5 eCommerce Strategies to Increase Sales

No matter where you are in your eCommerce journey, increasing your sales is likely a top priority.

If you’ve noticed your sales are stagnant or even dropping, it may be time to refresh your knowledge. 

There are a few often-overlooked strategies that can help you gain new leads and boost your conversion rate. 

Keep reading to find out how you can increase your eCommerce sales and improve your online business. 

1. Showcase Site Security

Image Source: Statista

When it comes to eCommerce, one of the biggest concerns shoppers have is site security. 

It makes sense, right? Anytime you enter your personal payment details into a site, you want to be completely sure that it’s safe. 

These concerns are valid-- there were over 16 million cases of identity theft in 2017. Of those millions of cases, the vast majority were connected to an existing credit or debit card. 

In other words, if your visitors don’t feel comfortable entering their credit card information on your eCommerce shop, you can forget about conversions. 

So, how do you solve this problem? It’s simple. 

I assume you’re using some form of site security, such as Norton or McAfee.  Make sure to display those icons so that your leads feel comfortable shopping on your site. 

This is a simple, yet highly effective way to increase your sales.

2. Take Advantage of Email Marketing

Image source: HubSpot

Email marketing is one of the most underrated ways to boost your conversion rate for your eCommerce site.

Taking a look at this chart, you can see right away that email marketing is a smart investment for eCommerce. In fact, a $45 to $1 email ROI was seen in eCommerce in 2019. 

Now, right off the bat, you should know that this technique takes both time and strategy. If done successfully, however, a solid email list is one of the best ways to retain your existing customers and increase your sales. 

The first step to building an email list is to build an opt-in form on your website. In order to encourage customers to sign-up, you can offer a discount, updates on future sales, and notifications for new products. 

Successful email marketing means paying attention to analytics and demographics. You’ll want to segment your audience so that emails are more targeted and effective. 

Of course, manually managing even a small email list is tedious, to say the least. 

I highly recommend using an email marketing service that can help you automate all of your email marketing campaigns. 

3. Use Social Media and Blogging

The reality is, if you’re relying on your website alone for organic traffic, your sales are probably growing very slowly. 

If you look at any online business, you’ll notice that they’re taking advantage of multiple platforms. 

An easy place to start is with social media. Apps like Instagram, YouTube, Twitter are great places to build a following. 

You can use these platforms to keep your customers up to date on new products, give product demonstrations, offer promotions, and hold giveaways. 

Make sure your content is of high quality and visually compelling. Video tutorials are a great way to gain audience engagement. 

You can direct this target audience back to your eCommerce site to increase your sales. 

Take a look at the graphic below. You can see exactly how consumers find new accounts on social media. Use this information to your advantage as you craft a social media strategy.

Image Source: SocialSprout

Now, while social media is a great tool, I always recommend building a blog to accompany your eCommerce shop. 

Building a blog allows you to utilize SEO, rank on Google, and secure a solid online presence. 

If you’re a beginner, learning to build a blog may seem like a daunting task, but it’s actually fairly simple. 

There are several easy-to-use site builders that can help you start a blog in a short time and with little to no overhead cost.

4. Build Your Link Portfolio

Having a healthy link portfolio is a well-known practice for ranking better on Google. When most people think of link building, they think of blogging, but you can utilize it for your eCommerce shop as well. 

Link building for eCommerce is one of the best ways to increase your organic traffic and make more conversions along the way. 

The first thing to keep in mind is the quality of your content. If you decide to build a blog, you should focus on providing quality, in-depth content with well-placed, relevant links. 

Collaborate with blogs in the same niche and write guest posts. You can often place links back to your site within the guest post to gain more quality leads. 

You can also reach out to experts to get direct quotes on relevant topics. Expert roundups build credibility in the eyes of the consumer. 

More often than not, the experts will link to your article on their own platforms, giving you the chance to widen your audience. 

Another clever technique is to utilize seasonal promotion pages to gain more backlinks. The idea here is to use the same URL each year. That way, the links you’ve earned stay relevant every time that holiday comes around. 

5. Prioritize Customer Retention

If you’re seeing low sales, it may not be because you’re lacking customers. We often talk about growing our customer base, but customer retention deserves to be a high priority on your list. 

You know for certain that people who have made a previous purchase have an interest in your products. If you can hold onto your existing customers and gain repeat customers, you’re going to see an increase in sales. 

The goal is to stay relevant in the minds of your existing customers. That means utilizing the methods I’ve outlined above. Build your email list, write consistent content on your blog, and post regular updates on social media. 

Loyal customers are far more likely to purchase new products, recommend products, and make larger purchases. Create a great experience for your existing customers and watch your sales grow. 

Conclusion

Watching your sales slow to a halt can be frustrating. The fact is, improving your knowledge of eCommerce is a never-ending job. 

If your sales aren’t where you’d like them to be, it’s time to head back to the drawing board and rework your strategy. 

At the end of the day, it’s all about broadening your audience and holding on to the customers you already have. 

Follow the tips in this article to boost your sales and help your eCommerce business reach new goals.