10 Must-Have Tools For eCommerce Startups

When it comes to having your own startup, it’s not always easy to understand where to start or how to do it right. That being said, with the help of the right software and programs, it can become much easier to organize and execute your plans. Hence, here are the ten must-have tools for eCommerce startups.

1. Squarespace / Wix / WooCommerce

First and foremost, you will need to get a good tool for creating your website – and there are three most popular options that you can choose from. Of course, there are other options to consider, but these three by far are the best of their kind and offer numerous opportunities to all of their users:

• Squarespace: Squarespace is a very popular website builder that has become so famous for its accessibility and user-friendliness. It lets anyone host their website on its platform and build it beforehand in a way that will make it look professional. The best thing about it is that you don’t need any prior knowledge about coding because you will be using a drag-and-drop feature to build your website.
• Wix: Wix is quite similar to Squarespace in many ways and its popularity is probably the result of all those same features as Squarespace’s. This website maker offers hundreds of templates to help you with designing your website and the drag-and-drop builder functions the same way as that Squarespace’s.
• WooCommerce: WooCommerce is a bit different from Squarespace and Wix in that it isn’t really a website builder but rather an open-source eCommerce platform designed for WordPress. And yet, it’s still extremely popular and can be used by anyone familiar with WordPress.

 2. SEMrush

After you have designed your website and put it up, you will need to choose a tool to help you with SEO or search engine optimization. It’s better to choose one before you actually make your website public so you can have more time to get the site ready. But still, you can start looking for a tool like this after your website is up. And by far the best tool of this kind is SEMrush.

This all-in-one tool will help you with both natural and paid SEO providing you with dozens of features that will help you develop your website and particularly its eCommerce aspects. For example, you will be able to see the keywords used by your competitors and determine which keywords work for your startup.

3. Ahrefs

Ahrefs is another amazing tool for various SEO-related purposes. It offers a variety of features that let you work with website ratings, link-building, and so on. Its most notable feature is the one that lets you browse the links that point to a particular website as well as the most popular pages.

When working with links, Ahrefs can detect referent domains and analyze the anchors of these links and websites. This way, you will be able to work on your own website’s link profile and also monitor what your competitors are doing. And with a good link profile, your website will be able to rank much higher in search results.

4. Trello / Asana

Marketing is not the only important aspect of eCommerce – in fact, proper organization matters just as much. That’s why it’s so important to make sure that your team has the appropriate set of tools that will help you organize themselves and work together as a team, even if this team is a remote one.

For project and task management, Trello and Asana are by far the two best choices. The two platforms are similar in the features they offer but have a slightly different design. Trello is simpler in its visual look while Asana can be set up to look like a calendar which can be particularly helpful when some many events and tasks need to be scheduled ahead.

5. Slack

Another important aspect of organization within your team is communication. Your team members must be able to communicate properly at work whether they work in an office or remotely from home. There will be multiple communication channels to use and one of the primary channels will be emailed, but there is also messaging to think about.

A good tool for messaging or texting on a professional level is Slack. This tool is available both as a desktop website and as a mobile app so that everyone can stay connected even on the go. Slack lets you create multiple channels based on the topic, but it also allows direct, private messaging.

6. Zoom / Skype / Microsoft Teams

Another method of communication is virtual meetings. Of course, this channel will be most needed for remote teams, but it can also be helpful when you need to reach colleagues on business trips or on seek leave.

Three of the best tools for hosting virtual meetings both face-to-face and with teams are Zoom, Skype, and Microsoft Teams. Zoom has gained popularity recently because of its user-friendliness while Skype is considered a bit outdated but is still widely used. Microsoft Teams is a good option for teams using other Microsoft tools like Outlook.

7. Google Docs / Sheets / Slides

There are different ways your team can work on projects together simultaneously, but even if you decide to do everything in-office, you need to think about a backup as well. Besides, specialists from top sites agree that online tools for collaborative projects are worth trying out in any case.

Obviously, the most popular of these tools are the ones offered by Google as a digital alternative tool the Microsoft Office Suite. Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides can all be used by teams for creating shared files and working on them together at the same time from any place just with the help of a wi-fi connection.

8. MailChimp

Getting back to marketing, you will need to find a tool for email marketing specifically as it will be one of the most effective methods of keeping your past customers and making them returning clients. For a startup, this is essential.

MailChimp is by far the most popular email marketing tool with lots of features that can be used for designing and launching successful email marketing campaigns. It tracks the purchases of your customers which allows you to better structure your targeting and offer them similar products. Moreover, MailChimp can be connected to other tools like WooCommerce.

9. Buffer

In addition to email marketing, you will need to use content marketing extensively in your digital marketing campaigns. Buffer can be very helpful in this because this tool allows you to distribute your content throughout multiple platforms like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Pinterest, etc. In other words, it’s a great planning tool specifically designed for social media marketing.

10. Google Analytics

Last but not least, you will need to use Google Analytics to analyze the performance of your website, track keywords and trends, analyze the actions of your competitors, and get a generally better idea about the metrics associated with your website. Google Analytics is definitely the best tool for analysis currently on the market and is constantly being updated, so it will never be a waste of your time and effort.

Final Thoughts

All in all, various eCommerce startup tools can definitely help you get started with your newly created business and will allow you to organize your strategy better and then execute it accordingly.