Selling products is not as easy as putting them online and hoping they sell. If you want to meet sales targets and maintain an upwards trajectory for your business, you'll have to evolve and adapt. Market trends are ever-changing due to the increase in demand from consumers. Multiple systems should be in place and working in harmony for your business to thrive.
What are these systems? If you are struggling to shift products, what could you be doing so wrong? Below are the main reasons why a business fails to make sales and what can be done to turn things around.
If you're a small business struggling to make sales, it could be because you haven't had the guidance that you need. An online business consultant would pick apart your business and provide a plan of action to follow. There is no amount of Googling that can prepare you for managing a business and making sales. A business consultant has all of the knowledge and information to provide you with a glimmer of hope.
From website development to online merchandising, a consultant will guide you on it all. You need to ensure you hire a consultant who has experience with your business niche and understands your business and the way you're selling products. If you're using specific shopping cart services, such as Shopify Plus, you'll want to work with someone knowledgeable in that area.
To be able to work alongside them successfully, there also needs to be some sort of working relationship. Be flexible and open to their suggestions, especially if you are trying to market an unbranded product. You will need a consultant who has experience creating market demand when there is otherwise not one.
You can't successfully sell products online without brand and product exposure. You need to have strong marketing campaigns in place, one of them being a form of SEO marketing. SEO stands for search engine optimization. It gives you the chance of ranking for specific keywords and gaining more exposure.
The way to look at it is like this. If you are selling hot tubs, there will be keywords people search from related to that topic. It might be inflatable hot tubs or outdoor hot tubs. The way to find out what keywords relate to your product is by using online services such as Surfer SEO. This will tell you the keywords you need to be ranking for.
You could try using SEO consultancy services. SEO consultancy services focus on specific SEO tactics such as blogger outreach. Blogger outreach focuses on placing links to your website or products naturally within the blog post content. The idea behind it is that the more links you have the higher you're going to rank. Internet bots scour the web for relevant links that prove the authority of a website. That means your backlink profile is super important.
This is something an SEO consultancy service would be able to discuss with you in more detail. If you don't have one already, create a company blog. Here, you can post relevant and interesting content relating to your business. The more content there is on the internet about your business or products, the more search engines will recognize and rank your brand.
Selling products online means you need to find ways to be on every platform. The digital world demands a business to advertise products across all platforms. Most small businesses can be found on platforms such as Facebook and Twitter, but apps are neglected.
Studies have found that 74% of users open e-commerce apps to buy products. That's because it is just so much easier. There are still some websites that don't support mobile browsing, making it difficult to shop online. Studies also show that 79% of people now shop using e-commerce apps over website browsing. That's a huge number that you'll be discounting if you don't have a mobile app for your business.
As you can tell, it's well worth investing! Plus, it looks far more professional if you have an e-commerce app as well as a well-designed website. It is also crucial to ensure your app supports all mobile phones. Try to have an app designed with both IOS and android in mind. Some brands make the mistake of optimizing their app to only IOS systems.
Going back to social media platforms, there should be an emphasis on interesting and engaging content that's consistently posted. If you find it hard to consistently post content, you could work with social media marketing experts that will create content and manage your social media platforms for you.
Customers want to be able to reach you 24/7. If they can't reach you when they need you, they will find a competitor they can get in contact with. Shopping in the modern day is fast-paced, and people want something when they want it. They don't want to have to wait days for an email response about a query. One way of solving this and make your business appear more professional is to use online chat services.
You won't be online 24/7, but you'll be far easier to reach than through emails. It is a current market trend to have an online chat service. All big brands have some form of online chat that their customers can access instantly. Online chat services are easy to set up, but if you can't, consider other ways of making yourself more available to customers.
Whether it is advertising that you have fast response times on social media or that you will reply to emails within 24 hours, you have to find a way of ensuring your customers aren't waiting for you. If you aren't responding to them, someone else will.
It is important to remember that having a steady flow of sales is a marathon, not a sprint. You will adapt and change business processes along the way that improve your customer reach and increase your sales.
