Most Used Tools in E-Commerce
1. Google AdWords
Organic search is an effective method for traffic acquisition and sales promotion, but its conversion rates are not always high. Google AdWords is one tool that can help you promote your e-commerce site more efficiently and also boost sales. You can create and run ads using this tool in Google’s Search and advertising network.Google Adwords displays your ads depending on their relevance to the keywords used by the searcher(s). Your ads therefore will be transmitted to searchers interested in your products/brand. Since this tools works on ‘Pay Per Click’ basis, it helps you to save on your advertising budget. Furthermore, it provides in-depth insight to help you measure advertising effectiveness to assess the attractiveness of your marketing message.
2. Zendesk
Zendesk is the tool you should look for. It helps you to provide better customer service without having a customer service team. This tool has a plethora of advanced features that allow you to create customer support tickets, resolve tickets, use templatized solutions, create self-help sections, and track your customer service performance.
It collects all of the questions/issues raised by customers through phone calls, social networks, email, chat or search and compiles them in one place. You can even have proactive conversations with your customers using Zendesk and send them surveys. Brands like Groupon and Gilt are using this software for their customer service solution.
3. HOTJAR
Hotjar is an all-in-one analytics tools using heat maps for your website visitors. See how they click, where they move their mouse, and even record see recordings of their mouse activity on your website.
Their feedback system offers test tunnels so you know at what point your visitor is leaving so you can improve your system. Heat maps let you view visitor behavior on where they’re scrolling, clicking, and moving. In this way, follow the important behavioral of your customers for better user experience.
You can view Hotjar as a type of user testing in which you know how visitors are behaving so you understand how your website is working for them.
4. GOOGLE ANALYTICS
Conversions are key in online marketing. Google Analytics tracks website traffic for measuring those conversions. Measure your online sales and transaction history by monitoring user data analysis with e-commerce tracking. This tool needs some HTML and JavaScript coding skills in order to provide the maximum value. Meet your business needs whether you’re using the free product or their Analytics 360 Suite.
5. MAILCHIMP
One of the leaders in email marketing, MailChimp offers an easy to use way to let your customers know what’s going on in your business. Whether it’s recent news about your company or sharing a new product, you can be sure to let them in on what they need to know.
Create email campaigns that best suit your specific business. One of the great things about MailChimp is its marketing automation that helps in your marketing strategy. For example, send a reminder to visitors who left your online store without making a purchase. Or those who didn’t check out but may have something in their online cart. You can also find new customers by integrating with Facebook and Instagram.
6. UNBXD
With Unbxd, optimize your online site search by giving customers a more personalized experience. Enhance user experience with product recommendations. When customers are at your online store and see “recommended for you”, it can create a new sale for your business.
This tool lets you see a report of how users are finding out the right products. Unbxd asks, “Are you leaving money on the table?” The Commerce Search Study shows a shopper is more likely to buy if there’s a search bar on your store website.
Use Unbxd as a plugin for Shopify, too.
As a customer service software used by many big name companies, Zendesk is a leader in providing customer service through chat, phone, and email. You can take the ease off your organization’s departments by using this platform for your customer service needs.
This platform lets you connect with customers on a relationship level. It’s easy to setup and easy to use. If a customer has a help ticket, easily collaborate with the customer and the company.
One of the great things about Zendesk is it collects the data from those customer interactions and makes sure your business is in good light. It can also record response times so you can improve on certain areas of your online interactions.
7. OPTIMIZELY
User interface is just as important as user experience. It’s a part of it and they work together. With Optimizely, test different layouts and content to see what converts and performs best.
Get the full customer experience with A/B testing and build a better website for your visitors. The visual editor is easy to navigate and update any online content. Also, experiment with different behavioral targets. If a user searches for a winter coat and goes back to the home page, it remembers the user’s choice and the home page displays a shopping opportunity for winter coats.
8. CRAZY EGG
Similar to Hotjar, Crazy Egg lets you see where users click with heat maps. Just type in your URL and it will show you your heat map when you sign up for the 30-day free trial.
Most importantly, you may wonder why your visitors are not converting. Crazy Egg knows why they’re leaving so you can enhance your pages for better customer experience and makes sure your most important content is being seen and not ignored.
With overlay tool, view the number of clicks of all elements on a page and find out where the most clicks are and how they’re converting.
9. SEMRUSH
SEMRush claims itself as the all-in-one marketing tool. It is definitely a great tool if you’re looking into the analytics of all online marketing including social media, SEO, and PPC. This tool is powerful for competitor and advertising research.
When you type in the URL of your domain name, you are able to view domain analytics through organic and advertising research. Their video and display advertising is currently in beta, however, you can see all digital content without going to the actual provider.
SEMRush analyzes your content so it can perform better against your competitors.
10. SEARCH SPRING
A unique experience is the best experience. The customer feels welcomed when their search results are tailored to them.
Search Spring helps you develop a better search experience with advanced site search. You might think search boxes are the last thing on your list when it comes to your e-commerce website. The relevancy of this search tool allows the customer to see products related to their interest or search no matter what page they’re on.
11. SHOPIFY
This tool lets you create an online shop and a custom domain name. Use this in conjunction with the other tools mentioned above and create the ultimate experience. It doesn’t matter what kind of store you have, Shopify has what you need. It’s used by many online retailers worldwide.
Run your store with no coding experience and personalize your business website with hundreds of themes to choose from for your online store. Shopify does all the work for you.
Advantages of E-commerce enabled export import:-
- Much faster transactions available 24/7.
- Products and services are easy to find.
- Easier time managing a business.
- Doesn’t require much (if at all) physical space.
- No geographical limitations translates as a bigger customer reach.
- Higher quality of services and lower operational costs.
- Increase revenue
- eCommerce site will eliminate or reduce workloads off sales and support force.
- Reach niche market segments.
- Expand client base.
- Lower operating costs.
- Better customer service.
- Advantages to Organizations
- Advantages to Consumers
- Advantages to Society
Advantages to Organizations
- Using e-commerce, organizations can expand their market to national and international markets with minimum capital investment. An organization can easily locate more customers, best suppliers, and suitable business partners across the globe.
- E-commerce helps organizations to reduce the cost to create process, distribute, retrieve and manage the paper based information by digitizing the information.
- E-commerce improves the brand image of the company.
- E-commerce helps organization to provide better customer services.
- E-commerce helps to simplify the business processes and makes them faster and efficient.
- E-commerce reduces the paper work.
- E-commerce increases the productivity of organizations. It supports “pull” type supply management. In “pull” type supply management, a business process starts when a request comes from a customer and it uses just-in-time manufacturing way.
Advantages to Customers
- It provides 24×7 support. Customers can enquire about a product or service and place orders anytime, anywhere from any location.
- E-commerce application provides users with more options and quicker delivery of products.
- E-commerce application provides users with more options to compare and select the cheaper and better options.
- A customer can put review comments about a product and can see what others are buying, or see the review comments of other customers before making a final purchase.
- E-commerce provides options of virtual auctions.
- It provides readily available information. A customer can see the relevant detailed information within seconds, rather than waiting for days or weeks.
- E-Commerce increases the competition among organizations and as a result, organizations provides substantial discounts to customers.
Advantages to Society
- Customers need not travel to shop a product, thus less traffic on road and low air pollution.
- E-commerce helps in reducing the cost of products, so less affluent people can also afford the products.
- E-commerce has enabled rural areas to access services and products, which are otherwise not available to them.
- E-commerce helps the government to deliver public services such as healthcare, education, social services at a reduced cost and in an improved manner.
Disadvantages of E-commerce enabled export import:-
- No guarantee of product quality.
- Customer loyalty becomes a bigger issue as there is a minimal direct customer-company interaction.
- Inability to experience products beforehand leads to more checkout dropouts.
- Anyone can start an online business, which sometimes leads to scam and phishing sites.
- Hackers target web shops more often than you think.
- Mechanical failures can get quite more punishing.
- Ecommerce Is Highly Competitive.
Technical Disadvantages
- There can be lack of system security, reliability or standards owing to poor implementation of e-commerce.
- The software development industry is still evolving and keeps changing rapidly.
- In many countries, network bandwidth might cause an issue.
- Special types of web servers or other software might be required by the vendor, setting the e-commerce environment apart from network servers.
- Sometimes, it becomes difficult to integrate an e-commerce software or website with existing applications or databases.
- There could be software/hardware compatibility issues, as some e-commerce software may be incompatible with some operating system or any other component.
Non-Technical Disadvantages
- Initial cost − The cost of creating/building an e-commerce application in-house may be very high. There could be delays in launching an e-Commerce application due to mistakes, and lack of experience.
- User resistance − Users may not trust the site being an unknown faceless seller. Such mistrust makes it difficult to convince traditional users to switch from physical stores to online/virtual stores.
- Security/ Privacy − It is difficult to ensure the security or privacy on online transactions.
- Lack of touch or feel of products during online shopping is a drawback.
- E-commerce applications are still evolving and changing rapidly.
- Internet access is still not cheaper and is inconvenient to use for many potential customers, for example, those living in remote villages.
International Trade 
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