The number of eCommerce businesses being created is rising at a staggering rate every day. Although that is great news for the economy (and anyone that wants to run their own online business), it does mean that competition is fierce.
As a result, eCommerce businesses need to do all they can to market their brand effectively and perfect their sales techniques. If you’ve found yourself in this position and you’re hoping to get a strong marketing and sales strategy in place this year, this guide is for you.
Below, we’ve pulled together eight eCommerce sales techniques you should try in 2022.
A huge part of the success of your eCommerce business is going to be creating original content across your website, social media channels, blog, advertising, product descriptions, videos, etc.
By creating unique and captivating content that engages with your audience, you can boost your brand awareness and work to increase sales.
Of course, you need to make sure that you’re marketing this content effectively. This involves developing content that aids your customers in some way, either offering them tips, advice, tutorials, or deals.
When planning your content, it’s good to stick to the 80/20 rule - your content should be 80% informational and 20% promotional. You can then share this content via social media, your website, advertising, and email marketing. We’ll look at these in more detail next.
Following on from our first point, an important part of marketing, particularly content marketing, is utilising social media. This can be a hugely important tool for creating a sales funnel, as well as building your brand and engaging with customers.
You can use your different channels to communicate with customers; you can also run targeted adverts across these platforms.
Creating attention-grabbing content can be the ideal way to get people engaging with your brand on social media, as well as sharing your content and helping you to build a bigger customer base.
It’s important to maintain a consistent tone and branding across your different social media channels, as this helps to build trust and familiarisation.
Whether you already have an impressive email list or you’re currently working on building one, email marketing should be an important part of your marketing and sales strategy.
In order to grow your email list, it’s a good idea to add a sign-up form to your website and encourage existing and potential customers to sign up through content, such as blog posts.
You could also incentivise them to do so by offering helpful free content such as how-to guides, as well as promising personalised offers and product updates.
Then, through email marketing, you can reach out to customers, landing right in their inbox and encouraging them to visit your website and make a purchase.
You can also use emails to boost your brand presence, keep in touch and re-engage with existing customers - all of which can help to boost sales.
An important part of optimizing your e-commerce website for sales is ensuring that the checkout and payment process is as simple and user-friendly.
Otherwise, this could cost you sales! It’s also a good idea to offer as many possible payment and checkout options as you feasibly can.
Some of the key aspects you might wish to include are quick sign-in options, guest checkouts, payment platforms like PayPal, and if you can, you should certainly consider adding a buy now pay later option.
This can help to increase sales drastically, especially if you’re selling more expensive items, as the customer can pay in four to six installments rather than having to find the money upfront.
We briefly mentioned offering discounts in the email marketing section, but this can be a great tactic for increasing sales.
First and foremost, offering discounts to new customers can be a great way to encourage people to make their first purchase with your brand. You then have your chance to give them a great experience and transform them into loyal customers.
After this, you can use your customer’s details, such as their email address, to let them know about any deals you’re currently running and target them with personalized offers.
Partnerships can be a great sales technique, particularly for eCommerce businesses. This could mean partnering with other relevant brands or working with social media influencers to promote your company. This method helps you to reach new clients and build your brand reputation.
In order to ensure you choose the right partner, it’s important to think about which companies or influencers appeal to your target audience the most and which reflect the values of your brand. You can then begin reaching out to them to get a plan in place.
This might include social media takeovers, sending them samples of your products to share with their followers, or having them create content for your online platforms and channels.
When you run an online business, many people will pass through your website and not make a purchase; some might even start shopping only to abandon their cart at the checkout. But the fact that they’ve already been to your website means you’ve won half the battle, and you shouldn’t let these potential sales slip through your fingers.
Retargeting campaigns could be the final nudge an individual needs to go back and complete their sale. And you are probably familiar with this tactic, even if you don’t know you are.
That moment an email lands in your inbox saying, ‘your goods are still waiting for you in your basket; click to complete your purchase.’ This makes finalizing the sale much quicker and easier for customers.
You can also use retargeting adverts to grab consumers’ attention and offer one-time discounts in a bid to drive them back to your website.
Finally, a tried and tested method to drive sales is using a sense of urgency to encourage action. This can be done in a number of ways; shouting about the limited availability of stock can push people to make a decision much quicker. Alternatively, offering a limited-time deal, such as a 25% discount for the next 24 hours, 48 hours, etc. This gives customers more incentive to take action so as not to miss out on the great savings.
Looking to troubleshoot your eCommerce sales funnel in 2022? Download the Blue Triangle eBook today for more strategies to effectively market your brand and optimize conversions.