Sometimes it’s possible to achieve quite a lot with relatively few resources – with a little patience, a bit of research and a clear understanding of your goals.

1. A/B testing

Have you come up with an email campaign but can’t decide which subject line will attract the most opens?  

Want to post about a new product on Facebook but don’t know whether to do it in the morning or the evening? 

Have some awesome landing pages but not sure which one will convert to click-throughs? 

This is where A/B testing comes in. It’s your opportunity to give multiple versions of your campaign a go before committing to the version you’ll move forward with.  

Hot tips:  

  • Be clear about the priority of what you want to achieve. E.g. a higher open rate or more click-throughs from a particular demographic. 
  • Figure out how you’ll measure your success. E.g. number of sign-ups or opens.  
  • Decide on a timeline and cost limit. Remember, the goal is to get more bang for your buck, not less. 

2. Organic SEO

Search engine optimisation (SEO) is all about improving your business ranking on search pages. Ideally you want to be on that first page (how often do you look beyond the first few results?) and if you don’t have to pay for it, that’s even better.  

Three great ways to help improve your organic SEO: 

  1. Keyword choice and placement is the essence of SEO so consider making keyword research central to your content strategy. 
  2. You can build your backlinks by getting ratings and reviews on key sites for your industry. 
  3. Think about looking for link building opportunities by scouting out what your competitors are doing well and pitching for guest blogging spots.  
  4. Check your Google My Business listing is also up to date with your contact details for potential customers who may across you in their search. 

3. Automate customer service

In an always-on digital world, your customers want to be able to reach you whenever it suits them. With limited resources, it can be hard to quickly get back to everyone. That’s where automation can help.  

Here are three inexpensive ways to potentially automate customer service: 

  1. Build a comprehensive and well-designed FAQ page. Cover as much as possible and chances are your customer could find the answer they’re looking for there instead of having to contact you. 
  2. Use automated emails to update customers about the progress of their order. That way you’re letting them know where things stand before they need to ask. 
  3. Automate social media messaging responses so at the very least your customer knows their message has been received and they have an idea of when you’ll get back to them.

4. Launch a survey

Perhaps you have your next move in mind but don’t have a sense of what your customers might think of it. It might be a new service model, a new range of products, a different location. A survey can be a great way to gather insights about your customers and industry.  

Hot tip: consider incentivising participation. If there’s one thing people love more than being asked for their opinion, it’s being rewarded for it!