How To Move Your Offline Business Online

Moving your business online is a no-brainer in today’s digital landscape. A BigCommerce survey revealed 96% of Americans shop online. They also spend an average of five hours per week purchasing items online.

If you don’t give customers an online platform to buy your products, you’re likely missing out on exposure and sales. An online presence gives you access to more customers and increases your visibility in the marketplace. This makes you more competitive.

There are many benefits to moving your offline business online. However, starting from scratch can feel overwhelming. Here are six factors to consider.

Carry Out an Audit of Your Existing Business

Before taking your offline business online, thoroughly review your current operations and brand. While doing this, you should take stock of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. By looking at what works in terms of the products and services your brand offers, you’ll be able to look at ways to replicate these online. To scale your business online, understand where your current operational weaknesses lie.

It’s a mistake to carry issues across to the new elements of your business. Is your current brand image positive? When you relaunch your business online, it could be a good opportunity to rebrand.

This could mean refreshing your logo and revamping your website, landing pages, and online forms. You could also review the core principles of your mission statement and evaluate how customers perceive you.

Think About What Type of Online Customer You Want

Your online customer may be a different customer from those you have in your brick-and-mortar business. Are you trying to hit a new target demographic in the digital realm?

If that’s the case, think about who these people are, what they want, and how your business is going to deliver to those needs. Create a model customer for your brand. Do market research about the way this type of customer shops, as well as the types of products and services they’re attracted to.

Decide on the Products and Services You’re Going to Offer

Many businesses that expand online also offer everything they offer offline in the online space. However, plenty of companies aren’t like that. You may want to focus your attention on a specific set of products or services.

With any product or service that becomes the focus of your online business, ask yourself why you chose it. It may be a good idea to conduct market research to see whether those products and/or services are likely to be successful.

Developing new online services may come with costs; for example, you may need to invest in a platform through which the service is delivered. Understand how likely your customers are to use these services before you invest too much in the concepts.

Invest in Website Design

Decide what your customer’s experience should be when they visit your website. Think about brands whose sites appeal to you, and think about the elements that are important to you on your website. Then, speak to web designers about your project.

Ask to see examples of their previous work and read as many testimonials and reviews as possible. It may be tempting to hire the first designer that you find or the one that offers the best price.

However, it’s best to work with a website developer who understands exactly what you need and will help you achieve it. Communicate with your designer throughout the site-building process. Ask lots of questions, and make sure you understand everything they say. Where you don’t understand something, ask clarifying questions.

Select an Online Payment System

If you’re going to make products available for customers to buy online, you must also set up a way for them to pay online. The payment system you choose for your e-commerce business matters; it helps you serve customers with convenient payment options.

If you are unsure of how to select the best way to accept credit card payments on your site, check out this article to help direct you to a method that works for your needs. If customers feel your payment method isn’t safe, the payment process is too long, or they’re unfamiliar with your payment gateway, they may choose to shop elsewhere.

Therefore, when adding a payment gateway, select the right payment flow for your business and customers. You can do this through redirecting customers to a secure, hosted payment page, or having an integrated payment form.

Integrated payment forms create a better customer experience and can automate the payment process, improving efficiency. One such form builder, Paperform, can generate custom PDF invoices automatically after a purchase is made through its forms. It also integrates with Stripe, PayPal Business, Square, and Braintree to accept payments easily and safely.

Create a Marketing Plan

As your business ventures into uncharted waters, work to attract customers to your new website. Think about creating mailing lists, setting up email automation, social media profiles, and investing in search engine optimization. While you may be able to bring over many of your offline customers, the best way to attract new ones is through organic search.

A company can manage its own search engine optimization. However, if your business is small, has a limited IT department, and lacks the skills to do optimization effectively, it may be better to outsource the task. Many great SEO tools can help you optimize your website.

Similarly, running social media campaigns that drive significant traffic to your website takes a lot of time and effort. If your budget allows, use a digital marketing company that specializes in these tactics. If you prefer to do it yourself, follow a few guidelines to achieve maximum results. Always create content.

If you fail to share relevant, exciting content with customers, you will fail to engage with consumers. A strong social media presence boosts brand recognition, brand loyalty, and your business’ reputation.

Conclusion

Creating an online presence is a great marketing move. In addition to increasing visibility and reaching a larger customer base, being online makes it easier to reach customers. Your business is open 24/7 for late-night online shoppers. It requires time and resources to get the e-commerce ball rolling, but the basic steps outlined should get you moving in the right direction towards a digital business model.

Author Bio: Tegan is a Digital Marketer at Paperform, an online form builder. She uses SEO strategies to drive demand and growth and is passionate about blog content writing.