10 things to get right in your venue's eCommerce this 2021

Where there is fear and uncertainty, there is also opportunity. The online world and eCommerce were already on the rise before COVID-19, but in these pandemic times, looks like buying online is the only choice we all have, and therefore your eCommerce is where you should put a great deal of your efforts for this 2021.

E-commerce is here to stay, and you need to make sure that your leisure business provides the best possible online selling experience, as it is the smartest way forward considering the current events and worldwide scenario. Keep reading and find out what your online shop needs in order to succed in this new year.

1. An effective acquisition and attraction strategy

The number of visitors that you attract to your website is equal to the number of opportunities that you get to gain new customers. But it is not only about the number of visitors you reach, in fact, not all traffic is good traffic. It is about aiming to increase your traffic along with the quality of your visitors because this will lead to an increase in your website’s conversion rates.

There are different powerful acquisition and attraction strategies that your marketing team could implement to take your eCommerce visitors to the top of the funnel, such as display advertising, SEO and SEM strategies, or social media marketing just to mention some. Analyse and evaluate which are the most suitable ones for your venue and which ones better adapt to your audience’s needs.

2. Fully optimized website

The optimization of your eCommerce allows the search engines to understand your pages, and therefore to rank better for your business or industry-related searches on the internet. Nowadays, consumers rely on search engines to help them find everything; from restaurant recommendations to B2B software providers. Make sure your content shows up on the different engine searches that your potential customers use.

One of the most common ways of getting started with website optimization is A/B testing. A/B testing is the most popular form of optimization but there are some other initiatives that you can implement to ensure your venue’s website is performing at its best, such as improving the quality of your content or working on internal linking.

Related read: 5 strategies for conversion optimization

3. First-party data

First-party data provides vital information about your current customers, such as what the tickets they love buying the most are, what their wish list and purchase history is, whether they like buying your bundled offers or even which payment method is their favourite, and the list goes on and on. All this information allows you to get ahead of your customers’ actions and surprise them by offering personalized and tailored experiences.

4.  Email marketing

Besides being an economic and cost-effective tool, email marketing allows your business to stay in contact with your audience and reach out to customers effectively. Additionally, it is easy to measure its results and allows you to send targeted messages. Did you know that according to the Data and Marketing Association, segmented and targeted emails generate 58% of all revenue? Don’t underestimate email marketing, it can have a very positive impact on your eCommerce performance, by helping you  boost your sales exponentially.

5. An easy-to-use checkout

The objective is that your buyers can go through the entire cycle of purchasing without stumbling at any step, especially during the actual process of checking out. If the checkout process is lengthy and complicated, it can leave a profound negative impact on buyers who might end up abandoning their shopping cart.

Make your check out simple, and make sure you provide easy options to modify orders, mention customer support contact information on the checkout page, show the final price or any other solution that deals with many of the issues that cause friction, and therefore, customers to leave.

6. Flexible payment options

Flexible payment options increase your customers' purchasing power, and with more purchasing power, customers are better able to buy goods and services with confidence. Not only will you be making the buying process smoother for your clients or providing a faster payment, but you will also improve your customer relationships, which leads to an increase in conversion rates, and also helps to lower the rate of shopping cart abandonment.

7. Reliable customer support

Providing good customer service and support helps businesses engage customers and build strong relationships. According to GetFeedback by SurveyMonkey, 86% of customers will pay up to 25% more when they have a good experience with customer service. Customer service and profitability are directly related in this way, which is why outstanding customer service is crucial to eCommerce success.

8. Customer reviews

The internet is now evolving to be a forum where consumers evaluate products and services based on impressions and feedback from others. In fact, according to Fan & Fuel, 94% of online customers read reviews before making any purchasing decisions. Having good reviews will give trust to the potential buyers of your venue.

Also, knowing how to handle negative reviews, and comments will demonstrate that your venue can solve the complaint, mitigate the negative impact, and show value to your customers, so make sure you are not only replying to the positive evaluations.

9. Marketing Automation

Marketing Automation is the use of tools and software to automate marketing actions and processes. And why is this a necessity for your eCommerce? Well, this process is very well known for being a time saviour; automation can perform a task instantly which otherwise would have been time-consuming and probably less accurate and less effective than if done manually.

You can automate different areas of your eCommerce and depending on which ones you will focus on you can use one marketing automation software orf another. One of the most popular ones are Hubspot, MailChimp, Active Campaign or Sender. Convious too, offers marketing automation capabilities that integrate with your venue’s eCommerce.

10. Constant improvement and upgrades

Keep in mind that your eCommerce is never “done” or “finished”; we live in a world of constant and fast changes, and this is why we all need to constantly adapt our businesses to the different trends and behaviours that our customers adopt. You need to continuously improve every aspect of your website and find ways to make a lasting impact on users.

Develop an eCommerce growth strategy and don’t leave your online store and eCommerce business to chance; plan and specify which are the changes that you want to happen and make sure you keep completing all the steps and reach the set goals and objectives.

The success and survival of the leisure industry this past 2020 has been determined by the ability of venues and attractions to adapt to a more remote world. Many industries, sectors and businesses are being disrupted around the world and it has never been so critical for leisure businesses to be available online. Your eCommerce is surely the way out in these uncertain times; your leisure brand’s fate should be in your hands and not anyone else’s. 

If you have any questions when putting those recommendations into practice, our team of experts are always willing to discuss your specific goals and help you out, so feel free to contact us.