This is a contributor’s blogpost …

 

If you are charged with running a business in today’s modern market, it’s likely that a significant amount of your dealings will be online. However, many companies are still making some pretty fundamental mistakes with their digital offerings, and these can endanger the success of their company. Luckily, you can find out what these are and get some advice on avoiding and rectifying them in the post below.

 

They are lenient with security and privacy.

 

First of all, security and privacy are both significant issues for online business at the moment. In particular, protecting customers from data breaches is something that your company needs to get right. If you don’t, the trust that consumers have in your brand can be lost instantly, not to mention the legal repercussions you will have to deal with.

 

 

It is also vital that you keep your business information and customer-facing platforms secure. Otherwise, someone could easily and maliciously manipulate data, steal data, or even block your access to your resources. All situations that will be problematic at best and can be disastrous at worst for the success of your company.

 

To that end, it is vital that you promote secure online working practice as much as possible. One way to do this is to educate your employees on security and privacy protocol and ensure that they do not access work information from an unsecured network. To add another layer of protection, you may also disable the use of portable USB drivers. 

 

Their digital channels have poor reliability.

 

What is reliability? Well, it’s when something does what it is meant to without encountering any problems, and in the instantaneous digital world, this is something that is hugely important. After all, your competitors are only ever a click away, and that means you cannot afford to sacrifice customers to attrition caused by sites that crash, buggy apps, and poor user experience.

 

Happily, there are some tactics that you can use to help minimize this problem. In particular, running strict mobile application testing for any apps both through the development and during the launch phases can help to eliminate any bugs and ensure that the processes you have set out within them work smoothly and correctly.

 

Also, it is always worth paying attention to the fine-tuning of user experience (UX), as making your site enjoyable to use will ensure that you don’t lose customers to frustration. In particular, check that the wireframe for your website is set out well, and be sure to include some A/B testing to decide on which version is most effective.

 

 

Content isn’t modern or is poorly matched.

 

Online you have to be able to hold your audience’s attention and to do that you must offer content that they value. However, some businesses are severely failing in this area because they forget this.

 

In fact, numerous businesses are missing the opportunity to forge a positive relationship with customers through content, before they have even bought anything. One way of doing this is to provide them with information that is of specific use in the form of written guides, or eBooks. Although more modern and effective methods include entertaining and informative videos, games, and quizzes, and as all of these have a more interactive element, they can seriously help boost your business’s brand awareness and regard online.

 

They are unreachable.

 

The internet is all about communication and businesses use it to get their advertising messages, marketing messages, and other information out to clients. Why then do some companies still insist on being difficult to contact?

 

Photo courtesy of Tumisu via Pixabay

 

Being contactable is essential for online business success.

 

Sadly, this is the case for many SMEs, and even a few of the more substantial international brands and it could be harming their long-term success. The reasons that this is the case is that while customers, for the most part, have successfully made the switch from real-world stores to online shopping, a significant issue remains with the lack of available reassurance from store assistants. Therefore, if there is no way to contact the retailer online for customers to get questions answered, you risk losing a sale to indecision.

 

Luckily, this can be rectified pretty easily by including a phone number, email, and social media handle throughout the pages of your website. You can even go one further and add a chatbot that will allow potential customers to talk to someone in real time. Something that can help to boost your customer service ratings, as well as encourage potential buyers to convert into paying customers right there and then.