As an ecommerce business, driving sales should be a key focus. For those looking to increase sales, here are ten actionable tips to try.
Treat the Web as Your Primary Marketing Tool
Brands and manufacturers should not only invest in their digital experience & digital marketing because of the directly attributed revenue it generates but also for its impact on overall company sales.
People tend to start the research process online regardless of where shoppers plan to buy items. Brands should invest in staff, technology, and marketing to support their brand and grow digital sales. The web can be a source of inspiration & research.
Balance Short-Term and Long-Term Marketing Investments
To maximize profitability, brands should invest in short and long-term marketing tactics. Although it can be tempting to focus on paid search because it can be activated quickly,
investing in channels like SEO and triggered email is essential. Without focusing on the upper funnel, a brand’s growth is hard.
Ideally, brands should focus on lifetime value instead of just first-order profitability.
Manage Inventory Based on Web Sales
One of the most common issues we run into is poor inventory planning. Brands should not plan their inventory based on a percentage of total company sales.
Instead, brands should treat their website as the flagship store and plan inventory based on what sells online. Dedicated planning will help ensure your most important store doesn’t run out of stock on best sellers. You’ll also want to protect the inventory from being picked off by other sales channels.
Control the Grey Market
eCommerce marketplaces like Amazon are massive, and some of your wholesalers may be tempted to sell your brand’s products online. Wholesalers may list products at a discount to win the buy box, breaking MAP. Brands should take control of their presence on Amazon and ensure that suggested retail pricing is not undercut.
Evaluate Marketing Investment’s Impact on All Channels
Investing in digital will increase direct-to-consumer sales and total product sales across different channels. Brands should keep an eye on sales through all media, including Amazon, stores, and other retailers, and factor in phone sales if they are not reflected in analytics and digital marketing reporting.
Once you have a good handle on the impact of marketing dollars on other channels, it’s easier to invest appropriately. Some products lend themselves more to in-store purchases. Still, because people start the research process online (including looking for the nearest nearby location to buy), it’s essential to make sure you have a presence on Google and other search engines and social sites.
Capture Feedback Early and Often
Brands have become better about capturing ratings & review information on products. These are important for your internal team – knowing how buyers feel about what they bought – and adding social proof.
But, brands should also measure additional types of customer feedback like net promoter score (NPS). NPS and other KPIs, like Perfect Order, can help brands identify fulfillment, delivery, or customer care issues.
Ideally, brands should capture NPS and feedback from all website visitors, not just those who complete a purchase, but they should be able to segment the input. Gathering feedback early can help brands improve their product and services. Customers can also act like a large QA team and help identify errors or issues on the website.
Choose a Flexible eCommerce Platform.
Brands should choose an eCommerce platform that allows them to focus on what they’re best at. Companies often pick platforms that require development or IT support for even the most minor changes.
While the flexibility may seem incredible, this can lead to frustration, a lack of a/b testing, and slow innovation. Platforms like Shopify Plus allow marketing and merchandising teams to focus on selling, not development.
Give a Portion of eCommerce Sales Back to Non-Profits.
Be transparent with your audience about your team’s goal and mission to donate part of the revenue from every eCommerce sale to a non-profit.
Donating a percentage of sales to support your community–or an effort necessary to your brand–helps inspire your team. It also provides funds to a non-profit in need of support and is a win for the customer.
Either way, your customer would buy a product from your or a competing website. Now, with your eCommerce store, they can also give back when making the same purchase by supporting a non-profit simultaneously. Look for apps that add a “round up” feature to checkout or give back a percentage.
Feature Engaging Content on Category or Collection Pages
Creating engaging content on category or collection pages can help improve eCommerce sales.
This copy leads to increased search visibility and more website traffic. The new organic website visitors are unique opportunities to increase revenue.
This content can also be home to Calls-to-action (CTAs) to current or seasonal sales. These CTAs can also create awareness of new products in a particular category.
On Shopify, eCommerce stores can use the rich text editor to add this category page or collections copy.
Incorporate Reviews and Customer Testimonials on Product Pages
The goal of your conversion funnel is to remove reasons why a user would leave a product page. Searching for a product review or customer testimonial about the product they are shopping for is a reason for bouncing.
Product pages with Google 5-star ratings or testimonials drive more engagement and build trust. These trust elements describe the experience users had with your product. Incorporating user experiences with your product page improves website stickiness.
The more you can do to explain the value behind your product, the better. Including testimonials on a product page describes that value.
