Online store and internet advertising: What to expect?

Consumer behavior in terms of purchasing and consumption has evolved greatly in recent years. More and more people are moving away from traditional stores and turning to online shopping; it's convenient, it saves time, it avoids getting in the car and getting stuck in traffic, only to end up in a crowded mall. Not so long ago, online shopping was often attributed to young, hip professionals, but we now realize that consumers of all generations are increasingly using online stores for their daily purchases. With this growing popularity, many traditional businesses have now added a "Buy Online" section to their website, not to mention the fact that many new businesses, seeing a business opportunity, have decided to go exclusively online.

When you say online store, you obviously mean online shopping. Since your potential customer is on the web, there is no better way to attract him to your store than to put him in front of internet advertising! This may seem simple and logical to you; we choose an agency, we advertise, the client is on the internet, so are we and hop! We get 300% return from the first month... Well! If this is what you believe, you may be bitterly disappointed, because your perception of reality is wrong. It is not because you are running an online business that your costs will be lower and your return on investment will be faster than in a traditional business. That's why you need to follow some basic rules in order to effectively measure the return on your advertising investment.

YOU ARE NEW ON THE MARKET: FORGET ABOUT SALES, WORK ON YOUR COMMUNITY!

You are a new online store, nobody knows you. Even if you sell the best product in the world and your store is attractive, if you focus only on your sales and hope to get a return on your investment in the first few months, well, you just made your first mistake! Before people buy your products, they need to get to know you and trust you. That's why your starting point should be to build a community around your brand, i.e. creating a Facebook page, a Twitter account, collecting reviews on Google+, getting sign-ups for your newsletters, etc. This way, your potential customers will become familiar with your products and will be able to see the advantages you offer over your competitors.

You have to be proactive! Don't wait for people to sign up on their own, offer them an incentive. Run a contest on Facebook, give them 10% off their first purchase when they sign up for your newsletter, give them an additional 10% if they share with their friends and they sign up too. If you don't make an effort, your customers won't either, show them that you are interesting and that you have more to offer than the others. Remember, people often buy a promotion, a discount, a special more than the product itself. It is the impression of a good deal that will push them to buy.

In the first three months of your online store's existence, the main conversion you should be measuring is the number of registrations you receive. Your cost per acquisition will need to reflect the number of new members to your community, not just the number of sales.

YOUR COMMUNITY IS BUILT: WE CAN START MEASURING SALES 

It's been more than three months since your online store has been on the market and you have made substantial efforts to add members to your community. You've offered them great introductory promotions and they've started to make purchases. Congratulations! Now you can start measuring the return on your sales investment. First of all, you'll need to analyze your results so far: how many subscriptions do I have to my newsletter, how many "likes" do I have on Facebook, what is the growth curve of my community, how many members of my community have made purchases, how many have done so repeatedly? All of these analyses will help you set realistic sales goals for the coming months. It's very important to have collected this data before you set your first goals, otherwise you may end up with goals that are not aligned with your current business situation. Of course, market data can be a good indicator, but it depends a lot from one company to another, depending on the marketing efforts invested by your competitors, hence the importance of being proactive in the face of competition.

Also, if you are an online business that has been around for a while, but you are just starting your marketing efforts, be aware that your sales will not quadruple in one month. Your sales will increase, but like new businesses, you'll need to build a larger community before you see the results you want.

In short, what will make your investments in Internet advertising successful is the effort you put into making yourself known and building your community of buyers; the sales will come later and if you do things the right way, you may be pleasantly surprised by the results. And please, trust your agency! That's exactly why you chose them in the first place. Be responsive and proactive to their requests and suggestions, they are the experts.

With that, I wish you good luck and the greatest success with the upcoming launch of your new online store. Remember, it all starts with building and retaining your community of buyers.