Everyone wants to increase online sales, whether they’re already established in eCommerce or just starting out. That means connecting with your customers and getting them excited about your products.

So, how do you do that?

Check out these five strategies you haven’t thought of to whip up more sales for your online business.

1. Use social media to your advantage and attract new followers

With over 2 billion active social media accounts around the world, using social media for your business is a must these days. These are the places where most of your customers will find you.

Social media platforms (Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, etc.) are a great place to reach consumers and turn them into customers, as well as a place for you to create customer loyalty with your current followers. Using social media is a cost-effective tool, especially if you are just starting out and are on a budget.

Use hashtags to generate traffic you never expected

Hashtags are a good way of getting your online shop out there. To get you noticed by a brand new audience it is important to use the right and relevant hashtags on your photos. Doing this can get you more likes and followers, and it’s a good way to file and sort through groups of photos later on.

Create a fun promotion or giveaway contest to get more leads and followers

Has a friend ever tagged you in a photo for a promotion on Facebook or Instagram? Did it get you to open the photo and take a look at it? If your answer is yes, then you understand why this is effective.

Take advantage of this and create your own contests. You’ll need to create a promo image/poster that contains the instructions of your promotion. Your promotion should feature a fun and exciting product of yours that you know a lot of people would love to own. You could give this away as the prize or maybe a gift voucher to your store to purchase this product.

Your promotion image/poster should be attractive and easy to read. Common instructions include re-posting the promo image on friends’ pages whether it’s on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter or Pinterest. Then you need to ask them to tag friends on the photo. You do this to get more people to notice your ongoing promo.

Another important requirement is that they follow you on your chosen social media site. If people are interested in what you are giving away then they’re more likely to join and follow you on social media. You can list the names of those who joined and choose a winner depending on your terms. Don’t forget to set a date and time for when you will announce the winner and place that on your promo image.

This is an easy and cost effective way of getting more people to notice your online shop and turn these people into leads/followers!

2. Humans are visual creatures — post more quality, shareable photos

Make it a habit to take more photos and post more often. It’s good to post at least one to three times a day to keep your customers and followers happy and informed about what is going on with your online shop.

You can post product shots, quotes, behind-the-scenes looks into your company, photos of your customers wearing and using your products, and anything else that is relevant to your online shop. But at the end of the day quality is more important than the quantity of your posts.

It’s important to remember to have good photos. Your product photos should be clear and crisp. Taking them on a white background is a great idea so the customer can focus on your product.

3. Get your customers excited with a flash sale

Are your sales a bit slow? This is a good time to increase online sales with a flash sale.

Flash sales work because of two things: urgency and insanely attractive prices.

You can create and tailor it the way you want it to be, and you can give a straight discount or create a bundle deal.

Discount

You can give discounts based on what you feel is appropriate without making a loss. Around 20% off is a good place to start and you can go up to 50% depending on how much margin you have. For newer products it is better to give a lower discount. For older stocks you want to get rid of, it is better to give it at a high discount price so they will sell faster and make room for new pieces.

Bundle deals

You can take a different approach to give your customers an incentive to buy rather than just giving a straight discount. A fun idea to get people to buy more is to offer bundle deals. For example: “Buy this set and get this item for free” or “Buy this set and get 20% off.” Creating these bundle deals is a good way to upsell, creating more value at checkout.

Don’t forget to pace your flash sales; having them too often can affect your sales. You don’t want your customers not to buy when your prices are at their regular rate because they’re waiting for you to go on sale.

4. Create an irresistible offer by including free shipping

Stores can increase online sales by offering free shipping — it helps convince customers to shop from you versus shops that charge a separate fee for postage. When businesses charge for shipping, customers need to calculate the cost, which usually ends up being more.

It’s up to you if you want to factor shipping charges into your rates (i.e., you would pay for them). You can also use free shipping as a promo instead of going on sale.

You might also offer free shipping for a minimum order of “X” amount. Use a strategy that is convenient for you and your budget. Whichever strategy you use, your customers will always appreciate that they got something for free… even if you secretly computed it already into your prices.

5. Reach on-the-go customers with a mobile-friendly site

Due to our fast-paced lifestyles, a lot of people look to their mobile devices for internet browsing.

This is why it is important for your online shop to be mobile friendly. You should make your website in such a way that the customer can still appreciate the style and design in a simplified view. Provide larger photos and closeup shots of your products. You should also make sure that your online shop’s website loads at a fast speed. There is a big chance that your potential customers won’t stay on your page if it takes forever to load.

Lots of website themes on Shopify, BigCommerce and WooCommerce provide mobile-responsive themes — meaning you don’t have to do anything but turn on the mobile version on. Don’t forget to make sure your website is tap-friendly too!

Try these out and watch your sales grow

Social media is a powerful way to reach your audience, so make sure to leverage your online platforms to gain more customers and connect with your current ones.

Once you become successful on social media, you can deploy high-impact strategies to increase visibility and up your sales.

Do you want to increase online sales with stunning, high-quality photos? Pixc can help. See what we can do for you with a free 24-hour photo edit!

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