What ecom agencies can learn from their ecom clients

Cross selling, appealing to new customers, telling the brand story - Ecommerce agencies can take a leaf out of their clients book when it comes to growing their own business.

This post looks at 5 things ecom agencies can learn from the work they do day-in-day-out for their clients and how they can relate it back to their own business operations - starting with the brand story!

Telling the brand story

An important part of most ecommerce stores is to get the story of the brand across to their potential customers quickly and concisely.  This can be the difference between a user making a purchase and going somewhere else to buy the same or similar product.  Understanding who is using the website and their needs is therefore key for ecommerce businesses. 

For agencies, the same applies, particularly when it comes to proposals and pitches.  It’s likely your proposal document will be viewed by multiple people, many of whom you have never spoken to - it is also likely they will have read proposals from your competitors as well.  Making yours stand out is important and a good way to do this is telling a concise story of your brand and giving the proposal a more human feel.  The potential client is likely to already know you are likely to be able to do the job, hence why you are at the proposal stage - understanding the ethos and people behind your agency could make the difference.

Alongside the scope, pricing, timings and normal elements of the proposal, you could also include:

• Anticipated team for the project

• History of the agency

• Highlights from the last 12 months

• Any community or environmental work

• And anything else you are proud of that sets you apart from the competition

• …but keep it concise
  

Effective cross selling and use of related products

A great way for many ecommerce websites to increase their AOV is by effective use of cross sells and related products.  Highlighting the relevant SKUs at the best time to the customer is a key factor in making this tactic a success.  The same can apply to the agency

Many ecom agencies will offer multiple services - design, strategy, build, consultancy, SEO etc and these are all related to one another.  A key way to build on existing client relationships while growing your revenue is to be able to spot the opportunity when one of your other services may well be beneficial to the client.  Effective internal communication and empowering your team to think more like an entrepreneur to spot these opportunities can be a great way to grow your business without the need to bring in new clients.

Appealing to new customers

It can be easy to be in your own bubble and assume that everyone knows about your business and what it is all about.  Ecommerce websites need to appeal to their existing customers but also find a way to educate new users on exactly what their brand is all about, why their products are great and why they should purchase from them.

The same applies for ecommerce agencies, particularly with their own website.  There is so much jargon and acronyms within the industry and it may alienate potential clients if they come to your website and are not familiar with all the language and terms being used.  Take time to explain your business from the ground up - a well designed site with good content should be able to appeal to people new to your business as well as those familiar with it.

Communicating with your customers

All ecommerce websites communicate with their customers - some well, some badly.  The ones who do it well have the best chance of turning their users into brand ambassadors and ultimately help to grow the business.  As a result, communicating with customers regularly is usually a key strategy for ecommerce businesses. 

The same should apply for the agency.  A trap that some agencies do fall into is to be excellent at what they do, but pretty poor at communicating it to their client - this can result in the client becoming unsure/confused about what they are spending the money on with their agency and can result in friction between the two.  Regular communication between the agency and client should be simple and will go a long way to ensuring the relationship stays strong.  Outside any regular reporting that is sent over agencies can:

• Create a Slack channel between the agency and client stakeholders for day-to-day communications that everyone is across.  It will give everyone involved and insight as to what is going on at any given moment

• Have a regular meeting set up - whether this be daily, weekly or monthly it will ensure everything is out in the open and issues can be addressed before they escalate

• Send ad hoc notes - this could be about the project, industry as a whole or something completely unrelated.  It will show the client they are not just another project to you.

• Ask the client if they want to be added to your company newsletter

• Simply ask the client if they want more or less comms during the project

Analysing and reacting to the data

You will rarely find an ecommerce manager who can’t reel off all the key stats from their website at the drop of a hat.  They are usually crunching numbers and providing reports on a daily basis to make sure the site's merchandising/pricing etc is right and targets are being met etc. Ultimately it is a numbers game.

Understanding the numbers as an agency is also key and sometimes overlooked…or at least not looked at enough.  There are plenty of times when scope creep, over or under servicing a client and pricing work incorrectly will happen so it’s important to understand when it does and have a plan for addressing before issues become bigger problems.   A few things agencies can do to keep on top of things:

• Create utilisation reports

• Resource planning

• Stay on top of new business and forecasting 

• Use time tracking where possible

• Use qualitative insight as well as quantitative for things like time spent on accounts

• And of course, regular P&L reporting