Outreach methods for new ecommerce stores

All ecommerce stores are trying to figure out how to get more customers and increase their sales. For new store owners, there are a variety of different methods available to reach out to new customers, as well as to leverage existing customers so that their social circles find out about a specific store. There's no single guaranteed way to attract fresh shoppers, but there are plenty of tactics that have proven to be successful in many different applications.

A few basics to start

Having high-quality products and customer service are two basic ways to impress customers and have them speak positively about an ecommerce store, both in person and through social media. When it comes to product expectations, honesty is key: There's a need for effective descriptions and photos, as well as for the items themselves to fill their intended purpose when they arrive at a customer's door. Customer service that's responsive and oriented toward solving problems that arise will lead to beneficial experiences for shoppers.

These elements of products and service are basic, but they create good sentiment among customers and develop a word-of-mouth reputation that attracts others.

Create a consistent connection point

Maintaining contact with shoppers after an initial purchase helps turn one-time customers into repeat visitors. The reason ecommerce store owners have a presence on social networks and create email lists is to consistently reach out customers and remind them of a store's existence. Once a customer is on a mailing list or is following a Facebook or Twitter account, each day brings a new opportunity to tell them about new products or highlight a sale.

The long-term value of a connected customer means that, in many instances, it's worthwhile to offer a small discount to entice an email list signup or a like or follow on social media. Contests that require customers to like a social network account or page are also effective, as they are able to attract many new people while only a few pieces of inventory are given out as prizes. Store owners have to calculate the revised profit margins for coupons and giveaways to make sure that they aren't losing too much money with a promotion.

Reduce uncertainty

One obstacle to completing a sale is the second-guessing that customers do throughout the purchasing process. Ecommerce store owners have tools at their disposal to diminish the uncertainty about concepts such as product quality and the overall purchasing process. Having ratings and reviews available for perusal on product pages makes shoppers more confident about a potential purchase. Customers don't only see the pictures and text a store owner uses to describe an item, but they also read about the experiences of others who made a similar decision in the past. Product reviews require some extra work on the part of the store owner to moderate and curate incoming reviews, as well as to solicit them from customers. One way to go about this is to send out an a