Are you interested in how? Read my 5 tips on how I succeeded with the online store www.malinca.si, where we sell healthy food, to build a base in one year (we started on 5.6.2013) with a newly established online store without recognition:
- 17,000 newsletter readers,
- gathered 38,000 followers on the FB page,
- sent 4,500 healthy packages all over Slovenia and to Croatia,
- went from €0 revenue to €20,000 revenue monthly.
5 keys:
1. Do what you love.
Only this path leads to success.
2. Finding and stimulating customers
Today, the vast majority of people use the internet, where there is a huge database of different and often contradictory information. At the beginning, it is necessary to find, stimulate, and attract potential customers to your side with relevant content. We tackled this by initially creating a FB profile Healthy Nutrition and Recipes, where we still daily post healthy recipes that we mostly prepare ourselves at home, tips for a healthy lifestyle, articles about healthy products, and of course, sales posts. The communication is completely relaxed and personal. We also try to continuously establish two-way communication and involve customers in the conversation. This way, we let them know that they are important to us, that we consider their opinion, and that we love to pamper them. Likes started to accumulate quickly in this way.
In addition, we organize a prize game every season. With the help of prize games, we diligently expand our email base. For our potential customers, we have prepared 4 free e-books with healthy recipes, ideas for healthy breakfasts, on healthy weight loss, etc. We also gave them the option to subscribe to our newsletters and offered them free advice via email or phone. Besides Facebook, we also started communicating through other social networks – Pinterest, Instagram, Foursquare, YouTube, etc. These are all things that require time, will, and a little money – as almost no one can afford expensive advertising in magazines or on television at the beginning. So we search for our potential customers in different ways – the key is to give them something extra. Something that is useful for them, we give them knowledge and the possibility of a healthier lifestyle and cooking ideas. This way, we started building trust and a base, while slowly stimulating them to purchase.
3. Good first user experience
Potential customers that we have already stimulated now need to be offered a good user experience. Everything starts with the first visit to the website. The landing page needs to be prepared in such a way that it attracts the customer within 2 seconds and that they find something that interests them. On the landing page, it is important to have - a logo, contact information, information about what is being sold, promotional offers, bestsellers, a free e-book, a prize game, newsletter subscription, customer reviews, frequently asked questions, the personal story of the company or team, purchase advantages, a search engine where they can search for products... All of this is important for a good first impression and further trust-building.
Here I should mention that it is necessary to strive to offer as much information as possible about each product on the website – we have marked everywhere the features and certificates of the product, the advantages of using the product, how to use the product, ingredients and nutritional values, product images, recipes in which we used this product/ingredient.
4. Purchase
Immediately after that follows the fourth key, and this is crucial – the purchase. Here it is important to offer customers the simplest, safest, and fastest purchase possible. Especially today, when we are all short on time. In this phase, customers are interested in the cost of delivery, warranty or return options, delivery speed, stock,... All this information must be clearly visible.
For example, we have three ranges of postage, the more you buy, the cheaper the postage. The customer can choose 3 delivery methods – personal, via the DPD delivery service, or Pošta Slovenije. We also offer different payment methods – cash on delivery, pre-invoice, or via PayPal. Our delivery time is a maximum of 2 working days – all packages ordered by 1 PM are shipped the same day and are with the customer the next day. Before starting online sales, it is necessary to thoroughly consider all these factors – the better conditions we offer, the easier it will be for customers to decide to purchase. Customers are also encouraged to purchase with healthy gifts that we add to each package and with promotions that we prepare daily.
5. Satisfaction and repeat purchase
Here we talk about the moment when the customer receives the package. We neatly pack all packages, always add a healthy gift, a recipe, a discount code for the next purchase, and a thank you for the purchase. Our customers are often much happier with these additional sweeteners than with the package itself ? Within 14 days after the ordered package, we send the customer an email to check if everything was okay with the package or if they need any additional help. This way, we build loyalty and loyal customers who like to return to our website or Facebook page.
Having many sellers and a big marketing budget doesn't help us much if we forget about the crucial thing – that is, a good user experience.
Nastja Kramer
