Getting into e-commerce can be a great asset for your business as long as you learn to master its main advantages, make the right choices, and benefit from the right means and solutions to face tough competition.
In this article, you will discover the best tactics to generate conversions and boost your online sales.
The importance of e-commerce in today’s economy:
It is a fact, that since the health crisis, online sales have exploded. In the first quarter of 2021, the FEVAD (Federation of e-commerce and distance selling) revealed that Internet sales were up 15% compared to the previous year. Thus, the turnover reached 30 billion euros, an increase of 14.8% over one year. The sales of products on the Internet have increased by 30% and the number of merchant sites by 12% compared to 2020. In 2021, e-tourism generated a total of 499 million transactions, which represents a growth of 17.8% compared to 2020. Remember that in 2020, this sector was hit hard with a 49% decrease in sales.
Why is it recommended to have an online store for your business?
Consumers like to have choices. Even if they can go to a physical store, they want the option to find the same items online to make a purchase. Many consumers prefer this option over going to a physical store. It is therefore essential for your business to create an online store so that you do not miss out on many sales opportunities. In addition, it allows a wider range of consumers to have access to your products and to make sales with people outside your area.
Creating an e-commerce store is easier than it seems. With platforms like Shopify, you can easily create your online store and list your products on well-established platforms like Amazon or eBay generating a lot of traffic. By reaching more customers and allowing people to buy your products 24/7, you will be able to quickly boost your sales and increase your revenue.
→ How does Eminence develop your merchant site?
→ E-commerce: Why do you need Marketing Automation?
Reasons why you can’t increase your e-commerce sales
You’re targeting the wrong audience:
One of the main reasons why your store is not generating good e-commerce sales is probably because you are targeting the wrong market. It is very important to know how to market a product and to whom to present it. The people who see the advertisement for your site may not be interested in your products or they may not be your target market. To overcome this, you need to conduct thorough market research before entering a potential market to make sure that your target audience is interested in your offering.
You set up your sales funnel incorrectly:
Another reason that can hinder your e-commerce sales is the fact that you have not set up the sales funnel properly. As a result, most people who come to your website fail to find the products they are looking for.
A typical user journey goes like this:
- The visitor sees an ad or searches for a product on a search engine
- They visit your website to find relevant products
- They search for the product on the website, then check the price
- They like the product and place an order
If the visitor can’t find the product on the page, he won’t take another step. Instead, he will probably click the “back” button and go to another website, which will increase the bounce rate and decrease the ranking.
→ CRO and SEO, the winning combination!
Your website is difficult to navigate
Pay special attention to the user journey on your website. Research suggests that shoppers are likely to pay more if they experience a seamless user journey on an online store. According to a survey conducted by Sweor, 57% of Internet users believe they will not recommend a company with a poorly designed website.
Order shipping times are important
Among the causes that prevent your online sales from increasing is the considerably high shipping time. Most people want to receive their products within a day or two. Amazon, for example, offers Prime shipping which allows consumers to receive their orders usually in just one day.
Be sure to mention all shipping details on the checkout page and the product description page, so customers know when they can expect to receive the desired product.
Do you want to develop a successful e-commerce website and achieve your business objectives?
Which traffic sources for your online store?
Referral traffic:
Referral traffic is anyone who comes to your site via a link from another website, whether it’s on a blog post or in a news article. These links can be a valuable source of traffic if they are placed on authoritative sites.
Email Marketing
Email campaigns that link back to your site are a source of traffic that should not be overlooked. Every time one of your customers clicks on one of your newsletters or on a marketing email that you send to them, the traffic to your site will increase.
Paid advertising:
Paid advertising, also known as pay-per-click (PPC), is a simple and inexpensive way to drive traffic to your site. The advertiser pays a predefined amount each time a user clicks on one of their ads. It’s a quick way to get genuinely interested people to your website.
Social networks:
Social networks are an important traffic acquisition channel. They are even perfect for reaching new people who are similar to your current audience. Social networks allow you to connect and engage with people who can generate a lot of free traffic. If you put enough effort into it, the results can be fabulous in the medium to long term.
Organic traffic (SEO):
All visitors who land on your site after entering a query in a search engine will contribute to your organic traffic. You will increase this type of traffic with a good SEO which requires a UX and CX optimized website and impeccable content quality to attract relevant customers.
What is the best way to boost your e-commerce sales?
Optimize your site to encourage action:
Website optimization should be done to sell more online. It encompasses many strategies and tactics that can help a business convert more visitors into customers, including the following:
- Write compelling and interesting product descriptions. Well-written texts can entice consumers to buy by appealing to certain psychological processes. For example, by emphasizing feelings of reciprocity or exclusivity; or by creating a sense of urgency with a limited offer.
- Add images that highlight products. Visuals are very important in marketing, especially for consumers who can’t see or touch a product before making a purchase online. To offer them more information, static images can be supplemented with photos of models using the product and videos with a 360-degree view.
Create an optimal customer experience
Customer experience is one of the main differentiating factors to finalize a sale, before price or product positioning. It is therefore important for a brand to create a seamless customer experience at all levels.
To do so, we recommend you to:
- Add a FAQ. Providing answers to frequently asked questions on your e-commerce site helps potential customers easily and quickly find the information they are looking for before making a purchase.
- Optimize page load time. If it takes more than 3 seconds to load your pages, visitors will leave your site and probably not come back. Therefore, you can make adjustments to improve the loading speed such as reducing the size of images, choosing your hosting well, compressing and cleaning the site code, etc.
- Include user-generated content (reviews, images posted on social networks, testimonials). This will show potential customers that you interact with your customers, which improves their overall shopping experience.
Choose the best online payment solution:
The security of payments is a central point to consider on any e-commerce site. An online payment solution can be proposed by the big banks or 100% digital solutions such as PayPal, Google Pay, which benefits from the aura of the search engine, or Stripe, which is experiencing incredible success certainly due to its reliability and simplicity.
Read also:
→ Tackling cybercrime in business through cybersecurity and data protection
Recover abandoned shopping carts with e-mail campaigns:
Abandoned carts are a serious challenge for e-commerce companies. According to Baymard Institute, the average abandonment rate is just under 70%, which means that only three out of ten buyers will purchase your product. A cart abandonment email campaign can help you get those visitors back to your site and boost e-commerce sales.
Here are some techniques:
In the event of cart abandonment, you can, for example, send the first email one hour after the abandonment, a second message 12 hours later, and a third 24 hours after that. In these emails, you will use high-converting keywords in your subject line while presenting the abandoned product in your email. Add ways to contact customer service in case the buyer had any questions or problems with the order.
You can also offer your prospect a small discount to convert him and push him to finalize his order.
You now have all the cards in hand to develop your business and increase your online sales. For more information, please contact our experts at Eminence.