Increasing online sales is the primary goal of all businesses whether you are a home based or a large company. There are multiple ways you can increase your online sales many of which you can implement straight away and at little cost. We have put together an overview of effective marketing tips to help you with buyer acquisition and generating more repeat purchases. Some of these tips may seem to focus on ecommerce websites however you can implement these whether you sell physical products or run a service-based business. Here are our essential and proven marketing tips to sell more online:
Use Abandoned Cart Emails
The checkout process is a sensitive spot for many online stores, as potential customers can change their mind before placing the order and completing the payment. Reasons why people abandon their online carts include not wanting the product anymore, dealing with too much friction during the checkout process, being discouraged by shipping fees that are too high, or simply deciding to wait until they do some more research.
One way of bringing clients back is sending them an abandoned cart email. This tip works better if you offer an advantage like free shipping or a discount. Make sure you get their email early in the checkout procedure so you can contact them (if they are new clients and don’t have an account on your website).
However, you should also look at the reasons why people abandon their carts and see if you can improve. Recommended measures include:
- Ensuring user-friendly website design
- Improving functionality
- Informing customers on shipping fees in advance instead of calculating them at the end of the checkout
- Providing plenty of product information and customer reviews.
Above all, make sure you reduce friction in the checkout process and not frustrate customers by asking them to provide the same information multiple times, making it difficult to fill in their address, etc.
Upselling
Did you know that the hardest part is getting someone to buy? Persuading them to purchase the second and the third product during the same shopping session is a lot easier.
Upsells can increase your average order value, which automatically makes your store more profitable. Start unleashing the power of upsells with this simple strategy: when your customer adds to their cart a valuable item, like a pair of shoes, recommend a product that increases the usability of that larger item or helps maintain it – such as a pair of socks or shoe polish. The relatively low cost compared to the larger item and the connection between the two makes this type of upsells easy to obtain and your sales levels will increase significantly.
Re-targeting
Re-targeting ads are one of the top marketing tips to sell more online you can implement easily. Reminding potential customers of the products they showed interest for is one of the best tools to get them to buy more. Re-targeting ads enable you to show that product to your potential customer all over the internet; it may seem annoying, but it actually works. When you are familiar with an item, you are more likely to buy it. People are already used to online ads, but when these ads display something they considered buying at some point, the possibility of them taking action becomes higher.
A version of this strategy is to recommend and display ads of products that are similar to what a customer has already viewed. This can be done with the help plugins, which should be selected depending on the platform your store is built on.
Customer reviews and testimonials
Telling your customers how great your business is and how you offer excellent value for money is less efficient then being recommended by someone else. Before the advent of online sales, we had word-of-mouth and recommendations, but luckily these days you can display reviews on your website or encourage customers to leave reviews on social networks. Customers will know you are legit and will not be afraid to take the risk of buying online from a new website. People check out with confidence when they know that other customers have used your products and had a positive experience.
Discounts and promotions
Some Marketing tips to sell more online are not new strategies; some of these tips are actually very old and have been used successfully for decades because they work. One of those tricks is offering bundle discounts and promotions because customers are always pleased by the idea of paying less than the price the product is originally valued at.
You can attract customers with this tip by offering free shipping over a certain amount or announcing discounts regularly via email and social media. Free gifts when they purchase over a certain amount can also attract customers, but make sure the gift is valuable for them and not just a way to get rid of unsold products.
Provide fewer choices
Many businesses are tempted to offer more hoping that customers will buy more, but it doesn’t work this way. Basic knowledge of psychology will tell you that people find it hard to make a decision when they are presented with too many options, and this indecision can lead to lost sales for you.
Applying this marketing tip doesn’t mean you need to reduce your range of products (although you should use a filter to decide what products get to your website and what products should be left out). The solution is to structure your website carefully so the user is not overwhelmed by a large number of products on a page. Enable customers to access narrow product categories or make it possible for them to use filters that will leave them with just a few choices that satisfy all their requirements.
Offer a money-back guarantee
One of the biggest reasons why potential customers decide not to buy something is aversion to risk. Oftentimes, this risk is a financial one, and people are afraid the product/service won’t do the job for them or they will not like it. Money back guarantees enable you to reduce risk aversion from the prospect’s decision. Make it possible for unsatisfied customers to get their money back instead of trying to lock them in or be very strict about return policies. In fact, not so many people bother to return a product when they are not 100% satisfied, but the idea that you may be dealing with return difficulties is even worse. If you do this, you may have to accept a product return, but the customer is more likely to come back and buy a lot more later.
Be honest with your sales copy
Today’s customers are very sensitive to false claims and will sanction everything that doesn’t sound right to them. People are more judgemental nowadays and more knowledgeable/educated. You can easily lose trust in your brand and credibility if you make claims you cannot substantiate or use hyperbole. Even the biggest organisations in the world have been taxed for making false claims such as PETA which compared feeding children with meat to allowing them to smoke, stating that eating meat increases the risk of heart disease and cancer. As a result, the ad was pulled from online billboards by the UK advertising Standards Authority in 2013 for making unsubstantiated claims. So, tell the truth in all your sales copy or customers will bash you for being a liar before you make the first sale.
With the current crisis on hand, now is the time to implement these marketing tips to sell more online. Contact us today if you need help with your digital marketing strategy or website. Our team can help you use a variety of online tools and assist you with everything from small tweaks to redefining your marketing and sales strategy so you start selling more!
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