The global eCommerce market is expected to grow to five and a half trillion by next year. Regardless of your marketplace, there is a lot of growth potential. But the struggle is real when knowing how to do it.
If you are one of the many who struggle to make sales, we’ve got your guide. Check out our nine strategies for boosting eCommerce conversion rates. Whether you are an eCommerce veteran or new to sales, we’ve got tips for all experience levels.
Nine tactics to boost your eCommerce Sales
Before we get too far into the guide, it’s important to note that you won’t get anywhere if you don’t sell popular products. If you are looking for help finding profitable product ideas on sites like eBay, start with the linked guide. Once you identify your target niche, you can begin taking steps to improve your sales.
Popups
You already know popups can be a nuisance if browsing the internet. With the wrong shopper, you can scare most people away. However, there are a few exceptions to this rule.
The most significant exception is cart abandonment popups, which have the highest possible success rate of just above 15%. After all, these are viewed as simply friendly reminders, while standard popups feel more like a sign spinner paid on commission.
There are other effective methods as well:
- Those that use the word “free.”
- “Spinners” that offer a range of discounts
- Helpful guides in exchange for joining your email campaigns
By focusing on shopper-centric benefits, you don’t seem desperate. So always think of people first when creating your site’s popups.
Personalize your messages to your visitors
Messages tailored to your visitors will increase your odds of a sale. Seven out of ten customers only interact with customized messages.
You might think that this is too expensive. If you rely on a chatbot, you aren’t alone in having an automated system.
But CD Baby has proven that you can make it unique even in automated communications. The email is ridiculous, referring to “a hush” falling over the crowd as your CD gets sent out. It’s essential to focus on the little things.
Even in automated communications, having a bit of personality is crucial to connect with your customers. You can also use their first name, a remarkable first impression.
Use a live chat
About 70% of the world’s shoppers demand a live chat function. While you can infer whatever you want (confrontation is scary), this is an excellent example of functional flexibility.
If you work with your people and their preferences in communication, they are more likely to engage with you. Having a live chat appeals to the following groups:
- Busy folks who need to disengage from the conversation for a bit
- Those who prefer to avoid confrontation in the case of product defects
- People who don’t mind interacting with chatbots connected to knowledge bases
A live chat (one fielded by a chatbot) is an introduction that will save you time and money. If the customer can get their questions answered by a chatbot, that’s time saved. Also, live chat managers can often easily switch between multiple chats simultaneously.
Use a CRM system
Studies tell us that CRMs, or Customer Relationship Management Systems, can increase your revenue by almost half. CRM tools act as a one-stop solution for salespeople to remind themselves what they need to do next.
CRM comes in many different forms, but they all accomplish the same goal: making it easier to sell to your customer. This is because you can come to the same spot every day to remind yourself to check-in with customers as needed.
CRM toolset usually includes these features
- A contact database with automated email tracking
- Deals and leads combined in a single location
- Projects to ensure everyone knows what stage a prospect is on
- Marketing emails with awesome email templates built right into your CRM software.
With good CRM software, you spend less time jumping between applications to find your stats. It helps you manage this by combining the best marketing and communication elements.
Optimize your store (SEO)
SEO, or Search Engine Optimization, is the process of making your website or webpage most appealing to search engines. Using SEO is seen as the holy grail of recognition, as it indicates that the search engines used to recognize your value. Don't forget to also check the latest SEO report, follow the trends, and consult with experts, if needed.
SEO focuses on three general factors known as EAT:
- Expertise - How well do you know the topic
- Authoritativeness - Do other people know you as an expert?
- Trustworthiness - Do you provide valuable, accurate information?
This process typically goes into building a website with helpful content that brings your customers. If you are trying to optimize for eBay’s search engine (eCommerce SEO), EAT still applies. Creating videos using a clipmaker tool to present your business and its products or services can be an effective way to enhance your website's content and engage customers.
However, how you “EAT” involves creating fantastic customer service experiences. So getting positive customer reviews is a start, but you’ll also need to target a combination of primary and secondary keywords.
Use your marketplace’s search engine to search for how you think customers find your product. Pay attention to the autocomplete keywords (those that appear below the search bar as you start typing), as those might have long-tail potential. You can also use Google Trends API to see how others create product pages that rank well.
Showcase your top-selling items
When you sell in any marketplace, you always want to put the most effort into what sells well. Whether using promotional tools to boost those items or putting them at the top, finding a product you are known for will keep people coming back.
Your first goal is to understand how your chosen marketplace allows you to promote yourself. Typically, you’ll find these situations to be the most common:
- Advertising through PPC campaigns
- Social accounts
- Gaining organic exposure (SEO)
- Being the most recognized seller on a marketplace (eCommerce SEO)
It makes sense to put the most effort into what sells the best, especially if it offers consistent results. But know that the word is items; you won’t be able to feed your family long if you emphasize one thing. Instead, find complementary items within your niche that align with what you sell.
Be mobile-friendly
Eighty percent of mobile phone users make at least one purchase (often more) over six months. Given that most people own a smartphone, that’s a lot of eCommerce (even in “minimum” circumstances). So being mobile-friendly is a must.
Mobile-friendliness refers to your site’s ability to respond to mobile devices. Most site builders account for this, but having a mobile-friendly site theme is only half the battle.
You might ask, “how can I be mobile-friendly on my marketplace account?” Good question; here are some answers:
- Use short sentences and bulleted lists to avoid the “wall of text” issue.
- Stick with product images that work well on mobile devices
- Increase padding around your most important content (white space is typically good)
- Avoid overly complicated photos that don’t work well on small screens
Use email automation (Set up automatic email marketing campaigns)
From our CD Baby example, you know automated emails can be unique. Having engaging automated email campaigns can save you (almost) a full week of work per month.
But it isn’t enough to have automated emails telling people about confirmed orders and new sales. You’ve got to provide value.
Think of your current inbox and what emails stick out to you. Will you click the email that says “we want to talk about your car’s extended warranty” or an email that says, “Steve, we need to talk about protecting your car?”
Beyond that, your email shouldn’t just talk about the product. Instead, it should give people a reason to keep reading that appeals to them. Doing this establishes your value. So don’t just focus on sales; also provide helpful information and engaging stories.
Use scarcity tactics
If you are on the fence about a product, you might be more inclined to buy if you know there are only three left. Scarcity tactics remind people that your item is a limited-time deal, boosting their response by almost 40%.
During marketing emails, you can mention this during your sales announcements. Reminding people that supplies are limited and the sale will only be three days will encourage them to buy. That FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) is a powerful motivator.
You don’t want to ever seem manipulative. Instead, you just want to stick it like a friendly reminder. Ask yourself how you want to be reminded about these limited stock issues.
Connect your online store to social media accounts (and let them buy)
The social commerce market has surpassed $36 billion, meaning more people buy directly from their social media accounts. Knowing this, not connecting your marketplace accounts to your social pages is like leaving money on the table.
The same idea applies when you go to work, and your bosses get a food truck. If you go where the customers are, they will most likely want to buy from you.
The easier you make it on people, the more likely they will want to buy. So if you put that buy button right in their face on social media, you increase your chances. Combine this with a bit of scarcity and using the word free, and you might see some crazy sales.
Conclusion
Boosting your eCommerce sales is a relatively simple process but does require a bit of work. Provided you maintain an off-site presence and create reasons for people to stick around, you’ll gain a consistent buyer base.
We hope this guide helps you out when coming up with new ideas to boost sales. Thanks for reading.
