Having an online store is an excellent way to boost sales without having to operate a brick-and-mortar location. When done correctly, you can optimize revenue and not have to worry about all the challenges that come with running a physical store, such as stocking shelves, managing employees and shutting down the cash registers each night.
The challenge to running an online store, however, is getting traffic to your site. And, once visitors are on your site, how do you get them to stay?
In this post, we are going to discuss how to get the most return from your ecommerce site, specifically, Shopify. If you’re not familiar with it, Shopify is an ecommerce platform that allows people to set up their own online store to sell products.
Shopify is user friendly and intuitive, which is why we like it so much. You can organize your products, personalize your storefront, accept a wide range of payments and track orders all in a few clicks. Plus, all you need to get started with Shopify is a product to sell and a credit card to pay for the services (a free trial is included).
As you get more comfortable learning the ropes with Shopify, here are a few of the ways that you can maximize your return.
Upsell Your Goods
Upselling is 20 times more effective than cross-selling, according to Econsultancy. With the odds in your favor over cross-selling, you might as well try to upsell your products. The worst you can get is a no.
The reason why upselling can be so effective is because customers often don’t realize that a better product is available. If they’re already interested in a particular product and willing to buy it, it’s very possible that they will take something slightly more expensive but higher in quality, equipped with more features, manufactured by a name brand, etc.
The keys to making upselling work for you are:
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Make sure the alternative product is closely related to what the customer is interested in.
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Be sensitive to the price range that your customer has.
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The new product must be better than the one the customer is considering.
If you keep these three points in mind, the upsell will make sense for the customer. They might not choose to go with it, but they will probably see the value in why you offered it.
Integrate Instagram
If you’re going to integrate a social media channel with your Shopify account, a great one to select is Instagram. Instagram has the second highest average order value from marketing at $65.00 (Polyvore has an average order value of $66.75). Instagram is also effective at driving engagement for brands thanks to its highly visual platform.
If you already have a great audience on Instagram, half the work is cut out for you. You can continue engaging your audience by running contests and showing pictures of customers using your products.
If you’re still working on building a following, continue using the right hashtags, editing your photos with the available filters and posting at the right times. In other words, be fun to follow! This engagement can help drive traffic to your online store.
Decrease Shopping Cart Abandonment
Anytime a customer leaves an item in their cart, you’re missing out on a sale. While this is inevitably going to happen at times, it’s still a good idea to understand some of the reasons behind the abandonment and what you can do to lower it.
One of the most effective ways to reduce shopping cart abandonment is to create an email recovery campaign that sends an email reminding the customer of the item they left behind. It’s possible that the shopper forgot about the item or got distracted during the checkout process. But it’s also possible that they were scared away from unexpected shipping costs or a later shipping date.
To encourage the customer to follow through with the sale, offer a small incentive, such as a better shipping option for the same price or a discount on their purchase.
Generate More Email Subscribers
Email marketing is one of the best marketing tools that you have. According to the Direct Marketing Association, email has an ROI of 4,300 percent. Seventy percent of people who receive discounts or coupons in their emails use them, and sixty percent of people say that they join email lists to receive special offers.
Now is never a better time to strengthen your email marketing strategy and make sure that you are offering subscribers worthwhile discounts and coupons. Educating readers with content remains important, but don’t forget to reward your customers with incentives that encourage them to purchase your products.
Improve Your Email Campaigns
As you further develop your email marketing campaigns with better offers, also think about the types of communications you have with customers. Email is a fantastic way to open the lines of communication, so use these opportunities to keep customers in the loop.
Here are a few examples.
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Welcome new subscribers who have just signed up and give them an idea of the types of messages they will be receiving from you.
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Let customers know that you’ve received their order and are working on getting it out the door and on the truck.
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Send a friendly email informing customers that their package is arriving.
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Remind customers of the items that are on their wishlists, especially near birthdays and holidays. Let them know if the item will soon be sold out or is on sale.
These short, simple messages make the experience with your company more fun and memorable.
Get More Reviews from Customers
Product reviews sell more product. Since shoppers can’t see or touch your product, they need to look more closely at photos and read through customer reviews to assess quality and reliability. If other customers are happy with their purchase, it’s more incentive for the shopper. People like having things that are valuable, so when customers rave about how your product has improved their life in some way, it’s worth more than you can imagine.
Aside from social proof, customer reviews are also good for SEO. Reviews increase your content and the likelihood that some long-tail keywords are used. With increased SEO, your online store is more likely to be found by shoppers.
Conclusion
Operating an online store is a rewarding experience, especially as your brand grows. But, you can’t be successful riding the coattails of the platform you’re using. You must be prepared to use the tools that are available to you, including social media and email marketing. It’s also important to engage with your visitors just as you would in a brick-and-mortar store. Luckily, Shopify makes running an online store simple so that you can start generating sales in no time!
