Zap! Welcome to the future, where the majority of businesses are now online, considering going online or actively building a digital strategy for their business.
But what do you do once your online store is up and running and you’re not seeing the sales flowing in? (Heroic soundtrack plays)
Not to worry, in this article I’ll share my 10+ years of experience building an e-commerce store, coupled with research from various trusted sources to help provide you with 5 Simple Ways to Increase Online Sales… Today!
1. Get rid of the sliding banner!
Social Media expert Neil Patel said it perfect when he noted that “there is no research to show that carousel banners on your homepage increase sales, however there is quite a bit of evidence that proves it doesn’t.”
Though sliding banners offer the opportunity to showcase a lot of products or services that you may be trying to highlight, it also counteracts these efforts by shifting the focus off every product as it transitions over to the next.
“Save $2 off when you purchase a premium black tea from our rare collection…
Whoooooosh!
Introducing our new mango summer iced tea! A fruity tropical splash to help you stay cool this summer!
Whoooooosh!
Here are some of the new ways we’re helping to keep the planet green. Learn more.
Whooooooosh!
This is basically what it feels like to your customers, when the banner transitions on your homepage.
So… as a customer browsing my site, which action would you take first?
Surprisingly, many consumers won’t take any action but instead, drop off the site and head to the next. Sometimes, 5 solutions to one problem equals no solution. It’s weird but true.
2. Rename your menu headings (and products)
When it came to naming the products on our e-commerce store, I was “Nigel the Naming Ninja!” See? I had so much fun coming up with really far fetched product names and descriptions that I even decided to get creative with the menu headings… instead of “SHOP” I would put something like “PULL OUT YOUR WALLET” and instead of “ABOUT US” I would put something like “411.” Although this was super cool and funky and struck a creative cord amongst some customers, on the other hand many customers who may have just stumbled on our website, we’re confused and unable to quickly locate the information they were looking for.
I soon came to learn that from an SEO (search engine optimization) stand point as well, we were not making it easier for sites like Google to analyze the content on our website in order to extract the specific keywords that our potential customers were using to find products like ours. This was actually harming our ability to be found online. I retracted back to the K.I.S.S rule… “Keep it simple stupid.”
3. Make your landing page match your ad
Another gem of information from Neil Patel suggests that this simple tweak can skyrocket your online sales!
If you’re have been running ads to help generate traffic and leads to your website, make sure the ads you are running match or look very similar to the landing page that customers who click your ad will see. I can attest to this from a consumer’s point of view. When I click an ad that catches my attention, if the link takes me to a page that doesn’t immediately look like it belongs to the brand or had similar colours and designs that correlate with the ad I clicked… I bounce, as I feel I may have been spammed, click baited or sometimes even clicked on a virus.
Try making this slight change to your strategy and see how it improves your sales and conversions.
4. Remove the navigation menu from your checkout page
This point is just genius and really confirms our psychological makeup. If I’m walking down a long hallway from door A to door Z, but right before getting to door Z, I look to the side amd see door B and C… guess what? Now I’m curious, divided and unsure which door I should open. It works the same way when customers are checking out on your online store. When a customers has made the decision to purchase your product, your job is to make this process as clear, easy and focused as possible. This is not the time to tell customers to go back to your home page or about us or testimonials… they most likely would have done that already. It’s time to cash out. Help them do that and that only.
5. Make testimonials matter
Typically when people build their online stores, testimonials is that default section that you just copy and paste a few nice words that “Jon doe” said 5 years ago, add 4 or 5 stars beside it and publish.
Wrong, wrong, wrong!
Huge opportunity missed. Testimonials can be a power house for increasing sales for your online store, and why is that you ask? Because great testimonials increase the number one thing you need to drive sales… TRUST! The more I trust your company, the more I’m inclined to buy from you.
The more authentic, genuine and personable you can make your testimonial page the better it will perform for your store. If there’s no picture of the customer that gave the testimony, this also shows that no one is accountable to authenticate the validity of the review, but if you have a picture, now I am more inclined to believe that Jon Doe is a real person, who really experienced your products/ services and was so pleased he had to write about it. Who knows, I might even want to do a background check on Jon Done!
I mentioned Neil Patel quite a bit in this article, as I feel he offers some of the most practical advice and tips on how to increase your online sales. Feel free to check him out at NeilPatel.com for more amazing tips.
I wish you all continued success and hope you found lots of value from this article. I’ll continually be on the look out for tips, tricks and methods to help you grow a successful business, so don't forget to subscribe.
What are some of the methods you have used to grow your online sales? Please share it with me in the comment so we can help more people!
Keep on moonwalkin,
⁃ Daniel
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