From Kickstarter to eCommerce – 10 Things You Absolutely, Positively Have to Get Right

And maybe like GoldieBlox, you’ve showed it to investors and retailers in your industry, and they shut you down. But like this company, you believed in your product’s value and didn’t want to give up on your dream or throw away all your hard work. So you turned to Kickstarter, and one morning you woke up to find you were one of its more than 117,000 successfully funded projects. But… what do you do now? Well like many inventors or entrepreneurs in your situation do (or should do), it’s time to start your own ecommerce store. And if you want to get orders and grow fast, then you better do these 10 things—and you better do them right.

1. Pick the right platform.

There are dozens of ecommerce platforms out there for you to choose. But, not all platforms are created equal. Most of our clients run on Shopify, BigCommerce and WooCommerce, and we’ve found that clients on these platforms tend to outperform their counterparts running on different platforms. Just remember there’s no one-size-fits-all platform. Determine what features you need and then do your homework, and if you need to, ask platforms all your questions to ensure you choose the right one for your business.

2. Make sure your website is user-friendly and easy to navigate.

[Screenshot taken from wrightwoodfurniture.com]

The design of your site plays a crucial role in attracting and retaining customers, and getting them to buy your product. And while the colors, fonts and images you use are important, far too many sites these days are beautiful, but a total disaster to use. A well-designed, easy-to-navigate site makes it easy for consumers to find what they’re looking for and motivates them to check out more pages on your site. So make sure your products, contact information and about us pages are easy to find, since 86%, 64% and 52% of website visitors, respectively, want to see those pages once on the homepage of a site.

3. Have your website up and functional before your Kickstarter campaign ends.

You can only put so much information about your brand and product on your Kickstarter campaign page. On your own website, you can tell your full story and provide more information that gets people better engaging with you. Some backers will find you on Kickstarter but want to know more, and if you don’t have a website, how can they? Plus, your website will live long after your Kickstarter campaign ends, so launch your website before to capture as much attention and as many leads you can, while also building an email list.

4. Use professional product shots.

[Screenshot taken from nike.com]

Everyone with an iPhone these days thinks they’re a “professional photographer”—but what someone should tell them is they aren’t. Great shots sell. So do yourself a huge favor and take professional product shots to put on your product pages and help you stand out above your competition. And if you have the budget, you might also consider using product videos to show consumers how to properly use your product.

5. Optimize your website.

An ecommerce website is a website, meaning you have to ensure it’s optimized. A common SEO error ecommerce websites make is not optimizing their product pages. Each of your pages should be optimized for consumer demand and keywords searched when making headlines, title pages and product descriptions. When doing SEO for your website, start out focusing on long tail keywords for the first 3-6 months, and then work in head keywords where it makes sense.

6. Have a solid content strategy based off your customers.

No customers, no money. And customers today don’t just go online and buy a product; they first do their research. They want their questions answered and pain points addressed, and they’re going online to find someone who’s going to do that. So figure out what your customers’ pain points, questions and decision making process looks like and produce useful, entertaining content to address each of them. I promise that having a solid content marketing strategy will help you generate higher sales.

7. Carve out an influencer budget.

Industry influencers have already built a loyal, engaging following. So utilize what they’ve already got by finding ones relevant to your brand and customers and then developing a working relationship with them. But developing this relationship usually comes at a small price. You’ll need a combination of cash, product and the ability to produce affiliate links and coupon codes to attract heavy hitters who can really help drive demand to your ecommerce site.

8. Get and put up customer reviews on your website.

[Screenshot taken from xdorialife.com]

People hate to be sold by businesses, but they love to be sold by other people. In fact, 88% of consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations, and 72% of consumers trust businesses that have positive reviews. If you want to earn consumers’ trust—and their money—then in the early days of your business, make sure to collect reviews from every customer you can. And if you have the budget, consider using video testimonials.

9. Pick one social channel and hit it hard.

It’s tempting to want to try and dominate all social channels. But you’ll quickly find yourself out of time and energy trying to post new things and respond to comments on every channel. Do yourself a favor and pick one or two that best fit with your product and target audience, and do it better than anyone else on said platform.

10. Tap into communities.

There are so many different communities you can play in to get visibility for your brand. Chances are there are at least half a dozen forums where you can establish yourself as an active member—answering questions, asking questions, providing useful industry information, etc.—and once you’ve done that, then you can start to promote your products within those communities. Now that you know these 10 things you need to do, find out the 10 ecommerce marketing tactics that desperately need your attention. ]]>