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Posted on January 18, 2019Top 5 Benefits of Live Chat for Your eCommerce Site
Live chat is fast becoming a preferred choice for eCommerce customer service. It offers a blend of benefits centered on cost-efficiency, sales and customer relationships. The following is an overview of five of the most compelling advantages of live chat for your eCommerce site.
Lower Service Expenses
The ability to operate as efficiently as possible is a key reason that eCommerce sites can compete successfully with traditional brick-and-mortar retailers. Live chat can contribute to operation efficiency because it is 17 to 30 percent less expensive for customer service than phone calls.
Reducing your variable service costs on each service interaction goes a long way toward improving gross margins and profit.
Higher Conversion Rates
Customers are 20 percent more likely to make a purchase after you engage them with live chat than without such engagement. The live chat creates a much more personal, two-way connection than a customer skimming your content alone.
Additionally, live chat is a platform for answering questions or concerns that impede a purchase. Cart abandonment rates are extremely high. Forrester recently reported that 57 percent of online shoppers leave carts if they can’t get quick answers to questions. Visitors find it easier to move on to a different site if answers aren’t readily apparent. With a live chat, you can minimize page bounces, answer questions and guide prospects toward the right solutions.
Improved Relationships and Loyalty
It is virtually impossible to replace the face-to-face personalization that you get in a brick-and-mortar store through eCommerce. However, live chats are an adequate substitute that gives you a chance to demonstrate a genuine interest in satisfying the needs of your core customers.
Customers are much more likely to feel connected to and trust an eCommerce business that offers real-time interactive support. This trust helps drive repeat purchases, increased buying levels and positive word-of-mouth sharing in person and via digital platforms. A recent case study with Virgin Airlines showed a 15 percent increase in average order size due to live chats.
Fast Identification and Resolution of Problems
It is challenging for eCommerce sites to recognize problems that get in the way of customer purchases if visitors leave without contact. Live chat affords you the opportunity to interact with a visitor to not only uncover individual concerns, but also to potentially recognize and address site or business problems impacting all of your visitors.
Learning about site-wide issues early through live chat gives you the ability to address them more quickly. You can thus reduce the number of customers affected and safeguard against long-term implications.
Key Competitive Advantage
Offering a quality live-chat feature is one way that you can distinguish your eCommerce site from competitors in the competitive marketplace. Anything you can do to optimize visitor user experience, the buying process and customer support enhances the value you provide relative to competitors.
Conclusion
These are some of the most important benefits of live chat for your eCommerce site. Live chat software is available and affordable for eSellers to implement. Do so as soon as possible to gain a critical competitive advantage in your industry.
Learn how Payoneer helps you sell anywhere in the world!
The post Top 5 Benefits of Live Chat for Your eCommerce Site appeared first on The Payoneer Blog.
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View all news of Gocardless
Posted on January 17, 2019FAQ Friday – What’s the difference between ‘push’ and ‘pull’ payments?
We’re back with the first FAQ Friday of 2019.
This week, Jon Greenland from the Sales team, talks us through the difference between ‘push’ and ‘pull’ based payment methods and what that means for your business.
We want to hear from you – get in touch and we’ll answer your questions in an upcoming video.
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Posted on January 17, 2019Redeem Your TrustPoints for Cash, Gift Cards & More
Introducing SolidTrust Pay’s Exclusive Member Rewards Program!
Did you know that as a SolidTrust Pay member you are automatically enrolled in our TrustPoints Rewards Program? At SolidTrust Pay, we are always looking for ways to give back to our valued members and that’s why we created TrustPoints. Every time you use your SolidTrust Pay account you earn points. For every $10 worth of funds you transfer to a merchant or member account, you earn 1 TrustPoint. Your points never expire and you can redeem them when your balance reaches as little as 100 TrustPoints.
So what can you do with your TrustPoints? The simple answer: A lot! When you have accumulated a preset amount of TrustPoints, you can redeem them for gift cards, receive a cash deposit into your SolidTrust Pay account, transfer them to other SolidTrust Pay members, or donate them to a charity. Of course, you don’t have to rush to redeem your points. You can watch your TrustPoints pile up and save them for larger rewards.
In addition to our TrustPoints Rewards Program, we also provide Buyer Protection, Emergency Account Funding, and Beneficiary Services. We always strive to exceed your expectations, and for this reason, we offer Buyer Protection to all our members. We will tirelessly work with you and our merchants to resolve any product or service disputes until you are completely satisfied with the outcome. Additionally, our Emergency Account Funding program prioritizes your funding and withdrawal requests, ensuring that most transactions are completed in under 24 hours. Finally, SolidTrust Pay’s exclusive Beneficiary Program safeguards your funds against automatic account suspension due to extended periods of inactivity. This service guarantees that any assets in your account become part of your estate.
Our TrustPoints Rewards program is yet another reason to choose SolidTrust Pay. We are always looking for ways to improve our members’ experience and give back to the millions of users who rely on our services. Your account is so much more than a convenient e-wallet and payment processor. It’s a gateway to a thriving global community dedicated to service!
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Posted on January 17, 2019How to Build Recurring Revenue in 2019
Income uncertainty is one of the scariest things about being a freelancer. However, with the right strategies, you can create peace of mind by establishing recurring revenue and mapping out your finances.
The following is a look at some of the most helpful strategies and insights for generating recurring revenue and improving income consistency.
Drive Retention with Great Performance
About 40 percent of the income earned by freelancers comes from repeat customers. To build a strong foundation of repeat business, know your ideal target clients based on your best talents and most profitable activities. Prioritize these clients and activities in your promotional efforts.
Demonstrate your value by consistently delivering high-quality work that exceeds expectations. First-time clients are often testing the waters of freelance source. Make yourself valuable and potentially indispensable to develop a core set of long-term client partners.
Develop a Subscription Model
A lot of freelancers operate with a one-off pricing strategy. They charge clients by the work. However, subscription models are a great pricing approach that allows for more sustainable activity and predictable income.
Though some freelance work is prohibitive, a lot of freelancers could convert to a subscription setup. Offer various pricing tiers depending on the level of production a client needs. At the end of a subscription period, up-sell clients based on established results.
Identify Evergreen Business Needs
Try to align your abilities with business needs that are more evergreen. The best way to sustain income with a client is to focus on solutions that are never-ending.
Web specialists, for instance, can offer website management and maintenance services. These are ongoing needs for companies that want to keep up with industry players. Social media management, content writing, accounting and software development are some other examples of products and services that freelance clients likely require indefinitely.
Serve as a Consultant
In addition to your regular products and services, identify ways to market yourself as a client. In some cases, companies need outsourced experts to contribute to strategic conversations, answer technical questions and engage in implementation. A consultant role allows you to extend your relationship with a client beyond more one-off product needs.
You could offer consulting services on a monthly retainer or as part of your subscription plans. Ideally, the client views you as an extension of the business.
Offer Payment Plans
It is usually easier to get clients to invest in higher-end project or subscription solutions if you allow them to spread out their costs with payment plans. Payment plans reduce the amount of each payment and assist clients in managing their budget requirements.
For freelancers, a payment plan lets you know how much to expect for each payment and when the payments will arrive.
Conclusion
Even as freelancers attempt to grow, these strategies help you establish a foundation of recurring revenue to sustain your quality of life. Implement these successfully to remove some of the uncertainty that is common in the freelance world.
Freelancers, get global payments easily from clients with Payoneer»
The post How to Build Recurring Revenue in 2019 appeared first on The Payoneer Blog.
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Posted on January 16, 2019The keys to keeping your crypto safe
Keeping your crypto safe doesn’t have to be daunting. In this piece. Coinbase VP of Security, Philip Martin, offers some best practices to stay one step ahead of hackers and scammers.
One of the primary benefits of cryptocurrencies is that they allow people to engage in online transactions without the need for an intermediary like a bank or credit-card company. Instead, anyone who wants to send or receive cryptocurrency creates a “cryptographic key” — a file containing a random secret code — that can then be used to authorize transactions from their cryptocurrency wallets. If an attacker gets access to that key, they instantly gain control the cryptocurrency wallet as if they were the owner. That’s why it’s critical to protect your keys if you manage them yourself, and lock down your accounts at trusted third-party services like Coinbase that help manage your keys for you.
Cyber criminals rely on a number of techniques to try to separate you from your cryptocurrency. They will sometimes pose as someone trustworthy and try to convince you to hand over account information, a kind of online threat known as social engineering. Or they might collect personal information you’ve shared on social media to impersonate you and access your email or mobile phone accounts. These threats pose the biggest risk to buying and selling crypto on trusted exchanges. In fact, the greatest threat we’ve seen to people losing their crypto is human error, not the technology itself.
Coinbase works hard to fight fraud from within the platform. For extra security, here are steps you can take to ensure your crypto stays in your hands, and only your hands.
Five simple steps to keep your crypto safe
Create strong passwords
- Basic: Come up with long passwords (16 or more characters) that you haven’t used elsewhere on the internet
- Better: Use a password manager like LastPass, 1Password, or Dashlane to create and remember your passwords
- Bonus: Check to see if you’re using a risky password at haveibeenpwned.com/Passwords
Use 2-factor authentication (2FA)
- Basic: Require a one-time 2FA code sent to your device every time you login, so that someone can’t access your account even if they steal your password
- Better: Use an authentication app like Google Authenticator or Authy instead of SMS-based 2FA, as mobile carriers have known security weaknesses
- Bonus: call your mobile carrier and instruct them to put a phone porting and SIM swapping lock on your account
Don’t make yourself a target
- Basic: Don’t brag about your cryptocurrency holdings online, just like you wouldn’t advertise inheriting $50 million
- Better: Review your online presence and see how much personal information someone could learn about you to steal your identity
Don’t fall for tricks
- Basic: Hackers posing as tech support may pressure you for your account credentials. Legitimate exchanges won’t ask you for passwords, 2FA codes, or for remote access to your computer
- Better: If someone reaches out to you and you’re not sure if it’s a scam, you can reach out to support@coinbase.com to confirm whether it’s legitimate. And remember, Microsoft, Google, and Apple will never call you about your computer
Check the URL
- Basic: Scammers create fake sites that look like real exchanges but are designed to steal account information. Double check the web address before you trade
- Better: Type in the exchange URL yourself rather than clicking any links emailed to you, or use a bookmark in your browser
Be on the lookout for these common scams
Tech support scam
If someone calls you posing as a Coinbase or computer support agent, watch out! This is most likely a tech support scam. The fraudster will tell you that there’s a virus on your computer or something wrong with your Coinbase account, and ask you to install remote desktop software or provide your Coinbase login credentials so they can “diagnose the problem.” In reality, they’ll use the access you’ve granted to transfer your cryptocurrency to their own wallets. Remember, Coinbase will never call you.
A tech support scam using social media chat to steal usernames and passwords from Coinbase customers Scammers post fake 1–800 numbers for Coinbase using Google Ads and search engines. The only legitimate Coinbase phone number is listed on https://support.coinbase.com/. Even if you’re not trying to call Coinbase, these fake tech support ads and phone numbers may still attempt to socially engineer you into providing access to your computer or Coinbase account. Email compromise
Your online accounts are only as secure as your email password. If someone is able to log into your email account, they can send themselves password reset emails from Coinbase and change your password to one that they control.
Phishing
Are you sure you’re actually logging into your Coinbase account? Or is it just a lookalike website designed to steal your login credentials? Phishing websites, emails, and SMS messages are designed to make you think that you’re visiting the real Coinbase website. But once you check the URL, you’ll notice that it’s something else entirely, like c0inbase.com with the number zero in place of the letter “o.”
Caption: A phishing site impersonating the Coinbase login page. Even though the URL includes the word “Coinbase”, it’s actually another domain entirely.
Pyramid schemes and giveaway scams
If something seems too good to be true, it probably is. Websites with a pyramid scheme structure promise high returns or other rewards in exchange for an initial investment of cryptocurrency. But they often make off with investors’ money entirely. Scammers will often pose as celebrities offering to double your cryptocurrency if you send them a small amount, but in reality, once you press “send” that cryptocurrency is gone forever.
Caption: A Twitter account
t impersonating the celebrity John McAfee. Any cryptocurrency you send to this scammer will disappear forever.
By taking time to understand how cryptocurrency works and following some basic security steps, you can make sure your crypto stays safe. To learn more, visit coinbase.com/learn.
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The keys to keeping your crypto safe was originally published in The Coinbase Blog on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
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Posted on January 16, 2019With 20 Million Customers, the Time is Right to Sell on Tophatter
Learn the ins and outs of selling on one of the leading e-commerce platforms
With more than 20 million customers spread out over 14 countries, Tophatter is an e-commerce powerhouse and one of the leading platforms for sellers looking to break into new markets.
Tophatter auctions consistently have a high number of bidders, meaning products get plenty of exposure and sellers can accurately reach their target buyers.
Given Tophatter’s unique method for ranking products, however, getting your product featured in an auction can be challenging. That’s where we come in. Our eBook offers a step-by-step guide to selling on Tophatter.
Learn how to:
- Price your products to maximize exposure
- Create an effective product listing
- Maintain a high Tophatter health level
And much more!
Ready to start selling? Download our free eBook!
The post With 20 Million Customers, the Time is Right to Sell on Tophatter appeared first on The Payoneer Blog.
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Posted on January 15, 2019In conversation with Paul Marcantonio, Head of UK/Western Europe at ECOMMPAY
Can you believe it’s been two years since our Head of UK/Western Europe Paul Marcantonio joined ECOMMPAY to establish the payment service provider as a trusted partner to e-Commerce merchants throughout the region? We spoke to him about the company’s ongoing growth, changing industry trends, and his vision for the future.
When you joined ECOMMPAY in January 2017, you highlighted brand awareness as a key priority – would you say this is still the case?
We’ve done a fantastic job over the past two years in creating regular brand touchpoints: we’ve raised our social media profile, we’ve been nominated for a huge number of awards, we’ve been much more visible in terms of relevant expos. Obviously, this remains a work in progress and we don’t want to get too complacent, but I’ve got to give credit where credit is due – we’ve come a long way since 2017, and I expect that we’ll continue our upward trajectory this year and beyond.
Having achieved brand recognition, have your priorities shifted?
Our brand building exercises tie in very neatly with what I had identified as my long-term objective, which is diversification into new verticals. In the past, we presented ourselves as quite specialised, but we now have the luxury of extending our payments expertise. In 2018, for example, we didn’t limit ourselves to ICE Totally Gaming, where ECOMMPAY has had a presence for the past five years, but we also ventured into the travel sector with a stand at WTM. Our thought leadership appears in publications such as PaymentEye and Travolution alongside features in SBC News and iGaming Business. And if we look at the award nominations we received in the past two weeks, it’s already quite telling – in addition to the International Gaming Awards, we’re in the running for the FSTech Awards and The Card & Payments Awards.
How accurate was the vertical targeting you defined two years ago?
It’s never good in any business to put all your eggs in one basket, so from day one, I really pushed for new core competencies. Naturally, we want to maintain the expertise we’ve accumulated in high risk industries, such as iGaming and Forex, but we’ve since looked into new industries in which we can also apply our payments experience. Under my leadership, we’ve hired top specialists to spearhead our foray into new verticals – quite successfully, might I add, as we’ve already partnered with impressive brands from the travel, hospitality, and retail sectors.
Now that you’ve diversified your portfolio, would you say that merchant requirements have changed?
I think yes, but not necessarily as a result of their specific vertical. Merchant requirements change in response to a lot of external factors, including regulation, technological advances, and industry trends. For example, when GDPR and PSD2 came into force, there was a heightened focus on the customer journey and on ensuring consumer identities were protected.
Merchants have also expressed more interest in the services we can offer beyond direct acquiring. They look to our understanding of regional markets to inform their choices on which alternative payment methods to integrate. They ask about our risk management solutions. They consult with us on how to comply with regulatory changes. We’ve become a one-stop shop for anything and everything to do with handling consumer payments, saving our merchants both time and money.
What about challenges? Are you facing new challenges as a result of diversification?Payments is a very crowded space, so we have to work very hard to establish our value, answering the eternal “so what?” question. Market saturation tends to result in a price war, but there’s a fundamental difference between price and value. ECOMMPAY offers added value. We challenge our potential and existing merchants to speak about their pain points, their blue-sky requirements, what their ambitions are and what they need to make them a reality. We take the time to get under the skin of their business, developing bespoke solutions backed up by proprietary technologies.
So has working at ECOMMPAY met the expectations you had two years ago?
Definitely! I’m very happy to be working in a company with such a unique vision and with such a talented, passionate team of payment experts behind me. We’re already achieving great things, and there’s still so much more to come. That being said, I’m still hoping to shake up the industry a bit more. Many merchants – across multiple industries – are quite averse to change. It’s easier for them to say no that it is for them to say yes, so I’m hoping that as we continue demonstrating the benefit – increased conversion, improved security, broader global coverage – they’ll be more willing to commit.
The post In conversation with Paul Marcantonio, Head of UK/Western Europe at ECOMMPAY appeared first on ECOMMPAY | Payment Solutions. Individually tailored.
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Posted on January 15, 2019How Amazon Sellers Can Grow Their Brand
Editor’s note: This is a guest post by Thomas Pruchinski, Director of Marketing at LandingCube.
In this article, we are going to explain why Amazon sellers should consider expanding off Amazon to grow their brand and build a more robust business. And then we’ll provide some guidance for different channels that sellers can expand into.
The Costs of Selling Exclusively on Amazon
Selling on Amazon has tremendous benefits, but it comes as a tradeoff. You get access to millions of online shoppers, Primed to buy (pun-intended). But so do your competitors on Amazon.com. And competition is fierce. Just think how your competitors can place ads on your own listing. It benefits Amazon and its customers to encourage dog-eat-dog competition. Prices go down and product variety goes up.
I should repeat that… they are Amazon’s customers. When you make a sale on Amazon, it’s not your customer. Amazon controls the buyer experience and restricts your ability to communicate with customers. They select which products to recommend alongside your product. And they try to keep everything within their ecosystem. It’s understandable for Amazon to do this, but it limits you, the seller.
While selling through FBA limits the hassles associated with fulfillment, shipping, support and logistics, it also costs you a hefty fee. Other channels and marketplaces have much lower fees.
It’s estimated by eMarketer that almost half of online sales this year in the US will be made on Amazon.com. That’s a lot. So we’re definitely not suggesting you ditch Amazon. But by selling exclusively on Amazon, you are missing out on the other half of potential sales.
And by being wholly dependent on Amazon for all sales, you put your business in a risky situation. One malicious negative review campaign can wipe out 90% of your sales (if you mostly sell only one product). You could drop in the rankings. Amazon can introduce a brand in your category. And you can even get suspended. If you don’t have an email list and aren’t selling on other channels, your business is in a precarious situation.
Building an email list and the infrastructure to make sales on other channels allows you to have more control over your business, build a more robust brand and make more sales.
Challenges Of Expanding Off Amazon
As mentioned above, there are certainly challenges associated with expanding off Amazon. Logistics get a bit more complicated, as you can’t rely solely on Amazon’s fulfillment services. You have to create new listings. And in the case of building your own e-commerce site, you’ll have to carry a much heavier load for marketing.
You also can’t take advantage of Amazon Prime, which helps customers convert at much higher rates on Amazon compared to other sites. But you’ll also have more control over the customer experience. So branding becomes even more important outside of Amazon (on Amazon you benefit from Amazon’s strong brand).
Expanding off Amazon Into Other Channels
Below we’ll talk about several different channels that provide you options for more sales, in addition to Amazon. When you have built a solid business on Amazon, it’s a good idea to expand into other channels and build real brand assets to “build your moat” (a term used by online business broker Empire Flippers, to denote the defensibility brought on by diversification of product sales & marketing channels – Your business will sell more if it expands into other channels. So if selling your business is a desire, this is an additional benefit to diversifying off of Amazon). Look into other online marketplaces that provide services similar to Amazon’s but cater to different audiences and product types to support your expansion.
Building Your Own E-Commerce Site
Creating your own website to sell products entails a bit more of a learning curve for Amazon sellers, compared to throwing up your products on other marketplaces. But it provides even greater brand benefits. That is, because you can control the entire customer experience. What people see when they land on your site, the colors and even music, products that you recommend them, and the messaging from beginning to end. There is no better way to build an army of raving fans and repeat customers who will tell all their friends about how awesome your brand and products are.
Really, every business should have their own website. Even if you don’t make any sales there, having a website lends credibility to your brand on Amazon. And if sales on Amazon should stop, at least you have the infrastructure to continue making sales on another platform.
Shopify is the most popular e-commerce platform and the one we recommend. It provides ease of use, but also many powerful features to build out a site to your liking.
After building your site, to get sales there you have to do some marketing. Typically, that is through Search Engine Optimization (SEO) & Paid Traffic. For SEO, you’ll have to structure your site & pages in a way that the Google search engine finds compatible. And for Paid Traffic, Facebook Ads & Google Ads typically provide the best options for sending high-quality visitors to your site.
Two Ways To Ease the Transition
There are two very powerful things you can do to expand off of Amazon, while taking advantage of your history of Amazon sales.
Building Email Lists With Discounted Promotions
The first is building an email list. Email is still the best and most direct way to communicate with customers. When someone gives you their email it indicates they are interested in your brand and are likely to have a higher lifetime value compared to other prospects. And having an email provides sellers a great way to ask for reviews.
One way Amazon sellers can collect emails is by driving traffic to a landing page to offer a discount code in exchange for emails. Tools specifically designed for Amazon, like LandingCube, provide a great option. Amazon sellers can practice with paid methods of traffic like Facebook Ads to drive discounted sales on Amazon to collect emails. This will boost performance on Amazon and set you up for selling on your own e-commerce site.
Using Amazon Customer Data For Lookalike Audiences
If you have a history of sales on Amazon, you can use this to jumpstart your Facebook Ads campaign. By using the Amazon customer data to create custom audiences & lookalike audiences in Facebook, you can show ads to people who have already bought from you (Custom Audience) or who are very similar to those who have bought from you (Lookalike Audience). This will drastically reduce the cost per acquisition with Facebook Ads. You can either drive this traffic to Amazon (through the landing pages mentioned above) or straight to your new e-commerce store.
In Summary: Expanding off Amazon For More Sales & A Stronger Brand
Expanding off of Amazon puts your business in a much stronger position. By being totally dependent upon Amazon for sales, you face high competition and risk and pay high fees. Selling on other marketplaces and building your own e-commerce site will make your business more defensible, your brand more meaningful, and will result in more sales.
Thomas Pruchinski is the Director of Marketing for LandingCube, a software tool that helps Amazon seller grow their business with external traffic. Before LandingCube, he worked on two e-commerce brands in the health space. His focuses were on growing Amazon sales, email marketing & influencer partnerships. He joined forces with LandingCube in December 2016 as the first marketing hire to help Amazon sellers make more sales & build a more robust brand by leveraging traffic sources outside of Amazon. He also runs an online apparel shop and performs stand-up comedy. The post How Amazon Sellers Can Grow Their Brand appeared first on The Payoneer Blog.
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Posted on January 14, 2019Business Line of Credit or Small Business Loan? 4 points to consider
A business line of credit is usually recommended for short-term financing needs, like buying inventory and paying for a surprise expense, but it can also be used to cover long-term expenses, such as advertising campaigns and insurance costs.
Line of credit borrowing limits often range from $5,000 to $150,000 and are smaller than a short-term loan. They are also revolving. This means that businesses can use a line of credit as often as they want, as long as they make payments on time and don’t exceed their credit limit.
In order to understand whether a business line of credit is the best funding option for your company, there are several factors to consider.
Think of your company’s future
The businesses that benefit from most from lines of credit are often vulnerable to cash flow shortages or short-term capital needs. Since business lines of credits are revolving (meaning your credit line resets to the original amount once you pay off your balance like a credit card), they’re a more ideal option for financing an ongoing marketing campaign or signing new customer project—especially if you’re uncertain of exactly how much money you’ll need—than a lump-sum loan that tends to be paid through periodic, consistent installments.
That being said, a business line of credit is best suited for companies that can look far into the future. They have a plan for how the line of credit will cover gaps in certain business cycles and do not wait until an expense shortage to apply for a line of credit. This is especially important because, unlike most business funding options, a business line of credit is designed to be approved and distributed before the funds are actually needed. Keeping this in mind, it’s best to look ahead and apply for a line of credit before funding a new project so that you have the extra cushion before running out the clock.
Be aware of specific times for payments
Companies that have explored debt financing programs know that every business lender has varying requirements. This is especially obvious when comparing a business line of credit from a bank to a business line of credit from an alternative business lender.
Most traditional lenders, such as banks, may charge fees for opening the line of credit or making certain transactions. They may also require businesses to have strong revenue and at least a few years of credit history to qualify for a line of credit. In addition, banks may require collateral, which can be seized by the lender if a business fails to make payments.
Online business lenders, on the other hand, may have looser qualifications than banks. However, these lenders are also likely to charge higher interest rates than banks and may have lower credit limits.
Although business lenders may impose varying rules, borrowers should plan on being able to pay off their entire balance at some point in time. After all, a business line of credit is a revolving program, which can only be taken advantage of by regularly paying the entire balance.
Would you require collateral?
Traditional banks often have high minimum qualifications and require significant collateral, like expensive equipment or real estate, which can be seized by the lender if a business fails to make payments. Many loans also require a specific purpose, such as taking out a student loan to pay for college tuition or being granted a mortgage to buy a house. Lines of credit, however, do not typically have a specific purchase purposes, so borrowers can spend on a variety of items without the lender’s approval and no assets have to be appraised.
Before applying for a line of credit, it’s helpful to build business credit and improve cash flow. Showing strength in either area may give you access to lines of credit with lower interest rates and higher credit limits.
What are you planning to use your business line of credit for?
As mentioned earlier, many borrowers rely on business lines of credit as a cushion during a busy season or a rough patch. However, this doesn’t mean a business line of credit should be used by any company that is struggling to pay its bills. In fact, business lenders rarely approve a business line of credit to cover operating losses.
Companies that are attempting to cover losses from past operations will likely struggle to pay off their line of credit. In other words, a company is much more likely to get approved for a business line of credit if it’s trying to finance expenses that will lead to a surge in profits.
Are There Other Options?
You might like to consider getting your own money faster so that you can purchase more inventory or invest otherwise in your business as needed. Payoneer Capital Advance gives you this ability. The service enables you to have cash in hand when you need it most.
Payoneer customer? View your Capital Advance offers now!
New to Payoneer? Sign up now!
The post Business Line of Credit or Small Business Loan? 4 points to consider appeared first on The Payoneer Blog.
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Posted on January 11, 2019Superpower Affiliate Marketing With Personalized Content
Editor’s note: This is a guest post by Vaibhav Kakkar, Founder of Digital Web Solutions.
Ever since the release ‘Four Hour Work Week’ the number of people interested in automated incomes and as a result, affiliate marketing has dramatically increased. In an increasingly digital world content becomes more important, and it’s easy to see that affiliate marketing is here to stay.
As more people begin to leverage content and discover affiliate marketing, competition is on the rise. Innovation will be a key to the success of new-age affiliate marketers, should they embrace it at the right time.
Personalization of customer experience sits at the top of the priority list, and innovation makes it possible. Advertisers are investing efforts and significant budgets towards providing customers with personalized content. In an Infosys survey, 31% respondents said they wish their shopping experience were far more personalized than it currently is and it is time affiliates jumped on the personalization wagon.
However, as far as affiliates are concerned, resources are limited, and personalization isn’t in easy reach. While this is a challenge, it can also be an enormous opportunity. With a little extra effort, affiliate marketers can enjoy the early adopter benefits of personalization in the form of higher conversion rates.
How would you go about personalizing your content for your audience to drive higher conversions? Let’s jump right to it:
Precision Communication With Data-Driven Approach
Personalization begins with understanding your audience’s affinities. Whether your primary source of affiliate income is a landing page, a website, or an email newsletter, data is readily available.
Understanding which links visitors click on, what products they purchase, and what brands they interact with, along with metrics like platform or device usage can prove to be advantageous. One way to use this data would be to build different email lists based on the preferences of your audience.
You can then send relevant content to each email list, and of course, related products, and in the online landscape, relevance is the key to success.
Sure, the amount of effort that goes into sending out a personalized email blast will go up significantly. However, personalization has multiple advantages for affiliates:
- Improved conversions: This one is a bit obvious. When prospects come across products they are more like to need (or want), leading them through a purchase funnel becomes much easier.
- Audience Loyalty: Personalization is a two-way street. As an affiliate marketer, when you think about your audience and offer them a personalized experience, they will be attracted to the products and content. If done right, your audience will soon be looking forward to more content from their favorite influencer!
- 53% of consumers will readily give away personal information in exchange of a personalized shopping experience. As an affiliate marketer, your success depends on obtaining said information and using it to your advantage.
Tip: If you have a website, you can also use web push notifications to send customized offers to your users.
Choose Your Advertisers Carefully
As a beginner in the affiliate marketing domain, it might make sense to sign up for several affiliate programs, but the reality is quite contrary. To achieve lasting success as an affiliate marketer, it is crucial to analyze each program carefully before you decide to sign on.
The reason behind this becomes apparent when we look at an affiliate marketer from the consumer’s point of view. For a consumer, you are not an affiliate that is trying to make a living by advertising others’ products. For a consumer, you are a trusted source of information that will help them achieve their goals. Being a successful affiliate equals being a successful influencer, and as an influencer, it is your job to ensure your influence on your audience is positive.
As consumers awareness rises, marketing becomes more customer-centric. Smart influencers are understanding the same and addressing the needs of their audience. Doing so is extremely easy with valuable data available to us, thanks to the digital platforms we all use.
Build Lasting Relationships
Relationship building, for affiliate marketers, is split into two — one, the obvious, is having a strong connection with the audience. Conversion rates will skyrocket when your audience trusts you more like a friend instead of a person that is trying to advertise products. However, almost everyone that is familiar with affiliate marketing knows this.
What most affiliates don’t realize is the importance of building relationships with the advertisers whose products you are marketing to your audience.
When you choose your advertisers carefully and treat them as partners, it opens up new avenues. For instance, by sharing your audiences data with your advertising partners, you can push them to introduce custom offers tailored to the needs of your audience. Doing so will improve sales numbers, which will bring symbiotic benefits to you and your partners.
Sharing audience data for more precise marketing is not possible with all advertisers. While it is evident that finding several advertisers that you can trust with audience data is a challenge, even if you find one, it’s a great start.
Pay Attention To Adding Value
Personalized shopping experiences, and even the idea of affiliate marketing, only work when your audience trusts you as a source of credible information. In recent times, high quality and meaningful content has come to play a central role in building this trust.
Keeping that in mind, use your audience data to not only enable personalized recommendations but to build yourself as a figure of authority and trust within your niche. Use the intelligence gained from analyzing audience data to drive a content strategy that addresses the most common problems of your audience, and adds real value to their lives, even if they don’t end up purchasing anything.
The conversion funnel is evolving fast, and content has emerged as the most important factor that not only influences buyer decisions but to some extent, shapes their views about brands and products.
Test Test Test!
With data-powered marketing endeavors, testing remains the most powerful tool to drive results. Since none of us is the marketing Oracle, we have to depend on A/B testing to figure out what is working with our audiences.
There are several tools available online that will let you test variations of emails and landing pages. For example, VWO is a visual A/B testing tool that lets you test different variations of a landing page, and has a drag and drop feature that lets you modify different elements with little efforts. By A/B testing variations of not only content, but product positioning, you will be able to educate yourself, as well as your advertiser partners on what really works for your audience.
Conclusion
Personalization is the holy grail of all aspects of marketing and affiliate marketing is no exception. As more brands realize this, the availability of tools that make personalization easier, and hence, the competition, will become fierce and early adopters will enjoy an advantage.
Vaibhav Kakkar is the CEO of Digital Web Solutions, a globally trusted agency with a full suite of digital marketing & development solutions. Vaibhav believes in building system over services, and has invested in multiple tech startups including RankWatch, NotifyFox and a CRM software to help scale up client agencies from scratch to niche-leaders with million dollar turnovers.
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