An ecommerce store is no longer enough with the competitive landscape of the internet and the ever-changing expectations of customers, progressively complicated logistics, and the changing algorithms of the platforms. Brands need to manage their ecommerce accounts in a creative, strategic, and continuous way, not just as part of their strategy, but as a full-service way of managing your online properties. This management includes managing your storefronts on marketplaces, whether it be Amazon, Flipkart, Shopify, and ecommerce sites directly.
Proper ecommerce account management can help increase sales and profitability, allow overall fulfillment to be more efficient, and foster long-lasting customer loyalty. In this article, we will examine what ecommerce account management is, why it is important, and how the business community can implement best practices that produce measurable results.
What does Ecommerce account management entail?
Ecommerce account management includes all tasks related to selling product through any online marketplace. Such tasks include:
- Listing and catalog management
- Pricing and promotions
- Inventory and order management
- Advertising and marketing
- Customer service and reviews
- Performance analytics and reporting
- Consumable Compliance and optimizing for each platform
Whether you are a small growing company or an established brand looking to optimize, account management allows you to ensure your ecommerce strategy is organized, data-driven and focused on growth.
Reasons for the importance of Ecommerce account management
Improves Sales Performance
- Through continuous optimization of product listing and advertisements brands improve visibility and conversion rates.
- Using platform features (deals, coupons, A+ content on Amazon, etc.) creates an even better experience for buyers.
Improves Operational Efficiency
- Consolidated control of your inventory, orders and returns will significantly improve the likelihood that you’ll minimize waits and errors.
- Integrated software will also significantly improve the number of processes that you don’t manually intervene in.
Improvements to Brand Reputation
- Fast response times to a customer inquiry and preemptively manages reviews builds trust.
- Stringent compliance with marketplace compliance reduces penalties and possible account suspension.
Provides Competitive Insights
- Tracking competitor performance allows brands to be dynamic responsive to your competitors pricing, promotions or products.
- Real-time data ensures brands can identify trends and makes data-based decisions.
Core Elements of Account Management in Ecommerce
Product Listings Optimisation
The first point of contact between the customer and the product is the initial product listing. Quality will create more visibility and therefore more conversions. You want to consider optimising or including:
- SEO optimised titles and descriptions.
- High-quality photographs and product videos.
- Backend keywords and structured data (especially on Amazon, Flipkart, etc).
- Ensuring the product information is accurate and current.
Pricing and Promotions Pricing is not just about price.
It is a marketing tool.
- Use dynamic pricing tools and, write prices dynamically (even better than algorithmically) according to competitors pricing to ensure a fair price schedule.
- Create time bound deals and bundling, or promotional listings that decrease or remove cost altogether.
- This can lift Average Order Value (AOV). Account for promotional plans during events and seasons (Diwali, Black Friday Cyber Monday, etc.).
- Continuing to monitor competitors’ pricing.
Inventory and Order Management
Inventory mismanagement can cost you in lost sales or a poor seller rating.
- You want to ensure you manage inventory across all platforms.
- Tools like Zoho, Unicommerce or, Linnworks can actively manage synergies. Forecast for demand to historically informed sales reports. Make sure order fulfilment is fast, reliable with logistics partners.
Marketplace Advertising
E-Commerce platforms have their own internal advertising tools that can send targeted traffic.
- Use Sponsored Ads, Display Ads and Video Ads on the Amazon ecosystem.
- Segment your campaigns based on performance and by product category.
- Retarget past traffic with pertinent offers.
- Always keep an eye on the ACOS (your advertising cost of sale) and continue to measure your ROI.
Customer Relationship Management
Good interactions with customers lead to repeat orders and referrals.
- Please respond to customer inquiries and complaints within 24 hours.
- Automate as many of the most repetitive customer service tasks (tracking updates, FAQs, etc.) as possible.
- Use review request tools
- to encourage post-sale feedback.
- If you receive a negative review, be sure to respond professionally and to be proactive.
Analytics & Reporting
If you’re not measuring it, you can’t improve it.
- Come to terms with your KPIs: conversion rate, CTR, ACOS, customer lifetime value, etc.
- Follow your key operational performance daily using dashboards, business intelligence tools, etc., across all campaigns in total and across each platform.
- Compare metrics across each platform to build your strategy moving forward.
Complying with platform policy
Every marketplace has strict guidelines and rules. If you fail to comply, you may find yourself suspended.
- Stay informed of updates around the marketplace guidelines.
- Confirm that your product listings comply with the content and compliance guideline.
- Respond promptly to IP complaint notices and ASIN suppressions; your metrics are dependent on it.
How to Develop an Effective Ecommerce Account Management System
Step 1: Conduct a Marketplace Audit
Analyze your existing ecommerce positioning:
- Are your listings optimized?
- Do your products rank on those key search terms?
- How is your advertising working?
- What is your inventory turnover ratio?
Step 2: Select Appropriate Tools for the Task
Ecommerce account management tools to consider (always use a trial version first):
- Listing Tools: ChannelAdvisor; Sellics
- Order Management: Unicommerce; Orderhive
- Analytics & Reporting: DataHawk; Helium 10
- Customer Engagement: Freshdesk; Gorgias
Step 3: Create A Team or Identify A Partner
Having talented ecommerce account managers is critical. You can:
- Develop an in-house team and train them on the nuances of developing accounts on different marketplaces.
- Partner with a professional ecommerce account management firm providing full-service management.
Step 4: Develop A Data-based Plan
Use data to create actionable measurable monthly and quarterly targets. Plan a roadmap for campaigns, content, pricing plans, and logistics.
Step 5: Measure and Optimize Periodically
Markets can move incredibly quickly. Your account management changes need to be agile:
- A/B test product listing and advertising creative.
- Optimize weekly based on metrics/ actioning engagement levels.
- Consistently update inventory plans and shipping on demand.
Advantages of Professional Ecommerce Account Management
Advantage Explanation
📈 Improved Sales Good listings, good pricing, good ads, will all bring
more visibility and conversions.
⏱️ Time Saving Automating repetitive tasks gives time back to spend on strategy
📊 Data-Driven Decisions Reports will allow for useful insights to make
better plans and then grow faster.
💼 Brand Safekeeping Compliance procedures and reputation
management will ensure protection for
longer term growth.
🤝 Better Customer Service Responsive service and clarity about orders
improve satisfaction and loyalty
Final Thoughts
Ecommerce businesses are now required to be data driven, strategic, and ever-optimizing, not just be present somewhere online for someone to visit an online marketplace. Using a professional ecommerce account management can set your plateaued storefront or lack of growth apart from a flourishing digital brand.
When you make an investment in a coordinated account management approach – whether that is in house or a partner – you are helping your brand by providing tooling and insights to immediately start maximising sales, releasing internal traffic if bottlenecked, and improving consumer experience.
Smart management of your account is not an option. It is a must in the hyper-competitive ecommerce environment!
