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Improve your online business

Improve your online business

Getting your online business up and running is a big deal. The next step is to get things really humming.

With sales data and experience under your belt, it’s time to gather more insights to tweak your approach.

Get to the next level

To take your business and profits to the next level, it’s important to deeply understand your customers. Find out what motivates them. Consider what else you can offer that they might value.

Review where your business sits compared to others in the market and learn how to carve out your own space. And check where you sell — is it still the right choice for you and your customers?

And check where you sell. Is it still the right choice for you and your customers? If you’re selling overseas, check that you’re following exporting rules and optimising your business for you overseas customers.

Learn to create a good export plan

Clarify your ideal customer

Start by creating personas that sum up your ideal customers. These fictional characters help you picture who you want to sell to, and how to attract them.

Define your ideal customers

Next, find more detailed information to improve your personas. Here are example questions to answer in a persona’s description:

  • Where does this person live, or not live?
  • How old are they?
  • How much spending money do they have?
  • Why do they buy from you?
  • What languages do they speak?
  • What are their favourite websites?
  • How often do they buy from you?
  • What are their worries when buying?

These are not descriptions of real individuals. You don't need matching characteristics for all your personas. Just use whatever helps you tell them apart.

Make the most of your information sources. Start with what you already know about your customers, eg from newsletter sign-ups or point-of-sale systems. If you talk to people to get more insights, make a note of whether they’re loyal, occasional, or lost customers. Information about all three can be useful. Platforms like Google Analytics and Facebook Audience Insights include information about the types of users visiting your site or social media.

Google Analytics(external link) — Google

Facebook Audience Insights(external link) — Facebook

Using your personas regularly helps you get to know them better. For example, when planning a marketing campaign, think about how best to attract each persona. How might they react to different messages? Deeply knowing your personas helps you think of new ways to engage with, and sell to, customers.

Once you have a great set of detailed personas, keep an eye out for any changes you need to adapt to. For example, a new product may bring in new customers with different characteristics. Or social media platforms might grow or shrink in popularity among different groups of customers. During customer research, check if your respondents match existing personas. Fill in any gaps in matching personas and keep them up to date.

Understanding each customer journey lets you tailor the online experience to them

Understanding each customer journey lets you tailor the online experience to them

Improve customer journeys

Customer personas help you understand the journeys your customers follow towards buying. Once you identify key customer journeys, you can make improvements.

Understand customer journeys

Start with a customer persona and a clear map of their customer journey, eg as a diagram or a set of steps. If you don’t have a map yet, start with the six basic stages each customer goes through:

  1. Trigger
  2. Researching
  3. Shortlisting
  4. Choosing
  5. Buying
  6. Follow-up.

Trigger: There is always something that triggers a potential customer to look at your product or service. Think about what’s happening before they get to your shop front.

Researching: They’re likely to shop around, looking at different options, so you need to sustain their interest in your product or service and give them the information they are looking for.

Shortlisting: Next, you need to convince your potential customers to consider what you offer. Your customer personas can tell you what they might be looking for.

Choosing: At this stage they hone in on what matters most to them about the product or service. Think about how you can help narrow down their options.

Buying: Make it easy for your customers to start and complete their purchase.

Follow-up: Think about how you’ll keep in touch with your customer after purchase.

For example, imagine you sell shirts.

sketch showing the six images below in order of customer journey

Customer journey map: buying a t-shirt for summer

Sketch if a sun behind a calendar page with the word Summer on itStep 1: Trigger for buying a t-shirt

Summer is coming up and your customer wants a new t-shirt.


Sketch of a person with a thought bubble showing web pages with a selection of t-shirtsStep 2: Researching t-shirts to buy

They start by researching different t-shirts on the market, looking at your website and others. At this stage, they’re getting a good idea of all possible shirts that fit a broad category, eg summer t-shirts.


Three tick boxes - two ticked, next to three t-shirtsStep 3: Shortlist the best few

They choose a small selection that meets their needs. They will likely weigh up many aspects they find important, eg price, colour, fit, quality.


Sketch of a t-shirt with a sun on it lists price, style, material and sizeStep 4: Choosing a t-shirt

Make it easy for them to choose your t-shirt by giving them all the information they need.


Sketch of a mouse pointer clicking a buy button. a smiley face and heartStep 5: Buying a t-shirt

Ideally, they buy from you instead of a competitor. Make it simple, eg your checkout process.


Sketch of a person wearing a t-shirt standing next to 5 starsStep 6: Follow-up customer care

Ask for feedback or check what their after-sales experience is like.

Review your market position

Markets keep evolving. Keep an eye on your place in the market to stay ahead of your competition and adapt to changes, eg new competitors or changing prices.

Did you use product, place, price, and promotion as a framework for understanding your marketing mix? You can use the same framework to review it, and see if your choices still stand up.

Understand your marketing mix

Look at how your business has changed. And how your existing competitors have changed, which competitors have joined or left the market, and anything else that could affect your position.

Check how you compare to rivals

Every product or service has its own profile of price, performance, and customisation. These characteristics define the position of the product or service in the market.

Different profiles can make two otherwise similar items appeal to different customers. And each item’s profile determines how it stacks up against competitors.

Use the tool below to compare your business, or one of your products or services, against its competitors. It rates whether you have a strong position in the marketplace. We’ll help you identify some common opportunities and risks.

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Create your own space in the market

Competing head-on with bigger businesses can be difficult. They have more resources to help them dominate the market.

But as a small business, you may be able to respond more quickly to change. If you spot a gap in the market, you can create your own space where you’re not competing directly against bigger businesses. For example, you might be able to offer a personal sales experience with expert advice, without increasing your costs.

To find your niche, you might consider:

  • what your customers value
  • new opportunities within your business
  • adding value without adding to your costs
  • how to stand out from the competition.

Creating your own space in the market

It helps to explain your unique selling point clearly. Write down a simple description that explains to customers why they should buy from you. It will make a great slogan for your website — and define your approach to all parts of the sales process.

Identify your unique selling point

Work out what else you can sell

Offering products or services that complement each other can:

  • give customers more value
  • bring in more revenue
  • help you grow your online business
  • give you an edge over competitors.

Understanding what products and services go together can help you improve your offering. For example, you could create bundles or combo deals for items that naturally go together. Or offer subscriptions for products your customers buy regularly.

Or you can take the next step and create value with something completely new. If you currently sell products, think about related services. If you sell services, consider related products. Use the tool below to explore opportunities.

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Check your locations

Review the locations you chose when you started selling online. Check whether anything has changed, and how various locations are performing. Consider whether to add new locations, or move away from old ones.

Choose where to sell

You might sell on your own website, a shared marketplace like Trade Me, or both. Using one location can work well, but consider extending to others to be available to more customers. It’s common for businesses that start on a shared marketplace to later create their own website. The changes is like setting up your own shop after having your products stocked in other retailers’ stores. Having your own website saves on commission costs, and offers better control of the shopping and brand experience.

Review where your customers are in relation to your physical operations. They may be nearby or too far away for quick delivery. They may be in the same country or overseas. Think about how you can improve operations or customer support.

If you started out online-only, you might benefit from adding a physical location. This could offer a better brand experience, boost sales in a particular spot, or improve trust because customers can experience your products in person.

Alternatively, if your physical store is not profitable, it might make sense to mostly focus on selling online.

If you’re selling overseas

If you’re selling to customers overseas, you’re exporting. This means new markets and more customers, but also new challenges.

What you need to know about exporting

Try to optimise operations or customer support, eg:

  • using a local warehouse for faster delivery
  • offering local customers support that matches the time zones and accents of your customers
  • distributing your products and services through another channel
  • getting your products made overseas.

A local base can help you build credibility and stay in tune with local trends.

This about how to ship and distribute

Think carefully before you set up overseas

References to specific businesses

At times business.govt.nz refers to specific businesses to make our resources more effective and easier to understand. We do this on the advice of our independent expert partners, including the New Zealand Business Performance Panel. However, we do not endorse any third-party private-sector businesses.

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