Running an e-commerce project can be a fascinating adventure when you have the right tools; those that save time and money. Today, technology has made it possible to create a real ecosystem of tools that simplify the management of daily life and actions related to e-commerce.
Applications, websites or software, the right tools will allow you to increase your sales and boost the visibility of your business. Here is an overview of seven digital tools to turn your online store into a successful business.
A platform for the creation of e-commerce stores
Even if it falls under the common sense, let’s remember that to launch your e-commerce business, you need an application to create it. Today, we talk a lot more about PrestaShop, WooCommerce, Magento or Shopify.
The choice of a particular platform depends on specific criteria. It can be the cost, as some are paid while others are open-source; the objectives that differ according to the profile of the company and therefore of the project itself; the flexibility and customization possibilities offered, etc.
In any case, each of the store creation platforms offers a free version so that you can test the product without committing yourself.
The best payment solutions in e-commerce
You will need to use a payment solution designed to fit the needs of professionals to securely manage payments on your site.
A payment solution allows you to facilitate the payments of your customers on your site, to receive transfers easily, but also to analyze your performance and thus avoid payment failures. The vast majority of payment solutions accept all major online credit cards. Like Simplypay, the payment platforms are able to manage international payments.
For example, Symplypay is a specific solution for Quebec entrepreneurs that allows you to integrate digital payment in a few clicks. All-in-one solution, it accepts the majority of bank cards and you can authorize transactions on your e-commerce site without installing software or additional equipment.
It is also recommended to integrate several payment solutions to reduce the risk of cart abandonment. Indeed, presenting several payment solutions is a source of reassurance for the customer.
A Web Analytics tool
It is indeed essential to optimize and take care of the user experience (UX) if you want to see your project succeed.
Web Analytics tools such as Google Analytics, KissMetrics and SEMrush allow you to perform a technical and editorial audit of your e-commerce site.
You will be able to identify more easily the possible technical bugs or the blocking points in your conversion tunnel and thus set up the necessary improvements. Indeed, your site should be ergonomic, pleasant to use and fluid so that your visitors will want to linger and make a conversion. This can be the purchase of a product, the request for a quote, the sending of a form, etc.
Marketing Automation Software
Behind this strange expression hides in reality an important issue for your e-commerce site. When you decide to start an e-commerce business, you can quickly find yourself overwhelmed by the multitude of tasks to be performed on a daily basis. However, among these tasks, there are low value-added tasks that are routine. For example, the sending of e-mailing campaigns, customer follow-ups, database updates, etc.
That’s where Marketing Automation software comes in. They are designed to help you with these tasks. They automate these tedious tasks and let you focus on the most important aspects of your project.
A CRM (Customer Relationship Management) solution
Almost all companies today are equipped with a CRM solution. This software is essential to collect, analyze and centralize your customer data. Of course, the choice of a CRM will depend on your objectives, but it is often necessary to rely on a simplified interface for a quick handling. This is the best choice unless you are a large company. In any case, choose the CRM solution that best suits your profile and your needs as an e-merchant.
Today’s CRMs include artificial intelligence modules that can make sales predictions or target prospects. They can even make timely follow-ups to customers.
An application for managing social networks
One thing is to put your products online. Another is to give them visibility. In this regard, you must implement a content strategy that includes social networks. Social networks are a great tool to promote your products if you know how to do it. Tools exist for the creation and programming of your publications. These particularly time-consuming tasks are managed by tools like Buffer, Hootsuite or Agorapulse.
They allow you to program and centralize your publications on your different digital channels and thus obtain a complete visibility of your content.
Effective A/B testing tools
A/B testing is very useful to test the effectiveness of a web page in terms of conversion, clicks, registrations or purchases. It is a method that consists in comparing the profitability of two versions that are slightly modified of the same web page by a sample of users. It can be the home page, a product page, a call to action page, etc.
A plethora of A/B test software exists. These softwares have one thing in common, they allow you to identify the most profitable pages that will increase the chances of online sales. Among these softwares, we can mention :
- Optimizely: which provides advanced features. The software is compatible with other third-party tools such as Google Analytics.
- VWO (Visual Website Optimizer): works intuitively thanks to its intuitive and easy-to-use visual editor. Like the previous one, it can work with third party tools
- CrazyEgg: effective for tracking visitor behavior using heatmaps.
- Hotjar : ideal to optimize the performance of an e-commerce site through the analysis of the visitors’ path.
- Abtasty: one of the leading A/B testing tools in France. Fully customizable, it provides powerful testing features.
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