You Built an Online Store. Now What? 14 Ways to Increase eCommerce Sales

May 24

In 2020, many brick-and-mortar businesses had to pivot. With their doors shut, they had to find another way to serve customers -- so they built an online store. Many brands launched eCommerce stores to help their business survive COVID-19 lockdowns.

Now, many brands are realizing that the opportunities of an online store can outlast COVID-19 closures. An online store can continue to create additional revenue, especially when you optimize and amplify it.

14 Ways to Increase eCommerce Sales

If you are ready to get more out of your online store and increase eCommerce sales, try the following strategies.

#1) Collect contact information from site visitors.

When you can reach customers and prospects via email marketing, you open up a variety of marketing opportunities. If you want to sell more through your online store, start collecting contact information from the people who visit your website.

Create a customer portal that collects names and emails when people make a purchase.
Offer opt-in incentives that encourage website visitors to provide their information, such as giving a coupon code to visitors who join your list.

#2) Utilize personalization.

To increase eCommerce sales, use personalization to make the user experience and your marketing messages more relevant to your audiences.

Use first names in email body copy and subject lines.
Use product recommendation widgets that cross-sell and up-sell customers based on the products they view and buy.
Send emails with product recommendations based on past purchases.

#3) Embrace email automation.

To scale your online store to increase eCommerce sales, use marketing automation to move visitors through the sales funnel.

Send a welcome email to new subscribers introducing them to your brand and products.
Use abandoned cart emails that remind customers about the items they didn’t buy.
Send sales emails that are triggered based on customer activity (such as a past purchase or reminder to come back if they haven’t purchased in a few weeks).

#4) Improve product pages.

If you quickly launched an online store, you may have rushed through the product page process. Revisit your product pages and ensure they have strong messaging that resonates with your target audience. Product pages should:

Highlight unique selling propositions.
List the benefits of features.
Address hesitations that might prevent customers from buying.
Include high-quality images that showcase your product.

#5) Add trust signals.

When customers buy online, they need to know that their information is secure. Add trust signals that make customers feel safe when buying from your online store. Utilize:

An SSL certificate to show site security.
A money-back guarantee to relieve customer hesitation.
Security badges highlight the security of your payment processing.

#6) Collect (and show off) reviews.

Another trust signal that helps shoppers decide to buy are customer reviews. A study by the Spiegel Research Centre found that “displaying reviews can increase conversion by 270%.” Solicit reviews from your customers and prominently display them on product pages and your website.

#7) Create a customer referral program.

Another way to use existing customers to drive new customers to your online store is through a referral program. Welcome customers to invite their friends and family to try out one of your products, and reward them for it.

#8) Create a customer rewards program.

To have a successful online store, you need to both attract new customers and bring existing customers back to buy again. One way to do that is through a customer rewards program. Create a loyalty program that offers incentives and reminders for past customers to visit your store again.

#9) Promote your store on social media.

Social media platforms are making it easier than ever to tie eCommerce stores to your profiles. If your brand has an active social following, tie your store to your social profiles by setting up shops on Facebook and/or Instagram. Also, explore using Pinterest boards to promote your products (if that is somewhere your target audience spends time).

#10) Leverage partnerships.

To expand your reach and meet new customers, partner with another brand that already has a connection with your target audience. Consider working with social media influencers, local bloggers, or other related (yet non-competing) brands to share a mutually beneficial promotion, run a contest, or pay for them to promote one of your products.

#11) Use paid ads to attract new customers.

To increase eCommerce sales, you may need to branch out from organic tactics and start paying to drive traffic to your site. Targeted search and display ads can help you get in front of your ideal customers and move them toward making a purchase on your site.

Create buyer personas and use targeting options to reach the audiences most likely to be interested in your brand and products.
Leverage retargeting to reach people who have already done business with you or shown interest in your brand.

#12) Create a content marketing plan.

If you are serious about driving sales through your online store, start building plans that will provide value for the future. Typically, content marketing doesn’t produce immediate results, however, it can compound over time to steadily increase your traffic and sales. Create on-site content to support an SEO strategy and develop product-related guides that help customers learn more about your offerings and guide them through the sales funnel.

#13) Optimize your store for SEO.

Don’t stop at using content to drive more people to your online store. Build out an entire SEO strategy. Optimize your eCommerce store for on-site, off-site, and technical SEO to help more interested customers find you via search.

Conduct keyword research to find terms that are relevant to your products and your brand. Optimize pages of your content by adding the keywords into your content, page titles, descriptions, image alt text, URLs, and file names.
Create content that is relevant to your products and encourage other websites to link back to your online store.
Add your site to Google Search Console, submit your XML sitemap, and optimize your site structure to make it easier for search engines to find all of your content.

#14) Set KPIs and learn from your data.

Each of the strategies in this list will help you increase eCommerce sales. They will also generate data that can help you increase sales even more. Set key performance indicators (KPIs) for each of your initiatives, and refer back to your data to identify optimization opportunities and produce better results from your marketing strategies.

Get More Out of Your Online Store

If you launched an online store and are ready to kick it up a notch and increase eCommerce sales, SpotOn is here to help. We can help you choose the best strategies for your unique brand, products, and customers and help you bring your marketing campaigns to life.

Learn more about how we can help increase sales in your online store. Contact SpotOn today.

Robyn Spoto