How to Increase E-commerce Sales: 14 Actionable Strategies

Learning how to increase e-commerce sales is a challenge whether you have a big or small business. The online world is competitive, and it's essential to find ways to make your brand stand out.

After all, creating an e-commerce site is just the beginning. It's necessary to think ahead and plan how to build a brand with solid foundations. Conquering loyal customers and continuously improving sales strategies are part of that. 

Why Strategies to Increase E-commerce Sales Are Necessary#

With more than 5 billion internet users worldwide, e-commerce businesses have a wide field to work in. According to a Statista report retail e-commerce sales are expected to overpass 4.1 trillion U.S. dollars worldwide. 

However, the e-commerce world is a very competitive one, with more than 30 million e-commerce sites. Developing strategies to increase e-commerce sales isn't just a way to improve your business, but also to survive. 

You need to think about what makes your online store distinguishable from the others in your sector and how you can highlight that to your target audience. People can buy from stores all around the world; they need compelling reasons to choose to buy from you. Having a strong brand identity is a good way to start. 

4 Key Factors that Influence E-commerce Sales#

1. User Experience#

One of the main reasons for cart abandonment is when customers have a bad experience browsing through an online store. Many factors can influence user experience, such as a non-mobile-friendly interface, pages that take too long to load, and difficulties finding key information about products. 

It isn't difficult to understand why this problem can make you lose sales. Would you wait more than a few seconds to see a page, or trust a website where information about products is unclear? Neither would your customers. 

2. Customer Support#

Customers may need assistance with deciding to buy a product or service, to choose the best option for them, for instance. Therefore, customer support plays a decisive role in closing sales. They help to solve customers' doubts, and having assistance from a company member adds credibility to your brand. 

3. Marketing#

Implementing effective marketing strategies is the key to conquering brand visibility, engaging with your target audience, and showing them how your products or services can solve their problems. You can create social media and marketing campaigns to reach your target audience, promote brand awareness, and show your product's benefits. 

4. Trust and Reputation#

Building a trustworthy brand can convince customers to choose your business over the competition. When they see your business has a good reputation, and your website complies with standard security protocols, they feel safer and it compels them to make a purchase.

14 Strategies to Increase E-commerce Sales#

1. Research Your Target Audience#

Who is your target audience? Where do they buy online? What social media platforms do they use? What are their demands and main interests? It's fundamental to answer these questions to develop effective marketing strategies that will resonate with your public.

When you know their behavior, you can determine the best tone of voice to talk to them, the communication channels you should use to reach them, and how to create convincing calls to actions. You will increase sales by engaging with your audience, and connecting with them, 

To be able to show your products and services benefits, first, you have to know who you are talking to. The target audience profile must be used as a guideline on how to attract customers, close sales, and encourage customer loyalty.

Use the information you already have about your current customers, and gather data through social media and your website analytics to learn more about your audience. You can also research market reports about your target audience, and join Facebook groups, and other online spaces where you can analyze your audience behavior more closely. 

Then, you can use the marketing strategy that consists of creating one or more personas that represent your target audience. You will use the personas to develop strategies. 

2. Offer Personalized Service#

When you know who your target audience is, it becomes possible to offer a completely personalized experience to them. Add features to your website that enable you to treat each client with individualized attention for example, you can show products related to the customer's previous interests, 

You can send personalized messages via e-mail, sms, social media, and even on your website by adding a live chat and chatbot. For instance, if someone left an abandoned cart, you can send an email asking what stopped them from concluding the purchase and highlighting how they are important to your brand.

The State of Customer Service and CX Study interviewed more than 1.000 consumers in the U.S. and 81% of the consumers stated that they prefer companies that provide a personalized experience. 70% emphasized that being assisted by an employee who knows their name, buying patterns, latest purchase, and other information is important

Another characteristic of personalized experience is enabling customers to choose how they prefer to communicate with you, and how to make a purchase, For example, through your website or an app.

3. Provide Excellent Customer Support#

One of the most important strategies to increase e-commerce customer sales is investing in offering the best customer service possible. Train your team, so they will know how to approach and treat clients making them feel comfortable, secure, and heard. 

Customer support needs to be available in multiple ways, including FAQ, live chat, chatbot, telephone, email, and SMS. Allow the customer to choose how to get assistance, and when they send a message to you, ensure that it will be answered quickly and provide the best solution to your customer. 

4. Enhance Your Sales Funnel#

A sales funnel is a marketing technique that defines the steps of the sales process. It helps to visualize what needs to be done in each step so the customer will keep moving forward with the main goal: close sales. 

Analyze how the sales process happens in your e-commerce, identify what steps your customers take until finalizing a purchase, and exchange the sales funnel by personalizing it according to your target audience characteristics.

The sales funnel can be divided into different ways, one of them is: 

• Top of the funnel (awareness stage): In this initial stage, you must invest in brand awareness, presenting your company and products. You can create a blog and produce high-quality content that speaks to your target audience's pain points and shows how your products can help solve them. You can also reach them via social media ads, email marketing campaigns, and even word of mouth. 
• Middle of the funnel (consideration stage): the customer knows your brand, and has shown interest in your product or service. That's the moment to try to understand what influences their decision to buy and help by providing product information and offering customer support. 
• Bottom of the funnel (conversion stage): That's the stage where the customers decide to make a purchase or not. You can help them to decide by offering customer support, facilitating the checkout process, and providing a great user experience.

5. Optimize Your Website#

You need to implement several actions to optimize your website and make it SEO-friendly, which increases the chances of having your pages appear in Google's first search results. This is very important when it comes to conquering visibility and organic website traffic. 

There are several aspects of your website that you should consider to implement, including technical, design, and content changes. An optimized website needs to have a responsive design, which means your pages will function smoothly whether they are accessed on a desktop computer or on a mobile device. 

Another factor is how long a page takes to load, this strongly affects user experience and diminishes the time spent on your website. Google's algorithm considers all of these aspects when your pages are crawled. 

It's also necessary to consider the website designer. The pages must be designed and aligned with the brand's visual identity, and the content on every page must be written clearly and put in a place where customers can quickly find the information they are looking for.

6. Create High-Quality Product Pages#

The product page needs to be well-built. It requires special attention to the content and the product images. Publish high-resolution images that show the product in different positions, and enable the customer to see its details, 

You should also write a complete product description that describes the product's appearance, size, color, and functions. You can add a comparison feature, so customers can analyze the difference between products with the same functions. 

7. Use Social Media Networks to Promote Your Products#

Social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok, can be a great ally when the subject is engaging with your customers. Identify what social media pages your target audience uses the most, and create your brand profile on them.

Plan what you will post, and create a calendar to help you remember when each content must be published. Consider the social media characteristics to create engaging posts. You can create posts showing products, presenting your company, and providing interesting information to your target audience. 

Social media is also an interesting place to put ads because you can target a specific public based on your audience's behavior. 

8. Create Email Marketing Campaigns#

You can create email marketing campaigns with different purposes, but one thing is indispensable: having permission to send them, You can create campaigns inviting customers to sign up for your newsletters. Encourage them to do that by offering a coupon discount or free shipping, for example. 

You can retarget customers who left abandoned carts, and convince them to finish the purchase. Another possibility is creating a newsletter where customers will be updated about your brand's latest news, such as product launches and sales. 

9. Develop a Loyalty Program#

Creating a loyalty program helps you to increase e-commerce sales because its purpose is to encourage customers to return to your store. You can offer rewards in the loyalty program, such as exclusive coupon discounts, gifts, and free shipping. 

This is a way to avoid losing customers to competition and engage with them. Keep in mind that the loyalty program must be beneficial to the participants, analyze carefully the advantages you can offer to them. 

10. Simplify the Checkout Process#

Invest in creating a user-friendly interface with an intuitive design where people can easily complete each step to simplify the checkout process.Include a summary of what the person is buying so they can certify the order is correct without having to go back to the product's page. 

That's especially useful when the customer is buying personalized items, where they have to choose the color or size, for instance. Another useful feature is putting a progress bar showing what step of the checkout process the buyer is in, and what are the next ones. 

11. Provide Multiple Payment Options#

The customer must be able to choose the best payment option for him, otherwise, they are likely to give up on the purchase.   Analyze how you can provide different payment options on your e-commerce.

Payment gateways, such as Paypal, are a popular option because customers don't have to put their credit card numbers on your website. You should also enable payment through credit cards, and bank transfers, and include digital wallets.

Facilitating payment with systems such as Klarna, where the customers can pay for the purchase after they buy it, also helps to increase sales.

12. Ask For Customer Feedback#

After customers receive their purchase, send them a message asking for their feedback. You can also add a customer review and rating section on every product page, so customers can leave their opinions.

Customer testimonials are social proof and they help people to convince people to buy a product. Receiving good feedback and displaying it on your website adds credibility to your brand. 

13. Offer Free Shipping and Fast Delivery#

When someone buys a product online, they may be discouraged from completing the purchase because of the shipping price or the delivery time. Offering free shipping is a strategy that helps to increase sales. 

Also, try to work logistics to diminish the delivery time, which is also a strong factor when someone is deciding to buy online. If you sell handmade products that are manufactured only after the purchase, explain it clearly to the customer, so they know it may take longer until their order is shipped, Make Sales and Offer Coupon Discounts.

14. Add a Live Chat to Your Website#

Adding a live chat, like JivoChat, to your website, will help to increase e-commerce sales because everyone who accesses your website can request the help of a live agent to assist them when they are making a purchase.  

With the best live chat platforms, you can personalize the live chat window that will be placed on your website pages. Another important feature, that is included on JivoChat, is being able to send messages triggered by customer actions.

For example, when a customer is about to leave an abandoned cart, you can set up a message to start a conversation with them and solve their questions. Besides, a live chat simplifies communication with your clients, instead of sending an email or calling, all they need to do is access your website and click on the Live chat window. 

Keep Improving Your E-Commerce to Increase Sales#

The e-commerce scenario is constantly changing, therefore it's necessary to analyze the performance of the implemented strategies to increase sales regularly. Enjoy data analytics tools, such as the one JivoChat provides, to identify what strategies are performing well, and what needs to be improved. 

Strategies to increase e-commerce sales may change as your business grows. It's advisable to continuously keep track of key performance indicators (KPIs) such as conversion rate, average time spent on your website, exit page, and most sold products.