You have a brilliant idea for an online business. You’ve got the courage to step on this long, winding road to pursue your dream. You’ve thought of a business plan, one that is detailed and shows the potential of success. Yet no matter how good the plan is, there will always be something that goes wrong. In fact, anything that can go wrong will go wrong when you start a company. Here are 5 common challenges you will face as an online business.
- Technical issues
Your website or application is the pillar of the business, make sure that it works well. Before launch a product or service, test it thoroughly to avoid major issues. However, problems are unavoidable, and the market will tell you what it is looking for. When things get tough, your customers will expect you to respond promptly and provide a solution. Always gather feedback and have actionable plans to solve the issues.
- Communicating with customers
Setting the right expectation is not an easy job. You don’t want to overpromise nor undersell yourself. Online interactions are very much different from those in the offline setting. When a customer meets you in a shop, he or she has the opportunity to see the product and possibly try and test it. The in-store staff is another point of contact where the customer can inquire further. However, in the online world, it all boils down to how well you present yourself and communicate with customers.
- Winning customers’ trust
Seeing is believing, they say. When people don’t see you nor talk to you, it’s hard to win their trust. When you are new, it’s even more challenging since you don’t have an impressive track record or a big portfolio. You are not well covered in the media either. The only thing you can rely on is the quality of your product or service. Building customers’ trust has always been a challenge for businesses and even more so for online startups.
- Hiring people
It’s a good sign that you need to have more people in the team. It means you are growing! Yet, hiring new employees is also a matter that needs to be well thought out. Besides ensuring that the person possesses the right skills, you need to make sure that the new employee has the right attitude and fits in with the company’s culture. In a small team, a misfit can pose a big challenge.
- Practising financial discipline
Money has always been an issue for new businesses. Inevitably, you don’t have the budget for everything you want to do. Hence, it’s important to practice good financial discipline from the very first days. When you have just started, there are many things that you need to spend on. Know where your money goes, budget it well so you don’t end up running short of cash for important projects.
The article is written by Khanh Tran from Villa-Phuket.com.
