9 Ways to Boost Your Online Sales Business

Selling online has opened up a world of extra potential revenue and lowered costs for those who choose to bypass a bricks and mortar business in favour of an online store. You can now sell to people all over the globe, and they can choose to browse your store at 3am if they so desire. Setting up an online e-commerce business is relatively simple and cheap compared to a high street shop, so that means, you have extra competition, but there are plenty of ways to make your online shopping experience stand out from the rest. Here are some top tips for boosting the traffic to your store and ultimately, your sales…

Keep your site navigation simple 

The online world is fast paced. If a website is difficult to find our way around, or is confusing we soon move on, and so will your customers, so make sure your site navigation doesn’t require too many clicks to get to the page for purchases. 

Have great images and text

A picture speaks a thousand words and that’s very true with your online store. If your images are unclear, or don’t show your product in the best light, you’re missing out. If your photography skills aren’t up to scratch, or you don’t have a high quality camera, consider hiring a professional photographer to take your images. It’s a move that will eventually pay for itself. Your written content is also incredibly important, so hire a copywriter, or if you’re doing it yourself, do have someone proofread it for you as it is so easy to make small mistakes and typos which will leave your site looking unprofessional. 

Make checkout easy with plenty of payment options 

It’s estimated that around 70% of online shoppers never actually complete checkout with products in their baskets. In some cases, this will be because the payment process is too complex or the customers preferred payment option is not available. The more payment options you can offer, the more likely it is that your potential customers will place that order. 

Share that great feedback prominently 

If you get great feedback, then make sure you display that on your site. It will reassure visitors that your site is reputable. Be proactive and ask customers for their feedback and get their permission to share their comments. When you’ve built a good reputation on review site TrustPilot, this information can be positioned prominently on your site. That five star graphic will speak volumes to your visitors.

Consider time limited offers and deals 

People will visit your site, see something they like, then decide they’ll think about it for a while. Anything can happen in that time. They may forget all about it, or not recall the URL of your website and purchase elsewhere. A time limited offer can encourage customers to place that order there and then. For example, an offer for a 10% discount that expires within a day will give them a push to order now or risk paying more in the future when the deal ends. 

Check out the competition 

You can learn a lot by checking out the websites of other similar businesses. Use the Zenserp system to easily gather all the data you need to fully understand what your competitors are doing, their prices and their feedback. You’ll learn a lot from this and you can use this data to fine tune your own business. 

Make the most of social media 

Utilise all the social media channels available to you. If you don’t have the time to regularly reply to comments and post new information then consider employing someone to take care of this for you. It’s a great way to share information and get new interest without any great expense. 

Run a giveaway to spread the word 

Getting those all important followers on your social channels can be hard to begin with, but running a giveaway is the perfect way to get in initial boost in numbers. Offer a prize in return for sharing or tagging friends and you’ll soon have a lot of extra followers. 

Be easy to get hold of 
Make sure your contact details are easy to find on the website. A visitor to your store may have a question about an item. If it’s not a simple process to ask that question then they could easily go elsewhere. Live chat is a great feature to have on your website, but even just a clear and easily accessible contact form is important. Reply promptly and eloquently and you’re sure to impress potential customers.

Adam Hansen
 

Adam is a part time journalist, entrepreneur, investor and father.