If you already have an online store, you understand that it doesn’t run itself. Just like a brick and mortar store, online stores require attention, patience and persistence. We’re offering eleven tips to boost your online sales. The tips are relatively easy to set up and can result in more people visiting your store and making purchases.
1. Improve images in your store
High quality, well-lit images are crucial to selling anything online. In many cases, the site visitor will not be familiar with you or your company. For this reason, they are likely to base their opinion on their experience with your website. If the images are poor quality, they are likely to assume that your products are poor quality, too.
2. Improve site performance
Page load time is a key component of user experience. Today’s online shoppers won’t wait for a slow page to load. If your site takes too long, they’ll move on to a speedier site. While you don’t have any control over the speed of the user’s internet connection, you do have control of two key factors affecting page load time: the amount of data required to load the page, and the quality of the hosting service. Make sure the images and other content are only as large as necessary, and make sure the site is running on high quality hosting. We’ve seen a client’s online sales double after moving their site to a better hosting service.
3. Expand copy
Use the text for the products in your store to answer every possible question, counter any objection, and explain why the product you are offering will benefit them. Don’t assume that the site visitor knows everything about your product already. Give them as much relevant information as possible. However, meaningless sales talk is not useful. The information you provide should help them make an informed decision.
4. Improve the checkout experience
Make it as easy as possible for visitors to use and navigate your website. Eliminate needless steps and skip unnecessary fields in forms. Not everyone has PayPal and some people don’t want to use credit cards, so offer as many payment options as possible, including newer options like Apple Pay.
5. Create a sense of urgency
You can create a sense of urgency with time-sensitive special offers and limited edition products. Popular tIme-sensitive offers include free shipping and product discounts.
6. Offer fewer choices
This may sound counter-intuitive but giving the customer too many choices can lead to indecision. If you offer a wide range of products, organize them in a way that isn’t overwhelming.
7. Start up-selling
The 60×60 rule says that customers want and expect an up-sell. This means that they expect to be asked to buy a more expensive item or to buy a related additional product at a discount. The rule says that 60% of the time customers want you to ask them to buy more and they are willing to spend up to 60% of the original purchase price. Suggest upgrading to a higher quality item or a product that includes more features.
8. Send follow up emails
When a customer purchases something from you, send a follow up email. Exactly what the email contains will depend on the customer and the product. You can offer them something for free, send incentives for buying from you again, or any number of things that your customers will find valuable. Pay attention to them and they are likely to become loyal customers.
9. Build an email list and use it
Email is one of the easiest and most cost-effective ways to drive more traffic to your online store, but you must be careful. Don’t be too pushy or the recipients will remove themselves from your list. Think of a way that you can be helpful to them. Start by developing and promoting a newsletter that your target audience will find valuable.
10. Advertise with Google AdWords
You can take advantage of Google searches by creating ads for your business on Google’s advertising platform. AdWords shows your ad when someone searches for specific words or phrases, helping to drive interested people to your website. Never heard of AdWords? Watch this 4-minute video to learn the basics.
11. Boost online sales by boosting your posts on social media
If you’re already selling online, then you should have good data about your existing customers. Social Media, such as Facebook, allows you to target defined audiences. If you know that women age 25-42 who work in the healthcare industry are your best customers, then target ads specifically to them. Using data on your existing customers can expand your reach with minimal effort.
How to boost online sales
After reading our suggestions, pick one or two that you can focus on today. By driving more traffic to your website and improving the online experience, you’re increasing the probability of increasing sales.
Learn more about our website design and development services. If you’d like us to review your website and make specific recommendations on how to boost online sales, contact us directly by emailing [email protected] or calling 518.392.0846.