An e-commerce site without sales is like a smartphone without apps; a car without wheels; YouTube without all the cute cat videos. Standing out from the crowd and getting customers in an increasingly crowded arena is the ultimate challenge facing e-commerce store owners. And yet driving sales to your site and generating sales has never been more attainable.
The trend for people heading online with credit card in hand, ready to shop for everything from handbags to hardwood floors, is on the rise. This industry is growing by 19% every year and is estimated to be worth $1.4 trillion; enough for everyone to enjoy a slice of the pie.
If your site is lacking in those all-important sales, here are a few ways you can get back in the game and start enjoying your share of the pie.
Get Down with Social Media
Social media as a viable concept has been established for well over ten years now. In that time, countless businesses have utilised the power of these platforms to drive traffic and generate sales for their business. Yet, some e-commerce site owners remain resistant to social media.
If you have avoided getting social thus far, or you have simply gone through the process, set up a few accounts and little else, now is the time to pay attention. If you want to increase sales, you need to focus much of your attention on developing your brand through the social channels.
Facebook is the leader at driving retail leads with 60% of traffic coming from this platform alone. If your resources and time are limited, you can still benefit greatly from focusing your efforts solely on Facebook.
Don’t Just Sell, Cross-sell
The most successful online retail companies focus heavily on cross-selling. This concept is taken directly from offline retail businesses. You see cross-selling in action when you are in the queue to pay for your goods at the supermarket, or when you fill up your car with gas. Those tasty chocolate treats on offer at the counter are not just there by coincidence.
Amazon provides a good example of online cross-selling at its best. If a customer is viewing a blue-ray player, for example, they will also see offers for extended warranties and “Prime Video”, the perfect match for the item they are interested in.
If done right, cross-selling encourages customers to spend more money and can double, or even triple your average sales figure.
Target Key Personas
In order to turn your website into an effective sales machine, you need to identify key personas and target them effectively. You should be able to identify these personas through user research. Once you have identified them you can target them with relevant content and themes via your home and landing pages.
For example, if your e-commerce site serves the tech consumer gadget market, your research might tell you that your market likes new, branded products. As a result, you could highlight new, featured products from brands like Apple on your homepage.
Remove Barriers to Purchase
One of the biggest issues preventing you from getting sales might be self-imposed barriers to purchase. How many clicks does your customer need before they are at your checkout? Do they have to fill out a lengthy registration form before they even begin to enter their card details?
Too many clicks and frustrating registration forms are two ways to ensure that a potential customer abandons a purchase on your e-commerce site. The optimal amount of clicks for a customer to complete a purchase is two, but three should be considered the maximum. Give customers the option to register after they have made a purchase because the sale is surely more important.
The key to a successful e-commerce site is to constantly test, track and adjust. So there you have it. Start implementing these tips today and watch as your sales begin to increase.
By Tim Clough, Tekfirst.
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