Growth is the goal of your online business, but scaling up to meet current and predicted customer demand doesn’t happen by accident. Business owners need a plan of action to capitalize on word of mouth and make best use of digital resources.
In this get-started guide, we’ll dig into the need for scaling, offer tips on how to scale your online business, and explore the differences that come with scaling your eCommerce business.
Why Scaling Your Business Is Important
Companies can’t survive if they’re static. What worked a year or six months ago may no longer meet the operational and service needs of your business.
For example, your current website infrastructure could prove a stumbling block for increased visitor volumes, in turn putting your company at risk of losing potential customers. It’s also possible that your site isn’t the issue but rather the lack of visitors looking your way — in this case, scaling is all about appealing to a wider audience.
No matter the need and no matter the goal, however, scaling an online business is integral to success.
Ways to Scale Your Online Business
When it comes to scaling your online business, there’s no one-size-fits-all approach. Instead, companies need to find a strategy that yields reliable results.
Common ways to scale online operations include:
1. Plan
Planning looks different for every business, but this step in the scaling process is broadly applicable. Here’s why: Given the sheer number of options available to help businesses scale — from marketing to support to website design and development — it’s easy for owners to get overwhelmed.
While every option comes with potential benefits, trying to do too much, too quickly, can see companies spending big on scaling but seeing only minimal returns. By taking the time to identify your goals, such as growing the number of new visitors to your site or improving customer perception of your brand, it’s possible to pinpoint the best approach to business scaling.
2. Implement Marketing Strategies
One of the most common ways to get noticed and scale up online business impact is with marketing strategies, such as:
Social media
Social media marketing strategies may include making posts on brand pages through various social platforms. What works best for your business depends on what you offer. For example, product-focused companies may benefit from image-based sites like Instagram, while service-oriented organizations may opt for Facebook or LinkedIn.
Paid advertising
Another option is paid advertising. Common types include paid search marketing that displays your ads when users search for specific keywords, display ads that are placed on other sites, and social media ads that appear in users’ social feeds.
SEO
SEO stands for search engine optimization (SEO). It’s the process of ensuring your site and content are as search friendly as possible. Effective SEO can help improve search rankings and typically requires keyword and content research to ensure you’re delivering what users want and what search engines prefer.
Retargeting
Retargeting makes use of “cookies” in a user’s web browser to show them target ads based on their online behavior. If you have a clear sense of who makes up your target market, this type of advertising can be beneficial.
Email campaigns
Email campaigns look to raise brand awareness. They may take the form of newsletters, sales emails, or announcements of new products. Solutions such as Titan email can help streamline this process.
3. Provide Stellar Customer Support
Better customer support means more customers coming back. Here, it’s all about omnichannel — making sure you meet customers where they are instead of where you expect them to be. In practice, this means making it easy to get in touch with your brand, whether that’s through phone calls, emails, text messages, or social media platforms.
4. Improve Your Website
Great websites bring in more visitors. If your site needs an overhaul, consider a powerful, drag-and-drop website builder like Wix to help you get started.
5. Gather Customer Reviews
What do customers think of your brand? Where do they see room for improvement? Gathering customer reviews lets you pinpoint where your brand can do better and lets you showcase positive reviews that speak to great customer service and superior consumer experience.
6. Get Additional Funding
One surefire way to help scale your business is with additional funding. Possible avenues include business loans from your financial institution or partnership with online investors who see your growth potential.
7. Implement Technology
Better technology can help scale your online business. This could include everything from new databases and servers to handle increased customer load to mobile-enabled checkouts and web hosting services that provide superior uptime and substantial storage.
Scaling eCommerce
While scaling an eCommerce business is similar to that of service- or solution-oriented organizations, there are notable differences.
Key considerations for eCommerce scaling include:
Improving Logistics
How products get from point A to point B is critical, especially as supply lines become more complex. To implement successful eCommerce strategies, businesses need to consider if their current infrastructure can handle a sudden influx of new orders or if additional partners are required.
Finding the Best Suppliers and Manufacturers
If components or finished products are delayed, this translates to disappointment for customers and problems for business growth. As a result, eCommerce companies must prioritize the supplier and manufacturer evaluation process. When considering a new partner or evaluating a current supplier, it’s critical to consider their on-time track record along with any history of disruptions or quality control issues.
Controlling Product Costs
To scale up eCommerce sites successfully, companies must balance price and cost. For example, paying a premium for products that isn’t reflected in consumer prices means a net loss for companies, while paying less for low-quality products can negatively impact the customer experience. Ideally, companies want to meet in the middle by paying for quality parts and products, making this quality clear to consumers, and then charging them accordingly.
Scaling Your Online Business: Steady as She Goes
Not sure how to scale an eCommerce business or online operation? Steady change rather than speedy shifts are key. Take the time to consider your plan, pick your marketing approach, and improve the experience for users with better support, site design, feedback implementation, and new technologies.
Need help? Name.com has you covered with powerful email and website building tools that can help scale your online business and drive ongoing success.
