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How Not to Miss the Benefits of the Most Common Online Tools You Have

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You could be missing opportunities to save time and money by using the most obvious online resources at your disposal.

How Not to Miss the Benefits of the Most Common Online Tools You Have

For example, you would hardly say that email is currently a groundbreaking invention.

But Pew Research Center did a study that found that, as of 2013, 61% of workers see email as the most important tool for doing their jobs. Email beat the internet, phones (both landline and cell), and social media.

Those surveyed said that all of those resources, to varying degrees, enable them to work longer. They can also communicate with more people and have more versatility for when they work.

These technologies have pervaded our society so thoroughly that it almost seems superfluous to mention them. But it is easy to be so comfortable using a particular tool that you overlook all of its potential advantages.

This pitfall is one that Tom Tarasiuk, president and owner of Discount Water Softeners, has avoided.

Instead, through hard work and creativity, he has figured out how to use the online tools he already had to his business’s greatest advantage. In doing so, he has maximized company time and kept overhead costs down.

Email

Email has been around for a while, and it’s not as though Tarasiuk’s customer service reps weren’t using it to do their jobs.

There was a time when the reps were spending an average of 45 minutes resolving each customer issue. They spent 15 of those minutes communicating through email and 30 on the phone.

The business was growing, increasing the workload and causing the company to be shorthanded. But because Tarasiuk does his best to keep costs down, he was reluctant to hire more employees.

He then realized his reps could use email to save time when communicating with customers. Because many of the customers’ questions were similar, Tarasiuk organized the most common ones in a form that users could fill out before talking to a representative.

The company was able to considerably decrease the amount of time each call took, and they cut back on the volume of their calls by a fifth. And because of other information they added to the forms, they raised their conversion rate via the forms to 30%.

Granted, it was not through email alone that they accomplished these feats. The e-commerce platform Magento (which we’ll get to in a minute) and information provided by Crazy Egg were key factors.

But this illustrates an important lesson.

Knowing how to use an old resource with new ones can increase productivity and reduce waste.Click To Tweet

Google Adwords

According to Tarasiuk, Google Adwords has been “pivotal” in his business’s growth.

Discount Water Softeners has been using Google Adwords for over 10 years, but that doesn’t mean they were using it to its complete capacity for that entire time.

For a while, they were only spending an average of $20/day on it, and this strategy wasn’t doing much for them.

Recognizing they needed help, Tarasiuk went to an SEO forum looking for an advisor. There, he discovered Gail Gardner, who counseled him to spend at least $70-$80 per day on Adwords. That decision was critical in enabling the company to start being found by people online.

Tarasiuk says that after deciding to take that leap of faith, they never looked back. Working without an outside Adwords expert has been crucial, not only to help people find them in the first place but also to continue to increase their profits.

For a time, the company had to go without an Adwords advisor and instead worked with Google support.

Working with Google was better than no help at all. But Tarasiuk couldn’t tell if his company’s concerns were really Google’s top priority. He didn’t see a noticeable benefit to their campaigns during that time period.

According to Tarasiuk, knowing how to use Adwords is so important that,

If a small business cannot manage their own Google Adwords account to its fullest potential then I recommend hiring a trained and trusted Google Adwords management company.

Ecommerce Platform and Website

E-commerce is no longer a brand new industry. But again, that fact doesn’t mean you’re leveraging it in the most effective way you can.

For example, Tarasiuk was using Volusion as his company’s e-commerce platform, but decided to switch to Magento in 2013.

They were initially nervous about changing because of hearing Magento was more complicated to use than Volusion. But Tarasiuk says they ended up being extremely glad they did.

The main reason why they opted for a different solution was they were looking for one that was more customizable for their needs.

Their decision paid off. Once they went with Magento, they saw their organic SEO drastically improve and almost doubled their sales.

Not only did they pursue customization options for themselves but they also sought to give users more flexibility when visiting the website.

So they redesigned the site, making it easier for customers to consider add-ons to their orders. This decision raised the company’s margins by 15% without adding any shipping costs to the customers’ orders.

Lessons Learned

Even the most commonplace online tools you have can increase your efficiency dramatically. But if you are not being shrewd or gaining expertise in how you utilize them, your business will not be as successful as it could be.

There are several lessons we can learn from Tarasiuk’s experience. Look for areas of waste in your company. Focus on keeping your overhead costs down. Get outside advice in areas where you lack knowledge.

Also, prioritize customization, both for yourselves and your customers. The more flexibility you have, the more you’ll be able to tailor your product to your audience’s needs.

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Jessica Mouser

Jessica Mouser is a writer, public speaker, and avid reader. She is fascinated by how a culture's beliefs shape its technology and art.
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Comments

  2. Great read! Just to add, aside from these very helpful online tools, having SEO can immensely benefit your business. With the right SEO tools and strategies, your business will be visible to various search engine result pages (SERPs). As a result, you’ll be on top of your game in no time! Thank you so much for these informative insights!
    April Ebarvia would love you to read ..When is Redirection bad for your SEO strategy?My Profile

    Reply

  4. Great article!!
    Today, everything is online. As you mention email, Adwords and specially E-commerce sites are important online tools. Just like that online jobs sites and portals are also beneficial. Its easy to search jobs whenever you want to at any city or country. Even its easy to apply from your place, no need to go any office.

    Reply

  6. Thanks for sharing such a valuable post for all of us.!!!
    I haven’t thought of adword before this.
    But will surely gonna try..!!!

    Reply

  7. Responding to customer emails and phones is the best way to resolve customer queries and develop customers trust. The best part for businesses in this digital ear is to have an online presence and such online tools are really helpful to build and maintain online presence. Great reading the post.

    Reply

  8. Thanks for sharing this great unique post. Actually i am also using Adword since last 2 months. And found it Useful.

    Reply

  9. hi,

    yes i have miss so many tools for online format we are finding where we are getting most efficient tool for online subjects ,

    in this post nicely described all points ,

    thanks for this ,

    regards,

    mansi desai

    Reply

  11. Very well said Jessica!

    Isn’t i amazing, no matter what, it all pretty much gets
    back down to the basics.

    Of course it’s always nice to have access to the latest,
    online marketing technology, but as your excellent post
    clearly demonstrates.

    It’s not totally necessary, in order to be successful online.

    Thanks for sharing another excellent, and extremely
    informative post.
    Mark would love you to read ..How Savvy Small Business Owners Make Shaky Advertising Campaigns Profitable!Part TwoMy Profile

    Reply

  12. Benefit of Online tools is a good topic to be discussed and the usefulness is more from the blog. Keep up the good work. Thank You!

    Reply

  14. thanks a lot for a good article, Actually you wrote great article online tools, many bloggers do not know about that. Even I does not spend money on google adword. But after your article I decide to use google adword tool.

    Thanks a lot for Giving such information

    Reply

  17. hi,
    I am actually grateful to the holder of this web page who has shared this great paragraph at at this time.
    nice article.
    keep up the good work.

    Reply

  19. Hi Jessica,

    You are so genius, INow I know about online tools and having great idea here from your post. It increases my knowledge, I just bookmarked your post. Thank you again Jessica.

    Regards,
    Ashik

    Reply

  21. HI Jessica, I think people love shiny new tools and that’s why they don’t consider email anymore as a tool but data shows it still ranks #1 for leads and sales. I know when I get an email offer from a store I frequent I’m more likely to buy with an enticing offer.
    AdWords – people think it’s too expensive but they must realize it’s an investment that pays off, it finds folks who are looking and needing what you are offering – what better way, Right? It takes some money to make money.
    Thanks for these reminders Jessica 🙂
    Lisa P. Sicard would love you to read ..What Is Social Proof and Do You Really Need It Today?My Profile

    Reply

  23. Thank you Jessica for introducing these amazing tools. I am using Google Adwords for one of my clients. Let’s see what would be the result. But I am sure after reading this article, the result will be genuine and reliable.

    Reply

  24. Hi Jessica,

    Your Article is very interesting. Among these tools, i have been using Google Adwards as my powerful tool. Its just simply superb.

    Reply

  25. Thanks for sharing your views. Google Adwards is amazing tool which i have been using from many years.

    Reply

  26. Adwords is an awesome tool for research even if you don’t necessary use their service. Keyword Planning tools is great once you learn the ins and outs of it.

    Reply

  28. Hello Jessica,

    Actually I know the benefits of these online tools you mentioned. But your post made me recognise the importance of maintaining them. Thanks for this 🙂

    Reply

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