10 techniques to sell more in your online store
Do you want to increase the sales of your online store? Adopting a strategy encompassing several areas is essential, however, some small isolated practices can make a big difference in billing at the end of the month, if well applied, since they'll help win and retain customers.
There are several techniques we can use to boost the growth of an online store, but we'll provide you 10 that certainly will have a very significant impact on the success of yours.
1. Mobile optimization - Mobile Commerce
Smartphone purchases are becoming more and more pronounced in e-commerce- in Portugal, in the last 2 years alone, mobile device search relative to the keyword “where to buy” has grown 188%. Therefore, it is very important to choose a platform with a design that fits perfectly with the different screen sizes, thus facilitating and improving the user experience.
2. Presentation of the product
Often, when buying online, customers have never seen the product physically. Therefore, it is very important to make a presentation that values the article, but also shows its dimensions, colors, texture, etc. Displaying images from various angles and allowing to zoom in is already a good starting point, however, you can further improve the product page through a video. For example, an interactive video where the product is shown in a day by day context will give a more approximate idea of the actual size of the object as well as its performance.
3. Optimization of the checkout process
One of the main causes of purchase abandonment in the checkout stage is the slowness of the process. To avoid losing sales, checkout pages should load quickly, forms should be easy to fill in and with as few steps as possible. Basically, the process must be quick and simple, so that it does not hinder the completion of the sale.
4. Abandoned cart emails
Abandoned shopping carts are a major problem in e-commerce, as on average 67% of purchases are abandoned before the customer finishes payment. This number shows that your sales are 1/3 of what was expected. To counter the tendency, you must send abandoned cart emails to all your customers who have added products to the cart but have not finished the purchase. It's important that this email includes the list of products left in the cart and that it allows customers to finish the purchase in a simple and quick way. As a complement to the email, you can also choose to send an SMS to the customer with the payment data.
5. Product availability alert
In addition to abandoned cart emails, stock replacement alerts are an excellent way to recover sales that would possibly be lost. It's often for a customer to try to purchase a specific product of a certain color and / or size, in a variation that is not available momentarily. In these cases, and in order to try to regain these sales, we should set up a stock replacement warning system. To do this, just add a field to the product page where customers leave an email and an indication of the characteristics of the desired product. At the exact moment the replacement occurs, the customer receives an email notification with a direct link to the product. In this case, it's important not to forget that the longer the stock replacement takes, the less chance the sale will take.
6. Fair and clear return and exchange policy
Studies show that 66% of the customers check the online store's exchange and return policy before making a purchase. For this reason, it's very important that your store presents a page where every return process is explained clearly. These kinds of policies should also be fair to the customer- for example, did you know that a free return and exchange policy will boost sales and retain customers? In fact, about 95% of the customers claim to buy back in a particular store, after having a positive experience with an exchange or return.
7. Discounts
Discounts are one of the most valuable persuasion tools in online sales. After all, who doesn't like to buy the same product for a more affordable price? Here are some examples of the most common promotions in e-commerce:
- Free shipping;
- Purchase one product and take another for free;
- Free gifts or samples;
- Discount coupons;
- Discounts based on percentages;
- Quantity discounts;
- Point accumulation system that can be exchanged for products later.
There are numerous types of promotions and it's always important to analyze which best suits your business model and your target audience.
8. Comments / Reviews
One of the biggest challenges of e-commerce is the creation of a reliable bond with the customer, and genuine comments about the store and its products are an excellent tool to cement this link. Studies show that 79% of consumers rely both on the assessments they find in online shops and on a personal recommendation. This way, the positive and sincere reviews of your costumers will encourage new sales. To achieve this, all you have to do is meet the expectations of your costumers and then encourage them to leave a positive and impartial review in your store-this incentive can be, for example, an email sent a few days after the product's delivery.
9. Remarketing
Remarketing is an excellent feature that allows the display of content and ads to all those who have already had contact with the store or a campaign, but who for some reason have not finished the purchase. The audience where remarketing acts is extremely segmented and the main goal is to "refresh" the memory of those who have already been attracted by their products. There are several ad networks providing tools to start a remarketing campaign, the most common being Facebook Ads and Google Ads.
10. Online Advertising – Google Ads and Facebook Ads
To create a communication strategy it is important to know well the profile of your customers: where they live, what is their age group, what types of products they consume, how much they usually spend on online purchases, etc. To know this type of information, you can analyze all the data that customers make available and cross-check information. Once you get to know the needs of your customers it will be much easier to get them the products they seek through the channels they use most- Google, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Email, among others.
An online advertising strategy is essential in any e-commerce. Right now, the two major platforms that dominate online advertising are Google Ads and Facebook Ads.
Google Ads:
Google Ads is the largest PPC (pay-per-click) advertising platform, thus becoming the most used for paid search. Through the Google Ads platform brands have the possibility to stand out in Google and Youtube search engine searches, and also create remarketing campaigns, all for a segmented target audience. You can also campaign at Google Shopping, which is an excellent way to promote the store and find customers interested in that particular type of product. Google Ads works in an auction scheme, where advertisers offer money in exchange for clicks to their pages.
Facebook Ads:
Facebook Ads is the most efficient form of advertising when we talk about social networks. Since Facebook is the social network with the highest number of monthly active users, it's an excellent channel for the dissemination of brands. On Facebook Ads, unlike Google Ads, ads can have a wide variety of formats, not just text, which creates greater conversion possibilities. In addition, another major advantage is the segmentation power of this tool, which allows you to detail the target audience you want to achieve.