26 Ways to increase online sales without weakening your brand
25 minute read / author: Katherine Heath
You’ve perfected your product, crafted your brand, set up a website and posted about it on social media. The sales should be flooding in, right?
Unfortunately, there’s a lot more to it than that. Competition is fierce and shoppers won’t be digging around on the internet looking for your site; you need to show it to them and make sure they know they’re in the right place once they find it.
One of the hardest parts of building a brand that matters is wanting to avoid the standard ‘sales tactics’ that everyone else uses. What if you don’t want to offer discounts all the time or join in on tasteless Black Friday sales?
If you’re ready to increase your online sales without damaging your brand, no matter the industry you’re in, this detailed and practical guide will help you do it. Plus, the stuff that the other ‘how to improve your online sales’ lists generally don’t tell you.
When it comes to improving your website’s performance there’s a lot to think about. It’s both a technical and a creative exercise that, when done well, should result in a smooth, enjoyable experience for your customer and more sales for your business.
For most industries, competition is rife and complacency simply isn’t an option. The basics are non-negotiable but it’s the extra mile that will make you stand out, gain new customers and keep them coming back.
What’s different about this list?
Even if your product is entirely unique, there is no denying the importance of a strong brand. And no, your brand is not just your logo. Your brand is how your customers feel when they think about your company. That feeling comes from a combination of small interactions with your brand, built up over time, that make your brand part of their world and identity.
The list below walks you through how to get more sales from your website, but this time through the lens of brand.
This approach will help you see your offering through your customers’ eyes, understand how to improve their experience and ultimately increase your online sales.
Before we get started
Before we get into the list, it’s important to make sure you have defined your goals and how you’re going to measure success. Importantly, don’t try to measure too many metrics. Find those that are key to your business specifically.
For example: if you only sell a few products on a small website it’s likely that you’ll want to track website traffic and website sales, whereas things like brand mentions are going to be of less importance.
Start by outlining specific goals and make sure you have got your Google Analytics software set up properly so you can track your progress.
When it comes to making sales online, it’s not about making one or two changes from a list you found on the internet (this one included) and then sitting back and watching the sales flood in. Constant iteration and testing is required to get the best results.
Regularly updating your site with new content and improving the online experience will help to improve your Google ranking and your website’s conversion rate. The backlinko site has a great list of other important factors that affect your Google ranking.
Think about it like this… In the same way that you might redecorate or move things around so they’re easier for people to find in a bricks and mortar space, you need to be regularly updating your website to make it easier for people to find what they’re looking for and make a purchase.
Stick with me on this analogy…
Imagine your website as a physical shop. If you don’t tell people it’s there, all you can hope is that people will stumble across it. If you put it in the wrong area of town, you might attract the wrong kinds of people — they might come in but they probably won’t buy anything. If you only have one person working behind the till, there’s a long queue and they only accept cash, most people won’t bother trying to buy anything because there are too many barriers.
A website works in exactly the same way. You have to tell people it’s there, you need to market it in the right places so that you attract the right people and you need to make buying from your site an easy and pleasant experience.
With that in mind, take a look at your website as it currently stands and go through the list below. Be honest with yourself about why your site isn’t making as many sales as you would like it to, then put a prioritised list of changes together that you need to make and work through them.
Before you begin, remember...
Personal opinions, yours included, don’t matter. Although it’s tempting to make the buttons red because you think they look better that way or to only capture email in a pop up because you think it grabs attention, resist.
You are not necessarily your customer and there is enough data available for you to make evidence-based decisions rather than assumptions.
So, let’s get started…
Here’s how to increase your online sales without weakening your brand:
1. Keep your homepage clean and simple
A simple message that’s regularly ignored. Think of your homepage as your shop window. Can you imagine trying to cram everything you sell into a single window display? It would be a chaotic mess, wouldn’t it? Potential customers would have absolutely no idea what to expect inside or where to even start. Instead, most great retail stores focus on one or two key products (usually bestsellers or recently launched) and present them in a clean and beautiful way.
It can be tempting to try and show your website visitors absolutely everything you can offer them as soon as they land on your homepage but try to resist. It may seem odd but reducing the amount of products/services you talk about on your homepage, whilst going into more detail around those you do focus on, can increase your online sales. In an article for Entrepreneur, Derek Gehl said, “we’ve found that offering fewer products in one place with more copy describing those products always translates into higher sales.”
It’s all about focus and clarity. Instead of trying to please everyone who lands on your site, make sure it is clear who your key products/services are for and why your site is the best place to buy them from. This way you can dispel all possible objections your customers might have as early as possible.
This is where the importance of brand comes into play. If you haven’t figured out who you are as a brand you may find it harder to give focus and clarity around your core products. If you don’t know who your audience is, what matters to them and why you’re the perfect fit for them, you need to go back to the brand drawing board.
When you’re designing your homepage, take your core products (your best sellers, or the thing that you’re known for) and display them in an eye-catching way with information that answers the key questions your visitors might have
This is especially important for new brands. A lack of focus and desire to be everything to everyone will only result in being nothing to no one. Focus, focus, focus. If that means launching with just one single product, do it. It’s not uncommon and there are some great examples of how effective this can be:
A great homepage example:
2. Build an email list
No matter what you sell online, building an email list is one of the best ways to stay in touch with existing and future customers. You’re probably thinking ‘yes, but I hate all the salesy emails I get’, and it’s a valid point; they can be infuriating. However, that doesn’t mean that email doesn’t work; it simply means doing it badly doesn’t work.
The solution: do it well and with the integrity of your brand front of mind.
Think of building an email list in the same way you do growing a social media following. The more value you provide the more people will be interested in what you do and will be willing to hear from you on a regular basis. If all you do is push products at them, they’ll lose interest and unfollow or unsubscribe (like you would).
One of the best things about an email list is it’s yours. Social media platforms change their algorithms regularly, and if they suddenly disappeared for any reason or your account was hacked you would lose your audience completely. It is, therefore, a good idea to build a community somewhere where you have control. Email is the perfect place to do this and it doesn’t have to cost a fortune.
Ask yourself…
How can you add real value to your customers’ lives? What can you offer them that’s educational or entertaining? What can you share that they’ll look forward to receiving? Then tell them about it and ask them to sign up.
An obvious way to build an email list is to offer a first-purchase discount to those who sign up. However, if you’re a brand that doesn’t do discounts this isn’t an option. Instead, try showing potential customers the value of your newsletter by sharing previous editions. Adultish do this really well.
You could also offer them exclusive early access to new product ranges or services. This works especially well for those with limited stock or availability.
A great way to get started with building an email list is to offer an introductory discount to those who sign up. 10% off your first order, for example.
Here are a few newsletters we love:
Adultish
Rowen & Wren
Spoke
Hiut Denim
The Modern House
3. Reconsider your email opt-in offer
Your opt-in offer is key to building an email list. Most brands seem to think that sticking ‘subscribe for our latest news’ in their website footer is enough to build a solid email list. It’s not, for two reasons:
It doesn’t tell your visitors why they should subscribe (no one is interested in most brands’ latest news, let’s be honest)
It’s hidden and they have to actively search for it to sign up (they won’t)
The location of your opt-in offer as well as what you include both have a significant impact on the number of email subscribers you’ll be able to attract.
There are a few options you can try — it’s different for different audiences so don’t forget to test what works for your brand — which will help to increase the number of sign ups you get.
Placement
Try placing your email opt in offer in a pop up that appears on your website when a new visitor arrives:
Try placing your opt in offer in an announcement bar at the top of your site:
Use a separate sign up page that you can direct people to from your homepage or other pages on your website
Offer
Offer an initial discount off of their first order
Offer early access to new products
Offer exclusive access to content
Offer the chance to win something each month
Use a referral program to encourage sharing
Remember, you are asking for access to your customers’ inbox. Make sure you are offering something worthy of that.
4. Include social proof
There is a reason sites like Which and TripAdvisor exist. As humans, there is a heuristic approach most of us use to determine what to do, think, say and, of course, buy: social proof. We look at what other people (especially those similar to us) are doing to assess what the right decision is for us. Psychologist Robert Cialdini, in his bestselling book Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion, says, “Whether the question is what to do with an empty popcorn box, or how to eat the chicken at a dinner party, the actions of those around us will be important in defining the answer.” Following the crowd allows us to make decisions about products or services that we don’t have time to deeply understand.
In addition to following the crowd, people are more likely to trust other people than they are the brand selling the product, for obvious reasons. That’s why influencer marketing works so well and why word of mouth will ALWAYS be important for brands. People like to know that those they look up to and trust have tried a product/service that they’re considering.
With that in mind, doesn’t it make sense to show potential customers what others who have already bought think of your product/service?
Here are a few things to consider adding to your website (especially at key points of conversion) to improve your online sales:
Case studies
If you sell something like a course or software, case studies are vital. Case studies help potential customers to see what your product can help them achieve by showing them what it’s enabled others to do.
B2B platform Drift does this well.
Reviews
Reviews can cover what it’s like to deal with your brand to thoughts on specific product features. Brand reviews are great for your website in general and specific product reviews can be strategically placed on the related product pages to aid conversion. If you use a service such as Feefo or Trustpilot, you can pull these reviews through to the relevant pages on your site like The Ethical Butcher have done.
According to a study from iPerceptions, 63% of customers are more likely to make a purchase from a site that has user reviews.
If you’re a service based business or you’re not signed up to any of the above platforms yet, you can also go with good old Google reviews.
Awards
Depending on the industry you’re in, awards may be valuable or they might have less significance but if they are of value, make sure you include them on your site. The food industry is a great example of this as the Great Taste Awards are well recognised and will instantly highlight to your customers that your products are worth trying.
Certifications
If your product has certifications that assure your customers of its quality, don’t forget to share them on your website. For example, if you are claiming that your skincare products are organic, be sure to highlight the certification you have that backs up your claims.
5. Live chat
Whilst the copy on your website should answer as many objections as possible, customers will still have individual questions that they need your help with. A live chat app allows customers to interact with you quickly and get their questions answered in the moment they’re ready to buy. A number of companies have seen great success with live chat apps including Intuit who increased their conversion rate by 211%.
The key to a live chat app however is to know you have the capacity to offer a good service. Giving live chat as an option but never being available is going to have the opposite effect and could seriously damage your brand.
As with any idea you have for your business, make sure you can implement it well.
6. Write content that reflects what your customers are looking for
You don’t want to be constantly pushing sales the moment your customers find you, you want to be engaging them with great content that helps you build a trusting relationship.
Writing relevant and meaningful content that helps your community understand your product better or discover something new is a great way to engage potential customers with your brand before they’re ready to buy. It’s also a good way to reach new customers who are Googling the questions your brand can answer.
When producing any kind of content for your website, you want to think of it as building a community with shared interests and values, where your brand becomes more than just a product or service. Think of it a little bit like starting an online magazine.
You want your brand to be something your customer affiliates with, something that aligns with their values and beliefs rather than just somewhere they can buy stuff. One of our favourite examples is Finisterre’s Broadcast. The brand writes educational pieces on both the outdoors and the environment, produces informative pieces on how and where their products are made and interviews those who live the lifestyle to which their community aspires. Finisterre has mastered the art of writing content that their community loves and sees great value in.
If you’re a service based brand, writing content is the perfect opportunity to showcase your expertise to potential clients. This is why we write our (hug) insight pieces.
To produce content that will elevate your brand in the eyes of potential customers, you first need to know who you’re speaking to. This is why going through the brand strategy process is so important before you build a website and start churning out content. It helps you figure out who you are, who you’re for and why they should care.
If you don’t know who you’re talking to, stop and take a step back before you waste a lot of time and money.
If you know you need to do this but don’t know where to start or what it might cost, we’re happy to talk you through the process. Send me an email.
7. Include FAQs
We all know the frustration that comes with trying to buy something online where we can’t find the answers to our questions easily. When you’re building your site, remember that your customers don’t know everything you do.
You can start out with quite a simple FAQ page including the questions you already know will pop up and then continue to add to it as you come across new ones. This is the FAQ page we created for MJS Tax.
An FAQ page also helps to save you time as you can answer a question once instead of hundreds of times.
Here are a few tips for creating a great FAQ section:
- Group questions together that are relevant to a specific category
- Put your questions in an order that they would naturally be asked
- Provide links to different areas of your site that help readers find more information
- Add relevant FAQs to product or service pages
- Answer questions as simply as possible
8. Upsell
You will have seen this tactic a lot on sites like Amazon where they recommend ‘similar’ products or products that ‘others also bought’. If you sell a number of products on your site, let customers who have shown an interest in one know that there are other things they may like as well. Try to avoid doing this in a pushy way and make sure the way you refer to other products and encourage visitors to look at other things on your site remains authentic and on brand.
Coming back to the shop analogy. If a shop assistant saw that you were interested in a cushion, they might say ‘by the way, we have those in three other colours if you’d like to see them’, they (hopefully) wouldn’t say ‘if you like that you should buy this as well!’. Make your upsells feel natural not forced.
9. Use good photography
When AirBnb first started out, the founders offered to go round and take photos themselves to help those renting out spaces make them more appealing. This changed their business for the better dramatically.
Not enough can be said for the importance of good photography when you’re selling something online and if you’ve ever booked an Airbnb you’ll know what I mean!
Photography falls into two or sometimes three categories for online selling:
1. E-commerce — these are the white background, product on its own shots. They let your customers see exactly what they’re getting, as it comes and often provide close up details.
Research shows that 22% of online customers who returned something did so because the product they received looked different. To avoid high numbers of returns, make sure your photography shows customers exactly what your products look like.
Include different angles, details and shoot in good light as much as possible.
Veja does this really well.
2. Lifestyle — these are images of the product in more of a lifestyle setting. If it’s clothing or eyewear it will be items on models in real locations rather than a studio. If it’s functional products, these shots will show the product in use.
These images work in a similar way to reviews. They help customers to visualise how the item will fit into their lifestyle by seeing it in use/being worn.
MONC does this well by showing its unisex frames on both men and women.
Mood/brand imagery — this is imagery that extends the identity of your brand into other areas. An example of this would be Finisterre’s imagery of the sea. No product, no models but something that closely relates to what they do, who they are and what their customer likes.
Whilst I wouldn’t advocate using stock photography, I appreciate that for some brands it’s necessary to keep costs realistic at the beginning. We have helped brands like The Ethical Butcher and Supakit use stock imagery effectively on both their websites and social media channels. The key to using stock imagery properly is making sure the images you use enhance your brand communication instead of destroying it. If you can’t find images that feel ‘you’ try not to settle for the ones that are closest and figure out a way to get the imagery you need. Perhaps doing some yourself with a photographer’s guidance or hiring a young creative who you can work with to get the shots you need.
If you are going to use stock photography, here’s how to find good stock imagery and use it well.
10. Test one thing at a time
When you are trying to pinpoint what works and doesn’t work on your website, it’s tempting to make lots of changes all at once. Resist. Making too many changes all at the same time will make it near enough impossible to determine the effective factor(s). You will save time, effort and money by testing one thing at a time, as sometimes all it takes to make big improvements is a few small tweaks.
When it comes to increasing sales online the goal is to be converting traffic into sales. The % of website traffic that converts into sales is your conversion rate. In order to improve your conversion rate, it’s important to figure out when people are leaving your website and what might be causing them to do so.
You might want to start with the easier changes first such as making your checkout process simpler with something like Fast.
11. Better product descriptions
Research by OneSpace shows that 98% of website visitors have been dissuaded from completing a purchase because of incorrect or incomplete product information. If a potential customer has made it all the way to a product page, losing them at that stage due to a lack of information is unforgivable.
In physical stores, shoppers have the ability to physically experience the product to make a decision. When shopping online they have to rely on the visual and verbal cues available on a website to make an informed decision.
A product description should not just tell people about features and technicalities, it should help them understand why this product is better than others from similar brands.
Shopify has a great piece on writing better product descriptions that will help you avoid the pitfalls and help your brand stand out.
Remember, just because product descriptions have a functional job it doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be written in your brand voice. If your copy is typically more poetic and editorial, write your product descriptions in that way too. A consistent tone across all brand touch points helps customers feel comfortable.
12. Make your contact information easy to find and easy to use
It might sound obvious but I’ve come across so many sites that hide their contact details down a rabbit warren of links that make them near enough impossible to find. It’s infuriating when you just want to speak to someone and can’t find the answer to your question anywhere else.
Either make your contact information available in the footer of your site or link to a contact page where they can find a form or phone number/email address.
If you’re a brand who prides themselves on customer service, this is absolutely crucial.
13. Improve your visual branding
Your visual identity says a lot about who you are as a brand and who you’re product is for. If you haven’t figured out who you are and who your target audience is, how can you expect to create a brand aesthetic that aligns with and strengthens your message?
Once you have figured out who you are and who you’re for, there are a number of different options for bringing your concept to life visually and that’s where working with a professional designer comes into play. Remember, branding is not just a logo and pretty colours. It’s a visual identity that’s instantly recognisable even when your logo is nowhere to be seen.
A strong visual identity helps your customers know they’re in the right place instantly. Branding is an investment not an expense. Your branding, no matter the industry you’re in, should reflect who you are as a brand and speak to your audience.
If you know you need to work on your visual branding and website design, here’s a guide to how much start-up branding costs in the UK. If you need help figuring out what to prioritise when it comes to your branding, just let us know and we’ll help you figure it out.
14. Optimise your site for Google (SEO)
SEO stands for search engine optimisation. This means optimising the content and pages on your website so that Google deems them the most relevant for specific searches and shows them to the people making those searches.
For example, if you sell vegan recipe kits, you might write an article on ‘best vegan pasta recipes’ on your blog. You want to make this piece of content the perfect fit for the people searching for ‘vegan pasta recipes’ so that Google shows it as the top result.
No matter what you sell online, a lot of your traffic will come from Google. In fact, 75% of searchers begin their search on Google.
Combine that with the fact that the first five results on Google fact 67% of all clicks and you’ll see why optimising your site for Google is so important.
That said, there are a number of elements involved in optimising your site correctly and it’s by no means an overnight solution to quick sales.
Here’s a good introduction to SEO for those of you just getting started.
The hardest part about SEO is making sure you don’t over optimise your website at the expense of your brand. Yes, you might need more copy on a particular page in order to help it rank higher but that doesn’t mean bad copy, packed full of keywords, that’s going to confuse and probably annoy your potential customers.
There is balance to be found, as there is with anything, and it’s important not to lose sight of who you are when you’re optimising your site for Google.
If you’d like us to help you make sure your website is set up correctly for Google from the beginning or you want to know how to improve your existing website, drop Liane, our SEO and Content Manager, an email.
15. Make it obvious what other people prefer or chose in the past but don’t forget your brand values
As well as reviews, there are other ways to reinforce the fact that others loved your product. You can show UGC (User Generated Content) from social media, you can curate a list of your best selling items, or show items that ‘others also liked’ on product pages.
However, do make sure that you’re selective when choosing the UGC you share and that it enhances rather than dilutes your brand.
Patagonia is a prime example of remaining true to who you are above all else. Their products are bought by a wide array of people these days, including city bankers who have sadly become synonymous with Patagonia’s gilet (you know the one). Businesses were even supplying branded versions of Patagonia’s clothing that their staff could wear with pride. However, instead of putting sales first and hoping to attract even more of this market, Patagonia, being the epic brand that it is, put its foot down. The brand stopped selling to tech companies and financial institutions and banned them from co-branding its clothing.
Remain true to who you are or risk losing your identity completely.
16. Make sure landing pages match your ads
If you are running digital marketing ads on Google or social media you need to think about the whole user journey for those ads rather than just the ads themselves.
When someone clicks on an ad, they expect to see further information on the topic/product that caught their attention in the first place. If the pages on your website have nothing to do with the ads you’re running, you’ll end up with a high bounce rate (a high number of people leaving your site straight away).
This is why you shouldn’t just run all of your digital advertisements to your homepage. If you include ‘red sunglasses’ in your ad, make sure you take customers to a red sunglasses page not just a generic sunglasses page.
17. Create offers that are time sensitive
Setting deadlines can encourage customers to act sooner rather than later. This limits the amount of customers who may have purchased but went away and forgot about it.
You can also use limited product numbers to have a similar effect. Most importantly, it’s important that this way of selling is core to who you are as a brand. One of the best examples of this method being used whilst also being firmly rooted in brand ethos is Paynter Jacket’s limited batch releases: Paynter Jacket. Paynter releases limited edition jackets four times a year and they sell out in minutes. But it’s not about selling as much as possible for Paynter, it’s about doing things right and good things take time and shouldn’t be wasted. You can read more about Paynter’s journey here.
The most important thing here is to stay on brand and not too overuse these tactics for the sake of it. They’ll lose all value if you use them inauthentically.
If you produce products in small batches and once they’re gone they’re gone, make sure you let your customers know. If you don’t, don’t make it sound like you do and leave this list item unticked.
The most simple way to implement this idea is to offer time sensitive discounts. For example, 20% off for 48hrs.
18. Offer a money back guarantee
When making a purchase online, there is always risk involved. Whether that be low or high, monetary or social, it impacts the consumers decision on whether to make the purchase or not. By offering a money back guarantee, it takes part of the risk out of the purchase and thus improves the consumer experience. This is also a good way to help build brand trust, if you stick to your word, which is imperative in building a loyal customer base.
19. Offer free shipping
Research by Acquisio indicates that 47% of shoppers would abandon a cart if they got to checkout and found that free shipping wasn’t included.
For some businesses, offering free shipping on every order isn’t an option. The key here is to be clear and upfront with how your shipping works. With that in mind, there are other things you can try to stop almost half of your shoppers abandoning their cart!
Offer free shipping when customers spend a certain amount. This makes sense for businesses who ship heavier items and therefore would lose money if they gave free shipping to everyone.
Offer a flat free. If you are open about this from the beginning of a customers’ journey it won’t be a surprise at checkout.
Add shipping costs into the product cost. This removes the complication of shipping options or minimum spend but it may mean that your products now cost more than competitors’. Again, this is where brand is so important. If a small additional cost for shipping means your customers head straight to your competitor, you do not have a strong brand or loyal following.
20. Make the checkout process easy
There is nothing more frustrating than a complicated online checkout.
We’ve all experienced the booking tickets online frustration.
You could have thousands of people visiting your website every month (bear in mind you’ve paid for them all to be in there in one way or another) but what’s the point if they’re all turned off by the checkout process?
The key? Make it easy.
One way of doing that is using integrations like Fast but if you’re not quite ready for integrations, here are few points to get you started: 17 tips for a smooth e-commerce check out.
21. Speak to your community in their language
The tone and language you use on your website plays a vital role in how effectively you communicate with your potential customers. This is where having a good understanding of who your target audience is comes into play.
If you know who you’re speaking to, you’re likely to have a good idea of how best to communicate with them. Do they prefer serious and formal language or are they more laid back and playful? Will technical jargon impress or just confuse them?
Before you start writing copy for your website, make sure you know who you’re writing it for.
22. Improve your copywriting
Everyone can write, can’t they? Yes, they can, but not in the way a trained copywriter can. Those who have spent time perfecting their copywriting skills in the marketing world hold a skill a lot of business owners would give their left arm for.
The copywriting on your website, without a doubt, is fundamental to making sales online. It’s tempting to do it yourself to save costs but trust me, it’s not worth the saving you’ll make. Investing in the copywriting on your website is one of the best investments you’ll make.
Most importantly, the copywriting on your website should be on brand. There is not a one size fits all approach. What frustrates me most about general copywriting advice, especially for websites, is that it tells you to simplify absolutely EVERYTHING. Whilst that may work for a lot of brands, it’s not right for all of them.
Rowen & Wren is a brilliant example of this, the language they use is so elegantly unique to the brand and if they swapped it for short, sharp sentences they’d likely lose the love of some of their most loyal customers.
Again, know who you’re speaking to and what appeals to them, then start writing your copy. And if you’re just not a great writer, hire someone who is.
If you want to give it a go yourself, start by reading this list: 40 one-sentence communication tips.
23. Improve your customer service
I’ve seen ‘good customer service’ appear on so many of these lists before but it’s always spoken about as a ‘tactic’ rather than a genuine piece of advice. Honestly, good customer service should be standard for running a business, not ‘something to try to increase sales’. Sadly, it’s so easy to set up an online business these days that the basic understanding of human interaction is often missing.
But, for anyone thinking customer service doesn’t matter: 86% of buyers are willing to pay more for a great customer experience. 86%!
Of course, there are different levels of customer service that may affect the ultimate success of your business. It’s not enough to say you care about the things your customers care about, you need to show them you care through the online experience you give them. Actions speak louder than words and the right actions will encourage customers to come back.
Before you start selling online, consider your ability to make every purchase a delightful experience for the customer. Ideally start with one channel for feedback where you can focus your efforts. Take constructive feedback and use it to improve your system/products, check in with customers to make sure they’re enjoying the item they bought from you, and deal with problems as they arise in the best and quickest way possible. If you’re just starting out, try not to focus on scaling as fast as you can. Do the things that don’t scale. Call customers, email them directly, send them handwritten notes.
24. Know who you’re selling to
I’ve mentioned the importance of knowing who you’re selling to a number of times now but I’m doing it again in hope that my point really hits home. Without having a clear idea of who you’re talking to it’s impossible to do anything that appeals directly to your core target audience.
The better you understand who it is you’re selling to the more you can show them why your brand is the right fit for them. One of the biggest mistakes I see brands making is only talking about what they do rather than how it benefits their potential buyer. Don’t fall into that trap. It’s not all about you.
Figuring out who you are selling to is not just about asking ‘who will buy my product’. The question is ‘who will buy it, love it and tell their friends straight away’. It’s important to remember here that you don’t need to appeal to everyone. Especially if you’re just getting started. Find that group of people who will LOVE what you do and become your most loyal customers. It’s likely that other groups will follow suit but try to refrain from adjusting your product/messaging to reach every single demographic who may take an interest in what you sell. Again, just look at Patagonia and their commitment to those who love the outdoors.
25. Drive relevant traffic
Referring back to the previous point, identifying your target market is imperative to increasing sales online. Identifying your target market will allow you to focus on channels that will bring relevant traffic to your website.
It’s great if you’ve got 5000 people visiting your site each month but not if they’re not buying anything or showing any interest in what you have to offer.
In order to make your targeting specific and drive traffic that will lead to action, you may want to answer the following questions:
Who are your target customers? What are they interested in? What are their values?
What’s the problem you are solving for them?
Which platforms are best to reach them on?
Where do they start their journey when looking for your product/service?
Answering these questions and adjusting your ads based on the answers will help to improve the quality of your website traffic dramatically.
When trying to reach more of your target audience group, after identifying it, there are lots of tools out there to help you. Using Facebook ‘lookalike audiences’ in advertising campaigns, for example, is an easy way to reach more consumers within your target market, in turn helping to drive more relevant traffic. Facebook lookalike audiences use the data on your current consumers to find people with similar characteristics and behaviours. This means you can run highly targeted ads, which are much more likely to increase the volume of relevant traffic to your site.
Instead of spreading your budget too thin across a number of channels, do your research and hone in on one or two that you know will perform well for you.
26. Test constantly but not at the cost of your brand
The nature of our constantly evolving world means that things change quickly and frequently. Websites used to be built and left, these days they are more fluid and should be regularly adapted to meet the growing needs of customers.
Try different things and find what works for you but don’t do so at the expense of your brand. If you are a luxury, ethical brand who prides itself on heritage don’t run big sales and constantly give out discount codes.
On the other hand, if your product is affordable but the postage is putting people off, find a way to incorporate the cost of posting into the price of the product.
And as always, be honest.
Making sales online requires many factors to come together and work seamlessly. Expectations from customers are high and failure to deliver on promises will weaken sales and credibility. The most important thing is having a crystal clear idea of who your product or service is for. Always start there.
So there you have it. 26 Things you can do to increase your online sales. Please don’t go and do them all at once (remember number 10.) but do give some of them a go and let me know how you get on.
We build brands that matter. If you want your brand to stand out online, we can help. Get in touch about social media, email marketing, digital marketing or design.
