The present challenging times have disrupted the natural course of action for many businesses leaving them with an obscure future. However, many new openings have also come up in the form of online businesses for people having an entrepreneurial mindset and a knack of daredevilry. Are you too planning to launch your own online business to bank on the gap created between the supply and demand in the market because of the ongoing COVID-19 scenario? If yes then you should go forward with your idea. This is the most favorable time for emerging online businesses to leave a lasting impact on the consumer markets.

 

But before you get started on your journey to entrepreneurial glory, you must take a moment and look at your operations and plans more closely. More than 70% of the new online businesses close down because they make one or more mistakes when starting their online business. And what’s even more dreadful is that they don’t even realize what mistakes they are making until it’s too late. Are you too making the same mistakes? Have a look at these mistakes to avoid when setting an online business for maximum growth and minimum fall-backs.

 

1. No Market Research

 

Having proper research about the market and its segment is very important in making any business successful. By conducting proper research the marketer gets to know about the demands and needs of the customers and with the help of that data, they can decide upon which idea will help them in deriving maximum profit.

 

Eliminating the research work or not completing it properly will lead to business failure as the owner fails to determine what exactly he needs to do to attract customers towards their business. Negligence in research work will lead to determining wrong target customers which will add on to the cost of marketing and would further add up to the loss of that business.

 

2. No Customer Survey

 

The survey is concerned with collecting data from the consumers and then analyzing it in such a way that it answers all the questions of the marketer. Owners of online businesses often have a thought that they do not require any kind of field survey as they are using the online platform for carrying out the business. And this thought of theirs leads their business to become unsuccessful and incur huge losses.

 

Therefore survey must be conducted for all types of businesses whether it be online or offline. In the current situation of COVID -19 arranging aground, the survey is difficult but this does not mean that there is no other way to conduct a survey. Businesses can use an online platform to survey as nowadays people are spending most of their time on social media.

 

3. Not Going Through The Legal Aspects

 

The list of mistakes that can bring down your business is never-ending. People often tend to make mistakes that affect their business because of which their businesses witnesses a heavy downfall and one of those mistakes is not taking into consideration the legal aspects. In this current situation, different state governments have launched different rules for the performing of several different types of business.

 

Preferring online business is very beneficial at this point of time but the businesses should be only those whose permission has been granted by the state government in this lockdown period like the marketer can plan on the opening of big basket clone app development, doctor appointment app development, car wash app clone, laundry app clone, etc. A good proportion of consumers fantasies about cricket therefore planning to open a fantasy cricket app development company will lead to maximizing the profit of the firm. No firm can survive and grow in the economy without following the laws of the government. But most care is needed during this time as laws are being decided differently depending upon the zones which have been designated.

 

4. Poor Customer Support

 

One of the reasons for business failure is poor customer support and this happens when customers start feeling that their money is not safe and they are getting cheated by that online business. Therefore businesses need to gain the trust of its customers to exist in the economy and compete with its competitors in the long run. Functions like easy return can reduce the ratio of customers who distrusts the firm.

 

Trust of the consumers is the most important factor which influences the success of all the business functioning online. Online businesses must have an effective consumer support forum so that the consumers can get the remedy of all their problems. An online business can only get successful once they attain customer support because with the help of this support trust emerges and trust is a very big factor in making a business successful. If the online business will lack the forum of customer support then the customers of that firm would never return to that business platform. Hence the marketers must keep in view that they must attain good customer support so that their business gets successful and increases the goodwill of their firm.

 

5.Ineffective Marketing Strategy

 

Strategies refer to a collection of actions that are decided from before and those actions are needed to be fulfilled in order to attain the aim of the business. Strategies are completely different from one business to another rather one can even say that strategies are planned according to the situation which the economy is going through. Therefore effective strategies must be designed to get the maximum profit out of the investments.

 

Marketing strategies must be planned depending upon the type of business like the advertisement of business related to house-maid app development service that must be targeted to female consumers. This will help in reducing the cost of marketing as the advertisement only reaches to that segment of customers who can utilize the service. Similarly, businesses offering different services must choose a particular segment of customers on which they will pay complete attention and make the advertisements reach those targeted customers. Having an effective list of strategies helps the business to increase the goodwill of their firm and increases the rate of profit.

 

6. Poor Tech Infrastructure

 

Covid-19 had given birth to a situation where people are not allowed to roam around on roads, the employees have been directed to work from home therefore a well-developed tech infrastructure is most important in making an online business firm successful.

 

Poor tech infrastructure reduces the number of customers attached to it just because of the fact that the business is using outdated technology to serve its customers. Businesses, using advanced and updated technology tends to provide the best services to its customers. With the help of updated technology, the problems can have better solutions it even helps in cutting the cost of expenses for the firm and increases reliability. In this time period, all the business are shifting their services to online platforms therefore the recruiter must recruit technically sound employees to get the best results out of it. Technology is of great importance nowadays therefore effective and efficient utilization of technology may lead the business firm to reach great heights and leave their competitors behind. The establishment of all the business on the online forum requires employees who are best in the technical field so that they can easily design and create online websites and applications which are user friendly.

 

7. Undervalued Services

 

The term undervalued is related to a financial investment which is low when compared to the actual decided value. It is concerned with underestimating the financial value of something.

 

Many a time it happens that the marketer lacks proper competition research and market demand because of which they end of charging less for their services and this adds up to the loss of the firm. If this mistake is not rectified on time then it can lead to bankruptcy because the firm fails to derive even the cost of operation and the business becomes completely unsuccessful. Therefore having a proper knowledge regarding the value of services is very important for the marketer to make their business successful. Before setting up any business the marketer must do thorough research on the prices of the services being offered and must calculate and compare the data so that they can get an idea of whether their operational cost will be fulfilled or not.

 

8. Not Building Credibility and Goodwill

 

It is often seen that people don’t trust all the online business platforms. They only choose those platforms which carry great goodwill or those sites which have been suggested by someone. Therefore not building credibility and goodwill can cause a huge loss for the firm as the customers would not prefer using services from that particular website.

 

Online businesses must provide effective deals to their consumers so that they get attracted to it moreover the online firms must also work towards providing the best services to the customers. Once the customer gets satisfied with the service they will return again and again to the same site and even they will recommend their family members and friends to prefer using that particular online platform. For example, if an owner plans to open an on-demand food delivery app development and offers best services to the customers using that app like delivering them the food in the least time, charging negligible transportation cost and offering hot food to its customers will impress the customers and satisfy their needs because of which the customer will opt for the same app to order food so that they can again attain the best service.

 

9. No early bird discounts

 

Another reason which can add on to the list of business failure is no early bird discounts. In order to attract customers towards your website, the marketer has to offer the best possible deals and discounts. Building a customer base is not at all an easy task especially for new businesses, planning has to be perfectly done in order to attract the customers towards their application or websites and the best way to grab the attraction of people is to offer best deals at least price, give away great discounts and provide additional services to them. Many businessmen think that they should withdraw the amount invested in the business as early as possible because of which they don’t offer any kind of discounts and this where the business starts failing.

 

The primary motive of a marketer should be to build a strong customer base because the owner of a strong customer based website can withdraw the money invested in his business very easily but in the long run. Hence in order to make a new business successful attracting customers by offering great deals and discounts is important and moreover the marketer’s first motive should be to attract customers rather than making maximum profit. Once the base of customers is made strong the business itself will start gaining maximum profit out of the investments made.

 

                                                                                        

Conclusion

These were some of the most common mistakes which you should avoid while starting your online business. It is a well-known fact that there is no definitive way to keep your online business mistake-proof and a mistake will inadvertently creep into your operations at some point or the other. But even though no business plan is bereft of mistakes, it would be a smart choice to learn from the mistakes of others. You should always avoid any mistakes whatsoever right from the initial stages of your online business. Whether you want to create an online food delivery app or storm the online education sector by starting an on-demand tutor finder app solution or want to fulfill the sports fantasies of the customers through establishing fantasy sports company or wanting to help the people by making taxi available to them at their fingertip through setting up on-demand taxi app solutions you must keep the above points into consideration to avoid making any mistakes while setting up your online business. If you work hard and plan smart, then nothing can stop your online business from ascending the rungs of success at a rapid pace.