How to build the customer base?

Ways to build strong customer relationships through your online business

26/6/2016

The business trend is becoming online day by day and that too at a fast pace. It is not only the existing big companies which have started online services but also the large percentages of new online entrepreneurs are emerging out and are trying to create a niche in their categories.

The good reason to see so many online entrepreneurs these days is the low amount of capital required to start the online business and its ability to reach the worldwide audiences. Every business requires a loyal and a regular customer, therefore, online business is no exception. The good list of your loyal customers can boost your business and take it to the next level but to acquire them requires constant efforts with the implementation of the right strategy.
Let’s see the list of activities which every online entrepreneur should implement to make her/his business a success:

(1) Your business should be sustainable and meaningful

You should try to choose that business model which is able to sustain the economic depression or recession and that can provide you the income stream. It is hard to survive in a business which gives you income in first six months of the year and no income during next six months of the year. You should develop a business model that is capable of providing a regular stream of income or is evergreen. If you already have chosen a business which is ON for six months and OFF for next six months then you should try to diversify your business model so that it can provide you the income stream in those OFF six months. For example, you are running your online cake making business, where you find high demand during certain occasions while a sluggish response on other times. Here you can diversify your Baking business into other bakery products like cupcakes, pastries, cookies etc so as streamline your revenue stream in all the months of the year or you can always share your cake making experience by launching an e-book, which can also become your another source of income. Here, the idea is to spread your income source into different categories like cake, cupcakes, pastries, cookies and selling an e-book on cakes that all belong to the same business line that is baking in this case.
Always remember that the business which fulfills the need of the customers, add value in their life and helps in preserving the environment flourish in a better way than other businesses.

(2) Share meaningful information consistently and in more descriptive manner

Sharing important, latest and the meaningful information about your business will not only keep your visitors engaged but also help you in converting them into a customer who ends up in buying your products or services, it’s one of the effective ways of increasing your customer base. For example, you are running an online food business and you regularly share information about the latest recipes, dishes, appetizers, drinks, sauces etc through your blog or website. You can make your information more descriptive using images, audio or video for maintaining a higher degree of visitor engagement. This strategy will make your business more appealing and will ignite the buying interest and persuade the visitor in buying your product & services.

(3) Have a website, build an e-mail list and follow them regularly

The website plays a very important role in establishing you as a successful online entrepreneur. If you have your own website or blog, you have a freedom to write, share or display anything, you think can be important for your business and your customers. However, you need not be an expert in website designing and other coding stuff as anyone can easily create a website or online store with Weebly. You can try it for free, select themes of your choice from its library, upload the images of your products, write text and launch your website, blog or your online shop in no time. Moreover, you can manage your business from anywhere using your smartphone and stay connected with your clients or the customers.
Any visitor who visits your website is an indication of her/his interest in your product or services but it does not indicate the degree of interest towards your products or services. You can find out this by providing an option to the visitor of signing your newsletter by providing her/his details like name and e-mail id. It is obvious that any person who is providing her/his personal details is more interested in getting to know more about you and your services than a person who has opted to get out of your site without signing the newsletter. This strategy helps in building an e-mail list of fairly interested visitors and now you can provide the customised services by sending the specific information about the particular product or service of their interest. This approach will help them to narrow down to the single product of their interest and they ultimately end up in buying from you.

(4) Try to give quality products with right pricing to your customers

Howsoever long is your e-mail listing but if your product or service lacks a quality, then sooner or later you will start losing your visitors and the customers. Therefore, whatever service or product you sell; it should be of good quality which is capable of satisfying the client’s need. Here, the pricing of your product also plays an important role in starting a healthy customer relationship, see the following points that how price variations affect the emotions and the thinking of the customer:

An overpriced product will tend to repel the customer
An underpriced product will create doubt in her/his mind and put the quality of your product at stake
A right priced product will make your customer happy

Remember, a satisfied client is your brand manager who promotes your products and services through word of mouth marketing.

(5) Build a great payment gateway for the smoot customer relation

Do you know that one of the most important tools of any online business is the payment gateway?
Imagine a situation where the customer is trying to buy your product but the payment gateway is not responding properly or imagine a situation where you made an online sale but the amount is not credited to your bank account in time.
All these situations can create a roadblock in your online career. The right selection of the payment gateway can eliminate these hurdles and can make your journey smooth. I am using Instamojo payment gateway for last one year to sell my products and services and I am very happy with its services, some of its features are as follows:

It is free to join that is there are no initial charges. However, it charges 5% on every sale you made through its platform
Their approval time is 3-4 days and there is no need to send the physical documents or other agreement papers. You just need to upload the required documents online and their team will evaluate and revert accordingly. The other payment gateways take months of time to get your application approved which you cannot afford as an online entrepreneur. This feature of Instamojo has made it a popular gateway among new online entrepreneurs.
You can sell digital products like e-books, software, and the physical products
You can set your own pricing and can create your own customised payment link
You can sell your product for as low as Rs. 10 and its payout time is as small as 3 days, for example, you sold your product on June 18, 2016, the amount will be credited to your account on June 21, 2016 (Morning)
However, you can sell your product only in the Indian currency.

Click here to join Instamojo FREE

All in all, I can say that Instamojo is one of the most effective & easiest ways to collect online payments and I recommend to all the aspiring Indian online entrepreneurs, who want to focus on selling the products and building customer relationship, rather than wasting time in coding or integrating payment gateways with their blog, website or the online store.

(6) Ask for the feedback about your product and the services

How do you know that whatever you are selling is actually capable of fulfilling the need of your customer? Do you need any improvement or up gradation in your product or services?
Well, the answer to these questions is the FEEDBACK from your customers. It is always better and more often required to ask for the feedback for your product and services. Their right feedback helps you in knowing the shortcomings in your product and services. It is always required that you implement those ideas in the product to make it better and always let your customer know about this. It will generate a feeling of importance of their ideas and they will feel good that their ideas are actually implemented in the final product. This strategy will not only make your product better but also keep your customer loyal towards you. Real time video support for your customers like Skype

(7) Be authentic and real on the social media and join the online communities

Now, as you are an online entrepreneur then it becomes obvious for you to interact through social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, Pinterest etc, where you can market yourself and your products & services. All these social media platforms have the option of creating your profile page where you can add your personal and professional information and other achievements. I would say that it is always better to write the authentic information about you and your product & services because inflated information may once get you the leads but eventually you end up losing your customers as you may not be able to fulfill the high expectations of the customers because of the inflated profile you shared on the social media. Join communities like Quora where you can share information with the like-minded people and build your network.

(8) Rewarding your customers through discount or offer free trial on your products and the services

The sale is bound to happen that when you sincerely implement above mentioned strategies, soon the visitors get converted into the customers and one of the effective strategies for retaining the existing customers is to offer some discount on your new products and services. For example, you have launched a new e-book and you are offering it at 10% discount to your existing customers or you are starting a new service and are offering a free trial to your existing customers.

(9) It is always better to talk or meet your online customers

You can always organize an event or celebrate a special day where you can meet your online customers personally. It helps in creating a strong and long-lasting bond that will help in converting your customers into friends.
Well, a successful online business has the tools like good website, fast & efficient payment gateway and a right product which play a crucial role in building a strong customer relationship that ultimately boost the sales of your enterprise. If you are a newbie online entrepreneur and have not implemented any or all of the above-mentioned strategies then start implementing now, you will soon notice the difference in your business growth.