ONLINE SALES STRATEGY

With an incredible 120 million online customers and a CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of 28%, online customers are estimated to reach over 200 million by 2025. Aside from being present where your consumers are, another reason why it is important to have a digital first strategy is that it places a higher priority on targeted marketing than traditional marketing would.

So, in order to expand businesses, they must strengthen their strategies and goals.

In this post, we will talk about 10 strategies for online sales that will assist you in boosting your sales and revenue as well: 

Encourage customers to start adding products to their shopping carts, boost the average order value, and increase sales to each customer. Engage with customers to encourage repeat visits and customer loyalty.

 

Let's take a closer look at these 10 strategies that help online stores increase their revenues online.

 

 #1 Upsell & Cross-sell relevant products

An average of 10 percent to 30 percent of e-commerce revenue is due to upsells and cross-sells. Upselling and cross-selling, known by the well-known examples of McDonald's, Pepsi, KFC, etc., is the technique of increasing a customer's purchase by offering complimentary items or upgrades before they show interest in a product. However, although the terms are frequently used equally now, upselling and cross-selling are two separate concepts.

 

Here is an example of how an e-commerce store makes use of the Boost Sales app to move along upsell and cross-sell offers: 

 

Upsell = Offer higher promotion options

 

 

Cross-sell = Offer a variety of relevant complimentary items

 

For online stores, upselling and cross-selling are excellent strategies to promote purchase decisions and raise the average order value.

 

 

 

2. To promote product finding, use customized product recommendations

An e-commerce company named Amazon announced a few years ago that product recommendations contributed to 35% of their overall earnings. At this time, product suggestion blocks are covering 70% of Amazon's site. The technology has become the standard in e-commerce; product recommendations are generated and customized to each customer's preferences and interests and sent directly to the store. This strategy encourages customers to add more goods to their carts by recommending products that are relevant to what they are looking for, which not only prevents customers from leaving empty-handed but also raises the average order value of the store.

 

A clothing store, which was inspired by Amazon's success, uses a similar strategy on their website. They only display four distinct sorts of product recommendations on the homepage in order to target various search factors that buyers may use. To keep selling until customers reach the checkout, in addition to the homepage, you can include relevant recommendations to the category, product, and basket pages. Amazon even makes extra recommendations after checkout to encourage repeat business.

 

 

3. Product reviews or recent sales notifications can boost social proof

Your secret to attracting marketing is social proof, which lets you use the power of the crowd to attract in more customers. How precisely? Many customers are unsure when they first visit your website. Online shopping is nothing new, but there are obvious risks as customers cannot see or touch the actual goods before making a purchase. What if the products do not appear as they are presented on the website and do not perform as they are guaranteed to? Here, social proof may help immensely for you: by showing customers that many people have purchased at our store and also had positive experiences, you can boost business trust and motivate new customers to start shopping with you.

Ask for feedback from past customers about the product

From a User's Perspective analysis, it is learned that "85.57% of the participants responded that they read reviews frequently or very usually before making an online purchase. 83.65% of those who read reviews evaluate both positive and negative ones. For customers to feel secure in their purchase choices, product reviews must be relevant. Yotpo is a useful tool for online retailers to promote reviews through email marketing or on-site popups.

Here is an example of how the Thin Blue Line Store USA used Yotpo to get honest product reviews:

 

 

 

4. Run affiliate marketing campaigns with major influencers in your industry

On social media, influencers have a lot of power. When they promote something highly, their followers may help it spread rapidly. Influencers announced a 10% discount code for their followers; sales made using this code would count as affiliate sales from which they may receive revenue. Influencers put more effort into influencing their followers to buy the product rather than simply spreading the word about it so they can get paid as affiliates.

 

 

 5. To add a sense of urgency, include a countdown timer

Purchase intention is a frequent practice nowadays because to our environment of expanding rapid product use, and online shopping on the internet seems appropriate for it. When products are strategically positioned, the right promotions are launched at the ideal time, and purchase behavior is greatly encouraged. Urgency is one of the factors that significantly influences this behavior. When customers are considering whether to make a purchase, you can display a constrained offer (which could be discounts, free shipping, or giveaways) and add a spinning timer to encourage them to complete the spontaneous transaction. 

 

 

6. Create a sense of shortage by limiting the supply of stock

A perception of shortage can also be used as a marketing strategy to encourage purchase decisions. Because they believe they may return at any moment and make a purchase after comparing prices with other sellers, many online customers only browse or remove items from their shopping cart. They will differ significantly if they are convinced that their preferred things may eventually run out if they don't get them right away. Your stock number can be set lower than the actual cost to create the perception that your products are in high demand and about to run out.

Create clear signs like the ones below to inform customers of the following:

 

 

 

7. Start a reward program that will keep customers coming back.

It's important to concentrate on maintaining existing customers because it costs more to find a new one than to sell more to an existing one. Create a loyalty plan to encourage customers to spend more or make more frequent purchases in order to earn reward points. By inviting your customers to sign up for a rewards program, you can encourage purchase decisions (customers are more motivated to make a purchase instead of shop around because they can earn points to claim later) and turn them into dedicated customers.

 

 

8. Increase AOV by gamification

Gamification radically alters the rules of online shopping. E-commerce gamification not only adds excitement and interaction to the online purchasing experience, but it also includes certain covert rewards for customers to visit the store more frequently and spend more money on a single transaction. The basic concept is simple: similar to a game, people perform more in order to gain achievements.

 

To boost average order value, Layne Coffee uses a simple but effective gamification strategy: when consumers add items to cart, they preview a 15% discount code that will be given out if they spend more to meet a minimum order value of $55:

 

 

9. Deliver customized mailings for re-engagement

You can not only improve online sales when visitors are still on your website, but you can also sell more after they have already left. Approximately 23% of all online purchases are related to email marketing, making it one of the most economical e-commerce marketing methods. The time of massive marketing emails has since passed. In order to better convert customers, brands are now using personalized email automation to follow up with them depending on their actions.

 

 

10. Improve smartphone sales with optimization

Never forget that mobile devices are generating an increased number of e-commerce traffic (though sales conversion is far behind desktop). You should concentrate on improving your phone app in order to get ready for the very coming years when phone drives windows in terms of generating the majority of online sales.

 

 

 

Mobile users frequently scroll up and down to view content, which increases the chance that they will notice the CTA button. Customers can purchase at any moment by including a sticky Buy button at the top with practical options. Customers using mobile devices frequently swipe left and right to view images. Consider adding a gallery so customers may swipe like on Instagram rather than presenting product images vertically.

 

Conclusion: 

These are the attempted strategies that many big and small businesses have used to get successful outcomes. You can evaluate each strategy's effectiveness for your company.

All of the abovementioned strategies can considerably boost online sales and provide high revenue under the right conditions, but the best options for your business may depend on how well you know the customers you serve.