Blog

Top Tips for Increasing Sales with Ecommerce

Ecommerce has come a long way in the past 3-5 years.

From being something that was done by only large companies with big budgets to now being available to any business or hobbyist, the barriers to selling online have come down significantly.

Another shift has been the increasing comfort level of consumers with making purchases online.  People are now generally comfortable making online purchases on the web, and purchases via tablet and mobile devices is surging.  As such, ecommerce can be a great way for businesses to expand their sales.  Particularly for local companies, the move to add ecommerce to their website can help them grow their potential client base from simply local to nationwide or even global.

Here's some key tips for making the move to ecommerce and improving your ecommerce sales.

Select the Right Ecommerce Site

Not all ecommerce websites are created equal!

Do your research related to the types of features you need.  Will your product need shipping via one carrier like UPS or multiple carriers?  Another key is whether the ecommerce system supports international shipping If you plan to sell globally.  Other items to consider are how many products and categories you can display and if the examples offered reflect the way you want to display your products related to text descriptions and images.  As well, does the site work on tablets and have a mobile version if accessed by mobile users?  Costs can range significantly, depending on features needed and noting that the less complexity you need, the less expensive the cost.

Drive Social Traffic to the Website

facebook-tumblr-twitter-pinterest-google

Once you have selected a ecommerce vendor and have added your products, the next key is driving traffic to the site.  Items for consideration to help drive traffic are email marketing, social media sharing, blogging about your products, using Google Ads or Facebook Ads, and even creating videos about your product that link to your ecommerce website. Marketing the site is huge and must be ongoing.

Having a Facebook Page and sharing updates about new products or specials as News Feed updates can help.  Ensuring you have social sharing buttons on your website so that any product can be "Liked", tweeted, shared on Google Plus, and other social sites is an important item to implement.  Make it easy to share your products!  Having a YouTube Channel with a product demo videos, overviews, and more can be valuable.  Consider a Instagram account and share product images and videos as well.  It's not just about sharing your product information, however, as social media is to be inherently social, not just pushing product information!  Listen socially for questions to keys that your product solves and then reach out to be helpful and answer questions.

Another social media platform to drive traffic to your site can be Pinterest.  Having boards with product images can boost awareness and drive traffic back to your site.

Social Media can be huge in increasing traffic and ultimately sales!

Add Shopping Cart to your Facebook Page,

Another idea is to add your ecommerce site to your company Facebook page with a tool like TabSite's Website ReSizer app.  You can check it out here ->> Tabsite Website Resizer Application Announcement

In summary it enables you to very quickly use your shopping cart page from your website and embed it into Facebook in a matter of minutes. Then users can direct traffic via news feed posts on Facebook to the tab so that Facebook users can shop right on the tab without ever leaving Facebook!

View the video below for example uses and setup demonstration

 

Establish Trust

People are more apt to purchase from a site that makes them feel comfortable, addresses their questions, and provides enough detail about the products and the company to help them feel secure.  This means having company information, perhaps photos of the team to personalize the experience, and answers to frequently asked questions readily available.  Another idea is to add testimonials from pleased customers to allow new visitors to read and identify  with.

 

Keep it Simple

The site needs to have a simple process for visitors to find what they want, make selections and checkout.  Too many ecommerce sites have high bailout rates where visitors start a purchase process but because of the many steps or confusing details they bail out.  This is a lost sale that was almost there!  A general rule of thumb is to keep the sales ordering and checkout process as smooth, basic, and simple as possible.  While offering related products for an "upsell" to buy more can be helpful, this must be balanced because it can also distract the visitor from finishing the order!

 

Follow-up with Future Email Marketing Offers

One of the best sources of future sales for an ecommerce site is prior customers!  Your ecommerce site needs to have ability to save the email address of customers and provide a opt-in box they check during checkout to receive future special offers.  This then must be able to be exported or transferred to your email marketing  software so that on a regular basis, such as weekly, a email can be sent to all previous buyers with a offer such as a discount code or notice of a item on special.

Local businesses can benefit greatly from the advances in ecommerce opportunities.  The ability to reach more people and extend sales from regional to national and beyond can be a great way for businesses to grow.

Blog Categories

nordvpn

Recent Posts

flippa
Search Site
© 2012-2023 Mike Gingerich Global, LLC    Contact   -   Privacy
magnifier linkedin facebook pinterest youtube rss twitter instagram facebook-blank rss-blank linkedin-blank pinterest youtube twitter instagram