Digital as a sales channel 🔍 Evolving Strategies

EVOLVING STRATEGIES

This week’s opportunity to evolve your strategy

Digital as a revenue channel

Quick read:

• Digital as a sales channel is a must in order to stay competitive, it allows both big and small businesses to compete on the same level playing field.

• 70-80% of B2B decision makers prefer remote sales interactions, so your website is crucial in converting traffic into customers.

• Tactics you should apply to your strategy is to focus on the customer journey to resolve pain points, track and analyze changes to see if results are successful.

The digital sales strategy of using digital to grow revenue:

Digital as a channel for sales is a must in order for your business to remain competitive. If your business is not operating online in some way, you’re losing revenue and customers. Your sales strategy should include a digital component that’s an extension of your overall strategy, but is customized to digital.

Consideration should be take that your digital channel will likely eat into the sales of your other channels. Keep in mind this is true of all channels, If you have call centres and retail locations. This is the risk of doing business.

For example, your customer goes into your store to review the type of product options you have. She tests it out, tries it to get a feel for the product and ask the sales rep some questions. Then she goes home and calls your contact centre to ask a few more questions and orders over the phone. Has the purchase shipped to her house, while on the treadmill for 30 minutes. She wanted to be efficient and get a workout in, while checking off a purchase from her to do list.

Consumer shopping behaviour changes frequently, and with digital you’re able to adjust products in almost real-time to meet the changing demands. This comes at a lower cost than other channels, and you’re able to provide a great customer experience. This allows for continued sales growth, by putting the customer first.

How it impacts your business:

Digital as a sales channel allows all businesses whether big or small to go after the same audience. Your small business is on the same playing field as big businesses. At a lower operating cost, you’re able to maintain business expenses and have higher profit margins.

Customers use your website as a way to buy but also as a research tool. They read about your products, see what value they receive from buying your products, read customer reviews and provide reviews. It’s important to understand your target audience by building buyer personas. Be as specific as possible to know who you’re targeting. 70-80% of B2B decision makers prefer remote sales interactions. Which means they’re doing research online before deciding who to buy from. So your online presence greatly impacts your sales, along with knowing how to create the right online presence for your target audience.

This is where your digital sales strategy comes into play. It needs to focus on the customer, their needs and preferences. Understand them and create around those needs. More and more people prefer shopping online so digital can’t be disregarded. Your digital marketing and sales team need to be on the same page and work together to create your strategy.

How to apply this:

What you should takeaway and apply to your digital sales strategy:

1. Understand the customer journey

2. Track and analyze

3. Consistency across platforms

Understand the customer journey

Knowing your customers means understanding the path they take as they go through your website. Review the data to see where there are pain points your audience faces, these are challenges that make it difficult to find information and buy. If there are challenges that make it difficult to accomplish their tasks, the customer will leave unsatisfied.

Create a list of these pain points that may cause the customer to leave the site, and stop them from buying. Identify what solutions you can create that will address and fix the issue. Test it out and see if it fixes the problem, if not go back to the drawing board and come up with something else.

Track and analyze

Data driven decisions provide concrete information that guide you to make the best strategic decision for your business. This is the best way to create a successful sales strategy, so use the data to see what's not working. Consider the roadblocks, drop offs, different paths customers take to land and browse your site.

Regularly use data to point you in the right direction of what your sales strategy should be. This allows you to continue making improvements to stay up with changing buying behaviour of customers.

Consistency across platforms

Offers on all your platforms should be consistent, along with your marketing messages and information provided. The average customer will switch between different shopping channels at least 6 times, before buying. And customers usually research online, before buying.

Inconsistency will upset your customers, and create an unsatisfactory experience. This leads them to leave without buying because they're getting misinformation. They're not sure what information is accurate.

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