eCommerce Growth 101: How to Make Money Online as a Stay at Home Parent

Are you a stay-at-home mom or a stay-at-home dad looking to make a little side money for your family? There are plenty of options out there, but perhaps none more lucrative than running an eCommerce site.

You can run your online shop from home, experiencing constructive eCommerce growth all along the way. All you need is a few ideas to expand your brand and turn your website into a high-sales converting machine.

See below for several eCommerce growth ideas that you can use to make money online, grow your book of business, and keep consistent sales numbers!

1. Grow and Nurture an Email List

We've all seen the Instagram and Facebook pages of social media influencers that make bank pitching the products they sell on their eCommerce site.

They pour everything they have into one or two social media platforms and get a massive payout from the following they've collected. But what if Facebook and Instagram completely shut down tomorrow? They'd have to start all over again without any way to retrieve the info of the prospects they had.

If you don't think that's possible, look at what happened with Vine a few years back. Twitter purchased it for around 30 million in 2012, and then the Vine app seemingly disappeared overnight.

So how do you avoid that catastrophe? How can your brand build a following that you'll be able to retain in this digital world? By building an email list.

Do you have first-time site users visiting your site? Find a way to get their email address from them (by offering something for free).

Do you have people buying products off your site? Make sure to get their email address before they purchase.

Once you have their emails, treat your email lists like gold. They're the best way to retain your clients and build customer loyalty with your brand.

2. Define Your Target Market

Would you be able to confidently explain your target consumer to someone if they asked? No, “everyone” is not an acceptable answer.

Few eCommerce site owners ever take the time to figure out who their target market is, so they fail. Sorry to be blunt, but that's the truth. That's like a professional fisherman taking his boat out without any bait. He won't catch much if anything at all.

Taking the time to define your target market will help you understand your ideal clientele better. It's how you reach decisions on things like your branding, products, purchasing pages, marketing, and so forth.

To start this process, you can create a few buyer personas. These are imaginary avatars of your clients that you make.

For example, if you sell pet products, you might have a persona named “Sally,” a middle-aged woman with three cats and two dogs. She's on several cat-lover and dog-lover Facebook groups. Market to one Facebook “cat lover” group, and you may potentially sell to hundreds of “Sallys'.”

If you've defined your target market, but haven't seen any success, then do it all over again. Refine your buyer personas once more. The consequences of not doing so are far too costly.

3. Enhance Your Site Experience

Imagine coming across your eCommerce website as a customer. You've visited the website to learn more, but the site is taking way too long to download. Frustrated, you click the “back” button, never to return to the site again.

That's how quickly it can happen if you're losing a significant amount of site visitors but can't fathom why then it's time to invest in experience data analytics to understand the setbacks of the experience.

This data can help you understand your digital experience, project your revenue/conversions, and reveal problems within your site's overall customer experience. Investing in it today will help you experience higher sales in the long term.

4. Prioritize Customer Service

Did you know that 65 percent of your sales will come from a customer that's already purchased from you? Needless to say, you need to prioritize them above all else.

Customer service is a huge part of that. By being there for them, you can help them establish loyalty to your brand. If you win them over, they'll provide you with unwavering support.

To meet demand as you grow your eCommerce site, you might consider methods such as outsourcing to a customer service team or implementing LiveChat onto your site.

5. Do Research on the Products You Offer

Even if you don't research the products you sell, your clients will. This can end up slapping you in the face if you don't do your homework on the manufacturers that create them.

Clients have more information accessible to them than ever before. If they discover that your products are being made in harsh or unethical conditions, you'll lose their faith.

This is such a powerful part of a business that most customers are willing to change their purchasing habits to a more ethical provider. On the flip side, if you offer ethical products, you'll continue to see constructive growth over time.

Propel Your eCommerce Growth With These Tips

Now that you have seen several ways to boost your eCommerce growth, be sure to use this list to your advantage.

Take the time to assess which parts of your eCommerce website need the most attention. For example, it might be best to start investing in site experience analytics to ensure you're capitalizing on all future site visitors, new or otherwise.

Be sure to browse our site for more articles on eCommerce, as well as many other helpful topics you'll enjoy.

Have you ever thought about running an eCommerce site?