It’s been four decades since the arrival of eCommerce, and we can say that it has not only altered the way we live but also has taken the standards of digital shopping beyond unimaginable levels! Millions of products are at your fingertips now, and you can buy whatever you want in a blink of an eye.
But is this all about eCommerce? Definitely Not! More than being a worthwhile shopping option, eCommerce has paved the way to discover the unseen zones of the business world. Setting up an e-business has been the go-to idea for most aspiring entrepreneurs nowadays.
Thanks to developing some great launch pads, launching an e-business is becoming easier than ever! Shopify is one such launchpad.
Founded in 2006, Shopify has been a trustworthy platform for millions of brands over the years. It lets you start and develop your e-business with minimal effort by setting up a perfect platform. However, a business needs more than that to reach higher dividends. Here are some of the ways to boost sales on Shopify,
Stand Out From the Crowd
As we speed into 2023, we can see millions of online merchants selling billions of products all over the world. The covid era had triggered a healthy rise in the revenue of most eCommerce stores. Numerous retailers adopted the concept of digital transformation in their business to stay up and running in this pandemic world. Notably, more than 1.7M merchants are selling their products on the Shopify platform, and it provides endless shopping options for buyers.
Therefore, you should make sure there are enough reasons for the shoppers to choose your store over the others. For stamping the hallmark of a store among the masses, it’s better to be known widely for something specific rather than being limitedly known for everything.
That’s why we believe USP is a crucial factor for each business. So what does it mean?
USP means Unique Selling Proposition or Unique Selling Point. It articulates why a business is distinct and superior to its competitors. But, it demands extreme creativity and understanding of the current trends to designate an ideal USP for a business. A dogmatic and willful USP will let you find a way to catch the attention of the buyers.
Moreover, try to have a distinctive take on contemporary techniques while popularizing your store. Whenever we think about the Apple brand, our mind automatically remembers its tagline, ‘Think Different.’ It shows the significance of branding. So, create
Know Your Audience
A striker in football targets the goal, and a fast bowler in cricket targets the middle stump. Likewise, what’s your target?
It’s a million-dollar question for any entrepreneur. There are billions of people engaged in digital shopping out there. Is it necessary to target all of them to expand the business? Well, not really.
One of the common mistakes committed by many growing eCommerce stores is spending more resources, trying to attract all kinds of buyers. But in reality, you can turn your business lucrative by having your own set of audiences. Let’s discuss one of the ways to achieve that, Buyer Persona!
The ultimate objective of creating a buyer persona is to get clear-cut knowledge about a store’s targeted audience. By understanding that, you can quickly develop your store’s marketing strategies and stay in line with the buyers’ expectations.
With your precisely developed promotional messages, you can attract the intended set of shoppers more quickly and effectively.
Also, it’s not just about creating, as you should constantly be researching and segmenting these buyer personas to understand your audience’s changing needs.
SEO – a Trump Card
Obviously, the buyers won’t like to spend all day shopping online. So, our store needs to be in their visibility and grab their attention as soon as they start searching. This is where our trump card comes into play, SEO.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a concept of configuring your website technically to make it easy for the search engines to crawl and analyse the store. It enables your store name to top the search rankings, thereby boosting your website’s organic traffic. It’s one of the organic ways of attracting new customers.
A recent analysis states that the first page displayed in the Google search results possesses an average click-through rate of 32%. No wonder why, any merchant will want their store name to top the list.
Interestingly, there is a customizable H1 feature in the Shopify platform. H1 tags define the title of the web page. By altering these tags with the most relevant keywords, there are high chances of drawing more potential customers to the store.
Fully Harness Social Media Marketing
Gone are the days when we had to spend a lot of money on advertising and promoting our business. In an era ruled by Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, marketing your store has become a piece of cake!
However, you still have to make sure that you have the right tactics to make full use of Social Media Marketing (SMM).
The greater the engagement, the greater will be the reach of your social media promotions. The content you share in your posts and ads should be out of the box, appealing but not deceiving.
One of the big advantages of SMM is its ability to stimulate a rapid rise in popularity. Your store can get an enormous hype even within a day or two if your ads get viral.
Shopify lets you integrate Facebook and Instagram with your store to scale your business.
Rely on Email Marketing Campaigns
Thus far, we have talked about various marketing strategies using social media platforms and SEO tools. However, with plenty of businesses striving for popularity, there are possibilities of your ads and posts getting overlooked in this extremely vast digital world!
This factor necessitates the infusion of a personal touch in your promotions, and Email Marketing Campaigns(EMC) serve the same.
Promulgating your business via emails, EMC bridges the communication gap between your store and its buyers. Remember, a reliable email list is a must-have in this process. Featuring pre-built templates, Shopify lets you construct customized emails easily. Here are some of the many types of EMC,
Newsletters – Loaded with all the updates regarding your store in an engaging way.
Launch Announcements – This allows the buyers to be aware of new product launches.
Abandoned Cart Recovery – Converts a lost sale into a completed purchase.
There are many automation tools available for email marketing, and Retainful is one of them that can be your best bet to boost sales.
Build a Dynamic yet User-Friendly Interface
You can drive a high volume of online users to your website with vigorous promotions and SEO tools. However, it’s just a job half done. Turning those traffic into repeat customers depends upon multiple other factors.
As they always say, the first impression is the best impression! Build a homepage in a way that dazzles and entices the visitors to research further in the store. Shopify offers more than 70 professional themes, courtesy of some top-quality designers such as Happy Cog, Clearleft, and Pixel Union. Using Javascript Buy SDK, it sets up a perfect platform to build an exquisitely customized and user-friendly storefront.
Apart from this, we can incorporate a few unique features that can make your store extremely user-friendly,
- Simple navigation – Building your homepage with a tree view will let your customers access all the features smoothly and effortlessly.
- AI-powered search engine – Develop an efficient search engine that can provide real-time and relevant results
- Responsive Design – It renders the CSS of the webpage to suit the device used by the visitors.
Discounts, Discounts, and More Discounts
To hit the jackpot in this business, you have to be more smart, flexible, and creative in decision-making, particularly regarding pricing and discounts.
Why are discounts unavoidable?
Imagine a buyer surfing your website just to get an idea about the pricing of a particular product. And then they see a time-limited sale going on for that product with a 25% discount. So what do you think they will do now? It’s simple. Most probably, they will try to seal the deal soon.
Offering a discount on the product page or checkout will entice the buyer to complete the purchase even if they didn’t plan to do so.
Now, you may doubt whether this strategy will affect your profit level negatively. No worries! Absolutely not. It’s evident that you are going to sell more numbers by offering coupons and discounts, and it will only move your store’s revenue upwards.
Moreover, it’s more about the long-term value than the short-term profits. Shopify offers an in-built Discount Calculator that can be handy in determining the discount percentages.
Earn Not Only Customers but Brand Ambassadors
Whenever there is a new movie released in town, the people who have watched the movie will share their feedback about it with their friends and family. If the film is good, they may suggest others watch it. It is instinctive.
Similarly, if the buyers are impressed by your flawless service, they may recommend their fellow shoppers to have a go at your store. We call this Word-Of-Mouth (WOM) marketing.
Now, we can employ the following catalysts to intensify WOM marketing.
Referral programs: Initiate a referral program for your existing customers through which they can get rewarded whenever they refer a new customer to your store. Rewards can be offered in the form of coupons, gift cards, or store credit once when the new customer completes their first order.
Reviews and User-Generated Content: A customer will always trust the opinion of the other customers. So, publish the user reviews on the product page. Also, you can create a hashtag to track and collate the customers’ reviews posted on social media about your store and products.
Detailed Analytics – Inevitable for Success
This world is filled with tonnes and tonnes of data. People say that ‘Data is Wealth.’ But, actually, the real value of a datum depends upon how we utilize it. Otherwise, it will remain as just another piece of information.
In addition to marketing, website development, and management, there is another significant facet of this business that we should ace to fly high, Analytics. Helping you understand where your store stands in the various aspects of the business while letting you strategize a future course of action for the improvement is analytics’s purpose.
Integrate Google Analytics with your online store on Shopify and gain valuable insights.
Some of the factors that need to be analyzed for the store’s betterment are,
Sales report: Information about the best-selling and less-sold items. Categories that are turning heads and categories that need improvement.
Geographic locations: The regions from which more customers are attracted.
Keywords: A list of words that are used most commonly by the buyers while searching.
These data aid us in revising our SEO techniques accordingly to yield the desired outcomes.
Prioritize Customer Obsession
Last but not least, Master the art of customer obsession! You can allure new buyers with your discounts and digital marketing gambits. But, a business’s success demands not only new customers but loyal customers.
The customers’ trust is the foundation upon which any business can be built. You may be selling high-quality products and possessing extraordinary technology. But, earning the customers’ trust is all the more important. Not just meet but endeavor to exceed their expectations! How will this impact our customers? It is the question you should be asking yourself before making every change in the business.
The following virtues can showcase your efforts made to retain the customers’ trust,
24 x 7 Support: Have a dedicated support team that works persistently to offer the right support to the right customer at the right time.
Transparency: Whether it’s about the shipping time or regarding the offers, never promise something that you cannot stand by.
Value their word: Ensure that you acknowledge each and every feedback of your customers.
Signing Off
Alright! We have talked about quite a few steps and tricks to boost sales on your Shopify store. That was easy. Right?
Before moving on, there’s one last fact to be aware of. The data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics says that 20% of small businesses fall within a year. One of the primary reasons behind this is the inability to adapt to the changing trends and requirements. So, Make sure you are always thinking ahead of time and be a pioneer for the budding entrepreneurs!
Now, We wish you all the success for your store!