You have decided that you are going to open your first online store, you have chosen a product, or maybe even a few products. You potentially have your eCommerce platform chosen, and the next step that you need to focus on is what you are looking to achieve from your new business. This is called goal-setting. Goal setting for an eCommerce website in Singapore is key to your business:
- Knowing where you are going,
- Consistenly keeping on top of your business,
- Growth of your business,
- More money being earned.
It’s so important to get everything down correctly, even if it may seem a bit difficult at first. Plus, you don’t have to get it all perfect now, your goals are things that will change as your business and confidence grow, so getting them down is just the first step.
Because no matter what type of business you are starting in Singapore or the Southeast Asian region, you have to know where you were going and also what you want to achieve.
Here’s the truth: If you don’t set the specific goals that you want to achieve, you won’t be able to make a plan on how to get there.
Knowing that you want to make a ton of money isn’t a goal, but saying that you want to make $50,000 this year is a specific goal.
It’s a number that you can work
What Will I Learn?
Goal Setting Examples
Finding out the objectives of your online store will be an exercise in thinking about what it is that you want.
We find that when we start a new online store venture our thoughts go like this:
- How can I help my future customers find out all the information they need about the products I am about to promote?
- How can I help my future customers purchase my products in the easiest way from my online store?
I look at it not from our business perspective initially, but from the perspective of the customer.
How can they achieve their goal in the easiest way?
We find that when you think from that side of the table, instead of from yours everything else seems to fall into place.
An example of this might be:
Helping them find all the information they need means:
- That you need to make sure you know everything about the product that is available,
- That you need to create content that provides this information,
- That you need to create content that they can find when they are looking for that information,
- That you need to create content that helps them see you are the right company to buy from.
Then onto the next part: Purchasing in the easiest way.
- The content you create has to navigate them towards your sales page, telling them where to buy,
- Your sales page has to recap all the best and most important things about the product,
- It should tell them WHY they should buy from you, discounts, reviews, security,
- Also, it should tell them how quicly they will get it, that they can see their tracking status etc,
- Finally it should tell them how they can get it, by simply clicking the button.
We have found when you look at elements like these, you don’t go wrong when starting out. But, goal setting differs from person to person, so grab your notebook or start typing into your phone, and start getting your head in thinking mode.
Remember this is just the first draft you are doing.
SMART Goals for eCommerce
No matter what type of business you may have worked in over your life, that business most likely has what are called SMART goals.
When you are creating your goals for your eCommerce store it is advisable to have this powerful strategy applied to them
SMART stands for
- Specific.
- Measurable.
- Attainable.
- Relevant.
- Time Bound.
What Are Specific Goals
This means that you must ensure that you know exactly what the goal is. It has to be very very specific, as something that you are unsure of will not give you the direction you need to fulfill it. The more sure you know exactly what it is, the easier it will be for you to achieve it.
- How much income do you want to make per month? (A bad goal is lots of money, a good goal is $15,000SGD per month – specific).
- How many sales do you need to make to reach that? (A good goal is profit minus expenses to reach that sale amount)
- How will you make those sales? (A good goal would be choosing the exact strategy you will use – Facebook Ads, SEO, YouTube Ads)
What Are Measurable Goals
If you
You need numbers and dates, figures, actual success elements that can be measured. If your goal is to make a few
If you can’t measure it, you may reach it, but what actually is it? And is there a reason to celebrate?
- If you reach your $15,000 a month you will know you hit your goal, if you didn’t at least you can look at what you need to do better to attain that in the next month,
- If you are using Facebook Ads if you don’t hit your goals you will have to look at what you are doing in your ads that can be improved.
The great thing about an eCommerce store is everything is measurable, and learning how to understand something like Google Analytics is a really helpful tool in seeing where you are now, and measuring your way to success in the future.
What Are Attainable Goals
When you do set your goals, think about what is possible. While it might be a cool idea to think you will make $1,000,000 in the next 6 months, that might be classed are unattainable.
You need to take on board where you are now, the resources that you actually have, and weigh everything up. A good idea is to do a SWOT Analysis for your new business venture. That stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats.
What Are Relevant Goals
Are the goals you are setting relevant to where you want to go in your life and
- If you goal is to start this as a lifestyle business to free up your time, then you don’t want to be putting goals into place that actually eats too much of yoru time,
- If it is a replacement for your job income, make sure that you work at it with the same level of intensity you give a job.
- Make sure that you are setting your goals for what is relevant to where you are in life and what you want to achieve from it.
What Are Time-Bound Goals
As with anything in life and
Your goal setting for your eCommerce website is no different.
Creating time-bound goals ensures that there is an urgency to get them completed. Every successful business has timebound goals.
But remember:
It’s not only money when it comes to your online store, think about your life…
Ask Tough Questions
So take your time to answer this, I really want you to get this down…
REMEMBER: You Are Spending Your Time On it. And Your Time Is Money!
If you are still currently employed this is essential for you.
You’re most likely sick and tired of working the same nine-to-five job, slaving over your computer or desk, working on machines, or answering to your boss who most likely has a power trip…
So, to start you really need to know why you are creating your eCommerce business.
- Are you looking to get away from where you are working now?
- To live a new life? (something that you know you deserve)
- Is it to break free from the constraints that this life has given you so far?
So, the next thing I need you to ask yourself is…
- What specific e-commerce information do you want to know by the time you finish going through this website?
- Do you want to know how you can apply the information to international markets?
- Do you wnat to know how you can sell your own products? Or maybe someone elses?
Define Your Goals
- What are your income goals for your e-commerce website?
- Per month? Per year?
- How much money
you spend per month on living? - Do you want to make more than this or is this just so you can make some extra/spare cash?
- What are your educational goals?
- Do you want to know how to set up an online E-commerce store or how to sell products on Facebook, Google, Tik Tok or YouTube?
- How many people do you want to reach on these platfroms?
- What kind of contnet will you create to entice people to your store?
YouTube is an e-commerce behemoth and is only going to help you reach more and more Singaporean and international customers as time goes on, and that’s not to mention Instagram too (which is a perfect e-commerce platform).
Setting Your Life Goals
- Would your life change if you had success?
- How would it change, how would your lifestyle change?
- Would you travel more?
- Would you eat at more fancy restaurants, live in a different neighborhood or even a city or country like I do?
- Maybe you’ve always wanted to do something but you’ve never been able to do, maybe due to financial constraints?
- Maybe you’ve always wanted to bring your family on holiday or visit some far off land, or maybe even take flying lessons…
Get the specifics of what it is that you
They’re almost like the fuel to your fire, and it’s this fire that will keep burning, even when things get hard for you because believe me they do.
You should write down goals for Year one and then Year two.
| 2022 Store Goals | 2023 Store Goals |
|---|---|
Once you have your goals in place, I want you to keep them in your notepad. A good idea is to start with something like this table above.
Goal Setting For eCommerce Websites is important, so I hope you have specifically bought a notepad just for this new business adventure.
I want you to revisit them time and again to see where you are on your path to success they’ll help you keep on the right path.
The Best Goal Setting App
If you are using your mobile phone, it is a good idea to use your simple note-taker (I love this, and it’s where I keep my updated diary, every single day), or you can use an app, like Evernote.
Evernote web clipper
(Free / Web, Android, iOS)
Evernote is probably my favorite app that I use, and I think that you can forget all the others and just use this.
The great thing about Evernote is that it syncs across all your devices, laptops, computers, etc, and it is a perfect place to make a note of:
- What is going on in your brain,
- Save files,
- Photos,
- Websites,
- And anything you need to remember.
Get stuck into your goal setting, it will help you start making a killing in Singapore in 2022 and beyond.
