It's a constant question for eCommerce owners. The primary desire is to start selling and, subsequently, achieve continuous growth. Let's focus on this last aspect: strategies to increase sales in an online store.
It's essential to emphasize that, before seeking to increase sales, you must have already generated sales through your e-commerce platform. We're not talking about mere monthly orders from family or friends, but rather a steady stream of transactions.
To achieve this increase in sales, it is essential to work in three key areas:
Increase traffic: Increasing traffic to your online store is one of the most effective ways to boost sales. However, it's not just a matter of quantity, but also quality. Getting qualified traffic—people genuinely interested in your products—is crucial.
-
Improving organic positioning (SEO): Optimizing your search engine presence is essential. How many people search for your products and find your online store in the first results on Google?
-
Search Engine Optimization (SEM): Paid search engine advertising can generate immediate results. Although SEO is a medium- to long-term strategy, a well-balanced strategy will include advertising to drive sales and assess the store's potential.
-
Social media and other channels: Social media is a traffic-generating channel, although its direct contribution to sales may be limited. Exploring other ways to generate traffic, such as affiliate marketing, email marketing, and banner ads, is crucial and should be tailored to the specific needs of each project.
Increase conversion rate: If you already have traffic but conversions are low, it's essential to analyze the reasons why. Some key points include:
-
Simplifying the checkout process: A complicated checkout process can deter customers. Making checkout easier on a single page and allowing guest checkout can improve the user experience.
-
Price Competitiveness: Staying on top of your competition is crucial. Uncompetitive prices can alienate customers. You don't have to be the cheapest, but it's important to offer a commensurate value.
-
Building trust: Having a legal notice, a clear return policy, and secure payment options like PayPal build trust. Trust seals must be backed up with real transparency.
-
Mobile Responsiveness: Ensuring your online store is responsive is essential. Most users use mobile devices at some point in their decision-making process.
Increase average cart value: Once you have traffic and a good conversion rate, the final strategy is to increase the average purchase value.
-
Upselling: Convincing the buyer to upgrade to a more expensive product by highlighting its benefits can significantly increase revenue.
-
Cross-selling: Encouraging additional purchases of items related to the main product can increase the shopping cart value.
By implementing these strategies in a comprehensive and customized manner based on the characteristics of your online store, you can boost your online sales growth.