Author: chargeafterdev

In an age where eCommerce success depends on customer advocacy, improving customer service is fundamental to ensuring growth. Customer service, after all, plays a deciding role in how consumers view one’s online store. eCommerce platforms must provide their shoppers with better support to reduce the frequency of negative reviews and increase the number of recommendations for one’s store, leading to greater sales. In this article, we discuss ways to improve eCommerce customer service, such as introducing consumer financing, so that your business can succeed in the competitive world of online shopping.

Integrate Powerful Consumer Financing

Consumer financing refers to repayment options for shoppers that utilize financing integrations on websites partnering with the best consumer financing companies. These companies give eCommerce platforms an advantage over their competition by providing easy-to-install web plugins geared to giving shoppers access to reliable lenders. The process of financing acquisition occurs on the website during checkout, as consumers activate the visible financing button without having to leave the online store. The consumers are then automatically and instantly connected with a lender that can provide financing plans that offer zero interest on repayments. 

This tactic, beyond benefiting the business by attracting new consumers, improves a company’s customer service as it makes a consumer’s shopping experience seamless and affordable. These kinds of integrations appeal to consumers as they add value to their shopping experience. 

Provide Multiple Customer Support Channels

Businesses must provide an array of customer support channels to satisfy a variety of shoppers. Each customer segment may interact with an online store differently, so catering to all types of consumers can yield greater sales through superior customer service. Live chat is proving effective as it allows customers to quickly find answers to common questions or get more information about their delivery. But, it is not enough just to have a live chat feature on your website.

You can improve your live chat customer support by introducing chat automation across your channels. Social media chatbot integration, email chat automation, and more can benefit businesses through time-saving and provide consumers with greater support no matter how they choose to shop. You can also provide the ability to chat with an actual sales representative by incorporating an option within the initial chatbot discussion. This can remedy the possible loss of customers that prefer to chat with real people to resolve their issues. 

Record Customer Satisfaction

eCommerce businesses must record their customer satisfaction to make actionable improvements to their customer service strategy. The insights gleaned from surveys can greatly increase your odds of attracting consumers as these insights can drive strategic brand innovations. Furthermore, recording customer satisfaction can improve your customer advocacy for greater sales.

Google reviews, third-party reviews, and reviews that you upload to your website serve as customer testimonials and user-generated promotions that can drive future sales. It is important to automate this process by establishing a Google My Business page, for example, and manually activating this process by creating surveys or emailers that encourage users to provide feedback. You can also attach a discount code or coupon to this strategy to generate more responses and potentially improve sales volumes. 

Providing better customer service is pivotal to growing an eCommerce platform as customers that feel supported are more likely to shop with one’s store and more likely to recommend the store to their friends and family. From integrating powerful consumer financing platforms to activating customer support features across your branded channels and recording customer satisfaction to make improvements and showcase positive reviews, you can elevate your eCommerce business and appeal to the smart modern shopper.

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eCommerce platforms should incorporate user-generated content strategies as this type of content is one of the most valuable and affordable for brands around the world. In this article, we will discuss user-generated content in more detail, share its importance, and outline how you can introduce buy now pay later services to support your profitable user-generated content strategy.

What is User-Generated Content?

User-generated content (UGC) refers to brand-driven content created by consumers that is then shared to their social media channels, brand websites, review pages, and other digital platforms. User-generated content encompasses written reviews, YouTube videos, social media posts, reels, podcasts, and various other forms of digital media shared by consumers.

Typically, user-generated content is delivered by loyal customers that want to share their favorite brands and products with their followers, new shoppers that have had positive recent experiences with a particular brand or online store, employees that work for a brand, or influencers that brands partner with to increase brand awareness and sales. 

All successful eCommerce stores have a user-generated content strategy as they aim to maximize the delivery of user-generated content by their audiences. This can include referral programs, loyalty discount codes, and affiliate marketing tactics to name a few. You must consider how best to incorporate a variation of said strategy as this will ensure faster user-generated content publishing than waiting for consumers to naturally do so.

Why is User-Generated Content Important?

eCommerce success rests on the positive referrals or recommendations of your consumers to their social media following, including friends, family, and individuals that are influenced by them. UGC is one of the most powerful tools at a brand’s disposal to reach new customers as it requires very little financial investment. A UGC strategy aims to encourage existing customers to organically highlight your products and services authentically. Below, we discuss some of the most important benefits of UGC.

It Grows Trust

As UGC, in most cases, comes from actual customers, it serves as a testimony to positive connections that consumers have had with an eCommerce store. Whether it be written testimonials or unboxing videos, UGC serves as a foundation from which new consumers can assess the trustworthiness of online stores. Based on the UGC seen by these consumers, they can confidently make informed buying decisions that present very little risk. This can build trust among new consumers before they have even purchased from your online store.

It Influences Individuals

UGC, in the hands of an influencer, can impact a wealth of new consumers that may have been previously unaware of a specific brand or product. Influencers hold tremendous marketing power, and the most successful eCommerce businesses take advantage of influencer marketing strategies to develop high-quality UGC content that appeals to massive social media followings. Businesses owners and their marketing teams can establish UGC guidelines for these influencers, outlining demands to shape content in a way that appears as authentic and genuine as possible. This can have a positive effect on sales as more consumers aspire to use the products of their favorite social media personalities.

How Buy Now Pay Later Services Can Support Your UGC Strategy

UGC is bound to bring in a monopoly of new consumers, but businesses still need to provide those consumers with efficient shopping experiences to ensure that they register a sale. At checkout, buy now pay later (BNPL) services prove to be the most effective means of encouraging sales and converting shoppers. This is because the best BNPL solutions offer zero interest on repayment plans so that consumers can affordably purchase products in their carts. The ability to circumnavigate credit checks also works in a customer’s favor, enabling businesses to appeal to a wider consumer base. Introducing BNPL at checkout can positively influence your UGC campaigns as it facilitates the conversion of new consumers arriving at your online store. 

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eCommerce brands must know their consumers backward and forwards as this helps stores deliver the right messages to the right consumers at the right time. Furthermore, companies must be aware of changing consumer trends. With an in-depth understanding of modern consumers beyond designated segments, eCommerce brands can integrate strategies that entice shoppers in 2022. In this article, we explore the top 4 consumer trends of 2022. You can use this information to guide the rollout of new marketing tactics.

1. Finance Fanatics – Integrate Waterfall Consumer Financing

The modern consumer is becoming increasingly interested in finance, something that was previously consigned to finance administrators like accountants and investment brokers. In the age of digital currencies like Bitcoin and Etherium and the accessibility of investment portfolios, consumers are beginning to take a much more active approach to their finances. In response, eCommerce brands should provide their shoppers with the best financing options at checkout. Waterfall consumer financing is an example of a powerful checkout financing integration that gives consumers access to repayment options unavailable through traditional financing partners such as their financial service providers. ChargeAfter is a leading waterfall consumer financing partner that can deploy a seamless checkout plugin to provide your shoppers with access to trustworthy lenders. This benefits finance fanatics that wish to secure the best money management options when browsing eCommerce platforms, resulting in a likely increase in sales for your business. 

2. Sustainability Supporters – Promote Greener Business

Climate change continues to plague the planet, and shoppers demand businesses go greener in response. From a trend to an ultimatum, selecting sustainable strategies to combat climate change can greatly influence the buying decision. eCommerce brands must integrate environmentally-friendly tactics, whether it be biodegradable packaging or cleaner manufacturing processes, and then market these green features. Bear in mind that to avoid green-washing, businesses can subtly showcase their commitment to sustainability by actioning greener operations without the need for financial compensation. Take corporate social responsibility initiatives, for example. These types of initiatives aim to provide community-centric benefits over and above business operations, yielding little in the way of revenue generation but greatly increasing brand repertoire among sustainability supporters. 

3. First-Time Testers – Offer Trials and Testing Opportunities

Customers that fall within this trend are particularly interested in businesses that can showcase value before asking for a commitment to purchase. Rentals allow these consumers to test-drive products and or services, for example. Free trials are popular strategies to attract these consumers for businesses that sell software and return policies are popular among electronics stores. In a nutshell, providing first-time testers with ways of minimizing buying risk will greatly appeal to an audience that takes advantage of the “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” mentality. 

4. Purpose-Driven Personas – Add Narrative Value

The purpose-driven persona is guided through the buying process by powerful branded stories and content that offers narrative value. These shoppers are less interested in the products or services themselves and more enticed by how a brand can spotlight its purpose. For example, a brand that sells fast-moving consumer goods should integrate marketing activities that speak to the company’s commitment to their cause or displays their vision. From blogs to videos and podcasts to guest appearances on web shows, brand representatives can offer these consumers insight into the brand’s purpose and sell the personality of the brand before the products themselves. 

eCommerce brands can attract consumers within these 2022 consumer trends by integrating waterfall consumer financing, developing more environmentally-sustainable strategies, offering better testing opportunities with products and services, as well as clearly defining and displaying their purpose beyond making a profit. Doing so will broaden your consumer base and increase your sales as you attract new shoppers. 

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Consumers make and break businesses, and the modern shopper is smarter than you think. They demand more efficient online experiences, greater customer support, and so much more. The modern shopper is also aware that their voice matters. For example, positive online reviews are crucial to eCommerce success. Now more than ever, is the time to start improving your eCommerce platform to attract consumers in 2022. In this article, we focus on what matters to consumers and how online financing can help your business grow this year. 

Better Payment Options

Modern shoppers pay in all sorts of ways. There are so many payment options out there, and having more available to your consumers can help you attract a wide variety of attention. Over and above having a set of standard payment options, you can further support the buying process by integrating online financing. ChargeAfter’s online financing solution is one of the most powerful on the market, giving your customers access to on-demand financing at checkout with zero interest repayment plans. This solution is far superior to traditional financing options available to consumers and is far more impactful for businesses that can outsource third-party financing for greater sales. 

Faster Shipping Services

Consumers demand their products more quickly than ever before. Same-day shipping, express orders, and quick turnaround time sit at the heart of eCommerce success in 2022. It is pivotal that you address your current shipping policies and integrate new methods for quicker shipping facilities. Free shipping is also an added value offering that you should consider integrating as consumers are drawn to businesses that provide as many quality services as possible. If your business is not offering free shipping on orders over a certain value, for example, then your customers will be shopping from someone that does. 

Access to International Items

Beyond faster shipping services, you should consider your international shipping facilities. If you do not service other countries with international shipping then it’s high time you figure out the logistics of doing so. You can access a wealth of new consumers by catering to international shipping, especially if delivery times are efficient. You may have a huge following in a foreign country, so check your analytics and start facilitating an international shipping option. Or, you can distribute your items internationally through third-party selling platforms like Amazon. 

Sustainability

Going green is no longer a trend. Eco-conscious business is a must, and you should be marketing your environmentally-friendly activities where and when possible. From biodegradable packaging solutions to eco-friendly websites, every step that you take to make your business more sustainable will reflect positively on your sales. Furthermore, reducing your carbon footprint can cut down overheads. For example, if you can source materials from local suppliers, you will reduce the shipping costs of getting those materials from international companies into your warehouse. 

Unique Experiences

You need to do more than simply sell products. Today, consumers want unique experiences with eCommerce stores that go above and beyond the expected. Consumers want to feel as though they are a part of something bigger and better. You can provide unique experiences by personalizing your marketing efforts. Simply automating emails to respond to your customers by name is a quick tactic to improve your marketing personalization. You could also create unique landing pages for your various target segments, providing the right information to the right audience. Every act that you take to make your shopping experience more unique will improve the likelihood of converting consumers. 

Focus on what matters most to consumers in 2022 and you will see a rise in your revenue. From introducing online financing to making shopping experiences unique, these are a few suggestions on how to level up your business this year. 

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In the race to become the most popular eCommerce stores in their industries, businesses take shortcuts that can do more harm than good. One of the most common pitfalls that online stores face is failing to create a clear sales funnel. Sales funnels are extremely important as they define your consumers’ journeys and help you tailor experiences to suit each shopper. In this article, we discuss sales funnels in more detail and provide insight into how to incorporate consumer financing into your shoppers’ experiences for greater sales and profit. 

What is a Sales Funnel?

A sales funnel is a model that showcases the journey customers take with your brand, from viewing your ads to clicking through to your website, adding items to their carts, applying discount codes, and checking out. The sales funnel is a piece of marketing strategy that showcases a variety of touchpoints along the consumer journey, and each distinct consumer journey customized to one’s various buyer personas. 

Why a Sales Funnel is Important

Having a sales funnel, or a combination of a few is critical to developing a seamless user experience that results in sales. A sales funnel gives marketing teams a clear scope of the various consumer touchpoints, allowing them to determine any missed opportunities or weaknesses in the shopping experience. A sales funnel also helps you understand what consumers are doing at each interaction that they have with your brand. Are they utilizing discounts to shop more affordably? Are they utilizing features that make their experience more user-friendly? The sales funnel ensures that you can deliver the right messages to the right audience members at the right time. 

How Consumer Financing Supports Your Sales Funnel

A strong sales funnel will support regular sales, but the addition of consumer financing can significantly improve the sales of your online store. What is consumer financing? You may have come across the term already, or maybe you have never heard of it. Either way, if you are not giving your customers consumer financing options then you are missing out on potential sales.

Consumer financing is an integration that provides comprehensive loan options during checkout. It is a third-party integration that requires little management by the eCommerce platform teams themselves. ChargeAfter, for example, is a leading consumer financing platform that handles the integration and management of consumer financing options. Furthermore, ChargeAfter provides partners’ shoppers with a vast network of reliable lenders capable of facilitating each shopper’s unique financing requirements.

Customers are drawn to consumer financing as it provides many consumer-first benefits. Customers can receive financing without having to undergo credit checks, seek the support of financial service providers, and also receive repayments with zero interest. The perks speak for themselves, and eCommerce platforms that integrate consumer financing improve the sales within their sales funnels. 

Choosing the Best Consumer Financing

Choosing the best consumer financing partner on the market comes down to selecting a platform that provides comprehensive coverage and ongoing support. ChargeAfter is one such partner that provides waterfall consumer financing with an extensive range of vetted lenders that have brilliant track records. Over and above deploying the plugin on your website, ChargeAfter provides ongoing maintenance as well as analytical insights drawn from their platform during the business month. This data is accessible to marketing teams and can be used to take corrective actions to improve the sales funnel. This comprehensive support ensures that every eCommerce store seeking consumer financing receives top-tier support and guidance.

Sales funnels form the cornerstone of eCommerce experiences, and you can leverage consumer financing features to improve your customers’ user journeys. ChargeAfter is a leading consumer financing partner that delivers the most consistent and effective support to ensure that you improve your sales funnels and sales. 

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It’s 2022 and businesses continue to evolve strategies to take advantage of new technologies and integrations for increased success. Nowadays, many eCommerce platforms have most of their bases covered. They have a social media presence, a user-friendly and mobile-friendly website, and advertising campaigns to name a few. But, how does one stay ahead of the trend and beat the competition? By introducing novel integrations that the rest of the eCommerce world is still slowly phasing in. In this article, we share the 5 eCommerce integrations that you have to have to win over consumers and beat the competition.

1. Waterfall Consumer Financing

Waterfall consumer financing is one of the most powerful payment options on the market. It is essential that businesses diversify their payment options to cater to a wider audience, and waterfall consumer financing sits at the core of offering first-class payment options. How does it work? Waterfall consumer financing is a checkout feature that lets customers access financing at zero interest that can then be paid off in monthly installments. ChargeAfter is a leading waterfall consumer financing partner that can integrate the feature into your website so that you can start delivering your consumers these benefits. 

2. Voice-Based Search

Google and Amazon dominate eCommerce as shoppers turn to search engines or third-party product distributors to buy their favorite items. Subsequently, Google Home and Alexa have seen an increase in attention as these same consumers look to make their daily lives easier. As a result, voice-based search is becoming hugely popular and eCommerce platforms can target audiences using these technologies by integrating voice-based search tools. 

3. Omnichannel Selling

Omnichannel selling refers to a marketing strategy whereby you attract consumer attention across a variety of touchpoints from websites to social media, physical pop-up stores, and packaging. Omnichannel selling integration allows businesses to push their brand into every aspect of the consumer buying journey. Doing so can build more loyal consumer bases, raising the volume of repeat orders and developing stronger connections with new customers. Omnichannel selling requires several integrations, from social media advertising tools to SEO support technologies. But, the investment is well worth it as omnichannel remains a firm favorite eCommerce trend for 2022.

4. Artificial Intelligence

Artificial intelligence makes the lives of marketing teams much easier as remedial jobs can be done quicker, freeing up time and resources for departments to focus on more important matters. From content writing bots to website chat features and more, artificial intelligence is being integrated into every area of the sales funnel. There is also little risk that artificial intelligence will make your employees redundant as you can reassign responsibilities to other areas of business. Artificial intelligence’s role in eCommerce continues to grow, however, competitors may be yet to jump onto the powerful trend this year. 

5. Social Media Automation

Automation is at the heart of modern eCommerce success. Your social media can leverage the benefits of automation to also free up time to broaden your marketing activities to attract new customers. Tools like Hootsuite let teams pre-schedule posts, making the job far quicker. Also, various platforms have bot integrations to answer basic consumer questions before individuals need to call for further information. Social media automation tools are becoming extremely popular as eCommerce companies look to reduce employee overheads or allocate tasks to more pressing areas of the business. 

The modern eCommerce age requires businesses to integrate modern eCommerce solutions, and this article highlights some of the most powerful trends for 2022. From waterfall consumer financing to social media automation, you can improve your consumer journey and stand out from the competition leveraging the most impactful integrations on the market. 

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Whether you specialise in electronics or furniture, your eCommerce store will face rife competition from the vast range of businesses selling their products online. Compound this with the fact that consumers are more careful with their decisions, and you can develop a clearer idea of how difficult it is to win customers shopping with the competition. In this article, we discuss how buy now pay later and several other digital marketing strategies separate the best eCommerce platforms from their competition. You can integrate these strategies into your own business for greater success and sustainable growth.

Additional Payment Solutions Like Buy Now Pay Later

Modern shoppers require modern payment methods tailored to their unique shopping behaviours. When it comes to payment solutions, the best eCommerce stores within each industry utilise buy now pay later services at checkout. These facilities let shoppers secure online financing quickly during the checkout process. The best buy now pay later solutions on the market, such as ChargeAfter, ensure that their customers do not have to submit credit checks to apply for loans, do not receive any interest on their repayment plans, and are given options that suit their specific needs. No matter how big or small their shopping cart is, they can easily purchase with buy now pay later and are more likely to do so using the feature. 

An Exceptional UX and UI

The best eCommerce stores provide seamless shopping experiences for their consumers. User experience (UX) and user interface (UI) are critical components of successful online store design. As many businesses turn to the digital space rather than traditional brick-and-mortar retail, it is essential that online stores mimic the joyful shopping experience that customers have when browsing their favourite physical stores. When it comes down to web design, UX refers to how easily the consumer can navigate through your store and how efficient their journey is to checkout. You can use this helpful resource for tips on how to optimise your website’s user experience. A website’s UI refers to its look and feel. One should not overlook the power of design. If you are selling luxury alcoholic products, for example, then your website should reflect luxury down to the colour, font, and image choices. The best eCommerce stores tap into the specific likes and dislikes of their chosen target audiences to tailor a UX and UI that aligns with their unique shopping behaviours. 

eCommerce SEM and SEO Tactics

Most eCommerce stores are utilizing search engine marketing (SEM) and search engine optimisation (SEO) in one way or another. But, many fail to comprehend the total value that these marketing activities can have on one’s bottom line. When utilising SEM, the best eCommerce platforms develop comprehensive campaigns using social media advertising, pay per click advertising, Google search advertising, and more. They craft striking visual ads with clear calls to action to drive traffic to their stores and generate more sales. Over and above paying to be in front of their consumers, the best eCommerce sites deploy SEO to drive organic traffic. Organic traffic is one of the most prominent sources of sustainable consumer traffic, far more powerful than paid advertising. Therefore, developing a strong SEO strategy is critical to eCommerce success. 

The best online stores utilise a variety of tactics that others are not or are not integrating to their full extent. From introducing buy now pay later services to improving your site’s UX and UI as well as developing powerful SEM and SEO tactics, your business can leverage these activities to see profitable growth in 2022. 

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You’ve got incredible products, have built a website, and are growing a consumer base with each passing day. But, how do you take your small business to the next level? How do you rapidly grow to compete with some of the biggest and best online retailers in your industry? We have crafted this article to share 4 tips for small business success, including waterfall consumer financing and more. 

1. Support Shoppers With Waterfall Consumer Financing

To achieve efficient eCommerce growth, you need to go over and above the standard online retail practices and integrate novel solutions that provide added value for your customers. One such strategy is to provide waterfall consumer financing to support your shoppers’ purchases. Waterfall consumer financing from ChargeAfter is a financing solution that can be integrated with your website’s checkout page. The affordable feature installs as a button on your checkout page which your customers can tap to access the incredible benefits of consumer financing. Waterfall consumer financing differs from traditional financing plans as it lets customers receive loans without credit checks and at zero interest rates. These are two of the many benefits your customers can receive from utilising waterfall consumer financing. The addition of this feature, through partnering with ChargeAfter, can significantly improve your monthly sales values and volumes. 

2. Encourage Customer Feedback and Strengthen Support

The best eCommerce brands are built on satisfied customers, so it is critical that small businesses also adopt a consumer-first approach to operations. Strategies to showcase your consumer-centric values include encouraging customer feedback regularly. From unboxing videos to reviews, and so much more, customers incorporate brands into their daily lives and they have strong opinions about the companies that they find online. By encouraging feedback, you showcase an active desire to respect their concerns. Then, you should take corrective actions to ensure that you resolve any customer issues or reasonable requests. This process will strengthen your customer support strategy, ensuring that your small business grows quicker than ever. 

3. Don’t Broaden Your Offering Too Much

Online retail is incredibly competitive, and the best way to avoid competition is to specialise within an untapped niche. Whether you are selling luxury wines or sports clothes, stick to your specialization and avoid branching off into other industry areas too quickly. Sure, when your small business has grown substantially you can activate new concepts to tap into new consumer segments. But, to grow your small business to this level you should completely satisfy customers within your niche. For now, you can broaden your consumer base without having to diversify your offering by introducing waterfall consumer financing. It gives more consumers within your niche access to loans that can help them make a purchase. 

4. Save Time Where Possible

For small businesses, time is one of an owners most valuable assets. As teams are not as large and diverse as big businesses, saving time is critical to ensuring all tasks are efficiently met to achieve success. From chatbot automation on your social media pages and websites to email automation for retargeting campaigns, you can walk with a small marketing team to automate as much of your communicatons as possible. This will free up time for you to focus on other areas of the business for sustainable growth. 

From supporting your shoppers with waterfall consumer financing to developing a consumer-centric strategy, specializing within your niche, and saving time where and whenever possible, you can quickly grow your small eCommerce business into a powerhouse within your specific online retail industry. All the best for your growing success!

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