4 Successful Strategies to Grow eCommerce Sales
Whether you are brand new in the industry and just launching your own online store, or whether you have been in the game for a while, and looking to expand, your focus will be on your conversion rate and sales.
The world of eCommerce is evolving rapidly, with new tools, strategies, and solutions being born almost every single day. It is almost tough to keep up. And with the rapid growth and development of eCommerce, it is no wonder everything related to it needs to keep up.
Statistics show that by the end of 2020, retail eCommerce will have reached around $4.13 trillion with over 2 billion online buyers, and this is just the tip of the iceberg. With technology continually evolving and breaking new ground, it will simply make it easier, more reliable, and more convenient for more and more people to buy online.
With all this change and growth, it might be tough to know where to start. We thought we would take a look at what strategies you should be considering to heighten conversions and grow sales. From your marketing strategies to the layout of your site, there are a number of smart tricks you can start implementing to see your business grow.
Evolve Your Social Media Strategy
As a business, it has become imperative for you to have social media. Not only is an online presence absolutely necessary for customers to find you and engage with you, but it helps you reach customers that you simply would not have been able to before.
But social media has gone beyond simple eye-catching posts. In fact, you can conduct a large amount of your business and make sales on the platforms. There are a number of things to consider in social media in 2020.
Firstly, your customer might prefer to use the platform as a customer service touchpoint. Not only do you have to be incredibly responsive, but you will need to have the right team members ready to be able to handle questions, complaints, or even help with troubleshooting. And this needs to be 24/7.
Secondly, re-think your concept of social interactions. You now need to create a social community to hook and engage a band of loyal followers. Content is your strongest weapon, so ensure you are posting engaging, educational, and empowering content that will appeal to your community of supporters.
If you are just starting off, social media can be incredibly daunting, and we highly recommend looking up social media courses to get you started on the right page.
Optimize Your Landing Pages
The next thing to consider is how you have formatted your pages and what the layout looks like. From your home page to the product pages, all the way through the sales funnel to checkout and payment, these pages need to be optimized to ensure that your customer converts.
Prioritize your product pages. There are several vital elements that you need to optimize in order to convince the customer to buy a product they cannot physically see and touch. Your product descriptions, for example, should be simple, descriptive, and packed with the vital information your customer would need to know about the product. They also need to have relevant keywords for SEO purposes. Images need to be clear, attractive and taken from varying angles to show as much as you can of the product. Ensure you include a place for product reviews from other customers. This will enhance the reliability of the product and create peace of mind for the customer.
Lastly, your product pages need detailed:
- Shipping costs and delivery details;
- Payment protection information.
- Payment options;
- Optimized CTAs;
- Other product suggestions.
Spend Time on Your SEO
SEO or search engine optimization is another key step in the marketing cycle. We mentioned earlier just how important content is, not only to empower and educate, and therefore convert your customer but to heighten your SEO as well.
Keep in mind that Google does regular scrapes of your site in order to ascertain where it should be categorized and placed. Keyword research is critical in your marketing efforts in order to know what should appear on your site, and how often it needs to be changed up. There are, however, a few rules when it comes to keywords.
- Don’t stuff your content with them. Not only will your customer lose interest, but Google will pick it up and penalize you;
- Never replicate pages to try and rank higher, Google picks this up too;
- Do regular research into industry-specific trending keywords. Seasonal changes, holidays, and even far-reaching events like COVID-19 will push for new keyword trends. Keep up with them to keep your content fresh and ranking high;
- Lastly, make changes to your pages and the content (updating your keywords) regularly. When a change is submitted, Google is forced to re-scrape your site, so you might just find yourself ranking even higher.
An SEO audit could make a world of difference to your site. There may be some 404 pages that you have not been aware of impacting your score. You could also have too many large images that are slowing down your site and causing your customer to bounce.
Remember, your page needs to be searchable, findable, attractive, and fast for your customer to convert.
A/B Test Everything
The last topic that we believe is of utmost importance in ensuring that your site is fully optimized for your customer is to actually make sure you are giving them what they want. A/B testing is a process whereby you create two different versions of a page to see which receives a better response and higher conversion.
For example, test your CTAs. Test the shape, color, content and position of the CTA. Create one version and make that live, and then a few days later, make another version live and measure the results. Remember though, do not index the page as Google will scrape both, see the duplicates and penalize you.
The more you test on your site; from images to content to simple placements, the more you will guarantee a site optimized to convert your customer.
Wrapping Up
Keep your customer journey in mind at all times. From the minute you create your site and your social presence, ensure that it is brand heavy. Make sure that every touchpoint is aligned with your brand and that your customers are surprised and delighted throughout their entire interaction with you. It is not only about a happy customer, you want a loyal base of customers that are assured that you are trustworthy and reliable.
