Costly Mistakes for Your Online Business: How to Avoid, or if Necessary, Fix Them
You’re moving along, making progress building your online business… when suddenly, seemingly out of the blue, something unexpected happens.
You’ve made a mistake.
Maybe it was something you didn’t think was important, or maybe you just overlooked it accidentally. No matter what the reason, the end result is the same...
The mistake is going to cost you.
It may cost you time. It may cost you money. Maybe it will cost you frustration. Maybe it will cost you credibility. Maybe it will cost you momentum. It could be anything. But you can be sure it is going to cost you something.
Not exactly what you imagined for your dream business! And that’s why you need to be aware of five costly business mistakes…and how to avoid them, or if necessary, fix them.
Mistake 1: Skipping Market Research
We business owners can get really excited about a product idea. And when we get excited about it, we often assume that thousands of other people (a.k.a. customers) are going to be just as excited as we are!
So then, we imagine a huge product launch that are going to reach a lot of people and put more money in our pockets in one day than we earned all month.
Finally the big launch day happens, but the sales don’t. And with the lack of sales comes a sinking feeling: we wasted a lot of time and money creating a product that no one wants.
You can avoid this mistake by doing two things:
1. Do research. Determine what people in your target market are already buying. Then create something similar (yet better) with your business’s unique twist.
2. Test. Even after doing the market research, you want to test the product or service. How? Roll out a pilot or beta version on a small scale to a select group. Get feedback from that group. This feedback will help you improve the product – or scratch it - before you invest a lot of time and money.
Mistake 2: Not Segmenting Your Lists
Now, avoiding the mistake of not segmenting your lists is assuming you are building lists! If you are not building your own lists...that is a massive mistake! But it’s also a mistake to build lists without segmenting them. Why is this so important?
Well, when you segment your lists, you can send out highly targeted content that can result in higher conversion rates. And happier subscribers. (e.g., Customers feel unappreciated at best, and annoyed at worst, when -- after purchasing a product -- they continue to receive messages asking them to purchase that product!)
So, to summarize: With segmented lists, you can send content (a mix of free valuable information and offers for paid products) that is targeted and most useful to the interest and needs of those receiving it.
Here’s how to avoid this mistake and start segmenting your lists:
• Separate your prospect/lead list (those who have never purchased from you) from your customer list (those who have purchased from you).
For instance: When people on your prospect list, make a purchase, remove them from your prospect list and add them to your customer list. Then you can continue communicating with them by sending valuable information and offers for a related product to these customers.
• Segment your prospect list based on the free offers they downloaded or accessed.
For instance: If a prospect has accessed a free offer, it shows they are interested in the subject matter of that content (in contrast to other topics they have not yet shown interest in).
• Segment your customer lists based on the paid products they purchased.
For instance: If a customer has purchased a product, they are likely to be interested in purchasing a related product on the same subject, especially something that provides a way to speed up results or provides advanced information.
TIP: Make use of your autoresponder tools. These include allowing you to segment your list based on if someone opened your last email.
Yes, there can be a learning curve to set up segmented lists. But the major autoresponder services give you the tutorials and help to get it done.
The best time to get started segmenting your lists may have been when you first started building your lists. The next best time is today.
Watch for the next post where we’ll cover Mistakes #3 and #4.
Until then, check out this free report:
What Does A Dream Business Look Like For You?
Click Here To Download The Report (No List to Join)
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Disclosure
Some of my blog posts contain links to products. These are products I use personally or come highly recommended from sources I trust. I would recommend them to my own family. At no extra cost to you, the product creator gives my nonprofit organization a small commission if you click one of these links on my blog and purchase something. This is a win-win-win situation where I get to recommend great products to my readers who benefit tremendously from these products when they buy. My organization receives a small compensation to support our mission and the business gains a new customer. And you pay the same exact price you would pay if you had found the product yourself!
TAGS
online-business-success, online-business, list-building, list-segmentation, market-research, product-development, product-research, product-launches