5 Ways to Increase Ecommerce Sales

It goes without saying that one of the goals of running an e-commerce store is to generate revenue. Of course, you do it because you love it, but you want to make money off of it too, right? That's the whole point: to generate income on your terms and be your own boss. It's a dream come true! Unfortunately, it isn't always as easy as all that. Generating revenue for your business takes work and sometimes seems an impossible feat. With all the competition out there, it's always difficult to discern how best to generate sales for your own company, but not to worry. The road gets easier and I'm here to share some ways that you can increase sales on your ecommerce site.

1. "Early to bed, early to rise, work like hell, and advertise"

There's no way around it: one simply cannot do without advertising. There are those rare occasions where business are able to succeed by other means, but overall, you'd do well to count on advertising. Advertising is great in the sense that it reaches various demographics that you might not have even considered or have been able to reach through other channels. Sometimes, advertising can seem like a lot of work, or a sticky and annoying mess, but I assure you that it's neither. It can be your ace in the hole and almost always pays for itself.

Traditional advertising does not have to be your only means of advertising. In fact, in some case, it need not even be considered. I use myself as an example. I love The Elephant Pants. They are some of the comfiest pants I have ever had the pleasure to wear. I found them through Facebook. I hardly ever read magazines (it's an even more rare occurrence than a blue moon) and I don't encounter TV ads too often (thank you, streaming services [except Hulu]!!!), so how would a company expect to reach someone like me? The answer: social media.

Social media is a great platform on which to advertise. There is no shortage of ways to utilize social media: you could go with basic advertising, or you could employ the use of influencer marketing. Influencer marketing is a great way to use the skills of social media users while also facilitating the need to advertise. Using advertising, you could easily see a bump in sales. So, do your research, find out which is the best method for you, and go for it.

2. Decrease cart abandonment

One of the biggest reasons that you might be hemorrhaging money is because of cart abandonment. It is an issue that many ecommerce store owners face. Consumers are incredibly likely to put items in a cart and never actually end up buying them. This could be for a multitude of reasons: lack of trust in the buying process, shipping costs, time-consuming checkout processes. The list goes on. This is an issue particular to ecommerce sites since brick and mortar stores don't have to deal with this problem as intensely.

If a customer is in the store with items in their cart, chances are high that they will purchase at least some of those items even if a few are put back. Cart abandonment is not necessarily costing you money, but it's definitely not gaining you any. By calculating just how many of your consumers abandon their carts, you'll find the biggest source of why your sales may not be increasing. Taking the necessary steps to decrease cart abandonment will surely increase your site's sales revenue.

3. Increase trust in your website

One of the reasons that consumers shy away from certain sites is because they lack faith in how safe the site is. It seems like a such a small thing, but it's really not. If consumers do not believe your site to be safe and trustworthy, they are less likely to visit and continue to return. No one wants to get scammed out of their hard-earned money by using a faux website, nor do they want to open themselves up to the possibility that their computer will contract a virus. All of these scenarios are scary for customers and, whether you want to call it simple paranoia or not, it could be costing your company money.

One of the most effective ways to increase trust is to attach various security badges to your website.

If customers are able to identify the safety of a website, their defense is lowered and they are more likely to browse your website. If a customer cannot, however, identify these things, they are less likely to spend time on your website. Additionally, you could employ the use of customer testimonials and reviews.

4. Utilize shoppable posts

As mentioned, social media platforms are a vast source of convenience for the ecommerce store owner. It will do a decent amount of the work for you. Not only can you use it to advertise, but you can also use it as a catalogue of sorts. Shoppable posts apply various items from an ecommerce store's website to posts on social media platforms, particularly Instagram. Many brick and mortar stores have catalogs that consumers can browse, but being an ecommerce store, you won't likely have a hard copy of a catalog, though it's not impossible.

Sure, consumers can visit your website and browse your items there, but what if they don't know about your website?How will you get them to your site in the first place? Think about a Macy's catalog. Consumers can browse the items and then decide if they want to go to the store, or website, and discover more. Creating shoppable posts can have a similar benefit for you.

Shoppable posts are slightly different, however, because a consumer can come across one of these beauties, like what they see, and purchase the item without ever having to leave the platform where they encountered the post. This gives you the edge over brick and mortar stores because, in the event the consumer doesn't want to get out of their own way and go to the store or website, they never actually get to see whats in store for them. Because the consumer doesn't have to go out of their way to get to your site and purchase items, it increases the chances of them purchasing your product and is a winner for you since it'll increase your revenue.

5. Loyalty Programs

What keeps a consumer returning? What keeps a consumer recommending a particular site or brand? Loyalty, loyalty, loyalty. Loyalty is one of those things that people want in virtually every aspect of their life, including their shopping. Customers will demonstrate their loyalty to you once you've demonstrated your loyalty to them. A good way to do this is through a loyalty program such as coupons, a membership, or points program.

Customers are more likely to utilize your site over your competition if they know that there if a benefit involved. Let's take a general look at Walgreens vs. CVS. Let's ignore the general convenience of one opposed to the other in regards to location for a second and look solely at their loyalty programs. CVS does have a program, the ExtraCare card. Walgreens has a points based system.

With CVS, you can earn ExtraBucks by fulfilling certain requirements. Sometimes you'll receive them free and clear, but many times you have to work for them. At Walgreens, you get points from every purchase that you can use toward future purchases. The Walgreens points also don't expire as quickly as CVS ExtraBucks. Which are you more likely to choose? If you have a consumer who is debating between your site or the competition, know that they will go with the company with the least amount of hassle and the more beneficial rewards program, if applicable.

Conclusion

There are so many other ways to increase sales on your site, simply do the research and you can find so many other ways. These are by no means the only ones, just some of the more prominent ways. Some of these are issues that consumers encounter on a daily basis and are the dealbreaker behind their decision-making processes. Making the choice easier for consumers is sure to change your sales for the better.

Tags: ecommerce, business, sales