Ecommerce was already on the rise before COVID-19, and it looks like the pandemic was the ultimate push for brands to move their products online. This is great news for ecommerce as a whole, but it does mean that brands now have to compete more effectively in order to engage their target audience.
One area where you can make a significant impact is through tech that helps improve customer experience, makes customer communication instant and useful, improves data management and security, and creates a more functional and seamless experience overall. Here are some technologies and how they can make a difference, from our digital marketing team in Melbourne.
Cloud-Based Technology
You’re probably already using the cloud in some capacity, as this has become the most popular way to back up and secure both personal and organisational data. The reason the cloud is so effective is that it manages to offer high levels of security while still making data instantly accessible to anyone with access, on any device they are using, wherever they are in the world.
A great piece of cloud-based tech for ecommerce businesses is a Cloud ERP system (Enterprise Resource Planning). These systems create a centralised, single data source that integrates back-office and front-office environments, is easily scalable and customisable, and shows updates in real time. Customer service reps can see a single customer profile over all channels (both offline and online), orders and inventory can be managed from a single system, and data is kept secure yet accessible at all times. This helps your business manage resources more effectively, grow faster and deliver optimal customer service, including faster deliveries.
Chatbots
Have you ever visited a website where a small box pops up with a profile and a quick welcome message? That’s a chatbot. This was pretty new technology a few years ago but it’s caught on quickly – and it’s easy to see why. They can be quickly and easily integrated into a website to perform basic customer service functions, giving instant answers to FAQs and basic information that users are asking for. This not only improves customer service through instant, accurate answers to queries, it also frees up your sales team to put their time and resources into more complex functions.
Voice-Enabled Ecommerce
Virtual, voice-activated assistants are increasingly common in homes around the world, with tech like Siri, Google Home and the Amazon Echo leading the way. With simple voice commands, you can ask these assistants for anything – they simply scan the internet and deliver the answer.
While they are often used for controlling smart home environments, playing music, getting the latest news headlines or reporting on the weather forecast for the day, they are also increasingly being used to make purchases online. From ordering food and everyday essentials to ordering specific products off a website, these home assistants can access any ecommerce site that is voice enabled.
By embracing this technology, you’re giving access to your ecommerce website to a whole new wave of shoppers, including many who need additional assistance for shopping.
Artificial Intelligence (AI)
AI is already a big part of how businesses utilise the internet, collecting and analysing data on a massive scale to assist businesses in understanding customer preferences, buying behaviours and trends – all invaluable information when it comes to digital marketing.
Embracing AI can help your business create a more personalised user experience, creating support and services as well as offerings that align with customer behaviour patterns, delivering them through automated communications. This personalised user experience is a critical part of making your brand stand out and gaining loyal customers, with 59% of customers saying it’s very important to their online experience.
Retargeting and recommendations naturally follow from this, as AI can predict what a customer would want in future based on their past buying behaviour, helping you create tailored campaigns, suggestions, marketing material and ad retargeting based on this data. It can also be used to analyse past digital marketing content and responsesto tailor digital marketing campaigns for the future, helping to make them more targeted and ultimately more successful.
With AI, as with all other technologies for ecommerce, it’s important to remember that these are just tools your business can use to get that competitive edge – as useful and powerful as they are, they are no replacement for human insight and expertise. After all, no past data analysed by AI technology could adapt campaigns to the dramatic changes in consumer behaviour brought on by COVID-19 – that was only achievable through very human responses.
Compete, Grow and Succeed Online with Expert Digital Marketing Guidance
Whether your business is an established ecommerce operation looking for a new edge over the competition or new to the world of online selling, our skilled digital marketing team is ready to help your brand grow and succeed. From designing your website to running SEO, PPC, social media and email marketing campaigns, we have the people and the experience to take you to the top. Contact us today and let’s chat about your brand’s future.
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