Social Media Marketing For e-Commerce Websites

Social Media Marketing For e-Commerce Websites

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Social media and ecommerce are a perfect match. Marketers have long used social media platforms to connect with ecommerce customers. For good reason: an increasing number of internet users shop online and use social media to research brands.

Consider the following recent statistics:

  • In 2020, 76.8% of global internet users will have purchased a product online.
  • 44.8% of global internet users search for brand-related information on social media.
  • Social media is used by more than half of global internet users aged 16 to 24 to research brands (55.9% female users and 51% male users).

Most social media networks now provide free built-in solutions for advertising, selling, and customer service — a.k.a. sales-boosting tools.

This article will go over all of the different ways you can use social media to promote your ecommerce store. So, whether you’re starting from scratch with your ecommerce social media presence or looking for ways to refresh your marketing strategy, you’ve come to the right place!

But first, let’s clear up some terminology.

What is the definition of social media ecommerce marketing?

A social media ecommerce strategy is a collection of social media tactics for marketing your ecommerce business.

Depending on your business model and objectives, your strategy may include:

  • Promoting an ecommerce destination, such as driving traffic to a website or branded app; o Directly selling products on social media;
  • Communicating with customers, both pre- and post-purchase,
  • Gathering insights about your industry (your audience, competitors, success benchmarks)
  • … or combining some (or all!) of the above.

Is social media marketing for ecommerce the same as social selling or social commerce?

Not quite. The broadest term of the three, social media ecommerce marketing, can include elements of both social commerce and social selling.

Let’s review some definitions:

The process of selling products or services directly on social media via Facebook Shops, Instagram Shops, Product Pins, and other native social media shopping solutions is known as social commerce. Social selling is the process of identifying, connecting with, and nurturing sales prospects through the use of social media.

Building brand awareness, advertising, community management, social customer service, social listening, competitive analysis, social commerce, and social selling are all examples of social media ecommerce marketing.

What is the best way to use social media for ecommerce?

Here are all of the various ways social media marketing can assist you in promoting your ecommerce business and selling more products.

Increasing brand awareness

If you’re launching a brand new store or product, you should start creating buzz about it before you launch sales. The unfortunate reality is that if people don’t know what you’re selling, you won’t be able to make any sales.

Social media is crowded with brands in 2021. However, there is still room for newcomers. A distinct voice and a consistent posting strategy will assist you in increasing brand awareness and reaching your target audience. Follow the tips at the end of this article to get a head start.

Building brand awareness is a process that takes time. If you’d like to get things moving a little faster, paid social can help.

Advertising

According to recent Hootsuite statistics,

  • Facebook advertising can reach 190 million people,
  • Instagram advertising can reach 140 million people,
  • and LinkedIn advertising can reach 170 million people.

Of course, not all of them are your target audience, and your budget will most likely prevent you from reaching that many.

However, most social media platforms provide advanced targeting tools that you can use to carve out your ideal audience from the crowd — and serve them ads that will help you achieve your goals.

Anyway, When it comes to goals, make sure you set the right ones for your social media ads. As an ecommerce company, you will most likely want to use social media advertising to attract customers to your store, or to a specific product or collection.

Facebook and Instagram, for example, allow brands to select one of three conversion-oriented goals:

  • Conversions. With this goal, you can persuade your target audience to perform a specific action on your website, such as adding a product to their shopping cart.
  • Catalogue Sales Use this goal to incorporate products from your catalog into advertisements.
  • Traffic in the store. If you have a physical location, this ad goal is ideal for promoting your store to potential customers who are nearby based on their location.

Choose an objective from the Awareness or Consideration categories if you want to raise awareness or engage your target audience.

However, simply choosing the right goal does not guarantee success. You must also select the best ad format for your campaign. The main format categories on Facebook and Instagram are:

  • Image ads
  • Video ads
  • Carousel ads
  • Collection ads

Collection ads are specifically designed for ecommerce. They use a combination of creative copy and items from your product catalog to capture your audience’s attention and guide them seamlessly to checkout.

While Facebook’s advertising toolkit is the most comprehensive, other social media platforms provide similar solutions. So, don’t worry if you use Twitter or LinkedIn to reach out to your customers on social media.

Directly selling products on social media

So, This is where social media ecommerce marketing meets social commerce, also known as selling products directly from your social media accounts or “shops.”

Anyway, For business accounts, Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest all provide native shopping solutions. Snapchat has partnered with Shopify to develop their own social commerce tool, but for the time being, the feature is only available to a few handpicked accounts. If Snaps are your preferred social media format, keep an eye out for updates.

Using social commerce solutions has numerous advantages:

  • It is completely free to set up;
  • It provides customers with a memorable, interactive, social shopping experience; and it streamlines the sales process.
  • Users can shop directly from their feeds, without having to navigate to another website. Shortening the path from discovery to checkout can boost conversion rates.
  • It’s exactly what social media users want! 70% of shoppers use Instagram to find new brands and products. Why not assist them in discovering your products?

By implementing these strategies, you will undoubtedly be able to maximize the benefits of social media for your business. And there will be more interesting and informative blogs in the future. Keep an eye out on for our blogs…

Most Important Factors for e-Commerce Website Success Blog Cover Image

Most Important Factors for e-Commerce Website Success

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The success of your e-commerce website depends on several factors. The first one is the overall design of your website and how user-friendly it is. The next thing you need to think about is payment options, including whether you accept payments online or offline. Then comes customer experience: how easy is it for people to find what they want on the site? And lastly, an important consideration in this category is whether there are any pop ups or other ads on your site—they can be annoying for customers who want to browse without distractions!

Highly Responsive website

If you want to be successful, your website needs to be responsive. This is the best way for e-commerce websites to optimize themselves for mobile devices and make sure that they’re easy to navigate on any device.

Easy to use website

If we explain this in a simple point form, it’ll be as follows,

  • Easy to navigate., search.
  • Find products and information

The website should have a contact form that is easy to use and has the option of being able to reply via email, SMS, or phone call (if you’re selling something with an expiration date). This is especially important if your business requires this level of contact with their customers because it will make them feel more comfortable doing business with you if they don’t have any technical difficulties getting through their questions/inquiries about how best use the product or service offered by your brand!

Clear product images

In order to ensure that your customers can find the products they want, you need to have clear product images.

Product images should be of the actual product, not just a photo of it sitting on a table or shelf. You also need high-quality photos that show off the item in use, so people can see how it looks and feels (and thus decide whether they’ll buy).

You might want to include some different angles on your site—or even multiple pictures from different angles—so shoppers can get an idea of where their money is going if they decide to make their purchase now rather than later!

Multiple Payment options

  • PayPal

PayPal is one of the most popular payment methods. It’s a secure online payment gateway that allows you to accept credit cards, debit cards and even bank transfers. If you have an account with PayPal, then it’s easier for your customers to use their card information for payments when making purchases on your website. You can also do cash on delivery or offline payments through any of these options:

  • Credit card (Visa/MasterCard)
  • E-wallet (Paytm) and mobile wallets like Mobikwik etc.,
  • Cash on delivery via Airtel Money or UPI at checkout page to reduce frauds while shopping online

Easy checkout process

  • Make the checkout process easy to find.
  • Use a simple checkout process that is easy to understand and follow.
  • Make sure the checkout process is secure, fast, and reliable.

A responsive e-commerce website is the key for an online business.

A responsive e-commerce website is the key for an online business. Responsive design refers to a web design that adapts its appearance and layout to fit the screen size of any device that visits it. This means that users can access your site on any device, including smartphones, tablets, laptops, and desktops.

Responsive e-commerce websites are also SEO friendly because they allow you to optimize content for keywords within Google search results pages (SERPs) so that visitors can easily find what they’re looking for when searching online stores or products related topics such as clothing sizes labels etcetera…

The best part about having a responsive website is that it makes it easier for customers who browse through different devices like phones or tablets because all these devices have similar resolutions which means these devices won’t be able make out any differences between them which will result in better conversion rates when compared with traditional fixed width layouts which aren’t responsive optimized due lack thereof.”

In conclusion, a responsive e-commerce website is the key for an online business. It should be easy to use and provide high-quality products with clear images. A clear checkout process is also important as it helps customers make their purchase decision faster.

If you have any questions about how to get started with these or any other e-Commerce website related strategies, do not hesitate to give One Day Digital a call! We can help guide and assist you and your business through every step of the way until success becomes second nature.

Checklist for Getting Started with Your eCommerce Business blog image

Checklist for Getting Started with Your eCommerce Business

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In the world of ecommerce, there are always pressing deadlines. Everyone wants the latest, hottest products on their website as soon as possible. But when you jump into running your own business. Without a strategy for how to put in place these changes and launch, it can be quite the nightmare.

Having a checklist will help you in many ways. Especially, to ensure that all the necessary steps are taken before you jump into your eCommerce business. It is a list of items that has helped many others get started. In setting up their own website and their own online store.

With our checklist in mind, you’ll avoid some typical mistakes that cause frustration, for new ecommerce entrepreneurs and make it easier to get started with your business today. Have courage! We know that if you stick to this list and make these changes properly from day one, your e-commerce business will boom!

Plan a business structure and model.

Getting started with an e-commerce business can be daunting, and even deciding on a plan will require careful consideration. To get started as quickly as possible, try out the following checklist to map your way from idea to reality.

Select a Product or Service to Sell

The following are the key factors to consider when selecting a product or service to sell:

The Budget

Your budget is one of the first things you should consider when choosing a product. You’ll have more options if you have a big budget, but even with a small investment, there are plenty of products and opportunities available to wade through. The total costs can include sourcing, packaging, marketing, and promotion, etc. Before selecting your product, it’s important to take all these costs into account because they will impact how much money you can make when selling your item.

The niche markets

There are thousands of niches out there for eCommerce sellers, so it’s important to choose one that matches your interests or expertise. Consider whether the niche has long-term viability and is not at risk of becoming obsolete in the foreseeable future; for example, it wouldn’t make sense to invest in selling vinyl records as new technology like CDs and digital downloads/streaming makes this niche less relevant over time (thanks for reminding us about this one, Grandma). Additionally, look at the demand for items in that niche, is there enough interest from consumers that will allow you to build your business around it?

Choosing a Business Name and a Domain Name

The naming process is an important one. Choosing the right name for your business will set you up for success in the future. It’s a huge part of your brand identity and will probably be one of the first things people remember about your company!

First, make sure you don’t choose a name that is too alike another business. You don’t want to get sued, for it! It should also be memorable, easy to pronounce and spell, and meaningful. You can use free domain suggestion tools like NameMesh or Lean Domain Search to see what’s available and get some inspiration.

Establish a social media presence

It should be no surprise that social media has become an integral part of business promotion. Social media can help you build a community, find customers, and promote your brand.

Before you start posting on social media, it is important to have a plan (you can read more about this in our post How to Use Social Media Marketing for eCommerce). If you don’t already have one, start by creating a Facebook page for your business; after all, Facebook is the largest social network in the world with over 1.3 billion users. You’ll want to include relevant information about your product and links to your eCommerce store or website on the page.

Once you’ve established a presence on social media, using it can be a great way to start a dialogue with potential customers. According to Econsultancy, 72% of people who complain about brands through Twitter expect a response within an hour! It’s important that you are responsive when customers reach out via social media. So they don’t feel like they’re being ignored. And so other prospective customers see that you care about good customer service!

Launching an eCommerce website.

Launching an eCommerce website. Your website needs to be fast, easy to use and mobile-friendly. You want your customers to have a simple experience when they visit your store. As well as when they are checking out. If you’re not a technical person, don’t worry. There are many ready-made solutions which make it very easy for you to set up a great-looking store in just a few hours.

And this where One Day Digital could help you with. Check out our services, and let us help you to launch your cool eCommerce website.

Selling and Listing Your Products

There are two different approaches you can take to selling your products:

  • Using an e-commerce platform, where you’ll have a storefront that you create and curate, so people can browse your inventory, see descriptions of the items, decide what to buy, and pay for their items.
  • Selling your goods on a marketplace, like Amazon or eBay, where you’ll list each item and let shoppers find it by searching keywords. You’ll also be competing with other sellers.
  • This step is all about figuring out which approach appeals most to you! Here’s how it works on some popular platforms:
    • On eBay and Etsy, there’s no fee for listing products but once something sells there’s a fee on the sale price and payment processing charge (eBay). Additionally, Etsy charges a small transaction fee for each listing that sells.
    • To sell on Amazon, visit their Seller Central website and get started.
    • For Shopify, if this is the route you’re taking you’ll have to choose from three pricing plans based on how much traffic your store gets: Basic Shopify ($29/month), Shopify ($79/month), or Advanced Shopify ($299/month).

Promote Your Brand and Ship Your Products

Your eCommerce business needs two things to succeed: sales and shipping. Once you have those, you need customers. Once you have customers, you need more sales and shipping. In this section of the guide, we’ll cover how to use various strategies to get your products in front of shoppers, encourage them to buy from your website and ship their orders promptly.

Which is better for your Business's Growth? : eCommerce Website or Social Media

Which is better for your Business’s Growth? : eCommerce Website Vs. Social Media.

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In previous blogs, we discussed the various uses and significance of social media and e-commerce websites. In today’s blog, we’ll look at a comparison of e-commerce websites and social media.

Which will generate the most leads? Which channel has the highest return on investment? Which channel will get your startup or small business to the next level the quickest?

It is obvious that in today’s rapidly evolving digital era, an online presence is more important to a business than a physical presence (stores). and the most effective way to establish an online presence is through an eCommerce website and social media.

What exactly is an eCommerce website?

You can find out eCommerce websites, like traditional physical retail stores, allow consumers and businesses to buy and sell to one another on a designated platform. The main distinction between e-commerce and physical commerce is that e-commerce transactions take place entirely on the internet rather than in a physical location.

Did you know that?

Someone forms an opinion about your website in 50 milliseconds. That means first impressions are important. According to a recent Square survey, 85% of consumers believe it is critical for a business to have a high-quality website. If you include Gen Z and millennials in your target market, that figure rises to 91 percent.

As a result, it’s critical to launch a one-of-a-kind website that will help you attract new customers while also keeping existing ones engaged.

How could an eCommerce website benefit your company?

An e-commerce website will assist you in being found, promoted online, integrating your sales funnel, establishing credibility, and providing important data to the company. Information such as website traffic, bounce rates, conversion rates, and e-mail subscription rates aid in decision making and gaining knowledge of your customers’ expectations, as well as the methodology and growth strategies.

According to Intuit Mailchimp, effective e-commerce enables sellers to offer a diverse range of products, including products, services, and digital goods. And, in order to efficiently conduct these trades through an eCommerce website, the website should be able to perform some basic functionality such as,

• Accepting orders,

• Maintaining an Effective Payment Gateway that is Convenient for Customers,

• Managing an Effective Logistics System, including Reverse Logistics, and

• Providing 24/7 Customer Service

By continuing to perform these functions efficiently on a regular basis, your brand image and customer trust will be preserved for a longer period of time.

What exactly is social media?

According to Investopedia, social media is a digital platform that allows you to send and receive personal, formal, or social information in the form of text, images, video, and audio. Social networks and social media have become a part of our everyday lives. It is primarily used for online communication and interaction. Social media has grown in popularity over the last decade, not only among individuals but also among businesses. Social media isn’t just a passing fad; it’s a platform that, when used properly, offers limitless opportunities.

Did you know that?

According to Datareportals’ Social Media statistics, more than 4.5 billion people will be using social media by October 2021. Currently, the most popular social media platforms are Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, and TikTok. Furthermore, the United States anticipates an increase of up to 257 million by 2023.

You would be able to communicate with your existing and potential customers about your brand using any social media platform. As a result, understanding How to Use Social Media as a marketing tool is critical.

How can social media platforms benefit your company?

You can connect with your audience, build your brand and reputation, share your content, and reach new potential customers while encouraging them to interact with your brand by using social media platforms wisely.

To obtain these benefits, you may need to develop a Social Media Strategy that is appropriate for your industry and goals. You will need to develop strategies for each social media platform in which your business has been involved, and this will necessitate knowledge of how the particular social media can help your business. Understanding How TikTok Marketing can Help your Business, for example.

eCommerce Website vs. Social Media

According to the information provided above, it is clear that both social media and eCommerce websites can help you with your business, but in different ways…

eCommerce websites are excellent forsocial media is excellent for
• Assisting your company in being found online
• Using the internet to promote your services
• Including it in your sales funnel
• Creating credibility and social proof
• Providing critical data for your business		• Assisting you in connecting with your target audience
• Establishing your brands and reputation
• Distributing your content
• Introducing new audiences
• Encouraging customer interaction with your brand

Is it better to use social media or an eCommerce website?

The decision is yours, but based on the comparison above, you can see that both social media platforms and eCommerce websites provide an equal number of benefits to your business, albeit in different ways. And, for long-term business growth, both 50 percent should be combined. Because ensuring business growth always necessitates 100 percent effort and opportunity.

How can One Day Digital assist you?

Launching and managing social media and Instagram may require a lot of time, effort, and some skills. You might be lacking in some of them.

As a result, we provide services to create unique social media pages and manage any social media platforms based on your needs, all at an affordable price. Visit our One Day Digital website to learn more about the packages we offer to help your business grow…

How to Promote Your Small Business or Startup to the Next Level? Cover

How to Promote Your Small Business or Startup to the Next Level?

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The questions of “How to Start My Business” or “How to Grow My Business” is one that many Small Business entrepreneurs and those aspiring to be entrepreneurs face on a regular basis. Business Growth not only helps to increase profitability, but it is also a necessary process to ensure the business’s suitability. Because the current globalized world is growing not every day, but every hour. Therefore, settling in one wouldn’t be safer for a business, which requires to sustain its presence for an extended period.

Aside from that, there are some other benefits to continued business growth. Customers always expect innovation and new trends, so growing your business will keep them engaged with your business. Increase sales, brand image, and customer loyalty.

And, yes, expanding your business is costly and time-consuming, but it is worthwhile. Anyway, there are several methods that can assist a business in attracting the attention of thousands of customers. And this article, discuss the methods you can use to grow your business at a low cost and with ease.

 

Ways to Easily Expand Your Business

Unlike in the 90’s, there are numerous ways to promote and grow your Small businesses, through few taps today. The modern era is well-known for its technological advancement. The internet is the most widely used technology among people. That is one of the reasons why we can use it to market the businesses  to potential customers with less effort. But, the internet is a vast platform, so you must use it wisely to get the most out of it.

In this article, we’ll look at two top ways to obtaining the business development you want.

 

▣ Establishing a social media presence

What exactly is social media?

Social media is a free or paid digital communication platform that is available worldwide. According to University Communication and Marketing Website, with the assistance of these social media platforms, users can quickly share any type of information with another one or many users. This can include any type of written conversation, formal or informal, blogs, or visuals such as videos or images. According to Dataportal statistics, more than 4.62 billion people in the world use social media, accounting for 58.4 percent of the total global population. That also means there’s a sizable audience out there.

 

What role does social media play in business growth?

While any individual can easily sign up for social media, the platforms have become an important part of marketing for businesses of all sizes. As a small business owner, you’re always looking for new ways to get your brand in front of potential customers. Using social media in business is an excellent way to engage current customers while also attracting new ones. Using social media allows you to raise brand awareness, expand your customer base, and connect with existing customers.

The number of followers a company has on social media does not determine its success. Instead, it is dependent on customer participation. Small businesses can have more success on social media than large corporations for a variety of reasons, including community and individual focus, less expensive or free advertising, and joint social media marketing efforts, to name a few.

To gain these benefits, you must constantly Manage Social Media Platforms and Develop Social Media Strategies.

 

▣ Developing an unique eCommerce Website

What exactly is eCommerce and eCommerce Website?

eCommerce is a business model in which sales transactions are conducted over the internet. This structure is followed by virtually every online shopping website, large or small. An eCommerce website is any website where you can purchase items for sale over the internet. This is less expensive than a physical store, and after the Covid pandemic, it is one of the safest ways to demonstrate and market a company’s service and product to customers.

 

How can an eCommerce website help a company grow?

A store’s online presence is a simple way for it to broaden its services to customers who don’t want to go to the store or who want to order an item that is out of stock. Previously, eCommerce systems were only available to businesses with physical stores, now, eCommerce systems are available to businesses without physical stores. As a result, developing an effective ecommerce site or social media presence will undoubtedly attract many customers/clients to your company. Because eCommerce is no longer a luxury, it is now a requirement.

 

How can One Day Digital assist you in expanding your small business?

Managing social media for a startup or small business is not the same as managing a personal social media account; it may necessitate ongoing customer engagement, creativity, and strategic thinking ability. Launching an eCommerce website may also necessitate technical skills as well as strategic thinking. You may lack some of those skills, as well as sufficient time to develop and maintain your social media platforms or eCommerce website.

Do not stress; One Day Digital is here to help.

We offer eCommerce website development and social media management services in a variety of packages based on your needs. And we guarantee that our one-of-a-kind services will be completely beneficial to your company’s ability to stand out from the crowd and grow.

 

We have several unique packages available based on your needs. Choose one and begin your journey to long-term business growth with us…

Get Started

If you’d like to see a demonstration of our unique services.

Request a Demo

 

We’d like to wrap up today’s blog with a thought-provoking quote about growth:

 “Strength and growth come only through continuous effort and struggle.” 

Hill, Napoleon. Think and Grow Rich. Penguin, 2005.

How to Use Social Media Marketing for eCommerce

How to Use Social Media Marketing for eCommerce

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Today, it’s an indisputable fact that billions around the world are connected on social media, with the majority of them on multiple social media platforms. This makes social media one of the best avenues out there for you to market and advertise your products and services. With such a massive user base, social media is the ideal place for you to reach potential clients and this will, in turn, help improve the conversion rate for your brand and eCommerce business. 

Simply posting pictures of your products will not do much; you will need several different tactics that can attract, interact with, and gain your target audience’s trust. If you’re wondering about these tactics, here are some of them which you can use to improve your eCommerce conversion rates:

- Utilize social Reviews

Product reviews by customers are an excellent way to build social proof on your product pages. It allows new costumes to know what they can expect when buying from you. For your eCommerce business, make sure that you leverage reviews from your social media pages. Facebook, for instance, has its native reviews, so make sure you activate it.

This way, when customers discover your business on social media, they can see right from these platforms, without even going to your site, what people have to say about your products or services. 

Make sure to consistently encourage your customers to leave reviews so you can later benefit from greater social proof generated by satisfied customers.

- Go for an integrated approach

An integrated approach is about adding social buying options to your social media pages. It’s a guaranteed way an eCommerce business can improve sales, bring down the selling cost, and even understand client behaviour.

The availability of these buttons on your social media pages lessens the discovery-to-purchase journey of your customers, streamlining a higher conversion rate than before. A good example of this is Instagram’s Shop Now buttons. 

- Go for offers and discounts

Social media allows you to have a direct connection with your customers. Therefore, you should utilize this to improve your conversion rates. One very good marketing tactic is to come up with offers and discounts often for your clients. Offers and discounts like store credits and percentage discounts draw in new customers and thrill your existing ones. 

Having these campaigns at different times in the year will also boost your eCommerce conversion rates. Make use of the Google Rank Tracker to help you monitor how these campaigns are improving your business’ performance.

- Create Pages and Join Groups

On social media, especially on Facebook and Instagram, you can create two different types of pages – a brand page and a general page that is related to your business. Once you have a good following, you can start advertising your products or services there. Joining relevant groups is also important to have a grasp of what is happening in the business community and to engage with relevant customers. 

- Track and analyze results

For an excellent social media marketing strategy, you need to treat it professionally. This means that you have to track campaigns and evaluate results, making changes along the way whenever necessary. Here are the three most important metrics you need to pay attention to:

  • Engagement: this includes shares, likes, reactions and clicks on your posts. With a good engagement rate, you will be able to improve your other KPIs.
  • Reach: this shows how far your brand message goes. It’s very important you know this so you can make adjustments to extend your reach. 
  • Conversion: this allows you to measure the ratio of people who buy from you due to engaging with your social media posts or ads.

- Invest in social media ads

Sometimes, even with all your effort in marketing, you may not be reaching your target audience or the targeted number from your client base. In such cases, consider investing in social media ads. Social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook and YouTube are great for running ads because they are popular and they allow you to customize your campaigns to reach the desired client base. 

These tips can help play a significant role in helping you maximize your social media platform to improve your eCommerce conversion rates. By understanding your customers and their needs, adding value to your posts, and communicating and socializing with your customers, you’ll be boosting your social media engagement and your eCommerce business in no time.

ODD Success

One Day Digital Completes a Year of Success

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What makes a business a successful one is the passion that goes into its growth. At One Day Digital, our unrelenting passion on our work is what has made us stand out from the crowd and it’s that passion that has shaped us to who we are today. One Day Digital celebrates, with great pride, it’s completion of a year of successful operations in the digital niche in Sri Lanka. Though the digital marketing arena of Sri Lanka is proving to be a challenging one with strong competition, we have managed to carve out our very own unique space through our dedication to our work and our innovative solutions. 

 

One Day Digital started off with the single notion of providing affordable website solutions for all businesses, regardless of their size. The importance of a well maintained and effective website is of paramount importance to any business in today’s highly digitized era. We understood this need and from the onset, we wanted our clients to experience the complete digital package that would really help take their business to new heights while keeping our services cost-effective for all. We wanted to offer our clients more than just the standard package and, true to our name, we started specializing in setting up websites in just one day. Time is money and having a great website up and running in a day was just what our clients were looking for. 

 

Today, at the completion of one year, One Day Digital stands proudly, serving more than 50 businesses successfully. Each business presents unique, individual needs and that aspect has helped our team grow and flourish; with each and every experience creating a valuable learning curve for all of us and becoming stepping stones towards success and inspiration. 

 

As the founder, I, Asir Mohamed, take this opportunity to extend my heartfelt gratitude to each and every member of my team, for being equal partners in my efforts to establish this company as a successful digital agency in Sri Lanka. I’m humbly grateful to my  valuable clients for trusting us in the building of their business and I’m thankful to our followers who have helped us to become who we are today. As a team, we at One Day Digital, are committed to work with renewed confidence and energy towards success, achievement and fulfillment.  

8 Things to consider when choosing a delivery partner

8 Things to Consider When Choosing a Delivery Partner

by Uncategorized

With businesses moving the majority of their operations online, the delivery of products to customers is a vital part of their service. Take, for example, owners of eCommerce websites, eBay sellers, clothing stores, merchandise sellers, bakeries, etc. While some of the more established businesses have their own vehicles for delivery, many of them still prefer to outsource the delivery of their goods to third parties so that they don’t have to deal with the hassle of licenses, fuel costs, tax, and other regulations. 

Every small detail can influence your business reputation and unprofessional or unreliable delivery service will do more damage than good to your business. If you want your business to appear reliable and professional, your delivery process should be smooth and hassle-free. The delivery company you choose can either make or break your business. But how do you choose the best delivery service for your business amidst the many companies available?  Here are some things to consider before making your decision:

1. Speed of Delivery

This is one of the most important factors you have to pay attention to. Speed of delivery is vital for almost all businesses and even if timing is not much of a factor, it’s always good to have fast delivery as an option for your business.

As the eCommerce industry continues to grow, a large number of customers now prefer same-day deliveries compared to normal services. Some delivery companies only offer standard delivery speeds, while others offer a range of delivery options to suit your needs, so look into this factor of each delivery company. 

2. Delivery Areas

As a business, you get orders from all over the country and from different locations. Some delivery companies do not cover all areas and if you are looking to expand your business internationally, make sure you look for a company that can provide local and international deliveries for all locations. This would enable you to reach a wide range of customers in different parts of the world. 

3. Safety and Security

The safety and security of the goods you’re delivering are important if you’re shipping fragile or delicate items or something that needs to arrive in good condition and the way a delivery company handles your package matters.

Similarly, a package can also get lost or stolen in transit if the courier is not reliable. So it’s very important that you choose a company that will keep your orders safe while in transit from the point of shipping to the final destination.

4. Tracking Services

As a business, it’s important to you that you know the delivery status of your items at all times. Make sure you choose an online delivery company that offers detailed and comprehensive tracking capabilities and a company that allows you to monitor the movements of a package while in transit; tracking and checking the status of your parcel or shipment. 

5. Pricing

As with any case, pricing will always be an important factor to consider. Most delivery companies in Sri Lanka charge based on the weight and size of an item as well as the distance or location of the delivery.

Don’t be tempted to go for the cheapest option as they may have hidden surcharges or compromise on the quality of service. Choose one where you can save money and get the best service at the same time.

6. Customer Care

Make sure you choose a delivery partner that you can easily contact and are easy to deal with. A delivery company should always be available to answer your queries and concerns and offer assistance in case of emergencies. It’s also important to know if the drivers will offer to load and unload goods. 

7. Experience

Experience matters for a courier company so choose a delivery partner that is established in the business. Companies with more experience are usually more reliable and reputable when it comes to deliveries and they can also help you further in your own process for delivery. 

8. Added Services

Look for a delivery company that is not only limited to delivering parcels from one point to another. A good delivery company should be able to offer you additional services like packaging, labelling, logistics and warehouse management. Even if you do any of these things on your own, outsourcing these tasks to professionals is a good idea and can help organize your processes. 

Ultimately, the choice of delivery service narrows down to your operational needs, budget, and your brand value. Remember to look for a reliable delivery partner that fulfills your needs and saves you time and money as well. 

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How to Create a Social Media Strategy in 5 Easy Steps

by Uncategorized

Almost all businesses find social media overwhelming and that is because there are so many platforms out there, with new features added frequently for you to learn and integrate into your marketing plans. 

What you, as a business, needs is a simple and sensible strategy that suits your goals and resources. This is where a social media strategy comes in. Your social media strategy is a framework for how you create, post, and engage with your social media content. It includes your social content guidelines, posting style, social media marketing campaigns, creative plans, and engagement strategy. 

A social media strategy is vital to give your online marketing efforts a solid foundation. Once you have defined your goals and objectives­­–and made a plan for how to achieve them–you will be able to measure the return on investment for your online business and improve your efforts in the future too. 

A successful social media strategy sets your brand apart from your competitors. However, creating a winning social media strategy can be daunting so here are some simple steps to help you achieve just that:

- Recognize your goals and target audience

The first thing to do when drawing out a social media strategy is to understand your goals because these goals will later serve as a metric of achievement. Each of your goals needs to have the following characteristics:

  • Specific
  • Measurable
  • Attainable
  • Relevant
  • Time-Bound

Another factor to pay attention to is to establish who your target audience will be. After identifying them, you need to gather details about them like location, age, gender, interests, etc. Once you have established that, utilize social media and search engine analytics to get a better understanding of your target audience.

- Gather data

The more data you have, the better it will be for your to create your social media strategy. Besides conducting product research and target audience behaviour, you should also be aware of your competitors as this will give you an idea of what will work for you. 

Gathering data is a very challenging and time-consuming task so make sure that you take advantage of social media management tools. These tools have features that will automatically generate data reports and monitor competitors in real-time, besides a number of other benefits.

- Conduct a social media audit

How are your social media platforms performing at the moment? Is your business doing well on popular social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, YoutTube, Instagram, and TikTok? Ask yourself these questions:

  • How frequently are you posting?
  • How are your post engagements?
  • Are your posts aligned with your brand? 

What your gather from an audit can help you recognize the aspects you should pay more attention to for your social media strategies. Doing so will also ensure that your efforts are streamlined toward your goals and target audience. 

- Draft your social media strategy

Once you have completed gathering data and conducting a social media audit, it’s time to draft your social media strategy. Here are some of the factors you have to pay attention to:

  • Based on your target audience’s psychographic and demographic analysis, you can decide which social media platforms to use by accurately predicting the channels they use the most. If you’re planning on using paid advertisements, decide which social media to use that has the highest chance of reaching your target audience. 
  • Step up your social media accounts. Make sure that all your accounts are business pages and that they are detailed and include keywords so that your target audience can find you easily. 
  • Make a content calendar. Doing so will save you a lot of time and effort and it will also ensure that you’re consistently providing your audience with quality content. A content calendar will also give you an idea of the types of content that work and the ones that need improvement. 

- Keep adjusting and improving

Your ability to adjust and adapt will make your social media strategy more successful. Do more of the things that are effective and change those that aren’t bringing in results. This will be a difficult task but there is no one definite way to be successful in social media marketing. 

With the above steps, you will be able to reach your audience more effectively. Remember to be consistent with posting and interacting with your audience on social media and to measure your results so that you can enhance and improve your strategy every month.  Also bear in mind that any online marketing efforts you make are a waste of effort without a detailed strategy in place.

Best payment gateways for your ecommerce website Sri Lanka

Best Payment Gateways for your E-commerce Website

by Uncategorized

The world today is led by the internet and mobile computing technologies. The rise in the use of the internet has, in turn, driven the eCommerce industry across the globe to greater heights, establishing new benchmarks in terms of customer engagement and revenue. A successful eCommerce website relies on a number of factors but the most important aspect is, perhaps, an efficient payment gateway for smooth transactions. A payment gateway is a crucial necessity to enable secure payment authorization for your eCommerce site.

To boost your conversion rates and increase sales on your eCommerce website, you need to have proper integration of a payment gateway with your eCommerce store. Without a payment gateway integration, it’s inevitable your sales will decrease because customers will only have one option of paying for goods, which is usually cash on delivery. There are many customers who don’t prefer this method and instead, prefer to pay online with their debit cards, credit cards, online wallets, or net banking.

There are various options for a payment gateway in Sri Lanka for you to choose from. Finding the best one will depend on numerous factors- from location and budget to customization options and website integration. To ease the process for you, here are some of the best payment gateways in Sri Lanka for your eCommerce website:

Sampath Bank Payment Gateway

Sampath Bank is the primary Internet Payment Gateway provider to offer a payment gateway to accept the Sri Lankan Rupee on the Internet. Currently, the Sampath Bank’s Payment Gateway is used by the majority of SMEs and the larger businesses to process their online transactions safely. With solid experience, Sampath Bank also gives the assurance that all communications routed through the gateway are fully protected with the uppermost international standards of security with SSL (Secure Socket Layer) 128-bit encryption certification gained from prominent Verisign Inc., USA.

Seylan Bank Payment Gateway

The Seylan Bank Internet Payment Gateway collaborates with VISA and MasterCard for card payments. The bank then gathers funds from traders and obtains card authorization from the issuing bank. As and when VISA/MasterCard reconciles the money to the bank, it will be credited to the merchant’s account.

Commercial Bank Payment Gateway

With drastic improvements by Commercial Bank to its Internet Payment Gateway, the bank now offers new functionality for SMEs, with integrated and safe eCommerce and mCommerce solutions to their customers. Commercial Bank is the only bank in Sri Lanka that has an Internet Payment Gateway function presented by MiGS (MasterCard Internet Gateway System). The ComBank Payment Gateway is now equipped with various features that help SME-type transactions, minus the hassle of high costs of current eCommerce structures. 

HNB Payment Gateway

With HNB Internet Payment Gateway, you will have the chance to fully realize the possibilities of your eCommerce business. Boasting state-of-the-art technology, HNB’s payment gateway helps you boost your sales by reaching your target market with unified channels in real-time, eliminating extra expenses. HNB’s payment gateway accepts any local or international debit, credit, Visa and MasterCard payments via safer transaction channels. Repayments are provided straight away, with 24/7 customer service.

PayHere Payment Gateway

Considered as Sri Lanka’s first Central Bank Approved Payment Gateway, PayHere allows SMEs to accept payments both locally and globally. The payment gateway supports multiple currencies but you need to have a Sampath Bank Current Account to get your PayHere account set up. 

WEBXPAY Payment Gateway

Within the first three months, WEBXPAY started serving 100 customers. Now, with three years under their belt, they currently serve 1000+ business owners in Sri Lanka. Considered as the biggest payment gateway SaaS-based company in Sri Lanka for SMEs, WebXPay also offers the most available payment options available in Sri Lanka. 

DirectPay Payment Gateway

A FinTech startup that was founded in 2017, DirectPay supports all types of banks in Sri Lanka and also offers a safe and convenient internet payment gateway.

2Checkout

This payment gateway is an all-in-one monetization platform that allows eCommerce websites to quickly grow internationally as well as enhance recurring revenue streams across channels, by simplifying the back-end difficulties that present day digital business creates.

Genie

Sri Lanka’s first PCI-DSS specialized payment app, Genie is a digital wallet that allows you to save your Credit/Debit cards, Current/Savings accounts and your eZ Cash wallet in one single app on your smart devices. eCommerce websites can connect to Genie as one of the payment gateway options on their online portal.

We’re all very much aware of the rise of eCommerce businesses in Sri Lanka, so now is a good time to start your eCommerce journey. Choose from the above mentioned payment gateways in Sri Lanka to run a successful eCommerce business.