You thought you’d be on a sailing yacht in the Bahamas by now, right? Sipping on a Mojito while watching your ecommerce store sales go through the roof? Instead, you find yourself anxiously checking your Spotify store with a room full of spin mops that were supposed to be a hot trending item this year.
Let’s hope that’s not true.
Let’s hope you have a reasonably successful e-commerce store and are now looking for ways to expand and increase your sales. Then you’ve landed in the right place. (well done, Google)
We’ve compiled a list of seven practical ways you can grow your store and get one (or seven) step closer to your yacht dream. Many of these come down to the basics.
1. Product reality check
Here’s the thing – if you’re not selling the right product, no amount of marketing will increase your sales. That may sound harsh, but it’s an important reality check.
One of the top skills among successful entrepreneurs is their ability and willingness to pivot when they realize something is not working. So, take a moment to check in and think about how well your product is selling right now.
Is their potential for growth? Do people like your product? Does it stand out from the competition, or is it just another face (or print-on-demand t-shirt) in the crowd?
Visit the RedBat YouTube channel for examples of small e-commerce stores that outrank giants like Amazon.
Are you selling too much?
Some entrepreneurs go the route of selling hundreds of products on their site, reasoning that the more products they have, the wider the pool of shoppers they can appeal to.
It’s hard to reason this isn’t a good idea with giants like Amazon and, more recently, Shein around. It’s fair enough if you have the time and resources for it.
But generally, focusing on a small number of related products (or, even better, just one) means you know that product better than anyone else. You understand your customer and their pain points.
Here’s a great example of an online sauna store.
2. Is your website good enough to convince me to part ways with my hard-earned cash?
There is so much to say here, but we all spend enough time shopping online to have a solid idea of what we like and don’t like. So visit your online store from the perspective of a potential customer (or ask your team or family and friends to do so).
If you need some inspiration, visit various ecommerce sites and make a list of what’s working and what’s not. Then apply those lessons to your store. Afterall, a good user experience is essential to online sales.
Here are some questions to get you started.
- Is it easy to find what I’m looking for?
- Am I annoyed by how long a product page is taking to load?
- Are there enough high quality product images so I know exactly what I’m buying?
- What makes my site different from other sites in this niche?
- Does my store look just as fabulous on a mobile phone or tablet?
- Does my chosen ecommerce platform offer enough diversity and plugins for me to create the site I want, or is it too limiting? Is it time for a change?
- What’s the site’s overall feel? Is it professional?
The next question deserves its own section in the article:
3. Does my checkout process send customers running?
You’re casually browsing the internet for new sneakers and have found a pair you’d like to save in the checkout basket (as a shortlist). Hmmph. You first have to register an account before adding an item to your cart. That’s kind of annoying, right?
If you want more customers to complete the checkout process, you need to make it as simple and easy for them as possible. While we’re trying to gather as much information as possible for marketing purposes, people are tired of being bombarded with ads and sign-ups and more than slightly concerned about giving out personal info every time they look at a trainer. (and so they should be)
On another note, have you ever been frustrated by having to wait until the end of the checkout process to find out when the item will be delivered and how much the shipping costs are?
What you thought was a bargain has turned out to be more expensive than going to a brick and mortar store now that shipping’s been added. How likely are you to return to that site in the future? Not very.
When tweaking your checkout process, focus on being transparent and providing as much information as possible, including your shipping and return policies.
Speaking of return policies…
The more attractive your return policy is, the more likely you’ll sell more products. Most people today expect to be able to return goods at no cost to themselves.
Do your research though into what consumers would be willing to pay for. A study by Asena found that 44% of shoppers in India would pay a membership fee that includes free returns, while 37% of customers in Germany would be willing to pay a return fee. [2]
4. Be the king of after-sales service.
What does after-sales service have to do with a marketing strategy?
Good question. Don’t you appreciate it when you’ve ordered something online and you can track exactly where it is and when it will be delivered? Of course you do. It leaves you with a good impression and builds trust that your ordered item is on its way.
People will be back for more when they have a positive experience and timely delivery. Or, at the very least, the next time their buddy at the gym mentions trainers, you’ll be the e-commerce store they recommend.
Of course, this is not just limited to deliveries but also customer queries. The sooner you respond and the more helpful you are, all builds trust. And trust builds sales.
5. Get more customers to your site.
By now, I’m guessing you’ve set up some sort of social media marketing. After your site, it’s usually the first thing people focus on and for good reason. It can cost as much or as little as what you can afford. It can be a highly effective way to advertise your brand and get traffic to your site.
So, let’s focus on something many ecommerce site owners sometimes overlook – SEO.
SEO can mean many different things, from technical aspects like page loading times to on-page aspects like optimizing your images and product descriptions.
Here are 2 SEO strategies that won’t break the bank but can move the needle:
URL slugs
This may sound too simple to matter, but URL slugs are important. Have you noticed how many website pages have a weird string of numbers in their URL? Here’s an example of what your URLs should look like:
Homepage: https://www.welovedogs.com
Category: https://www.welovedogs.com/collars
Subcategory: https://www.welovedogs.com/collars/tactical
Product: https://www.welovedogs.com/collars/tactical/blue
For more info, here are some e-com URL best practices according to Google.
Put simply, the better your URL structure, the easier it is for Google bots to understand what you’re selling. And the better they understand your product, the greater the chances of it ranking.
Blog articles
Why does an e-commerce store need a blog section?
If we use the example of a site that sells dog apparel, a person googling the term “puppy growth stages” may not even be thinking about dog hoodies. But a blog article on your site appears in first position, they click on it and find a helpful article with adorable images of dogs in hoodies and Ka-ching! They’re the proud owner of a matching pair of human and dog hoodies.
So don’t overlook the importance of relevant blog content to boost ecommerce sales. Sure, you can and should target keywords like “dog hoodies” in paid and organic searches, but without a great blog section, you’ll be missing out on a whole section of prospective customers who didn’t even know they needed (or wanted) your product.
Blog articles also make it possible to target long-tail keywords, such as “best dog collars for bulldogs.” This keyword will have much less competition than “dog collars,” but it can still result in a sale.
Circling back to social media platforms – Don’t get caught in the trap of spreading yourself too thin. Your website is your most important salesman. Start here and then spread your resources elsewhere. If you need help, get an Ecommerce SEO Strategy Audit to get you on the right track. Or, if you want to learn how to do this all by yourself, you could check out our recommended ecommerce seo courses page.
6. Build trust with reviews.
This can be tricky in 2024. There are just too many fake reviews out there, and it’s almost impossible to tell them apart from the real deal.
Here’s a real shocker: According to a recent study that examined 33.5 million reviews for bestselling products on Amazon, almost every other of those, or 43%, were fake. [1]
So how do you, as an ecommerce store, build trust in your site and your product? Be a part of the solution, not the problem. Resist the urge to generate fake or paid reviews and go about it the old-fashioned way.
Provide excellent customer service, sell a high-quality product, and genuinely care about your customers. Testimonials will come rolling in. This is not to say you shouldn’t encourage it—people are busier than ever, so a gentle nudge to leave a review will be needed. Your loyal customers will be happy to help.
Even though people are reading reviews with a more critical eye, they are still an important buying factor. Because the truth is, when it comes to an ecommerce store, reviews are all we have to go on. There’s no visiting the physical store to see if it exists or how friendly and helpful the sales team is.
Customer Feedback
Feedback from your existing customers can tell you more about how to increase sales than most strategies. They will tell you if your product doesn’t match the description, how they feel about your customer service and how easy the whole buying process was. They are an invaluable source of information that you should absolutely tap into.
7. Does email marketing still work?
Yes, if done right.
People are spammed with all sorts of information every single day. So before you send out a set of emails, ensure it’s worth sending. Or all you’ll do is alienate your customers and cause them to hit that unsubscribe button.
Here’s what’s great about email marketing – a person willingly signed up for your newsletter.
Here’s what’s not great about it – I’d say in 90% of cases, although I sign up for an email newsletter in the moment, I often unsubscribe within 1-2 emails. Is it just me?
So, your emails have to be nothing short of spectacular. If you’re selling cute dog clothing, that’s not hard to do. If you’re selling couches, it’s more challenging.
Although you want to keep your text and visuals reasonably simple, remember to inject personality into the email. Tell a story the reader can relate to. Make them laugh. And most importantly, don’t send too many emails!
Welcome them to the team, let them know when you’re running a killer sale and get their attention again after a quiet period with a new product promo. That’s it. Remember that when someone signs up for a newsletter, they’re not looking for a new best friend. So don’t be weird and clingy.
Summary
We’ve discussed seven practical ways to increase ecommerce sales. And hopefully, you’re walking away with at least one or two points to apply right away.
Although ecommerce sales are expected to grow, you will have more competitors than ever before. It’s important to be at the top of your game if you’re going to stand out from the crowd. And with a bit of creativity and hard work, it can be done.
Just as important is partnering with the right people who are as passionate about your business growth as you are. At the RedBat SEO Agency , we want to help you succeed. We offer a variety of services, including link building, content writing and existing page optimizations. You can see our packages here or fill out a contact form to see if we’re a good fit.
