The digital world continues to evolve, as does the eCommerce ecosystem. What once worked to ensure your listing stayed at the top of an Amazon search category, won’t cut it anymore. eCommerce growth includes many angles and tactics that can take your business from average to exceptional. It can be difficult to know how to grow your eCommerce business most effectively.

Here are our top 8 tactics for how to grow your eCommerce business in 2023 and beyond:

1. Talk to your customers

Customer reviews are a valuable way to understand how customers feel about your products. Use customer feedback to make informed decisions on how to better serve them in the future. As a baseline, you should respond to customers quickly and resolve their issues with as little friction as possible. This means providing refunds, returns, or exchanges in almost every scenario.

In addition, use every customer engagement as a chance to build your brand. Don’t use the same templates for every product complaint or return request. Add some personality that demonstrates your understanding of the customer and their interest in your products. There are some great ideas here.

2. Check the health of your website 

It’s important to ensure that your website is highly optimized and functioning smoothly. Your front-end must be able to handle increasing numbers of users with ease. If customers encounter a slow loading time or errors when they attempt to make a purchase, they’ll quickly abandon their shopping carts and move on. Additionally, make sure your website is visually appealing with vivid product images and clear calls to action. Improving the experience on your website is near the top of the list for how to grow your eCommerce business.

3. Increase your visibility  

Influencer marketing is an effective way to create brand awareness and attract new customers. Research content creators in your space, and only work with influencers that align with your brand’s values and target audience. Micro-influencers are great for creating brand loyalty and increasing conversions.

Influencers are one vehicle to make sure your products are seen across the web. You can also use paid search and social media ads to help increase awareness around your offerings. Most sellers invest in PPC ads on the platform which they sell, but you can also drive traffic to your store front from other sources. Use low budget tests to see where else you might find your audience.

4. Find partners

You can also look for ways to collaborate with other brands that appeal directly to your target audience. Whether it’s a social media takeover, an affiliate partnership program, or simply collaborating on content, aligning yourself with partners whose mission and values are similar will attract more attention from potential customers while also helping build brand awareness.

No matter what you sell online, there are likely adjacent (but not competing) brands that share your audience. Find them and reach out to see how you can help each other!

5. Invest in SEO

The most effective way to market your products is for customers to find them on their own. Search engine optimization (SEO) is the key to driving more organic traffic to your store long-term. Make sure all of your product descriptions include relevant keywords, so you can continue improving how high up in the search results you appear when shoppers look for products like yours. Invest in content marketing by creating blog posts, how-to videos, industry news, and tips related to your products. 

There’s no faster way to grow your eCommerce business than becoming a source of information that your customers trust. Not only does it drive organic traffic to your website, but it also helps to build credibility as an expert in your category. Now, your eCommerce business can market products without paying for placement on the other sites your customers visit.

6. Prioritize Customer Experiences 

It’s no longer enough to create products customers want; how they want to engage with those items is equally important. Focus on how customers interact with your brand and how their experience can be improved through technology or better services such as free returns or faster delivery. Offer personalized recommendations, discounts, loyalty programs and other incentives to keep existing customers coming back. If you want new shoppers, strive to set yourself apart from competitors by offering unique products or services.

Finally, adding a special touch with your product shows a connection with the customer and a personality for your brand. Maybe it’s the way you package the product, an anecdote in a small product insert, or an invitation to claim even more value from this purchase. All of these examples show that you’re committed to an experience, not just a sale.

7. Prioritize healthy cash flow

Cash flow is essential to your business’s growth, so make sure you have the resources in place to support it. Consider how you can optimize your accounts receivable and accounts payable processes for better cash management. The right funding partner that understands the seasonality and ever-changing business profits is critical to your continued growth and success. It might be cliche but in eCommerce you have to spend money to make money. Ensure that you have a business bank account and LLC prepared for when you need to seek funding for that next product launch or major inventory purchase.

Related: The Definitive Guide to Small Business Cash Flow

8. Never stop evaluating your strategy

Think of how much has changed in eCommerce over recent years—the competition between platforms and among sellers, the scale of fulfillment, and the consumer expectations. 

Your current online store strategies won’t necessarily get you to the next level. To stay competitive, make sure you re-evaluate how you approach digital marketing, operations, and customer service, regularly. There’s never a bad time to consider how you measure success. Track how your customers are behaving on your website with analytical tools like Google Analytics or Hotjar. Monitor social media conversations around your brand and pay attention to customer feedback – these insights can help inform product launches, marketing campaigns, improved customer service and more.

Creating a brand that customers can connect with and – more importantly – interact with, is essential to driving organic traffic. And while cash flow might not be the most glamorous part of your business’s growth, it’s essential for keeping the lights on and continuing to invest in your company’s future. The good news is that there are plenty of ways to get insights into how your customers interact with your brand – and what you can do to improve their experience.

Viably can help you uncover these valuable financial insights and put them to work growing your eCommerce business through working capital. Contact us today to learn more about how we can help you achieve success.