looking for, and your website should be the same. Creating an effective ecommerce website involves several elements, but mobile optimisation and getting the user journey right are some of the most important. This will help ensure your customers enjoy a smooth shopping experience, encouraging them to shop with you again.

Behind the scenes, make sure your website can be found easily. Powerful SEO (search engine optimisation) will help your website climb to the top of the social media rankings, helping you compete amongst the bigger brands. Effective SEO can be achieved for free, so even small businesses can get it right with a suitable strategy.

Build up a social media presence

Social media is another way to engage with your customers and build up a loyal and engaged following for your brand. You don’t need to be on every social media platform to make an impact – choose the ones where your audience are and put your energy into them. Creating strong social media content doesn’t have to be about going viral each time, focus on different content types that help tell your story. As people engage with your brand, make sure it’s a two-way conversation so they feel more connected to your business. This is a fantastic strategy if you run a business like a café or a fitness studio – it’s all about developing those lasting relationships that create a community around what you do. 

For the best results on social media, consistency is key. Creating a social media strategy can help you decide the types of content you need to post, your frequency and more. If your budget doesn’t allow for a social media manager, the best way to juggle social media and running your business is to schedule content in advance. Spending a little time each week putting your content together and scheduling it can stop it from taking over your day, making sure your time is better spent on running the business itself.

A little nod to micro-influencers

In addition to working on your own social media content, it can pay off to work with influencers too. And not the big influencers who add several zeros to their rates, we’re talking about the micro-influencers with a small but powerful following. These are often people who are local to you, who could help spread the word in return for free or discounted products or services, or a small fee for their time. 

Provide customer service worth talking about

Small ecommerce businesses have an advantage over larger enterprises, and that’s providing a more personal service. Running a small business often means you can dedicate more time to dealing with customer queries, and adding personal touches that can make someone’s day. 

Providing excellent customer service means ensuring the best support for shoppers so that they feel satisfied with their experience. Many businesses can fall down in this area due to the volume of queries they receive. Find ways to resolve issues, make recommendations and respond to feedback in a friendly, positive way, so that you stand a better chance of securing a loyal customer. These customers will not only come back to your business again and again, but recommend you to others too. Word-of-mouth recommendations are crucial for ecommerce businesses, so be sure to encourage your customers to leave reviews so that others can see how great you are!

Make the most of smart or interactive tools

Large online retailers offer creative features to their customers. IKEA provides design services for items like kitchens and wardrobes, while Amazon has been making progress with its AI search features. These may be big brands with big budgets, but that doesn’t mean you can’t take advantage of smart features too.

Adding a conversational user interface with AI can help you support customers during their shopping journey. From making recommendations to answering common queries, these features can enhance the user experience, and help them make it through to the checkout stage. This is an affordable smart feature that can save time, while providing valuable services to your customers.

Smart tools can also free up your time in the background. From sending automatic emails to personalisation features, these tools can support your business without losing the personal touches that make it unique.

Celebrate your customers

Your customers can be a big part of your brand, especially if you take the time to get to know them. People love to post about brands they love, so if you’re featured in their stories, Reels or TikTok videos, you should take the time to celebrate that. A reply to a comment can make someone’s day, while showing that there is a human behind the brand. You could also take things a step further and use their content across your own channels – with their permission, of course!

It’s also important to reward your customers for their loyalty. Providing exclusive offers to your existing customers helps them to feel valued and appreciated, encouraging them to choose you over competitors or unfamiliar brands. Tailor your communications to make them feel more personalised, giving your customers a reason to open your message. 

And if you need some help bringing in new customers, you could introduce a referral scheme. These not only give new customers a tempting incentive to try your brand, but give your existing customers a reason to do it. From personal discount codes to free gifts and services, these small incentives could be just what you need to bring in new customers and keep your existing customers happy too. 

Own your niche

As a small fish in a big pond, it can be tempting to try and do too much as a small ecommerce business. But your strength comes from your niche and being a specialist in the products you provide. Instead of trying to do too much to appeal to a large audience, focus on what you do well so that you become recognised for being good at what you do and the go-to destination for a particular product or service. This can include creating content about your niche, including blog articles and social media posts that provide useful insights to your customers. 

Your ecommerce store may be small, but it can have a big impact. Creating a personality around your brand and doing what you do well can make a lasting impression on customers, giving them a reason to shop with you again and again.