11 Lessons for New Ecommerce Entrepreneurs: Advice for Starting Out
Starting an ecommerce business can be both exciting and challenging. This article offers expert insights on crucial steps like prioritizing the customer journey, embracing adaptability, and building a strong brand. Learn from top professionals how to navigate the early stages and set your business up for success.
- Prioritize Customer Journey
- Embrace Adaptability
- Build a Strong Brand
- Focus on Customer Experience
- Start Small, Scale Fast
- Use Data-Driven Decisions
- Cultivate Authentic Relationships
- Solve a Specific Problem
- Solve Real Problems
- Invest in the Right Tech
- Embrace Setbacks
Prioritize Customer Journey
One piece of advice I'd give to new ecommerce entrepreneurs is this: be obsessed with your customers and their journey. In the beginning, dedicate 80% of your time to understanding your customers—how they interact with your brand and what their needs are. This involves calling customers, gathering feedback, and deeply analyzing how they use your website. Tools like Microsoft Clarity are invaluable—it’s free and provides insights into how customers navigate your site, showing you where they face challenges or what sparks their interest. I personally called the first 1,000 customers at Plntd.ae to understand their experience, and I followed up six months later to see how their plants were doing. What I learned from these conversations helped us refine our customer experience and implement changes that have shaped our business. Every interaction taught us something that helped us make another customer just as happy.
The biggest lesson I’ve learned is that your company is your team, not your product. For instance, we sell indoor plants, but without horticulturists and plant experts on our team, we’d just be another business selling a product. The difference between a business and a brand lies in the people behind it. If you want to build something that stands out, you need a team that drives that brand forward. Building a strong team isn’t a one-time event; it’s an ongoing process that requires constant investment and attention. Surround yourself with people who are not only good at their roles but are also deeply invested in your vision.
Lastly, test a lot and test fast. Speed is crucial in ecommerce, and so is continuous improvement. This means constantly testing both your marketing creatives and your website. At Plntd.ae, we test one new creative every week—whether it’s a video ad or a new messaging angle—and make a website change every two weeks. Sometimes it’s a tweak to a landing page, other times it’s improving the user flow. The key is to gather data quickly, learn from it, and pivot when needed. This fast-paced testing allows us to optimize for better customer experiences and improved conversions.
In the end, ecommerce success boils down to three things: obsession with your customers, building the right team, and constantly testing. Focus on these areas, and you’ll be on the right track to creating a brand that thrives.
Embrace Adaptability
One piece of advice I would give to new e-commerce entrepreneurs is to focus on building strong relationships with customers from the start. It's essential to engage with your audience through excellent customer service and personalized communication. Responding promptly to inquiries and being attentive to feedback can help establish trust and loyalty early on. Remember that happy customers are more likely to return and refer others to your business, which is invaluable in the competitive e-commerce landscape.
The most important lesson I've learned on my e-commerce journey is the significance of adaptability. Markets change rapidly, and consumer preferences can shift overnight. Being open to feedback and willing to adjust your offerings or strategies can make all the difference in sustaining growth. Whether it's tweaking your product line based on customer reviews or adapting your marketing approach during seasonal changes, staying flexible will help you navigate challenges effectively.
Build a Strong Brand
When working with e-commerce brands, one piece of advice I'd give is to focus on building a strong brand identity and customer experience right from the start. The market is saturated, so having a clear story, values, and a unique customer journey can set you apart. Who are you as a founder? What are your values? And why do you do what you do? I call it the 'North Star' that will attract your customers to your brand and get them to want to support you as a founder. Your brand as a founder, as well as the brand identity itself, is what will set you apart. This will also help you attract the right audience and build a loyal customer base that keeps coming back.
The next important lesson I've learned in my journey consulting with e-commerce brands is the power of data-driven decision-making. Successful brands use data to refine their product offerings, optimize their marketing strategies, and personalize their customer experience. By leveraging data, you can adapt quickly, reduce guesswork, and ensure that every effort is aligned with what your customers actually want and need.
Focus on Customer Experience
One piece of advice I’d give to new ecommerce entrepreneurs is to start small and focus on perfecting one product or niche before expanding. In my experience, trying to do too much at once can spread your resources thin and make it harder to build a strong brand presence. It’s better to master one area and build momentum from there.
The most important lesson I’ve learned is that customer experience is everything. I’ve seen how providing excellent support, fast shipping, and a seamless shopping experience can create loyal customers who come back and spread the word. Those relationships are what really drive growth in the long run.
Start Small, Scale Fast
One piece of advice I would give to new ecommerce entrepreneurs is to start small and scale fast. Too many people try to launch everything at once and end up overwhelmed. Focus on a niche product or service where you can provide real value, test your market, and build from there. Once you find what works, double down and scale strategically.
The most important lesson I've learned on my journey is the power of data-driven decisions. You have to measure everything from customer behavior, conversion rates, and ad performance, then tweak constantly. What you think will work is not always what actually works, so let the numbers guide you.
Use Data-Driven Decisions
- Advice for New E-commerce Entrepreneurs:
New e-commerce entrepreneurs should prioritize customer experience from the start. This involves user-friendly website design, mobile optimization, clear product descriptions, and high-quality images. Invest in reliable customer support to address inquiries promptly, as happy customers are more likely to return and recommend your store.
- Most Important Lesson Learned:
The most crucial lesson learned is the value of data-driven decision-making. Utilizing analytics tools provides insights into customer behavior and sales trends, enabling informed decisions that optimize products, pricing, and marketing strategies. Testing and iterating based on real data helps refine approaches, resonate with audiences, and drive growth.
Cultivate Authentic Relationships
Entrepreneurs starting out should prioritize building a strong brand identity and connection with their target customers. Standing out goes beyond just having a functional website and product offerings in a crowded market. The most important lesson I've learned on my own e-commerce journey is the power of cultivating authentic relationships with your customers rather than viewing them as transactions. This brand-building approach has built loyalty and repeat business and has also provided invaluable insights to inform my product development, marketing, and overall business strategy.
Solve a Specific Problem
One piece of advice I would offer to new ecommerce entrepreneurs is to identify a specific problem that you can solve uniquely well for your customers. For us at LeSo, this meant focusing on simplifying the visa acquisition process. The most important lesson we've learned on our ecommerce journey is the impact of addressing a clear customer need with a tailored solution.
When we started LeSo, we recognized that obtaining a visa can be a daunting and complicated task for many people. By creating an online platform that streamlines the visa application process, provides clear guidance, and offers dedicated customer support, we were able to alleviate a significant pain point for travelers. This specialization not only set us apart in the market but also allowed us to build strong trust with our customers.
By honing in on this niche and continually refining our services based on user feedback, we've optimized our operations and capitalized on our resources effectively. My advice is to find that unique value proposition-like our focus on visa services-that addresses a specific customer need, and commit to delivering excellence in that area. This approach can help you stand out in a crowded market and drive sustainable growth for your ecommerce venture.
Solve Real Problems
Kellianne Fedio: Attorney-Turned-Entrepreneur and E-commerce Thought Leader
As an attorney who transitioned into entrepreneurship, I built, scaled, and successfully sold a 7-figure e-commerce brand, and one key piece of advice I would give to new e-commerce entrepreneurs is this: Be a brand that solves a real problem and creates a deep connection with your audience. In today's crowded digital marketplace, it's not enough to just sell a product—you need to create a brand experience that people can engage with, trust, and feel a personal connection to. Your brand should stand for something, offer solutions to pain points, and resonate on an emotional level with your customers.
The most important lesson I learned on my e-commerce journey is that success is built on understanding your customer at a deeper level. It's not just about what you're selling, but how you're helping. When you focus on solving a problem and delivering an experience that creates loyalty and connection, you build a foundation for long-term growth. In my own journey, it was this focus on understanding customer needs, combined with scaling operations and leveraging digital marketing, that fueled my business's success.
Invest in the Right Tech
New e-commerce entrepreneurs just starting should invest in the right tech stack to serve their teams and customers well as the business grows. Some of the must-haves in this regard include an order-tracking tool.
Online shoppers expect convenience during and after purchase. One of the best ways to ensure a smooth experience post-purchase that does not induce anxiety is to partner with a reliable shipment tracking services provider. A technology partner like TrackingMore will help your online store integrate with over 1,300 carriers, ensuring end-to-end shipment tracking that allows your team to respond to any exceptions on time and keep customers informed through the delivery process.
It is also essential to provide customers with a convenient way to track their packages on your website without redirecting them to carrier websites. The shipment tracking tool you choose should enable you to set up dedicated tracking pages on your website where buyers can enter their order tracking numbers to know the status and whereabouts of their packages.
Embrace Setbacks
Nothing is quite as exciting, empowering, and scary as taking the leap into the world of entrepreneurship. It provided a true sense of autonomy over my life and gave me a level of confidence that felt amazing.
If I could relay some information to my younger self, it would be to prepare for setbacks, big and small, and to accept them as part of the journey toward success. The challenges will never cease as long as you're climbing, so it's wise to use these events as both directional and motivational tools, helping point you in the right direction.
With that perspective, you'll eventually start feeling grateful when they occur and you'll be truly unstoppable.
