Since early 90’s, online shopping has been a trend in the world wide web, and since there’s an increase in the number of people using the internet, it goes without saying that more and more people have been starting to get hooked on online buy and sell. This has been especially advantageous to business owners due to the wide audience and potential customers they may get. Despite these, there are still numerous problems and challenges they may face when dealing with online business. One of the few examples of this is the limitation of your business. If you are selling products that require the senses, perfumes, for instance, it may be difficult to have your business restricted to online. You would have to build a physical office for your customers to have a sample of your product, otherwise, it may result in the loss of income and consumers. Another problem entrepreneurs may face is the lack of computer expertise. Since online business primarily relies on the web, business owners need to have at least basic knowledge like setting up a website.
Strategies to Have Great Online Sales
Even if the problems stated above arise, there are instances when these conflicts won’t get in the way of your sales performance. There are also ways and solutions on how to increase your online sales.
Honesty is the best policy
No matter how cliche this saying may be, it has always been helpful to business owners. It, of course, doesn’t include saying that your product has malfunctions (some do, but that’s another story). Rather, being honest means enumerating all the potentials of your products and services. Going overboard and indicating something what your product is not and is incapable of is clearly a means of cheating. Listing all of your products’ features as much as possible even if other products have much more than yours is better than lying to your customers.
Ad extensions increases the chance of your site being visited – Using ad extensions don’t need an advanced knowledge in website building. This feature gives you the option to make your ad bigger and with more choices. If an online customer looks for an infant clothing, your website may have additional option links such as infant clothing for boys or girls, or according to season.
Show your customers’ testimonials and reviews – Truthfully, having your customers’ testimonials displayed on your website proves the credibility of your business. Your consumers’ feedbacks are essential for, most of the time, they are what potential customers seek first before purchasing a product and services. Additionally, feedbacks from customers are much more influential than a review written by a professional. It’s because testimonials are much more personal and are straight from people who tried the products and/or services.
Make limited-time special offers
Consumers will most likely buy products which are offered on a limited time or have limited editions. It easily attracts customers since a sense of urgency like this has variety of promos which can be used. Some business owners offer their products with a big discount or free shipping, and if they can’t offer money incentives, they may offer an additional product to their customers’ purchases.
Offer money-back guarantee
One of the reasons why customers are held back in buying products and services is the fact that they are afraid to lose money on something they aren’t sure of. Even if you have testimonials posted on your website, it is inevitable that some would still be doubtful of the things you offer. However, ensuring them that they can have their money back in case they didn’t like what they purchased would increase the chance of them buying your products.
Consider focusing on having few choices
Having lots of products to offer may seem like a potential in sales increase, but that’s not always the case. With this, business owners may end up having the lack of attention due to the wide range of products they offer. On the other hand, focusing on few products may lead to the possibility of improving your products.
Increase your influence through social media platforms like Facebook
Since there are lots of people who use Facebook as their primary method of communication, you’d gain a wide audience over the course of time. Facebook offers lots of features like boost audience, creating page and groups to reach a large number of potential customers. Additionally, you may target people similar to your existing customers.
Provide variety of payment options
Imagine a scenario in which your potential customers are finally convinced about how great your products and services are and are ready to do the purchase, but suddenly refused to do so because they don’t have Google Wallet or ApplePay accounts. This is one of the possible reasons why consumers refuse to buy your products, which is why you should consider having a wide variety of payment options for your customers to choose from.
- Invest in quality product images – Having your products’ images taken poorly may result in the loss of interest of your potential customers and therefore have dramatical negative effect in your business. On the other hand, providing a high quality image of food presentation may be appealing to your customers, and they would most likely buy your food if they appear similar to what 5-star hotels offer.
- Get social network buttons working on your website – Most probably, social media has the widest influence in the world wide web. In case you just started your online business, you may make use of social media buttons so your customers may share what your business has to offer. This way, your business which started just a few months would possibly make noise in the world of social networking sites.
- Offer free stuff – No one says ‘no’ to free stuff. Offering your customers free stuff from time to time may increase the possibility of them patronizing your products. You may use the ‘buy one take one’ offer for physical products. If you offer software products, you may either propose a no-obligation trial or samplers. This is ideal customers who will have a try of your product for the first time, and it may give them an impression of what you are offering.
- Provide answers to questions you might encounter about your products – This may be a little difficult and risky since you’re dealing with your customers’ different views. Consider every question you can think of which your customers may ask about your product. You may also encounter objections and potential arguments about the features of your products, so it is best to think of the many possible inquiries you may get asked about. This can also save you time, like building a FAQ section, for when your customer would like to ask you something about your offers and finds the answer on the FAQ part of your website.
- Keep your PPC related to the product – If you use ad extensions and your customers click that ad button, make sure that they get redirected to the product page itself and not on related categories or special offers. It makes the ad clicks turned into sales.
- Create follow-up email messages – Most of the time, once business owners finally closed a deal with buyers or have their products purchased, it’s already the end of the relationship between the buyer and the seller. That may also be the last time customers would purchase something from that particular business. What’s ideal to do is to create follow-up emails, asking your customers how they liked your product, or newsletters about upcoming products and services. This way, you’re not just building up great relationships with your customers, you may also bring out the possibility of them choosing you as their top priority when buying a particular good.
- Have a responsive web design – Because of advanced technology, different platforms today have already emerged. Aside from laptops and computers, it is best that you have a flexible design for your website which can be viewed in smartphones, tablets, and iPads. Doing this can be convenient for your potential customers so whenever and wherever they are, they can purchase your items quite easily. After all, using a design which isn’t adaptable to different platforms is almost similar to going to malls–costs you time and effort.
- Replace stock photos with your own customized ones – Just like what was mentioned above about using high quality photos for your food products, the same applies to using photos in general. Using stock photos reduces the originality of your website, since there is a possibility, even a little, that some entrepreneurs use the same photos for their website. Customized photos on the other hand give your website uniqueness.
