Just because your business is bootstrapped and run online doesn’t mean there aren’t ways you can be saving money.
In fact, you should always be looking at your outgoings and finding ways to scale back some of your expenses. It will put more money in your pocket but also gives you a competitive edge over your competition.
You should also be looking to grow your revenue, but saving money is the low hanging fruit that can be done and immediately see results.
In this article, we will help you identify areas in which you can be saving money to help you grow your business.
Multiple Payment Options
One of the most expensive areas in your e-commerce business is payment processing fees. You definitely need to accept many different credit cards but they sure do take a bite.
You should always be shopping around for the lowest fees from different payment processing providers, but adding other payment options will see some savings.
For instance, if you accept cryptocurrency then you will make significant savings. Usually, when somebody pays out of their online Bitcoin wallet, there is only a 1% transaction fee as opposed to roughly 2 to 3% from most credit card processors.
Right now you won’t replace your credit card payments with Bitcoin, but as more and more young people switch to using crypto, it can really help your small business.
Accepting Apple Pay and Google Pay can have you saving money on fees, as well.
Find The Best Shipping Options
Another e-commerce killer is the high cost of freight. Whether you are getting your goods to your warehouse, or shipping items to customers, there is a lot of room to cut some fat.
Using a shipping specialist may seem like an unnecessary expense, but you will certainly see some savings once they are able to assess your shipping needs.
It may even be free if you are able to work with a specialist within the shipping company that you have been using. It costs nothing to ask if there are areas where you can save money.
Get Your Marketing On Point
If you haven’t been tweaking your marketing efforts to zero in on exactly the right audience, then you are surely spending more than you should.
Make sure if you are doing your own marketing that you have another set of eyes take a look at how you’re actually performing. Whether you’re using PPC, SEO, email, social media or all of the above, you can certainly improve on all of those fronts to be more streamlined and not waste money on people who are not likely to end up as customers.
You’ll have to pay money to save money by requesting an audit, but it is money well spent. Especially as they will give you a marketing roadmap to follow after they’ve identified areas for improvement.
Prevent Chargebacks
Make sure that the customer knows exactly what they are ordering to prevent them from returning the item and getting a chargeback on their credit card. Document everything and keep confirmation numbers for delivery shipments and orders.
