The new year has arrived, and it’s time to implement new marketing initiatives for your online store!

Here are five tips to increase eCommerce sales and boost traffic to make this the best year yet for your online business.

1. Produce problem-solving content

Writing content seems easy enough, but writing relevant, useful, problem-solving content that is interesting and captures attention is something most smaller eCommerce businesses don’t do so well.

In addition to having detailed product descriptions, I recommend regularly updating your blog with fresh, useful content. This foundation for useful content publishing can lead to more unique visitors from organic search. As your blog traffic grows, you can promote relevant products in your blog posts to increase sales.

Where to find blog post ideas

One of the places to find content ideas is Google Trends. Here you can use industry and product terms to understand what keywords and concepts are trending quickly.

Also, perform searches on Google as if you were your own customer. What type of content would you be looking for? Are the results relevant? Can you provide something better — something more detailed, for example — which can eventually lead to a sale?

For example, if you are an online store selling beauty and makeup products, you may decide to write content on how to get rid of acne or how to clean makeup brushes.

2. Make your website mobile-friendly

As you may have noticed, mobile and tablet devices are becoming an integral part of our daily lives. We use mobile devices for researching companies, comparing prices and ordering products online.

Having a unified user experience on a website has never been more important than now. I highly recommend using responsive design for your eCommerce website to make it easy for your customer to browse and order online. There are many advantages to having a responsive website, such as better conversions and lower bounce rates — both of which allow you to increase eCommerce sales. Learn more about the importance of responsive design here.

Image Credit: Volusion Responsive Templates

3. Follow up on abandoned carts

One of the biggest ways online retailers can lose money is abandoned carts. According to Baymard Institute, the average eCommerce shopping cart abandonment rate is 68%, which means for every 100 potential shoppers, around 68 shoppers add products to the shopping cart but do not complete their purchase.

Set up an email recovery program to send personalized emails to these shoppers and gently remind them to come back to your site and complete their orders. Here’s an example of an email I got from Shutterfly, and you know what? I went and purchased that ornament as a result of that email.

4. Tell your story through videos

Videos are another form of content that you can create for your online store in addition to blog posts, ebooks, infographics and how-to articles. You can create videos to highlight product features, show your customers how to set up or use your products, or even demonstrate how to troubleshoot issues. A few things to keep in mind while creating videos:

• Try to keep them short (under two minutes)
• Use people who work in your company to be in the videos
• Be sure to upload on YouTube and share on social media

Here’s a great example of how Taco Bell uses a simple, low-cost video to showcase their new sauce packets.

5. Invest in Google Shopping

When shopping online, consumers compare prices and reviews of products from different merchants before purchasing.

For example, when I search for ‘kitchen aid mixer’ in Google, it delivers results as seen in the image below. I can quickly learn about different merchants selling the product, see product photos, view the prices different sites are offering and browse customer reviews.

For your website to appear in search results, you have to set up a Google Shopping campaign. Setting up this campaign is a great way to generate traffic and sales for your eCommerce store.

Bonus tip: Learn Google Analytics

As you implement different marketing initiatives for your online store, it’s important to understand the results that arise.

Use your website data to see what worked and what didn’t. Set soft objectives and measure success based on specific metrics. Google Analytics is the most prominent free analytics tool available and it’s my favorite tool by far. It’s worth your time to learn everything you can, and Google makes it easier through their training courses.

With Google Analytics you can find data on how many people came to your website, as well as the pages they visited, products they purchased, paths to purchases and revenue you made. Knowledge is power, and you’ll get a lot of it with Google Analytics!

Implement these tips to increase eCommerce sales this year

I hope these tips help you get off to a good start with your store in the new year! Let me know in the comments below if you have any questions.

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