post by:
Michael Goldstein
Don’t assume you have to spend a ton of money to increase your eCommerce sales. In the long run you have already spent enough money by this point and you’re ready to see fast results. The only way to increase your sales to see fast cash is to scale your business. Contrary to popular belief, you don’t have to make expensive changes to your website, inventory, or marketing strategies to generate a huge influx in sales. In fact, you can stick to a budget so you don’t outspend the revenue coming in right now.
Automation and AI Services
While you may have to dole out some cash upfront, utilizing automation and AI services open up a new world of customer service. And happy customers are returning customers.
Chatbots are the first line interaction with your customers once they reach your website. AI technology used with chatbots can help your customers make informed choices and lead them to making a purchase more often than if the customer was left to their own devices. You could increase your sales by up to 67% with chatbots and AI product recommendations.
While you’re at it, program an option for your AI triggers to prompt the customer to set up a reorder or subscription to guarantee future revenue.
Sales and Discounts
Over two-thirds of customers found a coupon in a circular or an email and made an unplanned purchase to use that coupon. Discounts and coupons are huge motivators for customers and a great way to move your inventory. If you want to get rid of underselling inventory to make way for new products, purging them through discounts will help clear the shelves quickly.
Additionally, offering loyalty or reward points for purchases helps encourage customers to spend more money. But also consider those customers that aren’t ready for another onslaught of emails. Instead, add banners or pop ups to their shopping cart: Want free shipping? Spend $25 more! What about a ‘spend more, save more’ program (“buy 1 item for $10 or two items for $15”)?
Meet Customers on Their Level (Improve Content Sources)
Social media presence is a must these days, and if you are not trying to reach your customers through Facebook, Instagram, or even Snapchat then you’re hardly reaching them at all. Here you can showcase your products, answer common questions, and even promote/share pictures and videos of customers using items you sold (people love recognition from brands – it makes them feel like an “influencer”).
You should also update your website with content that makes you more recognizable to search engine algorithms. This is called Search Engine Optimization (SEO) where you enhance your content with specific keywords, articles, and images that helps give you a higher ranking in the search results.
Simplify Your Checkout
Once they make a decision to purchase from your store, the consumer wants it as soon as yesterday. 26% of customers will abandon their shopping cart if the check out process is too complicated or tedious.
One way major eCommerce platforms have combatted this problem is through “buy now” options. “Buy now” buttons work great for customers that have previously shopped with you and have saved their payment information in your system. Not everyone wants their info saved, though, so having a “guest” option to complete checkout helps that type of customer feel safe and secure.
But for those new or “guest” customers, you want to make your checkout process as clear, concise, and easy to follow as possible. Utilizing multiple or expanding pages through checkout helps keep the customer stay focused compared to facing lengthy forms.
Utilize Reviews
User reviews and verified purchaser reviews are essential to promoting the quality of your product. Between 65-90% of consumers consult the reviews section before making a purchase – which means you need to start collecting your top reviews.
It can be challenging to get customers to write good reviews on their own. For some reason everyone wants to tell the world about a bad experience, but keeps the good ones to themselves. One way to change that is to follow up purchases with quality assurance emails and requesting the customer review their experience with a star rating and comment. You could sweeten the pot by creating incentives – discounts, special offers, the chance to be featured on your social media page. Then make sure to pull the 5-star reviews from all your selling platforms to showcase them on your website or main platform page.
Pay for Advertising
We said these options were low-cost, not free. Honestly, paid advertising does not have to break the bank and will actually pay for itself in sales. Paid advertising exposes your business to more potential customers, bringing them to your website or landing page through affiliate links.
Social media advertising is incredibly flexible and allows you to manage when and how long an ad will run, allowing you to only pay for a certain number of days. Another option is to reach a certain amount of social media accounts with your ad. You can choose a range of how many accounts you want to reach and the platform will present your ad in the feed of people who fit the algorithm.
Google Ads are another popular choice which also allow you to pay only based on how long you want your ads to run and how many people you want to reach. Google is not strictly limited to social media so you have a better chance of popping up at the top of search engine results.
Paid advertisements are essential when you are conducting A/B testing to determine which ad produces better results. Without paid advertising, your customer reach may be restricted and not help you zero in on what works and what is a flop.
Make Your Store Accessible
If you want to make sales fast, you need to make sure customers can find and access your store without difficulty. This includes app integration so they aren’t waiting for browser pages to load, easy checkout through social media shopping, or even text-based integration so they can make purchases or fill out reviews without accessing the internet.
Part of accessibility is ensuring your website is running smoothly. Find the bugs and the hiccups (like those pesky 404: Page Not Found) are removed and replaced with features that function seamlessly. Upgrade your website to include faster service and processing. In the end, you will find that a customer who has a positive experience with your business is likely to spend more money and/or return to your store in the future.