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9 ways To Earn a Customer’s Trust

Tag: Tips

9 ways To Earn a Customer’s Trust

9 ways To Earn a Customer’s Trust

Online shopping is the norm today, rather than the exception, owing to the convenience and flexibility it offers. However, remember that before you can start to take payments online, you need to earn your customers’ trust. If you are an online merchant, those who wish to shop for your products, cannot see you or meet you physically. All they can see is how you present your online store, how securely you enable transactions and how transparent your processes are. Wondering if this is going to be difficult?

Contrary to what you might think, it is quite easy to build your customers’ trust in your business if you follow certain rules. Here are the rules if you want to win at earning the trust of your customers:

  1. Be yourself

Everyone living on this planet has had scenarios where they had undesirable experiences with sales people. Needless to say, many of us have also felt manipulated by salespersons and hence walked away. So, it is suggested that rather than acting like someone trying to sell, just try to act the way you would when you are meeting a colleague. In simpler terms, try to be yourself and you will be headed to a good start.

  1. Value the relationships

If you want the customers to trust you and value you, it is important that you first believe that building relationships with your customers is important. Try and understand what is it that they need or what their problems are, and come up with products that solve such problems accordingly. This way, you will be adding value to the association you have with the shopper.

  1. Be curious about your customers

Online shoppers in general are drawn to those who show a keen interest in knowing them more. So, if you are curious, you will be able to build a better relationship. A great way to go about this is by asking questions or requesting your customers to participate in polls. This will give you greater insight about their purchase behaviour too.

  1. Be consistent

A customer will trust you only when he/she know that your behaviour is not temporary. Building trust is not an overnight task, it takes time. So, it is important that you show consistency and persistence over time. When the customer is able to predict your behaviour, he/she is more likely to trust you and your product.

  1. Always choose to be true

Trust is built when you approach your selling as a means to help the customer – so, try to find out the real areas where you can work together. This makes it more important for you to spend time in actually knowing your customers. Also, never be shy of pointing out that your company or product may not be the right choice for a particular customer.

  1. Open-mindedness is important

If you are excessively convinced that the customer needs only your product and nothing else, you might come across as a close-minded business. So, avoid pushing your products too much on social media or blogs, and rather incorporate them subtly into the solutions that you present to your customers in answer to their problems. This way, they will know that you are open-minded and that you realise that the customer might shop from somewhere else if that suits them better. If your customers know that you have their best interests at heart, they will trust you more.

  1. Go for a real dialog

It is important that your meeting is not just a sales pitch but a real conversation. So spend more time listening rather than speaking. While you do that, also make sure than the conversation is not just chit chat but related to your business.

  1. Think and act professionally

People tend to trust people who are serious and professional in their attitude. So, take time to learn more about your company, your customers, their challenges and their respective industry.

  1. Express genuine integrity

It is important that you take a stand when required. You should have the ability to make decision based on your understanding of what is right. The stand may not be a common norm, but it’s ok. While we are at it, it is also important that you refrain from making false promises or committing something that you cannot deliver.

Always remember, gaining the trust of your customers is only a fraction of the entire equation. It is also important that you have a product that the customer wants and needs and you possess an ability to add value and solve problems.

6 Money Saving Tips for Your Small Business

6 Money Saving Tips for Your Small Business

If you are the owner of a small business, chances are that you are always searching for creative ways to save money and keep your business afloat. Even if your business is doing well, it always makes sense to spend frugally. Whether you are looking to cut costs or improve profitability of your business, here are some creative ways that make the entire idea of saving money painless and easy!

  1. Avoid having a full-time office space

Thanks to the advancement in technology, businesses today can be run from any location. Barring a few sectors, try to rent as minimal office space as you can.

Offer people work from home options and get only the core team to sit at office. This way you can cut down on not only office rent but also small overheads like paper, electricity, food and gadget expenses etc.

  1. Try inbound marketing rather than keeping a big fat sales team

Try attracting your customer online by implementing a good content marketing strategy. Focus on your SEO strategy, build on social media and invest in search engine marketing. Also don’t ignore your company blog, since that has a lot of potential in getting you traffic. This might work better than outbound sales, especially if you are trying to sell a product or service online.

  1. Consider used furniture

If having an office is the only option you have, consider buying equipment and furniture that is pre-used. You can find office chairs and screen at nearly half the price from most second hand or refurbished goods store. Delay gratification. What you offer to your customers is much more important than a fancy looking office.

  1. Outsource as much as possible

Full time employees do not come cheap these days. Add to it the additional benefits like leaves, medical expenses and provident funds, you might just blow up all your budget. So, if possible, hire independent and reliable freelancers to reduce cost. Needless to say, by hiring a freelancer you will also be able to save a lot since they are already an expert in their field while a full time employee would need to be trained.

  1. Do not shy away from negotiating

As a small business owner, you should definitely avoid paying retail prices as often as possible. So, try to negotiate with vendors, consider bulk buying to save on shipping charges or tie up with wholesalers. Figure out ways to save money on your buying charges. You can also barter with some companies and save further. For example, you can purchase raw material for your bakery at a lesser price and in exchange offer to provide free cake on the dealer’s celebration occasions.

  1. Hire a good tax accountant

No one likes paying taxes. So it makes sense to hire a good accountant who can help in claiming certain tax rebates and allowances that you might not be aware of.

To be honest, when it comes to saving money, there are numerous things you can try. Every business comes with its own needs and priorities, so you are the best judge of what works best for you. Having said that, always remember, if it saves money, it is worth it!

If you are looking for a reliable way to accept online payments and have a competitive advantage, you can visit www.PayTabs.com.

These 10 things will help protect your Ecommerce Business against fraud

These 10 things will help protect your Ecommerce Business against fraud

The good news is that e-commerce is flourishing like never before. The volume of ecommerce transactions worldwide is growing by leaps and bounds every year. In fact, according to reports by Statista and emarketer., the total volume of global e-commerce is expected to cross the $3.03 trillion mark by 2019.

The not-so-good news is that along with market expansion, the incidents of online frauds have also increased. And as the world moves ahead, fraud has become more sophisticated. According to the Global Fraud Index, which tracks and analyses changes in fraud patterns by studying the transactions of more than 5,000 e-commerce merchants in North America, Asia and Europe, $3.3 billion was lost by merchants as a result of account takeover frauds in the second quarter of 2017.

Online frauds usually result in fraudulent transactions, account take overs, stolen goods, and unauthorized requests for refund. To cover your e-commerce business against fraud attack, let’s understand what we can do.

Here are 10 ways to reduce eCommerce fraud activities:

  1. Begin with your website security

Make sure that your website is not vulnerable. You should hire security experts to ward off such kind of possibilities. Make sure that your website is integrated with a secure payment processor.

  1. Train your staff

It is high time that your internal staff should be aware of the patterns of behavior usually observed during a fraudulent activity and also the security measures associated with it. They should also be trained to quickly spot an unusual activity.

  1. Use security codes

To ensure the physical possession of the credit card by the user, make the use of CVV mandatory. CVV is the code which is printed on the back of the credit card.

  1. Don’t allow customers to buy in guest mode

E-Commerce websites allow you to buy on guest mode, which means that you are not required to set up an account with the website and you can just provide the billing and payment details and make a purchase. While setting up an account on the website, you are required to provide more information about yourself and that minimizes the frauds.

  1. Contact the customer if required

If you suspect any fraudulent activity, immediately contact the customer on the contact number provided by them and make sure that you are talking to the actual customer.

  1. Use tracking numbers

You should track the order delivery and record every detail associated with it.

  1. Compare email address with IP address of the user

You can use free verification services to make sure the customer is ordering from the same location with which they are registered with you. Remember, during most of the frauds, users initiate a purchase from far-off places and sometimes even different countries.

  1. Compare shipping and billing addresses

It is also a form of preliminary check and you can use address verification services to ensure that these two addresses are not dramatically different. However, there can be exceptions to that – it usually happens when a person wants to gift something to one of his/her friends or relatives. However, you can always contact the customer when required and confirm the order as a security measure.

  1. Take signatures on delivery

It is for those customers who frequently return and dispute the transactions. Such customers claim that they never received the product and ask for a chargeback. To prevent such frauds make sure the delivery boys get their signature on delivery.

  1. Use a fraud protection service

The staff at a fraud protection service is specially trained to detect fraudulent activities during millions of transactions. They use human intelligence along with machine learning techniques to help you identify a possible fraud. When you hire any such service, you can minimize fraudulent activities on your website.

Frauds happen everywhere and they make a dent in your profits and sales revenue. The above steps will definitely help you prevent those frauds and run your business smoothly.

Starting Your E-Commerce Business: Key Points

Starting Your E-Commerce Business: Key Points

Worldwide e-commerce sales is projected to grow to $4.5 trillion* by 2021. That’s almost double the current value. While at the face of it, the value seems mind boggling but it doesn’t come as a surprise because globally, e-commerce has been witnessing staggering growth, propelled by the sprouting of various e-commerce startups across the world.

Considering the growth of the industry, it is a lucrative proposition to start an e-commerce enterprise. Hence, if you have an idea and are willing to navigate through the challenges of building and running your own e-commerce enterprise, here are the key points you need to keep in mind:

  • Name & Registration: Choose a name for your business that separates you from the competition. Do a corporate name search to ensure that the name you have chosen is not in use. You would need to register the name and select a business structure for your startup, it can be a sole proprietorship/partnership/LLC/Corporation.
  • Domain name & Website: Ideally, your business name should be the domain of your e-commerce site. If the domain is not available, chose a domain name, that’s easy to spell and pronounce.
  • Banking Regulations & Identification number: Make sure you have your company’s identification number, as per the respective country’s law and ensure that you open up your company’s bank account. These are generally for tax & corporate records purposes.
  • Business Licenses and Permits: Check the operating licenses that you require to run an e-commerce business in your country and ensure you have all the licenses in place before starting business operations.
  • Find the right vendor: If you are going to running a marketplace, then you wouldn’t need a vendor for products that you would sell. But if it’s a standalone e-commerce platform, you would need a long term commitment from a vendor for supplies/raw materials or products.
  • Inventory: Make sure you have stocked your inventory. It would help tremendously, when your orders come through. You should be able to provision for x number of order and ship on time.
  • Logistics and Delivery: It is imperative for any e-commerce to have the logistics and delivery sorted. It is not only delivery for your customer orders but the delivery of your supplies that need to be streamlined as well.
  • Technology & Software: Having the right shopping cart plugin or building your own shopping cart is a must for any e-commerce site, the experience of your customer while shopping on your site, depends on your cart. Additionally, you need to ensure that you gradually invest in productivity software such as email marketing, CRM, etc…
  • Marketing: To start off with, use all digital marketing mediums, especially social media to spread the word about your business and drive sales. Prepare blog posts and social media properties well in advance.
  • Compliance: Your business will grow at the speed of light, but you must be mindful of the fact that you follow the regulations as per compliance, i.e. reporting annual results or quarterly results to regulators. Even the annual fees for your business permits and licenses. Do not ignore any aspect of being a compliant and legal e-commerce site.

Last but not the least, for transactions to occur on your e-commerce site, you would need a payment gateway to be integrated with your website. Sign up for a free demo to unlock the value that we can provide for your e-commerce venture, as a comprehensive payments solution provider.

*Data Source: Statista

7 Tips for E-Commerce Success

7 Tips for E-Commerce Success

The 2016 Pitney and Bowes Global Online Shopping study estimated 66% of online consumers are international. This percentage is likely to grow in the coming years.

Having said that, before you jump the international e-commerce bandwagon, it is important that you focus on certain areas for long term success. As we provide you with the following tips, you would need to be mindful of the fact that the e-commerce race is a marathon and not a sprint!

  1. Don’t Hurry: Launching your e-commerce site shouldn’t be done in a hurried fashion. There is only one shot you have in launching your site. Therefore, it is important to ensure that all functionalities of the site are working properly. Do a thorough testing. You can purchase a domain name and create a pre-launch page on the lines of “Coming Soon”, but until you have done significant groundwork in terms of content, technology, functionalities, SEO, paid advertising planning, don’t launch!
  2. Consumer is the King: The user or the consumer should be the focus of your e-commerce venture. Notwithstanding the recent advances in augmented reality and artificial intelligence, the big shortcoming that you would have to deal with is the fact that the consumer cannot touch, feel and smell the products before buying. You can compensate this by offering better prices, free shipping and more importantly, simplified shopping carts and a hassle free checkout with a seamless payments solution.
  3. Testing: At every stage of your e-commerce business (pre-launch, launch and growth), you should test everything, right from functionalities to user experience and user interface. Hence, it is imperative to invest significantly in testing and analytics.
  4. Social Focus: Do not outsource social media marketing at the starting phase of your e-commerce venture. It is indeed the heartbeat of your business. Through social media you can gain valuable insights into prospective customers. As an entrepreneur, you would need to be hands on with your social media. You can employ a community manager but you need to keep a close watch on your social media marketing. Include social elements on your e-commerce website. Small elements like reviews, social login options and follow/sharing buttons help in conversion.
  5. Mobile: Way back in 2014, Goldman Sachs had predicted that global mobile commerce will account for nearly half of e-commerce by 2018 amounting to a figure in excess of $620 Billion*. If you aren’t building your e-commerce portal with a mobile first approach, then there’s no point in venturing at all.
  6. SEO: Over time, Search engines have evolved to be more valuable for e-commerce sites. In fact, most of your traffic will come from search engines as people are increasingly searching for products on Google, Yahoo or Bing. Therefore ensure that you stay on top of SEO to stand out among competition. You may need to hire an agency to help you out with SEO in the beginning.
  7. Information and Evolution: Make it a point to collect as much of customer information and build databases to aid future launches of different versions, categories or a new sister site. Lastly, evolution is a critical element because technology, trends and consumer tastes/preferences change over time.

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*Source: Digicommerce 360