How to find new customers for your online business (11 Methods)

 

You can offer the best service on the market, but if you don't get new customers, you will always find it hard to grow with your business. It often happens to have a winning product or service, but no one knows of its existence, so no one gets to buy it. Therefore, knowing the right strategies for attracting new customers is essential, especially if your primary sales channel is online. The Internet offers an infinite opportunity to reach many potential customers. Still, it is also at the same time a jungle full of competitors ready to provide a better or better-advertised product than yours.

 

You have worked so hard to start your business from scratch, finding the correct name, creating a logo and an effective marketing strategy, a site to sell on, the many production and logistics procedures, and then the void. Nobody buys, nobody clicks on your products, and in most cases, it is because nobody knows how to find you! Having a good product and a good e-commerce site on which to sell it is not enough. If you want to succeed with your business, you need to have a solid online presence that constantly attracts new customers. At least initially, they will not find you or your shop, but it will be you, with the right strategies, who will find them.

 

But don't despair, we are there to help you with this! Here are 11 different ways to improve your finding of new customers and approach them to bring home as many sales as possible.

Today, customers search online for solutions to their problems. To know where these questions related to your sector lurk is the first step to discover many future customers. Are your prospective customers asking questions about your business on Linkedin, Facebook, Quora, Yahoo Answers? It is time to arm yourself with goodwill and go to these sites and social networks to give professional answers to the probably new customers who ask for solutions.

 

Help them for free? But weren't we supposed to make them customers? If your answer is consistent with the customer’s question, you will help him. He and the whole community will see you as a professional. Your response will remain on that forum accessible to all those who will search for the same problem. Please remember to write these answers with a company profile so that users can easily search for your site and your business!

Do not think only about who can become a customer directly; also think indirectly. For example, do any of your colleagues know of a fascinating customer? Can a longtime friend who works for a specific company become your customer for your online business? Often, a phone call or a contact to these people, always with discretion, of course, can give you a real chance of "landing" new customers on your site.

You will have already created a page or an account for your business, or if you have not yet done it, you must do. I advise you to do so, given the growing importance of social media at a business level.

I suggest you subscribe to groups on Facebook and Linkedin. This type of approach can be beneficial for getting in touch with people in your sector with whom to compare yourself or looking for partnerships or even here possible customers looking for solutions, which you may be able to provide by establishing contact with them. Don't think exclusively about specific groups about the type of business, but rather think about interest groups that revolve around it.

Although the sale is made online, people want to see high-resolution photos of the products they buy. Therefore, even the packaging of your product certainly cannot overshadow! Remember to keep in mind that people tend to "scroll" quickly between web pages and social networks. Suppose your packaging is captivating to the eye and the photos are of quality. In that case, you will stand out considerably compared to your competitors, and this will give you that extra edge to acquire new customers.

By satellite sites, I mean all those internet websites, generally well known and used, which can act as a launching pad towards your site. These platforms depend on the type of product or service we offer online; here are some examples for you:
1. Fiverr: purely digital services, design, consultancy etc.
2. Etsy: sale of handicrafts.
3. Amazon: sale of products and equipment.
4. eBay: here too the sale of products and equipment.

 

Do you know one of these sites? I bet yes! If you want to start getting some traction towards your site, it is wise to take advantage of the visibility of some of these existing sites. Create an account and start selling your services or products with your brand name. This sales channel must not replace your primary customer acquisition method directly through your e-commerce site. However, it can be a great way to make yourself known and find out at low costs what the requests and tastes of the customers to who you aspire.

The means of communication change, but people always react in the same way. For example, if a friend would recommend to you a particular type of service or product, wouldn't you be more inclined to buy? The value we place on this “social proof” phenomenon is invaluable.

Various online systems allow your customers to give reviews and post them on the site under the requested services and products; we have personally chosen Trustpilot. When customers see a positive and truthful review provided by other users of the online website, they converge much more quickly, knowing that they are in good hands (and above all, knowing that it is not a scam site).

Don't worry about negative reviews, as they can happen. You have to see it as another exciting tool, as based on how you respond to the criticism of the customer who posted the review, you will be frowned upon by others. Always be punctual in responding to disputes and complaints in your reviews in the most professional and friendly manner possible. People will see behind a company that human beings can make mistakes but can readily correct themselves and establish lasting collaborative relationships.

People visiting your website but don’t convert in customers. It could just be that they inquire about all the various options available before proceeding with the purchase. Asking them for an e-mail and signing them up for a newsletter could be a chance to contact them with future proposals. Remember that it is advantageous in these cases, at the marketing level, to give a welcome "prize", such as a discount voucher for the first order that will be made to further interest the customer in the registration and then in the purchase.

This method, however almost archaic by now, still promises excellent results. The “targeted” and sincere presentation always bears its fruits. My advice, however, is to have some precautions in doing so; below, I will tell you what they are:

1. Avoid spam and copy-paste. Customers will take it for what it is, a spam e-mail, just like the others, and therefore to be thrown away as soon as possible. On the other hand, an e-mail that seems explicitly written for the recipient has an entirely different effect on the customer; it will make him feel more "special" and worthy of your attention. This method will entice him to choose you rather than another service.

2. Avoid leaving links and hypertext in the e-mail: also here for the same previous reason; this type of information will make your e-mail impersonal and more like spam.

3. Avoid inserting images: this is because the e-mail systems have become very restrictive, and the presence of any of these elements can damage the score of your e-mail, which will also be for other e-mails subsequently placed in spam.

Acquiring customers online is easier if you are in "allies". In this field, too, the saying "Unity is strength" is more accurate than ever. Contact a reseller of similar services, but possibly not in competition with your business.

For example, if you sell bathroom fragrances, it could be the beginning of an excellent partnership to contact a bath salts manufacturer and start a collaboration. Or, in the case of services, if you were a freelance graphic designer who designs packaging and labels, you could team up with a company that prints them to provide a complete service to the customer!

We must rightly keep distances in mind, and after 2020 we know that unforeseen events can make travel and meetings difficult. However, this does not prevent you from comfortably doing video calls from your office/home. Getting in touch with potential new customers face to face is essential, especially for significant customers, who we are sure will be able to give us work all year round or in any case significantly increase our turnover.

People search online in the form of questions. Have you ever researched a topic online and then ended up on a blog page that exhaustively explained solutions to your problem? If you have clicked on this page and have read this far, it is clear that this method works! You are the first to be an expert on your job and all the problems that customers can face during the acquisition and use process. Therefore an effective strategy is to produce material to help them: writing blogs, making video tutorials, writing posts on social media can help establish contact.

Producing a good content strategy requires considerable effort in terms of time. Therefore, it is a process for those who want to make a long-term investment. Remember to write evergreen content to create material that is potentially searchable even in future years. Be prepared to wait. I have left this strategy to get new customers for your online site among the last ones as it is the longest and most complex to articulate. Excellent results are not to be expected before six months.

New customers and their purchases are the fuel that drives your online business; you start putting into practice the advice we have shared with you. Now you may be wondering, where do I start? Try to carve out some time every day, 30-60 minutes no more, to take advantage of these methods, and I assure you that in a few weeks or months, you will begin to reap the first fruits. But remember, none of the strategies outlined gives immediate results; it takes time and perseverance.