The conversion rate. That remains by far the most important indicator.
The number of products sold in the past day.
The category of products that sells best. That is really as changeable as the weather: as soon as the weather gets nice, for example, we see a peak in slippers and sandals (and also a general decline in the number of orders, because for online retail too, 'women naked, trade dead' applies).
Customer: Who is your target audience?
We are primarily targeting the above-average woman aged 20-49. 'Above-average' because we do not carry the cheapest brands. And 'woman' because when it comes to shoes, she is often the decision-maker or plays a strong advisory role. Certainly when it comes to children's shoes.
Customer: How do you reach this target group?
We are a new player, so it is important to gain brand awareness. For this we use the 'traditional' offline media, such as print, radio and television (billboarding).
We also do Search Engine Marketing (SEM):
Search Engine Advertising (SEA) is the short-term, 'expensive' solution, with the aim of increasing brand awareness.
For the better quality and cheaper traffic we also work on Search Engine Optimization (SEO). But that takes time and is therefore a long term investment.
We are also very active on Social Media: there is a Facebook page and a Twitter account . Our followers get a 'VIP treatment': first access to promotions, offers, outlets and new products. We notice that this works very well and it gives us additional insight into the wishes, needs and expectations of our target group.
Of course we also do 'traditional' online display advertising: static and dynamic bannering. But we also use the relatively new 'remarketing'.
Lately, I've also been keeping an eye on the ordering moment in the analytics. That's valuable information. For example, you see a peak every day after lunch: the after-lunch dip. But there's also a peak early in the morning, before the boss is in. You also see a considerable peak in the evening, right after dinner. We then try to respond to that as much as possible with our marketing activities.
Website: What part of the site are you proud of?
We deliberately kept the site simple and calm and chose not to be innovative in that area. No bells and whistles so as not to distract the user and to fit in well with what he or she is used to. The navigation is where the visitor expects it: above and on the left. In this way, the user is at the size he wants in three clicks. I think we have succeeded well in that.
In addition, we have made sure that the site is fast and we continue to monitor that. In the beginning, we had some performance issues. After they were resolved, you could see that immediately in the conversion figures. So speed remains a hygiene factor for a webshop.
Website: What part of the site could still be improved?
At the moment our order process has 4 steps. We actually want to go back to 3. In principle it is of course: the less, the better. On the other hand, you don't want each step to be very long.
The cross-selling in the ordering process is also not optimal at the moment. I also want to look for improvements there.
In addition, I am curious about the wishes, needs and expectations of (potential) customers. The more 'soft' information, so to speak.
I want to dedicate another usability test to this, to examine the above issues.
One of the investors in Sjoez.nl already has a lot of knowledge when it comes to assortment lithuania phone number list and purchasing. We used that knowledge to put together the first assortment and not to get hurt by 'what is in and what is not'. So in that area we actually started from 'offline knowledge', but are now also getting to know the online needs of our customers. Ultimately, we want to stand on our own two feet and do our own purchasing.
For other activities, we have deliberately chosen to outsource. That is necessary if you want to start so quickly. For example, we leave the maintenance of the site and certain marketing activities (affiliates, adwords, link building, etc.) to experts in that field. But we have also outsourced the logistics - the 'box-sliding', so to speak. As a shoe webshop, you naturally have to deal with returns and the like, and there are parties that are much better at that than we are.
What 3 tips would you like to give to other startups?
Use a mix of offline and online marketing tools:
Offline to boost your brand awareness.
Online to ensure a steady flow of traffic in the long term.
Don't try to do everything yourself. Do what you are good at yourself and outsource what you are not good at.
Measuring is knowing. It is a cliché, but it is not without reason. But also do something with the data obtained: share the insights internally in the organization. Create dashboards. Show what works and what doesn't. And adjust. Make sure you can immediately show: this is where we stand. And this is what we need to do to improve.