The ecommerce space can be tricky to navigate. Whether you’ve only been at it for a few weeks or you’ve been operating online for years, boosting your bottom line can be a constant battle.
To increase your ecommerce sales, you need to approach the problem from different angles. The whole sales funnel needs to work well. If any aspect of it falls short, you risk losing customers before you get the sale.
I’m here to share everything I’ve learned over the years, so you can make sure you don’t make the mistakes I made when I was just starting out. One or two tweaks to your existing business model could be all it takes to elevate your sales.
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25 Tactics to Increase Your Ecommerce Sales
If you’re wondering how to increase sales in ecommerce, this guide will help you find your way to more sales. Some of these tactics may seem obvious, while others are less conventional.
By shifting your perspective and exploring new avenues, you can get a step ahead of your competition and grow your online business exponentially.
If you were to carry out an analysis of your sales strategy, there’d be one or two factors holding you back from hitting your financial goals. It could be that you’ve limited your reach by not offering enough payment options, or that you aren’t leveraging past customer reviews to improve your site’s user experience.
There’s a narrow line between making a sale and losing the customer, and sometimes all it takes is a few minor tactics. Here are the 25 best tips and tactics you can implement to make sure your ecommerce store can reach its full potential.
1. Create an Email List
If you don’t yet have an email list, you could be missing out on hundreds of potential sales. An email list creates a direct line of communication to your customer base, so you can inform your audience about new products, offers, special sales, and more.
One approach is to treat each email as a mini sales letter, where you convince the customer to buy your product. Story-driven emails can work well, as people relate best through stories. Stories capture emotions, and emotions are what fuel most sales.
To get started, find an email marketing provider. Some will give you a free trial period, so you can test the service out and see if you like it. Once you’re set up, be sure to add a newsletter signup form to your website. A great way to get more people to sign up to your email list is to offer a lead magnet, such as a free PDF guide.
The goal of each email you send should be to encourage the click – whether that’s to a blog post, a product page, or a special landing page.
Once you’ve started creating email campaigns, be sure to track key metrics such as delivery rates and open rates. This can help you optimize future emails.
2. Optimize Your Checkout Experience
Many sales strategies focus on how to get customers into your funnel, when the real problem lies in the final stage of the purchase process: the checkout page.
If your checkout page looks different than the rest of your site, it can make customers wary of entering their payment details. By customizing your checkout page to match your brand identity, you can prevent potential customers from abandoning their carts just because something doesn’t feel right.
It’s a good idea to have a guest checkout option, so customers don’t need to register to buy your products. Not every buyer is looking for a new brand to follow, some just want to buy a product and move on. For customers who do register, you’ll want to give them the option to save their details for future purchases.
You could also add an email list signup option to your checkout page. It’s great for customer retention.
3. Grow Your Social Media Presence
It’s always a good idea to use your social media presence to direct traffic to your store. One way to do this is to hire industry influencers to become brand ambassadors, creating valuable social proof for your business.
The best tactic with social media is to provide your followers with informative or entertaining posts, so when the time comes to push your product, they’re receptive to it. When you create value, which can be defined as anything from an interesting read to a witty post, customers won’t see your sales promos as pushy.
4. Push the Upsell
Sometimes in ecommerce, you just need to maximize the earnings from each sale to increase your bottom line. A well-timed upsell can lead to more value per sale, and increase the average order amount per customer.
Usually, the best way to push an upsell is to offer it just as the customer is about to check out. This uses the same logic as supermarkets which place chewing gum and other cheap products by the cash register: the customer is already about to make a purchase, so it’s easier to persuade them to spend a little more.
With online upsells, effective copywriting is key. It can be relatively easy to convince a customer to pay a bit more for something that will supplement their purchase, while getting them to buy a whole additional product is trickier.
5. Offer a Money-Back Guarantee
A money-back guarantee may seem like a recipe for lost sales, but customers love them. If a customer has even minor doubts about a purchase, the phrase “100% money-back guarantee” can reinforce their decision to buy.
A money-back guarantee can be a great way to build trust with your customer base. Once you have that trust, unless your product is unsatisfactory, you’re unlikely to lose much income to refunds.
If you do need to issue a full or partial refund, it’s a good idea to make the process as smooth as possible. A customer who’s returning an item now could still come back to buy something else in the future. Pay.com lets you keep track of the status of all your sales and refunds through one convenient dashboard.
6. Create a Sense of Urgency
Using urgency as a tactic to increase ecommerce sales can be effective, but be careful not to overuse it.
FOMO (fear of missing out) is a very real phenomenon in today’s world, and you can use that to your advantage. Including a countdown timer when you’re running a limited-time sale or sending out a tweet about limited stocks can do wonders for your numbers.
On the other hand, if you try to use urgency as a trick rather than a tactic, you could lose customer trust and alienate your audience. Only push the urgency angle when it’s 100% true. If you have a limited-time sale, shout it from the rooftops. If you’re running low on a bestselling product, let your audience know.
This is another strategy that calls on the customer’s emotions. If you can make them feel something – in this case, fear of missing out on a great deal or a product they may not be able to find again – you can lead them towards the buy.
7. Develop a Mobile-Friendly Version of Your Website
While many of your customers will browse your store on a desktop computer, mobile phones and tablets are quickly becoming consumers’ favorite way to shop. You should always prioritize mobile users with your UX design.
Around 72.9% of ecommerce sales came from mobile users last year. If mobile users can’t browse your site, or face issues with checkout, you risk losing their business.
To improve the mobile user experience, try the following:
- Add the option to pinch zoom
- Make sure your site pages are fully mobile-responsive
- Avoid font sizes that are too small to read on mobile devices
- Test your site on different types of mobile devices to make sure it always looks good and works properly
It’s also a good idea to accept mobile payment methods, such as Google Pay and Apple Pay. Mobile shoppers appreciate the convenience they offer.
8. Accept a Wide Range of Payment Methods
Imagine you’ve spent 30 minutes tracking down the perfect pair of headphones online, but when you get to checkout, you find out your preferred payment method isn’t supported. This can be a dealbreaker for many customers, since different payment methods offer different fees and incentives.
As an ecommerce store owner, it’s in your interest to offer as many payment options as possible. Here are some payment methods you’ll want to accept:
Pay.com lets you easily add payment methods to your website. All you have to do is go to your Pay Dashboard and click on the methods you want to accept. Click here to find out how to get started.
9. Use Social Proof
If a customer doesn’t trust your brand, they probably won’t buy from you. If there’s any suspicion that they’ll fall prey to a scam, or that the product won’t do what it says, you’ve lost the sale.
How can you convince customers that your products are the real deal?
Social proof is the best way to build credibility through the words of past customers. When you add elements to your website such as testimonials and five-star review banners, you show customers that you’re a trustworthy brand, even if they haven’t heard about you yet.
10. Offer Buy-Now-Pay-Later (BNPL) as a Payment Option
One effective way to convince a customer to make a large purchase is to give them the option for a payment plan.
Since one of the biggest reasons behind cart abandonment is the price of the product, offering a flexible BNPL service can help you make more sales and retain more customers.
11. Accept Local Payment Methods
It’s always a good idea to perform market research and get a better understanding of where your customers are located and which local payment methods are most common in their region. This can help you really connect with your customer base.
For example, Spanish residents can make purchases with a payment method called Bizum that’s only available in Spain. If Spain accounts for a large percentage of your sales, it would definitely be worth the effort to offer Bizum as a payment method.
12. Minimize the Risk of Cart Abandonment
It happens so often – a customer will make it to checkout, fully intending on making a purchase, but back out at the last minute. Regardless of the reason, cart abandonment could be one of the main factors impacting your bottom line.
As mentioned above, one way to minimize cart abandonment is to optimize your checkout process for a smooth experience, while making sure your customers can choose their preferred payment method.
You can also use email marketing to target customers with items left in their cart. A cart abandonment email can serve as a gentle reminder to the customer that they haven’t completed their purchase.
Another solid strategy is to be transparent about pricing, as fees that are hidden until the checkout screen can discourage the customer from completing the purchase.
13. Leverage Your Instagram Following
Instagram is a goldmine for marketing your ecommerce business. Visuals can be hugely influential on customer purchase decisions, so if you can show off your products in a positive light, you could convert Instagram followers to customers.
You can use Instagram Shopping to easily promote your products and reach your followers. It lets you tag products you post about with direct links to the product pages.
You can use this service in tandem with an influencer growth strategy, inviting your influencers to create regular posts that include your products and tag them. This form of affiliate marketing can help you reach new audiences.
14. Implement Live Chat
Chatbots and live chat let you respond to customers’ questions 24/7, even when nobody is available to respond.
A chatbox feature on your site can help clear up any doubts a customer may have, and potentially lead to more sales. When a customer can communicate with your business around the clock, it also helps to build trust, and adds a personalized touch to your brand.
A chatbot might not be a perfect substitute for a human employee, but it can represent the face of your brand and uphold your reputation for professionalism.
15. Showcase Your Bestsellers
Some customers will arrive at your ecommerce store via a Google search for a particular keyword. These customers that find your site organically may not have a very specific idea of what they’re looking for, so you need to guide them towards your bestsellers.
By proudly showcasing your bestsellers with a banner on your homepage or on a separate page, you can prevent losing out on sales because the customer got lost on your site and didn’t know what to buy.
This ties into the emotional appeal of status, as we’re more likely to place value on a product that’s popular with others.
16. Run a Post-Purchase Survey
If you want to gather information about your customers, start with a post-purchase survey. Learn from the people who are currently buying from you, as this will give you insights into how to convert future leads.
Ask questions such as:
- Why did you make this purchase today?
- How could the experience be better?
- Were there any doubts you had before purchasing?
With this information, you can find out what the customer experience is like, and where you can make improvements.
It’s also a good idea to keep track of all your past sales and analyze the data to find out what you could be doing better. Pay.com makes this easy with the Pay Dashboard.
17. Use a Secure Payment Service Provider
A secure payment service provider can give potential customers a sense of confidence, knowing that their personal details and credit card info is completely safe.
Pay.com can help you offer that peace of mind to your customers. You can add the company logo or a security badge at checkout or on your homepage, to let customers know that you care about their security.
18. Try A/B Testing
If you’re unsure about how you can boost your sales, you can try A/B testing to try out various techniques and strategies.
When the ultimate goal is to increase your conversion rate, it’s a good idea to get real information about what works and what doesn’t with your customers. There are many ways to use A/B testing to verify successful strategies for your ecommerce store.
For example, you could try different page layouts to see which one gets customers to stay on your page instead of bouncing back to Google. You could also experiment with your social proof bars or banners, as these can be important for establishing trust with the customer the moment they arrive on your website.
Here are some other ways to use A/B testing to potentially boost sales:
- Social media posts
- CTA buttons
- Product images
- Push notifications
- SEO optimization features such as metadata
- Product descriptions
- Landing pages
19. Build Up Your Store Branding
Building a strong brand that speaks to your target customer is an excellent way to convince them that making a purchase with you is the best decision for them.
Use your brand colors, logo, and typography consistently throughout your website and marketing materials to become a brand that people recognize. Develop your brand voice and use it in all your copy.
Many people buy from companies like Nike and Apple purely for their reputations and strong brand identity. If you can show customers you have a strong brand worth their attention, you can encourage them to make purchases on your site.
20. Analyze Your Sales Reports
Getting feedback directly from customers through post-purchase surveys is one way to learn how you can improve, but sometimes, you need to review the numbers instead.
You can use various analytics tools to dive into your sales reports and understand your customers’ behavior and trends. You can also keep track of past sales to get an idea of your audience’s preferences.
With this data, you can figure out what different segments of your audience are buying on your website. This can help you create effective marketing campaigns and copy that converts.
21. Monitor User Engagement
Tracking user engagement is another way to analyze what your customers are doing. With analytics software, you can access data that tells you what stage of the sales funnel your customers are in.
When you identify how users engage with your store, you can tailor the copy, advertising, and product descriptions to your customers.
If you find that a large percentage of your customers bounce from your homepage, then give your site a makeover. If you have a lot of customers abandoning their carts, an optimized checkout process and targeted emails should be your next course of action.
22. Direct In-Store Customers to Your Online Store
If you have a brick-and-mortar store as well as an online store, in-person customers can be a potential source of traffic to your ecommerce store. For many business owners, this is an untapped source. People who have already bought from you in the past are likely to want to buy from you again, especially if they can do it from the convenience of their own home.
There are various ways to promote your online store to in-person customers. You can add your website URL to customer receipts or hand out postcards or stickers. You can also offer online-exclusive discounts to incentivize your customers to buy online.
23. Optimize for Search Engines
SEO (search engine optimization) is a vague term for many business owners. It might seem like it promises a lot, but little. To achieve high rankings on search engine pages and become what is considered a high-authority site, you need to work on it.
The simplest way to optimize your online site for SEO is to add key elements such as product images, SEO-optimized product descriptions, and the corresponding metadata. If you don’t know where to start, it might be a good idea to bring in a SEO expert to carry out an audit of your site and make suggestions.
24. Try Special Offers
Special offers can keep customers coming back even after they’ve made a purchase. As such, it’s wise to experiment with them to see if they can drive sales and raise brand awareness.
When you offer discounts and special offers, the key is to inform your customers through your email list, social media platforms, and any other marketing channel you use. These types of offers can even appeal to customers who wouldn’t normally buy from your site.
You can also increase holiday-season sales through well-timed promotions.
25. Create a Loyalty Program
Loyalty programs reward long-time customers who make repeat purchases. They can help build trust, incentivize future purchases, and help keep customers in the loop about new products.
Sometimes it’s more effective to serve repeat customers than try to chase down new ones, and loyalty programs are one of the best ways to build these long-term relationships.
What Could Be Stopping You from Getting Sales?
Now you’re equipped with dozens of ideas on how to boost sales on your ecommerce store, but before you get started, you’ll want to take a look at what you’re doing now and understand what might not be working for you.
See if anything on this list might sound familiar.
The User Experience Falls Short
Customers expect a smooth buying experience. If your website is hard to navigate or frustrating to use or looks outdated, customers will head elsewhere.
To create a frictionless user experience, prioritize the customer with every decision you make. Rather than considering only what you and your team think will look good, try to think from the customer’s perspective.
You need to imagine what it will be like for your customer to use the website, and make sure the purchase process is as seamless as possible. You’ll want to optimize everything, from your product descriptions to your checkout process.
You’re Targeting the Wrong Customers
You could have the best brand identity and messaging, but if it isn’t aimed at the right audience, your words won’t resonate.
You need to make sure that in everything you do, you’re considering your specific target market. It’s a good idea to develop an ideal buyer persona, or multiple personas, that you can use to influence design decisions and marketing campaigns.
When your marketing is aimed at a specific person, it may work better with your target market and build trust.
There’s Not Enough Traffic to Your Site
It sounds simple, but if people aren’t finding your website, you’re never going to break through your current sales plateau.
Analyze the number of unique visitors you receive each month, see where they’re coming from, and double down on your marketing efforts. You can use everything from blog posts to social media videos to drive traffic to your website.
I also recommend that you optimize your product pages and descriptions for SEO, so that search engines make your website easier to find when customers search for relevant keywords.
Your Product Is Lacking
All the marketing, UX design, and ecommerce store optimization means nothing if the product doesn’t appeal to customers. While it’s not a pleasant thought – if all else has failed, you may want to consider the idea that your product doesn’t meet customer expectations.
If customers seem willing to buy similar products in the same price range from your competitors, it could be that they have a better product. If you believe this is the case, go back to the drawing board with your product development team, and use customer feedback to influence changes in the product design.
Iterative design can help you address customer pain points as you go through the product development process. Typically a five-stage process, iterative design involves the following steps:
- Planning: Map out the core pain points of your customers with user stories and real feedback, so you can decide what to focus on during design.
- Ideation: Sketch out as many ideas as possible with your team, review them, and then do it all again until you settle on a single idea.
- Prototyping: Make a prototype of the product based on your best idea.
- Testing: Put the product through rigorous testing to make sure it satisfies your criteria and customer feedback.
- Evaluation: Now decide whether your product is good enough to take to market, or if you need to go back to the drawing board. If it doesn’t meet your standards, go back to the ideation or prototyping stage.
The Bottom Line: Start Boosting Your Sales Today
There are many ways to boost your ecommerce sales, but the trick is finding out what works for you. It’s a good idea to take a few steps back, try to identify your store’s weakness, and work to make improvements. Running an ecommerce business is a journey, and you’ll always be finding new ways to improve.
Optimizing your checkout process is a great place to start. Pay.com lets you accept a variety of payment methods on your website, and you can customize your checkout page to match your own brand. It’s easy to get started – click here to find out how!
