Given the current web traffic, Facebook isn't just a social hub for individuals; it's a goldmine for sellers, brimming with untapped business potential. For newcomers to e-commerce, Facebook is a prime spot to showcase products, attract customers, and make sales.
However, standing out on such a massive platform isn't easy. High traffic means high competition. The key is mastering the art of 'chat-selling.' Below is a simple chat-selling pattern to help you leverage Facebook's massive traffic to attract target customers and ultimately make sales.
Product Selection
Choose a sourcing platform
Here's the simplest method: find high-traffic goods on cross-border e-commerce platforms and sell them on Facebook. Platforms like Shopee and Lazada are good bets. Choose based on:
- Platform reputation with many buyers/sellers
- Rich product categories
- Platforms with intense price wars (good for us buyers)
Extension: How to assess a website/platform's traffic
Use Google Trends. Enter your keywords, select the range, time, and category to get a heat trend chart.
e.g., After preliminary research, you think these five cross-border e-commerce platforms (Shopee, Lazada, Meikeduo, Etsy, and AliExpress) fit the bill but are unsure which is hotter. Enter them into Google Trends, and Google generates a heat trend chart based on search volume.
Choose a Niche Category
Once you've chosen a platform, select a product category. Use data platforms like Tao Data and Zhi Xia to access Shopee's category data by country. To ensure competitive product selection, identify a 'blue ocean category' - a market segment with growth potential. For instance, in Malaysia, data suggests home appliances are a blue ocean market.
A blue ocean market is often identified by a key indicator: few sellers but high sales volumes, indicating significant growth potential and non-saturated competition.
So, our strategy should be to find these less competitive niches, avoiding overly fierce categories to better our chances in the market.
After selecting a category, compare different products' conversion rates and pick those with high rates and profits for promotion.
Searching on Facebook
Once you've identified high-conversion products, search for them on Facebook to gauge their traffic. This step is crucial since we're selling on Facebook. If a product has few likes or comments on Facebook, it's best to skip it.
For a product with a 26.59% conversion rate, if it also garners attention on Facebook, with many users PMing in the comments, it indicates interested customers.
Advertising
Advertising is the fastest way to get traffic. Relying solely on Facebook's free traffic can be a long process and isn't conducive to initial scaling, so ads are our best bet. Facebook ads, charged by click-through rate, can still be quite cost-effective.
Sales Patter
The usual approach is to guide Facebook traffic to WhatsApp to close deals, requiring some chat-selling skills. The simplest way is to mimic your peers, especially those with a solid foundation, as they've likely developed a mature sales patter.
Ad Copy
A simple product introduction works, or just repurpose Shopee's product details. For more appeal, add some buzzwords and gimmicks.
Ad Materials
Search online for materials like on TikTok or YouTube. For Facebook ads, videos are best, showing the product in detail. If you can't find videos, settle for pictures.
Ad Settings
First, clarify your marketing goals. Opt for "Message Interactions" as the primary goal. In overseas regions, chat-driven transactions are more popular. Compared to "Conversions," this is more straightforward and cost-effective for funneling Facebook traffic to WhatsApp.
When setting user interests, prioritize "Engaged Shoppers" – potential customers who love online shopping.
Message Interaction + Engaged Shoppers + COD Support = Almost Guaranteed Sales.
For ad geography, don't just focus on big-city users. While they have more spending power, they also have more shopping options. Users in other regions may face fewer choices, making them untapped potential customers.
Order Management
For efficient and accurate order management, log all order details in Google Sheets/Excel. Print out orders and attach them to the corresponding packages to prep for shipping. This method suits self-shipping sellers.
If using third-party logistics, input order data into their system for fulfillment. This ensures smooth and efficient order processing, whether shipping directly or using third-party resources.
Customer Management
Beyond pre-sale activities, focus on customer service, a critical aspect for many customers and a must-do for sellers. Especially with multiple team members, replying to customer queries through a single panel is key to efficiency and consistency.
Bind all employee accounts to the SaleSmartly backend. Team members can then view and respond to customer inquiries in real-time, ensuring quick and accurate replies whenever customers reach out.
With an integrated panel, team members can share information and transfer conversations. This setup also helps managers assign tasks and track problem-solving progress and quality, ensuring all customer issues are addressed.
Besides, SaleSmartly can help with these functions for Facebook chat-selling:
- Support sending text, images, audio, video, etc.
- Manage Facebook post replies, not just conversations
- Customize customer profiles & session info
- Edit common phrases for quick replies
- Intuitive data analysis
...and more.