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How to Have a More Productive Workplace

Being the owner of a business is a tall order. There is so much that can go wrong on a day-to-day basis, and one of your main responsibilities will be trying to keep your cool. Of course, as a business owner, there are many different areas of the company you will have to overlook. A lot of people can’t handle this pressure, which will result in their failure. However, with the right attitude and strategy, this doesn’t have to be the case for you. 

 

One thing that a lot of people will struggle with regarding their business is productivity. After all, employees will find it hard to come in daily and work as hard as they can. However, if you can produce a productive working environment for your workers, then you are going to reap the benefits. So, how do you do this? Here are some suggestions that could be of benefit to you and your business.  

Don’t Overwork Employees

Of course, you are going to want your employees to perform at their top level as much as possible. However, people can’t go 8 hours in a row, 5 days a week working their hardest. This just isn’t a viable option. If you try to encourage this behavior, then it is just going to backfire on you. Your members of staff are going to become overworked and burned out. This is going to give them less energy to work hard. As well as this, it could tarnish your relationship with them. Make sure you are giving them relaxing, lengthy breaks during the day. As well as this, allow plenty of holiday days for your staff. Taking blocks of days off is a good way for your workers to relax and recover. Having a good balance between rest and work is going to be your friend when it comes to a productive workplace. 

Good HR

Employees want to feel like they are appreciated and heard. When they get this, they are more encouraged to work for a company and put more effort in. A good way to do this is to have a good HR system. This means that any queries, concerns, or support that a person might have can be dealt with through HR. It will also allow you to look at analytics for your staff members. The benefits of HR analytics could help to promote more productivity around your workplace. 

Having Good Management Skills

People management is a skill that a lot of people desire but don’t have. It is a hard one to master, and even after years of experience, you are still going to be learning. However, when you know how to manage the people that work for you, then you are going to be able to promote much more productivity in the office. This will also help you get the most out of individuals and will like lead to increased employee retention rates over time, as employees feel valued and content with their job.

E-commerce Proxy Advantages for Businesses and Individuals

The internet has become a powerful tool for businesses and individuals, but it also presents new risks. With the rise of e-commerce and the growing number of cyber attacks, your business or personal information may get into the wrong hands if you don't take certain precautions, like using a proxy. 

How E-commerce Proxies Can Help Your Business

Let's look at some ‌ways in which proxies can enhance a business' online experience. We'll also discuss how you can use them to block fraudsters who try to steal identity information or money from your e-commerce websites. 

Research Anonymously  

Price monitoring is among the tactics you can use to stay ahead of your competitors. However, some websites will block your IP address if they realize you're secretly monitoring their products. Fortunately, you can use proxies for price comparison and other competitor research strategies while maintaining anonymity. 

Let's say you have a website for a business you want to learn more about, like its products, contact information, staffing, and so on. The best way to mine such information would be by using a proxy tool to hide your IP address. That way, no one will know your identity; you could be a regular client of the company! 

Reach International Markets

One of the most common uses of proxies is to get around country restrictions. For example, suppose you're selling clothes in the US but living in France. In that case, a proxy can allow you access to your US site from France without having to worry about getting blocked by geo-restrictions. A proxy also gives you an easier time reaching international markets from the comfort of your home or office. 

Secure Your Data  

Data security is as important when running an online store as it is when browsing the web directly. If your business has an online presence, you could risk losing customers and revenue through data theft or hacks. This can happen if someone steals your customer information or hacks your server. 

The best way to secure your site and protect yourself against such risks is by using proxies with strong encryption features. With a proxy, cyber attackers will find it difficult to swipe sensitive information like credit card numbers and financial records. 

Proxy Benefits for Individuals

Individuals can also use proxies to keep their browsing habits anonymous. Some opt for premium while others use the free versions, but it's always smarter to go for reputable vendors for heightened security. 

Save Money When Shopping Online

Have you ever wondered why a cookie policy pops up when you visit a site for the first time? Retailers use cookies in different ways. Some use them to determine prices for different people, while others utilize them to target ads based on browsing activity and location. 

Almost all e-commerce websites use the same strategy when pricing products. You're likely to pay more for an item if you're from a strong economy or if a retailer thinks you can cough up such an amount. The same concept applies when you search for an item several times. Fortunately, you can use a proxy to hide your actual IP address and appear like you're from a nation with a weaker economy.

Access Geo-restricted E-commerce Stores

Some e-commerce sites don't allow sign-ups from certain countries. For example, eBay blocks sellers from Cuba, Syria, and several other countries. If you're from a geo-restricted area and want to access eBay, you'll need a proxy.

However, be careful about legal issues that may arise. Whether bypassing geo-blocks is legal depends on the policies of your country and the target website. 

Enhance Website Performance  

Most proxies offer caching technology, which results in super-fast website loading speed when dealing with similar requests. Even if your hosting provider has slow servers, a proxy will optimize your site's loading speed. Remember, proxy providers have proxies in many countries, so they will direct your data request to a nearby server for quick results. However, each proxy type has something that sets it apart from the rest. If you need excellent performance, a residential proxy might be the best option.

Proxies Are the Future of the Internet  

With their many benefits, proxies are a great asset for any business or individual. They offer the anonymity and security you need when scraping data, shopping online, or even browsing casually. 

If you run an e-commerce website, proxies will enhance competitor research, safeguard your privacy, and boost your site's performance.

How Website Translations Can Maximize Your Omnichannel Customer Experience

According to Superoffice, when surveyed 1,920 business professionals about their top priority in the next five years, about 45.9% reported that they would prioritize customer experience (CX).

It's not a surprise because, in another study by Walker Info in 2020, 86% of respondents said they would pay more for better CX.

One way of enhancing your CX is by maximizing your omnichannel strategy that centers around the CX principles. Today, we'll discuss how website translations can improve your Omnichannel's CX and maximize it to increase retention from international customers.

If you want to learn more about this, then keep on ready!

Why Should You Enhance the CX in Your Omnichannel Strategy?

Before anything else, let's first discuss what Omnichannel is? It's an approach in eCommerce wherein you create a seamless buying experience for your customers through multiple channels. In an omnichannel approach to your eCommerce sites, you will have to integrate different channels that promote, communicate, and distribute your brand's products and services to your customers.     

Now when defining what omnichannel CX is, it mainly focuses on how you approach CX in your omnichannel strategy. For example, identifying the needs of your customers and addressing them accordingly.

We've listed a couple of data and facts omnichannel CX you should consider when implementing website translations in your strategy:

  • About 88% of companies have heavily invested in CX, making competition harder over the years. (Deloitte)
  • Of the top 10 million websites, 60.4% of the content was in English, while only 16.2% of the entire population spoke that language. Meanwhile, only 1.4% of the same top websites were in simplified Chinese, even though 14.3% of the world's population speaks this language. (Visual capitalist)
  • More than three channels in a campaign saw a 287% increase in purchases compared to single-channel ones. (Omnisend)

The data presented shows that many companies prioritize boosting CX and omnichannel potential in eCommerce sites. However, many eCommerce businesses fail by incorporating website translations in their omnichannel CX strategies to make their experience simpler and more engaging.

How Website Translation Plays a Crucial Role in Omnichannel CX

Besides your competitors not prioritizing the cultural and linguistic aspects in omnichannel CX, there are several reasons why website translations should be your top priority when planning to increase your interaction with international customers.

Data Reportal reported that about 33.3% of international users that are of a working age use translation tools as they search online. The major disadvantage of overlying online translation tools in making your eCommerce content available in another language is that it's most likely to mistranslate the meaning of the text.

If you were to work with professionals specializing in website translation services, they would create SEO-friendly multilingual content that would make it more accessible on their search engines while ensuring top-quality translations convey your brand's message. Relying on Google Translate and other online translation tools doesn't optimize your eCommerce sites and doesn't enhance your overall omnichannel CX strategy.

Your international users deserve the best CX from your eCommerce, and mistranslations and cultural inconsistencies will disrupt this immersive flow. Because of this, when you're planning to target a specific market, part of your strategy is preparing and utilizing techniques based on their cultural and linguistic preferences.

5 Point Questions for Creating an Omnichannel CX for Your Target Users

To get you started in creating the right omnichannel CX strategy for your target users, we've listed a few questions you will need to answer as you plan your strategy.

1. How well do you know your target users?

There are various reasons you're planning to enter international markets, like fewer competitors and increasing profitability. But if you're planning to gain more customers, you will have to identify your new audience, depending on your market research and way of creating a buyer's persona.

This process will take some time as you might have to conduct surveys to identify market gaps and do competitor research. It will help you understand where you can pinpoint what parts of your business's operations and marketing strategies need improvement.      

In knowing more about your users, you can provide better services and instruct the website translator on how you would like to best accommodate your customers on your site.   

2. Do you have the experts to integrate the changes to your eCommerce site?

Often the reason why many eCommerce sites fail to enter and integrate into another market is that they haven't collaborated with experts. These experts could be eCommerce marketing experts, website translation services, local consumer behavior specialists, and content creators.

Collaborating with experts in being part of the planning and integration of changes in your omnichannel strategy will ensure that changes are successfully implemented to increase the user engagement of your target market.   

3. What social media platforms do they usually use?

The usual reason why many online businesses fail to maximize their social media accounts is largely due to not knowing which social media platform their target audience is more active on. Social media platforms allow you to have more direct contact with your customers and foster a relationship with them.

If you're not updated on the latest trends on social media and don't know where your customers are flocking towards, your omnichannel strategy is in danger of becoming obsolete. Each market is specific, that's why you should also know which social media metrics are important to track. For example, two years ago, Youtube was the top social media platform in Germany, but recently Whatsapp took its place. In your market research, you should identify these small nuances to not waste time and opportunity on which social media sites you should prioritize.

4. What is your multilingual content marketing strategy?

It's not enough that you created a multilingual website. You should market your eCommerce site with content in the native language and culture of your target users.

As mentioned, your most significant advantage in translating your eCommerce site is that it makes your business more accessible and geo-target oriented compared to others solely in English. So with content creators that are masters in your target market's native language and culture, you can create appealing multilingual content that's useful and entertaining. Combined with a multilingual SEO strategy, you can increase your ranking on local search engines where your users can easily find.

5. Is your eCommerce site ready to accept payments and delivery to your target market?

As you know, each country has its preferred way of sending payments and delivery systems. The challenge of creating an omnichannel CX for your international customers is integrating various payment and delivery methods that would efficiently get them to purchase your products and avail of your services.

One way of ensuring that your international customers have access to your brand's products and services is by having it across multiple marketplaces, which resolves some of the payment and delivery issues in catering to your target market.

So during your market research period, look into the kind of delivery and payment options your target customers use and decide what you will include in your omnichannel strategy as it will make integrating it easier than adding it later.

Final Thoughts

Creating that customer experience where the customer is in a state of "flow" as they navigate your eCommerce site is easier said than done. Omnichannel CX is your best bet in increasing your site's conversion rate, and by incorporating website translations, you can make a lasting impact on your international customers.

How to Look After Your Financial Situation Better

Business owners with an e-commerce company know that the market is incredibly saturated. Not only is there a lot of competition out there, there is also a growing rise in costs. This means that you need to work extra hard to stay competitive and increase profits. Your business plan should feature strategies that revolve around revenue generation, as well as streamlining processes and operations in order to reduce costs. Here are a few top tips to help you look after your financial situation better.

Get Business Insurance

One of the most fundamental ways to look after your business’s financial situation is by getting adequate business insurance. No matter how large or small your business is, getting it insured can help protect your assets. E-commerce business insurance can give you risk protection, it can help recover costs when faced with damages, and it can help cover costs in case of a data breach. Not to mention, it is often a mandatory requirement for legal trade for many e-commerce businesses. KBD Insurance is an insurance broker that offers different types of business insurance. They provide an array of insurance quotes and can help you find the best rate by comparing quotes from different companies.

Place Focus on Customer Retention

When it comes to running an e-commerce business, many business owners place a lot of focus on customer acquisition. However, did you know that it can cost five times more to acquire a brand new customer than it does to retain an existing one? With this in mind, it makes sense to spend more of your time and money on customer retention if you want to improve your financial situation. Your customer retention strategy should include building a loyal customer base by engaging existing consumers via social media and targeted email marketing. By reaching out to existing customers and making them feel valued, you can increase the probability of customer advocacy too. In turn, your existing customers can help drive new business to your online store.

Do Your Research on Popular Payment Options

Although it is a sensible idea to offer multiple payment solutions, it is an even better idea to do your research and identify the most popular options used by your customers. By narrowing down the number of payment options you offer, you can get rid of excessive monthly processing fees. Many online shoppers possess more than one payment option, so it is likely that they will be affected if you minimize the number of options you make available to the public.

Keep Shipping Costs Under Control

Shipping and packaging expenses can be shockingly expensive, which means that you need to slap on an extra fee to simply provide shipping and handling services to your customers. You can try lowering these costs by doing business with a shipping carrier that provides free boxes and investing in adequate shipping insurance. In addition, you should research shipping costs with various companies and choose the carriers that suit your type of business.