The covid-19 pandemic changed a lot of businesses forever, and it pushed the need for a digital business landscape. While it was a reality check for some businesses, some of them embraced the challenge and adopted technologies. Post-COVID, apart from the eCommerce industry, many B2B and B2C businesses realized the importance of having a digital-first strategy. Thus, businesses have to strengthen their workflows with automation. Businesses need to adopt newer digital strategies for increasing online sales in the USA.
The current online customer base in the USA is around 120 million online customers, with a CAGR of 28%. Online shoppers are expected to reach over 200 million by 2025. Another big reason for focusing on a digital-first strategy is that it allows you to reach people that traditional marketing doesn’t.
However, you can’t just go online to sell products, you have to build a proper marketing strategy to boost online sales.
Best Strategies to Increase Your Online Store Sales
Having a strong digital customer strategy, if and when it’s properly executed, can overcome the challenges of low revenue and increase sales. To help you out, we can increase key strategies that will help in delivering a great user experience and boost online sales.
1. Figure Out Your Sales Goals
To improve sales online, you need to identify your sales goals. You need to align your revenue goals with your strategy. Figuring out your revenue goals is crucial for each step of your business. Before you start doing that, you need to go back to the drawing board to figure out the base idea of setting new sales for the future. The steps to figure out your sales goals include:
- Conduct market research
- Create buyer personas
- Define a marketing strategy
2. Implement Live Chat
Live chat is gaining more and more popularity. Over 80% of the customers prefer real-time chat as they don’t have to wait for a customer rep to get online. This instant customer support leads to a 40% increased conversion rate.
Businesses that use live chat software, can help customers get in touch with customer reps as soon as possible. Some AI Chatbots even help assign customer support reps based on customer queries.Â
Here’s how chatbots can improve sales online:
- Convert website visitors into leads
- Reduce time taken in the sales cycle
- Robust sales chats to the right team
- Reduced customer bounce rate
3. Improve Brand Messaging
You must create some value for your target audience as they’re quick to judge your brand. Brand messaging is the unique value proposition conveyed to the customers, which in turn inspires you to buy your product.
The more clear and consistent your brand messaging is via words, design, and offerings, the better your brand will build awareness in front of customers. Clear brand messaging also helps in generating loyal customers.
Here are some ways how to increase online sales:
- Focus on sales copy
- Add videos to the conversion pages
- Explain your value proposition thoroughly
4. Deploy Chatbots for 24×7 Sales Conversion
Artificial intelligence can do wonders for your brand, and it can offer a high volume of opportunities and lead generation. AI chats can also provide fast and accurate support. Businesses of all types are greatly investing in deploying chatbots for sales and lead generation. 24×7 live chat bots can increase online sales conversion rates by 30%.
Chatbots can help in:
- Book orders
- Automate sales support
- Auto qualified sales lead
- Schedule appointment
5. Improve the Website’s User Experience
If your website doesn’t attract customers as soon as they visit it, then you aren’t delivering the best user experience. All the most successful brands spend millions every year on building user-friendly websites. Designing a great website experience required a deep understanding of what a visitor likes. As websites have become a great tool for increasing online sales, you must focus on designing the website.
Your website should have:
- Right placement of call to action (CTA)
- Improve website navigation
- Use appealing headings
6. Run Paid Ads to Boost Sales
If you’re tired of basic SEO efforts, then you should run paid ads. Running paid ads is a great way to reach out to new customers. You need to target just the right channels and find the ideal target audience. Paid ads are a great way to make sure that your brand reaches as many customers as possible.
You can run Google Ads or run paid ads on social media channels such as Facebook or Instagram for increasing reach. Social media is a great digital solution for businesses that want to advertise their products or services.
7. Provide as Much Social Proof as You Can
Social proof plays a huge role in a shopper’s buying decisions. Whenever someone is mulling over a purchase or trying to decide between two brands. The best way they make decisions is to rely on other people’s expertise.
9 out of 10 customers read reviews before they decide to make a purchase. If customers can get crucial product reviews it can help customers make faster buying decisions.
Customer reviews can help customers make buying decisions by:
- Influence customer buying decisions
- Strengthen customer’s trust in a brand
- Better customer engagement
8. Leverage Quality Product Images and Videos
It’s essential to have high-quality, and quality product pictures, and you should upload those pictures in a way that shows how good your product is. 90% of information that’s sent to the brain is visual, so uploading quality images is crucial.
In simple terms, it means that you should use your product pictures to convince customers that your product is worth the purchase. You can choose how your product is showcased to your potential audience.
Here are some ways that you should use images and videos to boost your online sales:
- Use the highest quality images and videos
- Embed product videos into the product description
- Provide context to the images
- Show the use of the product
9. Eliminate Friction On Checkout Pages
While the COVID-19 pandemic has turbocharged online retail sales, checkout page conversion rates are still low. It’s one of the reasons why businesses lose sales, this is why it’s essential to get rid of elements that create friction and cause customers to drop off.
eCommerce brands lose $18 billion in sales revenue every year because customers abandon the process at checkout. Over 30% of the customers will leave their cart if the checkout process is too complicated.
To eliminate friction from checkout pages, you should:
- Make the payment process as seamless and easy as possible
- Offer real-time sales assistance
- Provide multiple payment options
10. Offer Deals and Discounts
The best possible way to increase sales for an online retail store is by offering sales and discounts. If a customer isn’t sure if they want to buy your product, a low price will definitely help them out.
Before implementing any pricing strategy, you should know how your customers feel about your product. A sudden price change encourages potential customers to buy the product and service.
Here’s how sales and discounts can increase online sales:
- Help customers in making an instant decision
- Convert price-sensitive customers
- Increase sales by offering huge discounts
Final Take: How to Increase Online Sales?
There are tons of strategies that you can rely on to increase business online. You need to adopt these strategies, especially after the pandemic. There are different channels that you can use for your business for boosting online sales including social media, organic traffic, paid ads, and more.
You should follow any of the above-mentioned strategies to increase online sales and generate high revenue in a short time.