Get More Sales On Your Online Stores With Push Notifications

Push notifications are too under-rated for anyone’s good. A lot of us are completely unaware of its importance, especially when it comes to generating credible leads and resulting in higher sales. Also called a server push notification, this notification when delivered is done automatically rather than a user requesting for this information.

Push notifications are usually in the form of ads, game scores and weather forecasts to name the most popular ones. But for a business wanting to increase user engagement, push notifications serve a completely different purpose.

These push notifications are usually spoon-feeding services that are meant to feed useful and relevant content to the users of your app or website that obviously drives excitement towards your product or service.

Web/mobile push notifications are usually very concise and updates are sent in real time. They can be sent across devices which mean that you can target your audience depending on the device they most regularly use. It is also possible to segment users according to their location and their interests, which makes it easier to customize the kind of push-notification they will receive.

There have been reports by many retailers about the increase in sales they have seen in a short span of time. There have been e-commerce giants like Jabong and Koovs that have witnessed unprecedented success. Koovs reported that they saw almost a 25% increase in the average cart value and 28% more time spent on their website after adopting push notifications for just 6 weeks.

How you can use push notifications effectively?

Sometimes, retailers need to send out geography-specific information in the form of an update to a potential customer. These hyper-local updates which are relevant to the audience are the first step in ensuring that communication stays relevant and is not spammy. When you are using a location specific notification, it’s like targeting an individual customer and giving them sole attention.

Sometimes users need to be encouraged and brought back to the website in order to compel them to make a transaction. Cart abandonments are at all an-time high and this problem can easily be resolved by re-targeting the user and nudging them to revisit your site. This can sometimes go in the form of a reminder, reminding your customer to complete his/her purchase.

Sales and offers are probably the most effective way of using push notifications. These offers obviously need to be announced in order to be most effective. This is also an opportunity to lure the customer to your website. Sales and offers usually break any barriers between your customer’s intention to purchase your product/service and actually making a purchase. Push notifications are an effective way of getting them right there.

Push notifications can also be used for customer feedback. It is important to know what your customer thinks of you and push notifications are a great way of doing it simply. Since this will mostly be just a link pointing them to the relevant page or them clicking directly on the response, it is much less time-consuming and can be done most effectively.

There have been numerous reports and studies to prove that push notifications are the next big thing. Although there could be definite cons to using push notifications, the pros outweigh them by far away.

Augmented Reality is transforming E-commerce

More and more companies are investing in the VR space and there has been a significant amount of action that has taken place in this space, right from early 2016. Gone are the days when AR’s potential was limited to just games and it has slowly trickled into the world of e-commerce. Major VR platforms being initiated by biggies like Sony, Facebook and Google were either released or are in the process of working prototypes, adding a lot more credibility and intent to the world of augmented reality.

What is most reassuring about this industry is that it has slowly evolved from the days when tech enthusiasts were following this as a passion, to a full-fledged up and coming industry.

The best example of the potential of this industry would be the unprecedented success of Pokémon Go, to show how eager consumers are, to embrace augmented reality.

There have been examples of demonstrations in various parts of the world of how AR has been integrated into the world of e-commerce. The demonstration successfully showed how it was possible for a user to super-impose virtual models of lamps and another room décor, all on top of a “real” dresser with all the objects being shown right to scale, to give the user as real an idea as possible, about what it would like within the space.

So why is an augmented reality so popular or why does it reek of such vast potential? If we look at a customer’s shopping experience, AR can solve the problem for them completely, giving them the confidence to make informed and well-prepared purchase decisions.

More importantly than this, AR can give the shoppers an in-shopping experience, irrespective of their location. As mentioned before, it is possible for devices to super-impose objects in a 3D space, giving customers the chance to see the objects almost in real-time without moving from the comfort of their homes.

Just because AR is an attractive option, it does not imply that it should be used carelessly. AR cannot possibly be successful in isolation. Retailers who are keen on adopted AR must couple their efforts with significant marketing and sales initiatives to ensure that it remains relevant with shoppers.

There are a few things you should keep in mind while you are looking at AR as an experience for the online shopper:

If you are a large organization working towards adopting AR, it is always advisable to outsource some of your AR work onto a smaller company, relieving you from the pressure. A unique example of how organizations have adopted their own approach towards tackling AR is the Sephora App that uses a technology known as ModiFace technology that lets the user take a selfie and then apply a deluge of cosmetic products on their faces. This serves the benefit of allowing the user to narrow down their choices from home and still give them a proper shopping experience.

There have been retailers that have differentiated themselves from the ones that have not embraced this technology. An example of this would be an organization that offers a personalized shopping experience, guided by a knowledgeable professional who understands an individual’s shopping styles based on their prior experience. As a consequence of this, the organization in question became known for their effective customer service.

What benefits can you derive for your business from videos

Well, this may seem like a redundant statement in the times that we are living in today but nevertheless, recognizing the direction the world has taken is always a good exercise for the mind.

If you are a business owner and wondering about the different ways of marketing your product or service online, one look at the trend on social media platforms is enough to tell you what is most popular. With access to information becoming more and more easier, it means that people are now looking at different ways of packaging that information. This is where video marketing neatly fits in.

It has been proven by enough studies that videos are gradually becoming a preferred way of communication for brands and businesses of all sizes. This is naturally because they offer a greater way of engagement and there are more chances of a higher click rate through this. Let us look at some of the reasons why videos are becoming so popular:

Personal Connect
Well, this is definitely one major advantage videos have over written content. Copy doesn’t have the same kind of impact that videos do. Human-to-human connect has been proven to have a far more meaningful impact than written content and a far more personal connection with an audience. A video with a well-designed narrative and an impactful message is more likely to leave an impact on an audience member than a blog/article explaining the same.

Higher Engagement
Video Blogging is slowly replacing the traditional method of blogging and this is mainly because it offers a much more personalized experience than just reading someone else’s perspective. Vlogs provide an entire sensorial experience and a much larger personalized experience than written blogs. It has been said through some research that people are much more likely to retain information in the form of a vlog.

Easy Adaptability
Social media platforms world over have adopted videos as the biggest way of engaging with their audience. This is mainly because videos are an easily adaptable format and you can represent video through different formats, providing almost a cinematic experience for the viewer and listener. This form of sensory engagement is what is bringing in a huge audience who prefer videos. How does this translate into engagement? When you are providing an experience in the form of more than one sense, you are essentially creating an emotional experience for the recipient which automatically opens the doors for more conversations and higher engagement. This then leads to much richer content that is not produced just by a brand but where the audience has an equal stake.

Easy to Use and A viable option
More than anything else, it has huge marketing advantages. Apart from the experience it provides, it is also relatively easy to navigate through and is a cheaper method of communication. Putting different clips together can make for an impactful video that a large number of brands are now engaging in.

Why An Open Source Is Moving To SAAS?

When one talks about evaluating operational efficiency and reduction in costs, SaaS has slowly emerged as one of the most sought-after software out there. Not limited to just that, adopting SaaS technologies has brought about great leaps in software technology. There are a few advantages of using SaaS as a platform. Let us look at some of them:

More dispensable time to focus on growth

SaaS comes up with technical advancements that allow you to focus more time away from managing uptime, app compatibility, site speed and many other time-consuming tasks that could veer your attention away from things that actually make a difference to your business’s growth.

More control on Working capital

If you are not yourself a developer or do not have an in-house design team, outsourcing your work can sometimes prove to be a hugely costly affair. If you decide to shift to SaaS, all you have to do is pay a monthly subscription fee which most times, will be significantly lower than your outsourcing cost.
When you have more working capital to play around with, you can invest a lot more on important functions such as marketing, team optimization and much more.

Increased uptime and Security

A SaaS platform is usually managed by a professional and an experienced infrastructure which is dedicated to ensuring that your website is functioning at optimal speed. It has been proven that the larger SaaS ecommerce platforms enjoy almost a 99.99% uptime record that is often applicable for a period of many years.

Service Mitigation

DDoS attacks are perhaps one of the most destructive things that could potentially harm your business. These attacks usually come without warning and are often caused by hostile third parties or scripts that scour the internet for the smallest vulnerability. The advantage of hosting yourself with an SaaS provider is that DDoS mitigation is handled by a highly efficient team, providing you with the kind of protection that is not rivaled by many.

The use of Best practices for Ideal User experience

SaaS provides well-equipped platforms for ensuring a particular kind of checkout experience. While a business can change the basic dimensions of the experience like graphics and colors, the functionality remains a standard. It is because of these strict workflows that SaaS is known as the best in research and any kind of professional A/B testing. SaaS has been known to produce a seamless and streamlined checkout experience for both desktop and mobile platforms.

Dynamic Performance handling during Peak Traffic

A quality and reputed SaaS provider has the capability to handle massive amounts of traffic that could render other self-hosted solutions completely out of service. During holiday seasons, for example, many solution providers become completely unresponsive because of the huge traffic that comes their way. Quality SaaS providers are built on the promise of delivering strong networks that can handle any kind of peak traffic, meaning that there is a high probability that your store is functioning when your competitor’s might not be.

How to set up your own online shop with Shopvii

You have a great product idea and are still unsure how you want to implement it? Or are you someone who has the entire business plan ready but lacks the development expertise to implement it? Either way, setting up your own online store couldn’t get easier than doing it at Shopvii. There are a few basic steps you will need to follow and you will find your store up and running in under 15 minutes!

Step 1- Sign up with Shopvii

The first thing you need to do is navigate to our website and sign up for a free trial. In order to get started, all you have to do is fill in the required email address, password and the store/business name.

Step 2- Add products to your store

As soon as you have created your Shopvii account, all you need to do is add relevant images for your products the categories of the products you want to display. While you’re going through with this, Shopvii gives you a step-by-step process on how you can add products to your store. It is not necessary to add a certain number of products. If you have a small number of products, don’t worry! Just make sure to save the product at the end.

Step 3- Customize your store

Go to the dashboard and select the look and feel of your website. This part will ask you to customize according to the colors and logos you would want to choose for your online brand. Shopvii offers you a plethora of designs to choose from, carefully curating the best from around the globe.

Step 4- Set up your domain

Once you have gone through how your website is going to look, it is important to then choose the domain. On your dashboard, you will be given options of whether you’d like to choose a particular domain or register a new one. Choose the domain and walk through to the end, where you have to make the purchase.

Step 5- Create and activate your payment gateway

On your dashboard, again you will a “payment” category which allows you to choose the kind of payment processor for your store. There are secure options available which are really easy to implement.

After you are done with these steps, enjoy the feeling that comes with seeing your website come alive! You now have a fully functional Shopvii store.