Understanding the Importance of Regular Maintenance
Imagine if one day your car decided it would not start. You try over and over but no luck. It takes a couple of minutes of serious thinking before you remember the last time you took your car in for maintenance. Or, if you are more like me, when you remember that you cannot even recall the last time that was.
Then comes the panic. Regular maintenance is a part of any and everything we own; ourselves included. The way I see it, a fairly non-negotiable part of running an online store is making sure you are taking good care of it - to keep the digital gears oiled and running smoothly, if you will.
It will help keep your customers coming back for more every single time - whether it’s because they can find things easier or because their payment methods work seamlessly every single time. However, regular maintenance isn’t about just keeping things working. Think of your favourite real-world shop or store and how often they change their decor or set up to bring people back in. It’s that sort of thing that keeps people interested.
Keeping your digital spaces well maintained ensures you can find glitches before others do and fix them right away as well. When we talk about regular online store maintenance, this is what we mean - small things you do often enough so there isn’t a big load on one day. This can mean regularly updating product photos or descriptions, maybe updating blog posts with new information or adding a section that brings people into the digital shopfront. Regular updates also mean you get to know when your plugins need updating or replacing, helping avoid security glitches before there ever are any.
Essential Tools for Managing Your Online Store
You know how your phone is crammed with apps you can’t delete, but never use. Now imagine owning a fully-stocked online store, only instead of unused apps, it’s crammed with unused tools. And that, to me, seems like the fastest way to ruin your shop’s potential.
In my experience, when you have an online store, it’s critical to have the right tools in your arsenal. Not all of them, just the ones you need. That’s the thing about managing an online store - you can’t afford to invest your time or money in tools that are just not suited for your needs.
There are thousands of tools out there meant for product management, order management, logistics, social media marketing and payment gateways - but why would you want a tool that has all of these features if all you do is quite a bit sell prints. Or worse still - why would you pay for a tool that doesn’t even do half the things you need. It can be difficult to get the hang of things as a new business owner because everything looks shiny and new. That doesn’t mean they’re what you need to make your store succeed.
This is often why it’s crucial to take the time to figure out what tools work best for you. And it sounds like something out of The Matrix. But that is almost exactly what it is.
And I know from personal experience just how overwhelming picking the right tools can be. To avoid having too many or too few digital tools in your arsenal - think about these factors when picking your ‘store essentials’ - pricing, suitability for your store, usability and features, design, customer support and security features. Once you’ve figured out which ones work best for your store - whether it’s Shopify or Google Analytics or Paypal - pick them, set them up and check-in regularly to see if they’re still working as well as they used to in keeping your store running smoothly.
Creating a Maintenance Schedule
You know when you look in your wardrobe and can’t remember the last time you wore half the stuff there. Sometimes, your digital shop can be a bit like that. Maybe you leave things a little longer than they should be left, and then you start to lose track of what’s going on.
When it comes to an online store, not having a clear schedule to keep track of what’s being done can create massive confusion. Things become difficult for the people working on your site. Your tasks might overlap, or things may get left behind until it becomes a disaster that’s hard to fix.
Having a maintenance schedule helps avoid all those problems before they even have the chance to start. It seems like the best way forward is to set reminders for yourself and everyone else working with you. If you’re working alone, then making lists and scheduling them helps keep the confusion at bay.
List out all the tasks that need to be completed in a period of time and give each one enough buffer to get done comfortably. Most people like doing this monthly, but we think weekly is far better since it keeps things up-to-date more regularly. It doesn’t matter if you’re running the entire site by yourself or have a team of 20 handling things for you; being organised makes everything easier for everyone involved.
Monitoring Website Performance and Security
I Suspect it’s a nightmare - the middle of the night, you wake up to a customer dm that your website is seemingly down and you’ve no idea what happened or how. Website performance and security are like checking if you’ve locked the doors after you’ve had a long day, it’s not exactly fun but it needs to be done. Having had to fix my fair share of websites, both mine and clients’ – I’ve come to realise that it’s quite critical. If you’re thinking about how to keep your online store’s performance and security up to date without hiring someone full-time or selling your kidney, start with regular updates.
There are plugins and tools such as Sucuri Security, Jetpack or SiteGround Security that can help keep your site safe from hackers. As tempting as it might be to click ‘remind me later’ on those software update prompts, don’t. Software updates often include fixes for critical bugs and vulnerabilities - so the sooner you get around to them, the better for your website security. Backups are another key aspect of website maintenance.
They allow you to restore your online store to a previous version in case something goes wrong. There are free as well as paid plugins available, so pick one that suits your budget best. I have personally used UpdraftPlus on several sites with great results.
A pro tip is to regularly monitor user activity and data by reviewing website logs. This can help keep an eye out for any suspicious behaviour or errors that might need fixing. Security can fairly be simple steps like using strong passwords for your login credentials and limiting access to trusted users only - don’t let just about anyone go in and fiddle with the backend of your store unless they know what they’re doing (and can be trusted).
If yours is an e-commerce website, installing SSL certificates is a good way to encrypt sensitive customer information and protect it from hackers. I know this all sounds tedious but they’re very important steps that help grow your online store by keeping customers coming back because they feel safe shopping with you.
Updating Product Listings and Inventory
We've all been there - spent hours putting up product listings that you thought were perfect, only to realise a few weeks later, you're running out of stock. Or, even worse, the prices you listed are now outdated and customers are looking at you like you just committed a crime.
Ouch. It can be a bit of a slap in the face but think of it as an opportunity to do better. Sort of. Most customers are fairly forgiving if they're made aware of out-of-stock items right off the bat.
If you're good at keeping them updated, there's no reason they won't come back. The real trick is to avoid letting things get so bad that your reputation takes a nosedive because there's nothing people love more than having a whinge about an e-commerce store that's lied to them about product availability and/or pricing. Regular inventory checks and updates are a necessity for online fashion stores. This may mean checking on your bestsellers daily and updating the product listings if you've had an influx of orders.
If something's been sitting there for yonks without anyone even so much as glancing at it, give it some love by creating a discount campaign or removing it from your store altogether if it's just taking up space. And don't forget to update your prices based on demand, seasonality, and other fluctuating factors. If doing this manually every day sounds like an absolute nightmare, consider automating the process with inventory management software.
I mean, it's 2024 and there are tech tools for everything these days so why not use them to save yourself some trouble. Sort of.
Engaging with Customers Through Feedback and Support
I Suspect you know that moment after dinner when you finally stop fussing with the tv remote, and your partner asks if you enjoyed the meal. You know they want to know if you liked it, but also how it could be better. In online retail, customer feedback is a bit like that - asking for feedback is important, but it’s equally vital to show up and respond when feedback isn’t what you’d hoped.
For online stores especially, engaging with customers can apparently be quite simple. Many e-commerce platforms come built in with a variety of ways for shoppers to provide feedback - NPS scores, direct messaging boxes, product reviews and feedback forms. But managing all of this can seem overwhelming.
More or less. It’s easy enough on the platform, but suddenly there are WhatsApp messages, DMs on social media and comments on posts as well. Sort of.
And that’s not even counting emails. But no matter the channel, customers are always happier to shop from a business where they feel valued. Today, customer support requests and queries come at lightning speed.
No one has time for back-and-forth emails anymore. It all depends on the urgency of the response needed - answering a DM about size charts is quite different from responding to an irate review about delayed shipping. With so many automated AI-powered tools available today, the process of providing quick information has become easier than ever.
That said, some conversations require a human at the helm. It seems like engagement must happen before and after a sale is closed if you’re looking to build long-term brand loyalty with your audience. Whether it’s following up with order updates or sharing discount coupons for future purchases through email newsletters or SMS updates about upcoming launches, engaging with consumers is more than just collecting their data for further use.
Sort of. When done right by focusing on providing genuine value and support to shoppers - online businesses thrive in competitive environments where they can no longer just rely on ‘good products’ alone.