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Introduce the product range specific to your business. Provide the users an eBook or a simple list of products available so that the user can find what he is looking for. Customers will visit your web site to read the free eBooks and may see your product advertisement which will ultimately lead to orders.
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Make a part of your web site into a members-only web site. Give free access to your products rather than charging the customers a membership fees.
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Product advertisement is very important. You could also add free classified advertisements. But too much distracts the user. So, keep it simple i.e. without much fuss.
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You can also publish an e-Magazine regularly which tells a new customer about the products available and the customer reviews for it.
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Also, ask the customers for their feedback once they place an order. You can include the option of adding the customers or the viewers email address and phone number so that regular messages and emails can be sent out and product updates and new product portfolios can reach the customers.
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Returning buyers should be offered with a bonus and other offers on the products they intend to buy. This minimal discount or a small offer can boost up your sales as well as traffic. To keep a customer coming back should be the motive of the offer or the discount.
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Host some free software or eBooks on your website which keeps the user interested. For e.g. an embedded music system which plays tracks currently on the charts. It’s your job to keep a customer interested.
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Build a community for your product site which ensures more and more users accessing your website. An affiliate program can also be launched which promises free gifts to customers who complete a certain target. This can lead to two things i.e. the customer will bring more users to your website who are potential buyers. Also, a free gift or a product will make the customer happy.
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Send regular update mails to the affiliates regarding the targets and enlisting what they get for free if they complete their targets. And, if an affiliate achieves his/her target, you should congratulate him and ensure that the promised gift reaches to the customer in time. It is for your own good.
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Products should be displayed intricately keeping in mind the customer’s viewpoint. He should see even the smallest detail crystal clear so that he does not hesitate will placing an order. Also, allow a customer to compare the details of the products he wishes to buy. A satisfied customer is a blessing.
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Multiple payment gateways are a must. Give the customer the freedom to pay by his own way. When the order has been placed, the money will reach you anyway whether today or 2 days after. But the user feels much more comfortable while paying if he pays by the gateway of his choice.
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A lengthy processing procedure can easily bore the customer. So, keep the process simple enough for the user and make sure he does not get lost within the process. Short descriptions about the process make a great impact on the customer rather than lengthy explanations. Provide links to various important pages so that the user can easily navigate within the website.
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When a customer orders a product, he trusts us and our payment gateway. So, security should a prime feature that should be incorporated while managing a product business. Payment processing should be made failsafe as far as possible. If the payment fails even on one occasion, we are at a risk of losing a customer’s trust as well as our potential customers due to bad image.
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Providing the customer the due warranty is quite important. Money back and replacement guarantees can also be provided which will surely increase a lot of traffic. When an order is placed, it should be processed immediately and the customer should be able to accurately check the order status. This can be done by a tracking number but should provide actual and exact details.
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Free delivery can also be a strategy for attracting more orders but it totally depends upon the orders being shipped. Fragile products need to be handled with extreme caution and can increase the transportation cost. So, the nature of the product being shipped is also critical.
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Customer feedback should have the highest priority. A well built and updated site should be available only for user feedback. Customer’s buying experience, product reviews and grievances should be dealt with promptly. Such a site encourages other users to buy products from the store. Remember, a happy customer leads to more customers.
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Demography or the location you choose for setting up your business is also an important factor of consideration. Why did you choose this place, what kind of customers live here, what are the fashion trends, what is the ideology of the customers? All these questions matter a lot while setting up a business. Almost every business is location dependent. The market should be carefully studied for the demand and supply of the products you plan to sell or trade.
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It’s not that, you have set up a new business, so the customer will come by himself to ask about your business. We are in need of customers not the other way round. You have to be unique enough to start selling your products.
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The age old saying, first impression is the last impression fits well in the business situations as well. A pure environment and a comfortable ambience should be provided to the customers, where they can do some research and then pick up a quality product. For e.g. if a person goes to buy grocery store which offers great prices and deals but finds it to be ill built and ill maintained. The person will not return in spite of the great prices and deals. So, the impression has its impact.
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Needless to say that the main motive behind starting a business is profit. This profit that is made should be balanced quite well. The market is always changing. Less competition make the business more profitable where are too much completion leads to cutting of product costs and lesser profit. So, to maintain a nearly constant profit, market trends should be kept into account. If more profit is being made, utilize it by expanding your product range which keeps both, the customers and you happy. If the market is too competitive, less profit, some deals and discounts can be announced to attract the attention of customers.
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Training and proper guidance should be provided to the employees. It is very crucial that the employees know what products are being sold in the store. Misleading a customer about any product can lead to undesirable consequences. Since the customers are humans who socialize, such an act can lead to bad name and a business owner does not want that in his lifetime. Customers should be handled politely and with respect. Their queries should be answered promptly and accurately.
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Complaints by word of mouth describing the short comings of a business are quite common. Every customer wants that he should be treated with respect and due attention should be given to him while he is in store. The staff that is employed in the business should be well mannered and cultured. They should never behave rudely with a customer. Callous and uptight behavior is considered to be a sin in the business world.
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Word by mouth travels with lightening speed and the customers form an opinion about the business without even visiting the store. This is highly undesirable and should be taken care of. Talk gently to the customers, give the customer suggestions if you have better stuff than what he is looking for but don’t be overbearing.
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Advertisement can make your business climb up to unimaginable heights but only if it is done in the right way. Advertise in the right places and you will see customers banging your doors even before you open your store. You can use banners, magazines or fliers along with the newspapers. Mention a small discount in the advertisement or plan a one day sale. Such small strategies benefit the business a lot.
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Customers and profit are the prime reason for which you are in business. More customers mean more profit. So, in order to maximize your profit, you will have to attract as many customers. Customers come looking for a product and as soon as a customer enters your store, it is your duty to give him what he wants. You should thoroughly and regularly study the market trends and survey for the hottest services. In this way you can accurately understand what a customer needs and what not. You have to create a position for yourself and for the business you are running in the market around you.
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Customer’s money should be as important to you as your own profit. You have to convince the customer and shower him with adequate and essential reasons why he should buy a product from you. You should guarantee the customers excellent product quality and exceptional services for they have your business with their hard earned money.
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You should know exactly what customers to target for your business. This is the most important step and generally the first step to market your business store. You should extensively study about the product you want to sell, who you want to sell and why should the customer buy your product.
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Attract the correct audience, research products that are famous with the customers. Determine customers will come to your store and who will not. Plan your stocks accordingly. Market your stocks in such a way that they reach the sight of the intended audience and minimal time and money is wasted on wrong advertisement. Wrong advertisement can lead to downfall in the business so, it should be handled carefully.
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Marketing can be done by you but if you are new in business, it is quite advisable to hire a Marketing Consultant or an Image consultant. You can discus with him the strategies to make your business successful. Even small things related to advertisement can work wonders. Design a marketing campaign. Campaign need not be on a large scale as it sounds. It can consist of just simple ways like printing catalogs or hang tags. Such small things if done in a correct manner will bring in a lot of customers.
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The main idea behind marketing is to make the customers curious of what they would get in your store. Advertisement conveys such important things and fills the customers with an irresistible feeling to come down to your and buy products.
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Attracting a customer is not as hard as luring a customer to your store. Advertisements do their magic but your store should also be well sought out. Once a customer enters your store and he appreciates your collection or products, due to socialization, more customers turn up eventually. So, the most important thing is to satisfy the customers that come to you. Make them happy and they will lead to more and more customers.
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Once you have set up your store, advertised to a certain extent, you should start planning on how to interact with your first customer. You should consider every possibility of the age group of your customer, what should be the appropriate language to be used and how will you address the customers. All these things have to be thought carefully and implemented effectively. You should learn about your customer first before selling him anything.
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Newspapers are the most trusted sources for advertisements due to their high availability even in remote areas. More people have access to newspapers than any other media source. So, advertisements in newspapers are the best, cheapest and reliable sources of attracting potential customers. Instead of giving a bigger advertisement once a week, small advertisements should be posted and that too on a daily basis. This is because of the fact that the more often people see advertisements, the more they tend to remember.
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Business does not only mean selling your products, it means creating opportunities for your customers to get best service. Keep track of the social events or gatherings. Sponsoring or being present at such events gradually increases your market. More potential buyers come to know about you.
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Promotions either on a small scale or large help a lot in increasing sales as well as attracting new customers. Small promotions can include offering free demo products which encourages more customers to buy the product. Large scale promotional events can include inviting the existing customers to get together and tell them about the new products being launched. Always be open to customer suggestions.
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Customers are the only thing that should be important to you. The more people talk about your business, the more you will be popular and hence benefit. Be open to customer feedback i.e. both criticism and complements. You should see the feedback as a way to improve your work and customers experience.
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Periodically, you should assess your business market, changing trends and what your current customer band needs? You should also check on how satisfied your past customers are. In this way you can estimate what changes you need to make in your current business policy as well as attract new customer base. Depending upon your sales and customer feedback you can decide what makes you stand out in the market and thus, implement ways to maximize your masket in this particular product line.
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What makes you feel happy is your existing customer base i.e. the returning customers. These customers are important for the growth and survival of your business. Since, a specific customer base is helping your business grow and prosper, it is important that you maintain a healthy relationship with each of them through sale or discounts.
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A healthy relationship with customers allows you to keep the number of customers above than a certain level. This number can only be maintained through periodic interactions with the customers, being clear on deals that you offer, regular emails about the new products that have been added, etc. Such interaction will help you a lot in finding the general customer’s view and also the deal and offers being provided by your competitors.
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Selling a product to a customer requires a lot of effort, but it becomes quite easy when a customer has already bought stuff from you. The revisiting customer knows what is in store for him. But to keep him coming back more often, you can creatively frame selling strategies like vouchers, free trials etc.
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New customers readily come when they are referred by any of the past customer. Such customers act as a bonus for the business because minimal amount of effort is spent on attracting these new customers. You can introduce referral scheme from satisfied customers and this will automatically bring in new customers. In this way you can save marketing costs. Incentives can be offered to the customers who bring in new customers.
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Even for a well settled and smoothly running business, the process of marketing and advertising should never die. The main focus should be on only one thing, keep attracting more customers.
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You have to distinguish yourself from others in the same business and let the potential customers know who you are and what you sell. If a customer strolls into your store, provide him exceptional service and if he decides to buy, guarantee him best quality product and after sales service.
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But exceptional service should not be misunderstood with under pricing. You have to remain in competition also. Price your products based on quality and market accordingly.
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Now, the business is well set and customers come into your store often, this doesn’t mean that you should stop marketing or take no steps to attract new customers. Launch campaigns such ad direct mail marketing which can include printed postcards or brochures. Direct mail marketing helps you to make a one to one relationship with your customer. But, before launching such campaign, you should make sure that you a great mailing list and your business and its details are easily readable and understandable.
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Direct mail marketing has now been replaced by Online marketing to a great extent. But the latter is not as efficient as the former. Moreover, cyber crimes are resulting in unwary threats, so the customers do not tend to be serious when they read an online advertisement. Online marketing can has many advantages like being economical, millions of people have the access to your advertisement but it cannot be trusted.
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An upcoming and relatively new field of advertising is business networking. Business networking groups are becoming common and are resulting in growing communities of business providers. Such a collaboration is good not only for business providers but for customers also as they get accurate information about various business providers located in their region.
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Trade events, conferences and seminars all provide excellent opportunities to gain new leads while learning more about where your industry is heading. You can also use such events to check in on the competition's marketing efforts.
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Telemarketing is also considered a bad practice these days. The customers want their privacy and should not be disturbed at untimely hours. However for the business providers, you can give your contacts’ to phone books and all trade directories and websites so that the customer can call you.
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Networking through family and friends also help to boost up sales of your business. Large friend circles can help you with referrals and other means of advertisement. Close associates can be told to spread the word around. The more people hear about your business, the more customers you get.
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Issue press releases announcing your new business, volunteer for charitable events and even contribute free articles to trade publications, newspapers and magazines to earn free press that is both credible and impressive.
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Finding your initial customer base can be a daunting task, but if you define your target audience and work to reach them in an efficient way you stand a better chance of drawing them in with your offer. Make sure your customer service skills lead the pack for repeat business that will sustain you through the business life cycle and beyond.
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Marketing your online business and attracting customers to your ecommerce store or sales page is much harder than marketing a blog or any other type of website. Why? It’s because no one really cares about your business. Nobody really wants to know what you have to sell and no one likes being led to a sales page. Even if you think you’re offering the most magnificent products ever, by default people are going to ignore you unless they know who you are.
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Business marketing on social networking sites is a bad idea and the practice should be terminated immediately. Such advertisement are not going to get you customers but will surely but you their rage and that too for free. So don’t advertise on Facebook, Twitter, etc.
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You should realize that the customers don’t shop at your store because of your product range or quality. It is about the overall treatment that is given to them by you and your staff. This creates a bond and the customer then shares his trust with you.
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The most successful of the businesses have only been set up by one thing i.e. advertisement. People should know about you, where you are located, what services you offer and how efficient are you in your business. If the customers don’t anything about you, you can’t aim at being successful in your business.
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Business environment is an issue of utmost importance. Customers should be made happy as soon as they enter your store. This can be done by maintaining a lively environment. The customer should not feel that you are burning a hole into his pocket. You should make him feel safe and ensure he will get the product or the service he desires.
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The customers should know why exactly you are in this business and how efficient you you’re your efficiency is the key parameter in attracting new customers. Customers should know why exactly you are in this business and it is your job to make the customer believe that you are the best in business.
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Your store is the one thing on which your business and orders largely depend. Your store should lure the customers in. Customers should be attracted by the appearance and the ambience of your store. Design and maintain your store according to the type of business you provide.
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The basic rule of an ideal business is that you have to spend money to make money. How you spend your money is directly proportional to how much you earn from it. Before you spend money however, you have to know who your customer is. Then you have to tell them what they want to hear. Once that happens you will have attracted a new customer.
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Internet has revolutionized our lives. The time of internet access has almost equaled the time of an average individual’s sleep time. So, keeping in mind the internet culture, you can take advantage and spread your business beyond limits. Targeted e-mail campaigns, banner advertising and newsletters can all be highly effective ways to attract new customers. The key however is not in using them, but in using them correctly.
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Small Business Consultants can provide you strategies and tools on how to make your business successful even with low budgets. But it’s completely on you, how well you implement those strategies.
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Give people reasons to buy.
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Branding and spreading catchy messages can help you a lot in bringing a customer to your store. Effective messages and taglines can do all what you want and make customers come to your store and buy your products. But you will have to make sure you have a good enough reason for the customers to buy a product from your store. The happier your customers are, the more your business will flourish!!
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