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Published On: Thu, Jun 15th, 2017

Five Top Methods of Maximizing Online Sales

Online shopping has well and truly taken over the high street; whilst shops and stores certainly aren’t going anywhere soon, more and more people are turning to the internet to order items from the comfort of their own home. Online shopping is popular because it is convenient; there’s no need to trawl the shops to find what you are looking for, and you can have the items delivered to your door in no time. With the need for fast delivery of online goods growing, many companies are now offering next or even same day delivery as part of their service, making online shopping even more of a viable choice.

For entrepreneurs, the popularity of online shopping can only be a good thing. If you own a business that sells products of any kind, there will always be a market for selling them online. However, for business owners, this also means being up against a huge amount of competition. We’ve listed some tips to help you maximize your online sales.

photo/ Public domain pictures via Pixabay

Tip #1. Use a Shopping App:

Whilst many customers still do their online shopping on a website version of the e-commerce store, the need for shopping applications is steadily growing. As our tablets and smartphones become more advanced, an increasing number of people are ditching the PC or laptop altogether, since their smaller gadgets can now do all the same things and more.

Whilst a mobile-friendly website is always a good idea, business owners should certainly consider going one step further and developing a shopping app that customers can download or find a company like London courier service. Not only does this make the user experience easier when shopping, it can also work in your favor in terms of marketing, since you’ll be able to send push notifications that are tailored to each customer depending on the type of products they’re usually interested in. For more information, see Shopify integration to NetSuite.

Tip #2. Use Social Media:

When it comes to attracting more custom and improving your online sales, social media is a hugely powerful tool. Today, customers don’t just head to Google or other search engines when it comes to finding somewhere new to shop online; many will also consult social media, to find out more about your brand, products, prices, delivery and more. Because of this, it’s vital to have a strong presence across as many social media platforms as possible, including the big ones such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and even Snapchat.

Moreover, nowadays Facebook and other social medias allow to sell your products directly from your social media account. One of the best ways to show all features of your products is to create high quality video and upload it to your account. Your video can be in almost any video format because social medias encode video during upload. As for some exotic formats you will need to convert files to a more common format, for example mp4. See how to do it

Ensure that your social profiles serve to help new visitors get to know your brand as well as possible; you should include vital information about your company along with sharing details of your products, deals, and more.

Tip #3. Offer Free Delivery:

One of the main factors that will put people off from shopping online is the cost of delivery. In some cases, for example if a customer needs an item as soon as possible and can’t find it on the high street, then you may be able to get away with charging a delivery fee. However, when so many online stores are now offering free delivery and products are still readily available on the high street, making customers pay more to have their items delivered could go against your business and cause you to lose out to the competition.

Free delivery and free returns could seem like simply another cost to your business at first, however in the long run it can attract more customers to shop online at your store, bringing in a higher profit amount. To keep costs down, you could charge for special delivery services, such as next day delivery, whilst keeping standard delivery free of charge.

Tip #4. Take Advantage of Online Reviews:

With so many online stores open today, customers are often left wondering which are the best ones to choose from. If you want to make sure that your store is at least shortlisted, then it’s important to encourage good online reviews. When shopping online, many customers today will first look at reviews left by past and present customers, to get a feel for the brand and the customer experience. If any bad reviews are present, they will also look for any response from the company, to get an idea of how well customer service is conducted by your brand.

Don’t just encourage reviews on your website, since some sites are known for cherry-picking the best reviews and many customers no longer rely on website-based reviews to be honest. For the best results, ensure that your company has a presence on third-party review sites, and turn on the review function on Facebook, where you will have no control over what people write. It’s important to keep a close eye on reviews, as this allows you to gauge customer opinions and determine if improvements are needed.

Tip #5. Reward Your Customers:

Lastly, it’s important to bear in mind that maximizing your online sales isn’t always about attracting new customers. When somebody shops with your site, it’s important to do all you can to encourage them to return. Along with providing an excellent customer experience, you should also reward your customers from time to time for their loyalty. One of the best ways to do this is to require your new customers to create an account when they purchase a product from you, or at least leave their email address, so that you can get in touch to offer them a reward in the future, such as a voucher or exclusive deal.

Loyalty schemes are also an excellent method that you might consider using; for example, customers can collect points each time they buy a product from you, and allow the points to add up before using them to make a free purchase. Above all, don’t forget to simply say ‘thank you’ to your customers – not only does this boost customer satisfaction, it also gives you a great opportunity to ask your customers about their experience, gaining information from them that you can then use to make improvements in future.

Did these tips help? Let us know in the comments.

Author: Carol Trehearn

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