GROW YOUR BUSINESS

10 tips to increase online sales for your small business

5 min. read

Jan 24, 2023

If you’ve just started your online business, you probably have plenty of ideas about getting the word out and driving more traffic. But what if you want to take your sales figures a notch higher? Well, many new online businesses struggle with the conversion of traffic, especially in their early days. So here are some ideas for boosting sales of your online store. Let’s dive right in and explore these tips in detail:

1. Use high-quality images to showcase your products

When you upload your products to your online store, ensure to use high-quality images. In an online business, your pictures are equivalent to your in-store salespeople. Pictures matter, especially since, your customers view your products and decide if they want to read their descriptions or buy these in seconds. So having high-quality images can enhance your chances of making a sale.

Pro-tip: Ensure that your images accurately represent your product. Accessories that are not a part of the product should not be included. Product images set customer expectations and should display exactly what your customer will receive. Use a white background to ensure your images are non-distracting.

2. Keep shipping costs as minimal as possible (or free)

With online purchases being at an all-time high, many businesses and e-retailers offer free shipping as an incentive to customers. So after piquing your customers' interest in purchasing your products, the next step would be to encourage them to add products to their cart. However, at this stage, if customers see additional shipping charges being levied, they may choose to drop the purchase altogether. According to a Forbes report, more than 75% of online buyers would abandon their cart if shipping charges are added to their shopping list. If possible, add minimum or zero shipping charges for online orders or be upfront about your shipping charges.

Pro-tip: You can consider setting up free-shipping promotions above a certain purchase value threshold (for instance, free shipping on orders above INR X99). This can encourage customers to build their baskets and potentially induce trials for a higher number of products to avail themselves of the free shipping offer. To know how to set this up on SmartBiz by Amazon, click here.

3. Provide targeted suggestions to your customers

Providing suggestions to your customers can heighten the probability of them buying from you. You can list your most frequently purchased products under a section ‘you might also like’ or ‘other customers have also viewed’ as suggestions.

In addition, providing suggestions can give your customers a better idea of what your products do. Diwali is coming up? Provide suggestions for relevant products, maybe sweets, accessories, gifting, and clothing items. This helps make the customer purchase decision and journey easier.

4. Manage inventory

Ensure to ask your customers for feedback once they complete purchasing your products. This will help you to understand if your customers are satisfied with your products and help you identify areas for improvement. Customer feedback can also help you explore new opportunities you had not considered before. What's more, new customers always read reviews online before making purchases. So having lots of positive feedback, real customer testimonials, and pictures and videos of customers using your product can offer social proof and help your online store build credibility, ultimately increasing your sales..

5. Create packages and deals to induce trials

Who doesn’t love a good bargain. People love to buy things that they get on a good deal. You can keep a track of which products are being frequently purchased together. With this information, you can combine similar products into one package and offer a sale/discount as an incentive for buying the combo. You can also curate packages and gifts for special occasions and offer slashed prices during key shopping seasons.

Pro-tip: You can also consider introducing new products on your website at special prices for a limited period or for a limited number of customer purchases (For instance, available at a flat 50% off for the first 50 customers). You can use social media to build anticipation about upcoming offers and create excitement and urgency when the offer is live.

6. Allow customer tracking

Great customer service is always valued because it makes customers believe in your efforts. Adding your contact details by including your phone number, email address, and social media links helps users get in touch with you easily. Offering easy and hassle-free returns or exchanges also helps build confidence in your customers.

The most crucial thing is to reply right away when customers contact you, as it will strengthen your relationship.

7. Simplify the customer purchase journey

You need to ensure that the customer purchase journey you are presenting on your online store is as simple, easy to comprehend, and reassuring as possible. Customers should be able to find exactly what they are looking for in the minimum possible steps. Not only this, they should be able to make the purchase without a lot of friction. Decluttering the check-out process and adding visible trust markers to reassure customers about your website’s authenticity is also essential. You can conduct usability studies to understand how customers are perceiving/using your online store.A simple way to do this is to just watch your friends and family go through the process of discovering and buying your products. Look for areas where they are struggling and improve their experience.

8. Use instant messaging as a channel of communication

A lot of businesses are using instant messaging platforms such as WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Telegram, and Snapchat to communicate with their audience, and you can be one of them too. You can also send personalized messages to provide tailored experiences to your customers. You can also increase your credibility by sharing regular updates with your customers regarding their purchases/orders.

9. Harness the power of social

You need to be where your target audience spends most of their time these days - on social media. According to the World Economic Forum, global internet users spend an average of 2 hours and 27 minutes per day on social media. New brands are increasingly being discovered on social media by customers. You can engage your audience in interesting conversations using posts, reels, stories, quizzes, polls, and more. Encourage them to share their purchases and reviews on social media with their own audiences. Leverage social influencers to talk about your product and increase your brand’s reach within their niche and relevant audience. Promote your online sale events and discounts on social media. By creating an engaging social experience, you can increase your brand awareness and convert your social followers into customers.

10. Build up your email subscriber list

You can create an email newsletter and use the same to keep your customers updated with sale events, product usage tips, customer testimonials and successes, and new launches.

Pro-tip: You can get more customers to subscribe to your newsletter by offering a discount code.

And that’s it! Those are 10 ways that can help you to increase sales on your online store.

You can use these tips while building your online store using SmartBiz by Amazon. Create your own online store in a matter of minutes by starting your free trial today.