10 Tools Every Online Business Owner Must Have

by Joseph Oni November 16, 2015
November 16, 2015

According to data from a report titled “The Internet Economy in the G-20: The $ 4.2 Trillion Growth Opportunity”, analyzing how much the internet contributes to the economy of G-20 nations, it was estimated that by 2016 there will be 3 billion internet users globally and that the internet economy will reach $ 4.2 trillion in G-20 nations.


The internet has now become such a force to reckon with, and it’ll be silly to ignore its massive potential. If you want to succeed with your online business, you need to have more than one of the tools listed below:


1. Prestashop


There are dozens of solutions (both hosted and non-hosted) for setting up your ecommerce business or online store, but Prestashop is undoubtedly a leader; with over 250,000 stores powered by PrestaShop, and over 850,000 members in their community, Prestashop is a leader in the ecommerce space.


Prestashop has several features that put you in control of your online store including over 2,000 ecommerce templates that take advantage of responsive design technology to help you better serve your customers, integrations with hundreds of addons, an easy-to-use store builder and a reliable shopping cart system.


2. AWeber


Data from the Direct Marketing Association shows that you can expect a ROI of $ 40 from every dollar spent on email marketing, and this data easily shows email to be the most effective marketing investment.


AWeber is a leader at email marketing, and they’re recommended because they offer the best features, without limitations, at the cheapest price. AWeber also recently introduced a new feature called “Campaigns” that allows email automation without paying the hefty price their competitors charge.


3. Infusionsoft


Infusionsoft, while mostly known for its email service, is a complete Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system. Unlike AWeber, it allows you to do more than just email; it provides you with the tools and resources to cater to your customers right from the very first day they discover your business.


Infusionsoft allows you to automate lead capture and followup, while making it extremely easy to analyze your results and see what’s working and what’s not working.


4. Optimizely


Do you know that a simple change in the color a button on your sales page could increase sales by 34%? This was the result of a color test by CareLogger, in which they realized that changing button color from green to red increased sales by 34%.


If you sell online, the concept of split testing is something you need to be familiar with; changing things like button color, headline, images, button text, etc. could lead to a massive conversion boost. With features like A/B testing and one-click integration with popular analytics tools like KISSMetrics and Google Analytics, Optimizely is easily one of the best split testing tools out there.


5. Visual Website Optimizer


Visual Website Optimizer (VWO) is an alternative tool to Optimizely, and it also helps make split testing very seamless; with VWO, you can split test both your website and your apps, and their easy to use graphs and screenshots make it extremely easy to see what’s working and what’s not. They also make it easy to integrate with popular analytics tools.


6. OptimizePress


If you sell online, sooner or later you’ll have to familiarize yourself with the concept of landing pages, sales pages, etc. While popular CMSs and platforms like WordPress gives you complete flexibility and impressive speeds, they aren’t built to help you maximize conversions.


OptimizePress is a leader when it comes to building landing pages on WordPress, and it’s a favorite because of its multiple features, ease-of-use and the fact that it only costs a one-time fee compared to many of its competitors that require you to pay a monthly fee.


OptimizePress can be used as a WordPress theme or plugin, and it’s one of the best tools for building a landing page.


7. ClickFunnels


ClickFunnels works in a similar way to OptimizePress but it does MUCH more; ClickFunnels is more than just a landing page builder, but a tool designed from the ground up to serve as your sales engine.


ClickFunnels allow you to build “funnels” designed to aid sales of your product or services; a “funnel” is basically a system designed to take users through a series of steps from the first time they sign up to becoming a high-paying customer. With in-built sales and landing pages system, webinar funnels, membership funnels, etc, ClickFunnels is one of the best tools in the arsenal of any business owner.


8. Hotjar


If you want to succeed in business, especially online, customer satisfaction should be your priority. Knowing what customers think about your brand as well as what they would like to see from you can make the difference between a profitable business and a struggling one.


Hotjar makes it extremely easy to get feedback from your customers; with features like Polls, surveys, recording of visitor activity on your site and tracking your conversion rates, Hotjar is one of the best tools for getting customer feedback.


9. ZenDesk


Data from a 2011 American Express Survey has shown that 78% of consumers have bailed on an intended purchase because of a poor service experience.


Customer service is very essential and a core part of any online business; being able to address questions from your customers without overwhelm will yield positive ROI for your business.


ZenDesk is the leader when it comes to customer support, and many top companies use them to handle customer support. Some key ZenDesk features include integrated live chat, a ticket management system, a knowledgebase system and integrations with several top apps.


10. CrazyEgg


One of the best ways to improve conversions on your website or online store is by knowing what users are focusing on and what they are ignoring; you can then give them more of what they want and remove what they ignore. A good way to know this is by leveraging heatmap technology; an heatmap shows you how users are interacting with your pages, what buttons they are clicking and what elements they are interacting with.


CrazyEgg is a leader when it comes to Heatmap technology online. Some of their features include a heatmap tool, a scrollmap tool, and an overlay tool.


Conclusion


How is your online business going? What other tool will you like to add to the above list?

Digital & Social Articles on Business 2 Community

(107)

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.